After reading the first ~20% of the text, my impression is that you were the only adult person in the house. And I am not talking about the biological age here.
This lack of people “like me” led to me spending the better part of a decade trying my very best to hand oars to people in an effort to row in the same direction, where it’s possible that they didn’t even agree that we needed a boat.
Sounds like they didn’t even realize how much they need an adult—someone to close the fridge, take out the trash, do the dishes, and clean their diapers (sorry, towels and sheets). Couldn’t even say: “thank you, Mom!”
Before using the absurdity heuristic, let’s note than Paul Erdős was probably even less mature, and he was quite productive and successful. So, this is not an a priori impossible way to save the world. (But if someone wants to go this way, the fraction of nannies in the organization needs to be way higher.) I admit I am quite Petersonian in believing that if someone is unable to clean up their room, they do not seem ready to change the world.
More specifically, I believe in the power of division of labor, and the usefulness of a competent concierge. I can quite imagine myself volunteering for a role similar to what you had (if I believed in the mission, if taking the role would not result in low status, and if that seemed like an effective way to split work according to everyone’s skills). But there is a huge difference between “I know that you could do it too, but it is more efficient if I do it for you” and “I am doing it for you, because you seem unable to do it yourself, maybe even unable to learn how to do it yourself”, especially if we are talking about things like doing the laundry, in context of a group selected for their interest in self-improvement and improving the world. If you can’t solve this, how can you aspire to solve… well, anything? (What magic do you need beyond a 5-minute lecture, a checklist, and a reminder one month later?)
EDIT:
I was getting evidence that this group of people who I was relying on to level-up and discover important truths and work hard to build up to a better world were nowhere near as conscientious as I needed them to be. And this was upsetting not just because of the way that it impacted my Sunday morning routine, but because of the larger implications for my plans.
In my opinion, it also had implications on the very plan to build a better world. Okay, maybe if Leverage had more people like you (and if you were allowed to make some decisions that others would have to follow), perhaps the situation could have been saved. Anyway, I find it ironic that a group of people that was officially so much about self-improvement and psychological research, had this type of problem.
EDIT: I guess the part about incentives for the trainers explains it. Teaching someone to be less of a dependent child, would be a lot of work for zero credit, because credits are only for doing grand things.
After reading the first ~20% of the text, my impression is that you were the only adult person in the house. And I am not talking about the biological age here.
Sounds like they didn’t even realize how much they need an adult—someone to close the fridge, take out the trash, do the dishes, and clean their diapers (sorry, towels and sheets). Couldn’t even say: “thank you, Mom!”
Before using the absurdity heuristic, let’s note than Paul Erdős was probably even less mature, and he was quite productive and successful. So, this is not an a priori impossible way to save the world. (But if someone wants to go this way, the fraction of nannies in the organization needs to be way higher.) I admit I am quite Petersonian in believing that if someone is unable to clean up their room, they do not seem ready to change the world.
More specifically, I believe in the power of division of labor, and the usefulness of a competent concierge. I can quite imagine myself volunteering for a role similar to what you had (if I believed in the mission, if taking the role would not result in low status, and if that seemed like an effective way to split work according to everyone’s skills). But there is a huge difference between “I know that you could do it too, but it is more efficient if I do it for you” and “I am doing it for you, because you seem unable to do it yourself, maybe even unable to learn how to do it yourself”, especially if we are talking about things like doing the laundry, in context of a group selected for their interest in self-improvement and improving the world. If you can’t solve this, how can you aspire to solve… well, anything? (What magic do you need beyond a 5-minute lecture, a checklist, and a reminder one month later?)
EDIT:
In my opinion, it also had implications on the very plan to build a better world. Okay, maybe if Leverage had more people like you (and if you were allowed to make some decisions that others would have to follow), perhaps the situation could have been saved. Anyway, I find it ironic that a group of people that was officially so much about self-improvement and psychological research, had this type of problem.
EDIT: I guess the part about incentives for the trainers explains it. Teaching someone to be less of a dependent child, would be a lot of work for zero credit, because credits are only for doing grand things.