What I Learnt:

The Stockdale Paradox.

Named after Admiral James Stockdale, the paradox discusses how being an optimist can actually be a hinderance to getting through tough times.

Sounds illogical? Read on..

Admiral Stockdale was captured as a POW during the war in Vietnam when his Douglas A-4 plane was shot down. He spent 7 years in the infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton’ and underwent numerous rounds of torture. He was released in 1973 and returned to the US.

When James Collins interviewed Admiral Stockdale in his book Good to Great, he asked him which type of prisoners never made it out. Stockdale’s answer was “Oh, that's easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”

He then goes on to deliver his punchline, “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

While I am not comparing our current global situation with what Admiral Stockdale went through during his imprisonment, I can’t help but see some similarities. People first said things would be better after summer (‘viruses cant handle the heat in India’), they then said that perhaps Diwali but probably by the new year.

I think we are slowly realising now that these timelines are arbitrary and irrelevant. Humankind will get through this pandemic eventually, just as we have done with others in the past. But it won’t happen by a particular date that we decide on.

Till then, let’s keep wearing our masks, washing our hands and being as careful as we can be. We’re in this together. We’ll get through this together.

What Made Me Happy:

I showed my father-in-law how to use Google Pay, not for the first time. The convenience that it provides, and safety during these times, is something that makes our lives a little easier.

And for all my concerns about privacy and the amount of data that we share with tech companies, I would still rather share that info with Google than any other company, apart from Apple.