Discovering Your Encodings through self-excavation
The work is less self-improvement than self-excavation, removing the accumulated expectations to reveal the durable capacities beneath. Inspired by Jim Collins' book What to Make of a Life
start self-excavation
Look for your “productive obsessions”
Collins emphasizes that encodings often reveal themselves through what you cannot stop thinking about. What problems draw you in without effort? What do you research, tinker with, or discuss when no one is watching? Your encodings are not necessarily what you’re good at, but what you are compelled by. Pay attention to moments of flow where time dissolves, these are signals, not accidents.
Examine your childhood before conditioning
Before teachers, parents, or society told you what you should be, what did you naturally gravitate toward? Collins suggests our earliest unfiltered interests often point toward encodings that were later buried under “practical” expectations. Revisit those abandoned curiosities without judgment.
Notice what others find hard that you find obvious
Encodings are often invisible to us because they are too natural. What do people consistently ask your help with? What do you assume everyone can do, yet they cannot? Your “easy” is likely someone else’s impossible.
Follow the thread of energy, not just competence
Collins distinguishes between what you can do and what animates you. Encodings generate vitality; skills merely generate results. Track where you feel most alive, not just most capable.
Trusting Your Encodings
Resist the “manufactured self”
Society will pressure you to develop what Collins calls “acquired competencies”, skills you can learn but that drain you. Trusting your encodings requires the courage to be “mediocre at many things to be exceptional at your few.” This means accepting that your path will look irrational to others.
Validate through impact, not approval
Early in discovery, your encodings may produce unconventional outcomes. Collins’ research shows that those who trust their wiring measure success by the usefulness of their contribution, not by external validation. Look for evidence that your natural mode creates value for others, this builds trust faster than credentials.
Embrace the “fog” as temporary
Like Carson’s early academic struggles, periods of confusion or underperformance often precede encoding clarity. Collins warns against abandoning the search during these phases, they are often signs that you’re breaking through acquired habits to reach innate capacity.
Cultivating Your Encodings
Create “deliberate practice” around your wiring , Once identified, encodings require disciplined refinement. Collins notes that genius is encoding plus preparation. Structure your life to maximize time in your encoding zone, eliminate obligations that consume energy better spent on deep cultivation.
Find the “intersection”
Your most powerful contribution lies where your encodings meet a worthy purpose. Carson didn’t just practice visualization; he applied it to saving lives. Collins emphasizes that encodings reach full expression only when aligned with service beyond the self.
Build “buffer zones”
Encodings are fragile when overexposed to demands that contradict them. Protect your encoding time ruthlessly. Collins’ research on great creators shows they often appear “unbalanced” to outsiders because they prioritize depth in their encoding over breadth of obligation.
Iterate through action, not introspection
You cannot think your way to encoding clarity. Collins advocates for “conducting experiments of one”, small, low-risk tests that reveal whether a suspected encoding produces both quality and energy. Discovery is iterative; each application refines your understanding.
The core discipline is to Stop trying to become impressive. Start trying to decode what you already are. Your encodings are not achievements to pursue but truths to uncover. The work is less self-improvement than self-excavation, removing the accumulated expectations to reveal the durable capacities beneath.