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By Matthew Homann —

Idea Surplus Disorder #84

Idea Surplus Disorder #84

Welcome to Idea Surplus Disorder! This week: Thinksgiving, cards for feedback, managerial questions, writes vs. write-nots, complexity vs. chaos, overfunctioners, tautophrases, plaids, lunar photos, Rubik's cubes, and more.

I'm Matt Homann, and I'm glad you're here.

It's Thinksgiving Week!

I know there's something else happening on Tuesday that has most of your attention, but if you survive until Thursday, join us for Thinksgiving!

You can volunteer (link to sign up here) or just come for the Solution Showcase at 4 in our space in Cortex to see the fantastic work done by the nonprofits and their business partners.

Here's a brief video of last year's event if you're curious about what Thinksgiving is all about.

Trait Talk Cards

In 2025, we're going all-in on building (and selling) a collection of what we're calling Filament's Tools For Work.

We just got our first proof of our redesigned "Trait Talk" cards (example above), and I've got about ten decks here at Filament for anyone who'd like to use a few and share some feedback with us. Email me if you're interested.

What makes a great manager isn’t the problems they solve but the questions they ask. Here are 16 great ones to get you started. Some favorites:

  • Is there anything you might be explaining away too quickly?
  • Which part of the issue or scenario seems most uncertain, befuddling, and difficult to predict?
  • What would happen if you didn’t do anything at all?

Is the next big workplace divide between the Writes and Write-Nots?

AI has blown this world open. Almost all pressure to write has dissipated. You can have AI do it for you, both in school and at work.

The result will be a world divided into writes and write-nots. There will still be some people who can write. Some of us like it. But the middle ground between those who are good at writing and those who can't write at all will disappear. Instead of good writers, ok writers, and people who can't write, there will just be good writers and people who can't write.

Is that so bad? Isn't it common for skills to disappear when technology makes them obsolete? There aren't many blacksmiths left, and it doesn't seem to be a problem.

Yes, it's bad. The reason is something I mentioned earlier: writing is thinking. In fact there's a kind of thinking that can only be done by writing.

Are you an Overfunctioner?

Help your colleague fix a bug, remind the sales team to follow up with a prospect, write a detailed brief for the marketing intern, share a list of healthy recipes with your spouse, plan out a fun day for you and your friend this weekend… If your to-do list looks like this, you may be overfunctioning.
Overfunctioning refers to feeling overly responsible for family, friends, and coworkers, which leads to trying to proactively solve problems and taking on too many tasks, even if the other person is perfectly capable of doing those tasks themselves.
This behavior can paradoxically increase anxiety. By constantly taking on others’ responsibilities, we add pressure to keep everything running smoothly. Over time, overfunctioning can lead to burnout as we deplete our energy managing not only our own lives but also the life of others.

When you approach a challenge, first determine if you are working in a simple, complicated, or complex system:

A Simple system is one that has a single path to a single answer. If you want to get to the solution, there is one, and only one, way to do it.
A Complicated system is one that has multiple paths to a single answer. To get to the answer, you have multiple different choices you can make. However, there is only one correct solution.
A Complex system is one that has multiple paths to multiple answers.

A tautophrase is a phrase or sentence that tautologically defines a term by repeating that term. If you know, you know ...

We're still lonely at work, but not for the reasons you think:

  • Myth #1: Loneliness can be solved with in-person work.  As the authors say, ‘to villainize remote work as the culprit for loneliness is to miss the nuances of the problem’. While fully remote workers were the most lonely, they found that whether someone works two days or five days in the office made no difference to their level of loneliness.
  • Myth #2: ‘Teams will solve loneliness. Just the very fact of being on a team didn’t resolve loneliness: ‘In fact, being on a team can make them feel even lonelier when the closeness they expect their team to provide does not come to pass’.
  • Myth #3: Lonely employees are needier than others. It is not uncommon for the situation of workers to be ascribed to their perceived failings in the eyes of bosses. (Generational blame is especially common).

Here’s a better way to ask someone if you can “pick their brain” (as someone who gets asked this a lot, I think this advice is dead-on).

I just re-found these “88 things I’ve learned about life” and wanted to share some favorites:

  • If you never doubt your beliefs, then you’re wrong a lot.
  • Every passing face on the street represents a story every bit as compelling and complicated as yours.
  • Blame is the favorite pastime of those who dislike responsibility.
  • To write a person off as worthless is an act of great violence.
  • Breaking new ground only takes a small amount more effort than you’re used to giving.
  • Killing time is an atrocity. It’s priceless, and it never grows back.

Fun Finds

Words of Wisdom

"A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something." – Frank Capra
"It is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them.” – Agatha Christie
"Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next." – Jonas Salk
"To the child, as to the artist, everything is relevant; little is unseen." – Alexandra Horowitz
“Fall in love with yourself, with life, and then with whomever you want.” – Frida Kahlo
"Anyone is capable of participating productively in a brainstorming session, but with one important caveat: the closer the topic is to the work you do all day, the worse you will perform." – Al Pittampalli
“Who knows what you might learn from taking a chance on conversation with a stranger? Everyone carries a piece of the puzzle. Nobody comes into your life by mere coincidence. Trust your instincts. Do the unexpected. Find the others.” – Timothy Leary
"Beware the stories you read or tell; subtly, at night, beneath the waters of consciousness, they are altering your world." – Ben Okri
"If you ever want to find out just how uninteresting you really are, get a job where the quality and frequency of your thoughts determine your livelihood." – Bill Watterson
"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength." – Corrie ten Boom
"Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world." – Malala

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