Comments on _The Choice_ by Goldratt, chapter 10 & 11

I read and took notes on chapter 10 & 11 of _The Choice (Revised Edition)_ by Goldratt.

CHAPTER 10: Never Say "I Know"

But on the other hand, I also have learned not to just admire, but actually to respect, people's experience and intuition. If the solution is correct, if the solution is really so obvious, how come people haven't used this solution a long time ago? It must be that something, an erroneous assumption that they took for granted as an indisputable fact of life, caused them to dismiss this solution, blocked them from even trying to implement it. **So until I clearly recognize and verify such a blocking assumption, I don't know if my new solution is obvious or just stupid.**

(emphasis added)

quoting this because I think it's presenting the main point of the chapter.

I like the idea. It's implying that one should check someone's reasoning for their decision before deciding that there is they had no reasoning.

CHAPTER 11: How Many Opportunities Are There?

Improvement. If we keep improving a system we will reach the stage where the system is quite good. We can still improve it, but we can no longer expect to gain as much as we did at the beginning; the reality of diminishing returns kicks in. But whenever Father gives an example of an improvement, it is always a major breakthrough, a fundamental new insight that propels the entire subject to a new level.

I think future gains should be bigger than past gains, on average. That's how we're able to grow exponentially. That's why the stock market grows exponentially. 

It might be the more prudent thing to do but I can't restrain my thoughts. I continue to wonder if there is always a way to jump a situation to a new level, no matter how good it is to start with. If there is, it has far-reaching ramifications. I always thought that the best opportunities are opened when we overcome a blockage, when we realize how to improve a bad situation. But if everything, including situations that are already good, can be substantially improved, doesn't it imply that there are opportunities all around us?

Yes.

In order to live a full life, one needs suitable opportunities. Enough of them. Until a minute ago I was convinced that suitable opportunities are rare. But if my interpretation of "never say 'I know'" is correct, that any situation can be substantially improved, then Father actually claims that there are abundant opportunities everywhere we look. That is too good to be true.

This reminds me of something I said about my speedrunning work. Here's what I said:

• Another thing that I think has changed regarding my speedrunning sessions is this. When I would find a very hard part of the game, I would have a reluctance to work on it. I think it's because I am expecting repeated failure, little progress, frustration at not making progress and not knowing what to do to make progress. That doesn't happen anymore. With each session, I have full confidence that any hard part of my work will be met with more than enough ideas to make progress. No frustration. No reluctance.