Think Thursday: The Encodings You Haven't Discovered Yet
episode
Alcohol Minimalist: Mindful Drinking & Behavior Change
11 min
1 speaker
7 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What are Jim Collins' "encodings" and why do they matter?
Hey, welcome to Think Thursday from the Alcohol Minimalist Podcast. Think Thursday is all about your beautiful, brilliant human brain. We're talking neuroscience. We're talking behavior change. We are talking about your mindset. Are you ready to get started? Let's go. Hello and welcome to Think Thursday from The Alcohol Minimalist. Think Thursdays all about our beautiful, brilliant human brains, and we talk about neuroscience and brain health and of course your mindset. And today is kind of a combination of a couple of things that I've read and also listened to, and I love this idea. uh of w I mean what we're gonna talk about. I love the idea of it and I really want I hope I can explain it and do it justice.
I want you to ask yourself this question. Have you ever looked back at an earlier version of yourself and realized that the person that you were back then would barely recognize who you are today? Maybe it's 20 years ago, maybe it was before you had children, maybe before a career change, maybe it was before a major loss in your life. Or maybe it was before you changed your relationship with alcohol even. Perhaps before you began paying attention to your health, your mindset, and the way that you wanted to show up in the world.
How does Alan Page’s journey illustrate multiple encodings?
Most of us can identify chapters in our lives where we evolved significant significantly. And yet, despite having evidence that we've changed before, many of us quietly assume that the version of ourselves. Sitting here today is pretty much the version we're going to be for the rest of our lives. We stop expecting surprise, we stop expecting growth, and we stop expecting to discover something fundamentally new about ourselves. In fact, if we're honest, I think at least many of us that are aging, we not only stop expecting good things, we kind of are anticipating a a lot of bad things happening, a lot of downwards, downward hill trajectory, right? Recently I was listening to Jim Collins discuss ideas from his newest book, What to Make of a Life, and he introduced a concept that really captured my attention.
He calls them encodings. And one of the stories he shared is about Alan Page, and everybody knows around here that I'm a big football fan. I did not know who Alan Page was, but maybe you know the name. Alan Page was one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history. He played for the Minnesota Vikings. He was a part of the famous uh purple people eater defensive line of the 1970s, and he became the first defensive player ever. to win the NFL's Most Valuable Player Award. And most people would look at that accomplishment and just assume that, you know, football was his calling.
Why does Benjamin Hardy argue that identity is not fixed?
Case closed, that was who he was. And of course he was very encoded for football, by the way. But while playing professional football, Alan Page also attended law school. He became an attorney, and later he after he left the NFL, he became a justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Now think about that for a moment. Professional football player, attorney, Supreme Court justice. Must most of us would see those as completely separate identities. Yet Collins suggests that there is something deeper happening. Alan Page wasn't simply changing careers. He was discovering different ways his unique abilities could be. Be expressed in the world. Football wasn't the only place where he fit, and the law wasn't the only place where he fit.
There were multiple dimensions of who he could become. And this is where this idea of Collins, this idea of encodings, becomes so interesting. Encodings are those areas where our abilities, our interests, our curiosity, and our engagement seem to come alive. They are the places where we feel deeply connected to the work itself. Not because it's easy, not because it doesn't require effort, but because something about it feels aligned.
How does neuroplasticity prove we can keep growing later in life?
And what struck me most was the implication that. We have encodings that we haven't even discovered yet. Now, if you've listened to me for any length of time, you know my brain immediately starts connecting ideas across different fields.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What are Jim Collins' "encodings" and why do they matter?
0:00–1:30
2
How does Alan Page’s journey illustrate multiple encodings?
1:30–3:16
3
Why does Benjamin Hardy argue that identity is not fixed?
3:16–4:50
4
How does neuroplasticity prove we can keep growing later in life?
4:50–6:32
5
What role does our relationship with alcohol play in shaping identity?
6:32–8:02
6
How can curiosity help us discover hidden strengths and new purposes?
8:02–9:37
7
What practical steps can listeners take to uncover their undiscovered encodings?
9:37–11:16
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Alcohol Minimalist: Mindful Drinking & Behavior Change
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Think Thursday: Why Endings Matter More Than We Realize
Your Evening Brain: Work With It - Not Against It