Alan and I have never really been like other people. We think differently. Alan made a career out of it. I gained wisdom from it. We both knew our internal processes ran differently than others, and that those differences made us good at what we did, but neither of us could really describe those differences. Until Alan ran across a TED talk that summed it up perfectly. We think backwards from most people. I’ll link the talk below, but to sum up, most people start with what and work in towards why. We start at why and then work out.
As soon as we heard this, it clicked for us. For Alan, it was about design. Why does this design exist? Why am I working on this? Once he understands the purpose, the shape of it, what the design is almost becomes an afterthought. The design is whatever achieves the purpose it was meant to achieve. Rather than getting bogged down in the details of WHAT it is, he stays laser focused on why he’s working on it, and that’s what makes him an excellent designer.
For me, this resonated with how I got my life together. One of the biggest obstacles in treating bipolar disorder is relapse. Patients will be good about sticking to their treatment when they are depressed, but the moment they hit a manic phase, they think “Hey, the therapy worked, I don’t need it any more” and quit. The only thing this does is set them right back on the roller coaster, and when the inevitable depression comes back it is worse than ever.
I never had that problem. Not once did I quit my therapy because I thought I was better. The one time I did take a break from therapy I did it intentionally because I thought I was doing TOO well (but that’s a story for another day). Why? Because when I started therapy, I had the why firmly in my mind. I knew the reason behind it, and that kept me going. That was what had me putting in the hours. Even when it was miserable. Even when I felt like I didn’t need it, my why kept me going.
That purpose is what drives $0$. We started $0$ because people need help. Help that we can provide. That is our why. It is to help people.
