The most important difference between Level 1 and Level 2 actions is that Level 1 actions tend to be additive, while Level 2 actions tend to be multiplicative. If you do ten hours of work at McDonald’s, you’ll get paid ten times as much as if you did one hour; the benefits of the hours add together. However, if you take ten typing classes, each one of which improves your ability by 20%, you’ll be 1.2^10 = 6.2 times better at the end than at the beginning: the benefits of the classes multiply (assuming independence).
I’m trying to think of anything in life that actually works this way and I can’t. If I start out being able to type at 20 WPM, taking 100 typing classes is not going to improve that to 1.6 billion WPM; neither is taking 1000 classes or 10000. These sorts of payoffs tend to be roughly logarithmic, not exponential.
I think that training in orthogonal but complementary skills more closely matches the point being made. For example, training in typing is orthogonal to, well, pretty much anything, and complementary to many things, such as programming or novel writing.
I’m trying to think of anything in life that actually works this way and I can’t. If I start out being able to type at 20 WPM, taking 100 typing classes is not going to improve that to 1.6 billion WPM; neither is taking 1000 classes or 10000. These sorts of payoffs tend to be roughly logarithmic, not exponential.
I think that training in orthogonal but complementary skills more closely matches the point being made. For example, training in typing is orthogonal to, well, pretty much anything, and complementary to many things, such as programming or novel writing.
Which would make it a waste if you never did much programming or novel writing!