A nebulous term, often used, is a dangerous thing

February 22, 2016

Read this word out loud, kinetic. What are some top of the mind thoughts about the word itself? If I asked you to use it in a sentence, what could you use it in multiple contexts? Would it mean different things to people in different contexts?

TODO: Give examples of its usage which vary by context.

Life tip 1 of 1: Delineate the terms, ideas and assumptions first in any kind of long term project or goal. If done you will enjoy an increase in productivty and potential chances at success.

Clarity and definition from the onset of any endevour is a common sense idea, but what I think is difficult and uninutitive to most people is they underestimate how large of an impact it has on our effectiveness if done from the very get go.

Now this is totally is just a theory right now, a crazy assumption which I currently impose on the world. However I have seen this make sense in a few different domains.

So yeah, lets start this off first with some examples. You know just to keep this idea grounded somewhat in reality.

Fear Setting

To overcome fear, Tim Ferriss has this practice which he calls fear-setting. Similar video examples, conversational, and more direct. Usefull and similar in goal to some of the ideas in the Humble Inquiry.

As an example, they both share the goal of helping us to be more effective; less emotional, and less reactive. They get there in slighlty different starting points, but both revolve around definition. Where with fear-setting, you first defining risk and then work from their to find clairity. While in the humble inquiry it begins by first defining humility and what systemic questions are.

Design Sprints

Software development Sprints teams, to grow them you need to define roles, and create supportive freedom. A process called a ,design sprint's first main step, is to "define and set a long-term goal. Get optimistic." and an addtional defining step happens from the oppisite viewpoint. A listing out of sprint risks and questions. "Get pessimistic. Ask: How could we fail?"

Common themes

Most I believe utilize a similar definition of risk.

Risks : the probability or likelihood as an irreversible negative outcome.


Matthew Clemens © 2022