entropy comes from physics and refers to the invalid energy that cannot be used in the system. This article mainly analyzes and thinks about entropy increase thinking, and mainly talks about these points: what is entropy, why it is necessary to fight against entropy increase, and how to fight against entropy increase.
In the 1998 Amazon shareholder letter, Bezos said: "We want to fight entropy (We want to fight entropy)."
management master Peter Drucker said: "Management has to do only one thing. , Is how fights against the increase of entropy . In this process, the vitality of the enterprise will increase, instead of silently going to death." physicist Schrödinger said: “All things in nature tend to change from order to disorder, that is, entropy Value increases. Life needs to maintain a stable and low entropy level by constantly offsetting the positive entropy produced in its life. life lives on negative entropy." So many people at are talking about entropy and want to Fight against entropy, but what exactly is entropy?
01 What is entropy?
entropy is a word derived from the second law of physics and thermodynamics. When a non-living system is isolated or placed in a uniform environment, all movement will be quickly stopped due to various friction forces around it; the difference in electric potential or chemical potential will gradually disappear; the tendency to form compounds The same is true for the material; due to heat conduction, the temperature gradually becomes uniform.
As a result, the entire system eventually gradually degenerated into a lifeless, lifeless mass of matter. As a result, the "maximum entropy" that physicists has become has been reached, which is a persistent and unchanging state in which no observable events will occur anymore, and it has fallen into dead silence.
Entropy represents the degree of chaos in a system, or the degree of disorder-the more disordered the system, the greater the entropy value; the more ordered the system, the smaller the entropy value.
Therefore, negative entropy represents the vitality of the system. The higher the negative entropy, the more orderly the system. This is why Schrödinger said that "life depends on negative entropy".
For example: at the beginning of the week, we will clean up the rooms, but at the weekend, we will find the rooms in a mess. This process is the process of entropy increase. Another example of
: the continuous eating, drinking, breathing, and (plant) assimilation of living organisms, that is, metabolism, is a process that resists entropy increase.
Don’t underestimate this very simple-sounding entropy law. It is ubiquitous in nature. It is the most basic and important law. The chemist Atkins once listed it as "the four laws that drive the universe." one.
is an extremely firm belief in the minds of physicists. Even the gravitation formula can be rewritten, but the entropy increase law has never been violated. Professor Zhang Shousheng believes that if human knowledge advances further, Newtonian mechanics may not be correct, quantum mechanics may not be correct, and relativity theory may not be correct, but the formula of information entropy is eternal.
If we extrapolate it to the development of the entire universe, we will find that if there is nothing outside of the universe in which we exist, that is, if no one inputs energy into this universe, the ultimate outcome of the universe is to go to complete nothingness. Preface, which is death.
If we infer it to enterprise management, we will find that management has only one thing to do, which is how to combat entropy increase. If it fails to effectively combat the increase in entropy, the company will die silently. If
infer it to life, we will find that if we do not fight against the increase in entropy, our vitality will gradually become lifeless and lifeless in a closed system or in a balanced state.
At that time, even if life had not yet ended, the vitality had come to an abrupt end, which confirmed the famous saying "Many people died at the age of 20 and were buried until the age of 80."
However, how can we combat entropy increase?
02 The low-level logic of life against entropy increase
To fight against entropy increase, it is necessary to introduce a very important theory- dissipation structure. The "dissipative structure" was proposed by a scientist named Prigogine, who also won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1977 for this theory. What is a "dissipative structure"? The dissipative structure of
is a nonlinear opening of far from the equilibrium state.The release system (whether it is a physical, chemical, biological, or even social, economic system), through constant exchange of material and energy with the outside world, when a certain parameter within the system reaches a certain threshold, through fluctuations , The system may undergo a sudden change, that is, a non-equilibrium phase transition, from the original chaotic and disordered state to an ordered state in time, space or function. The dissipative structure of
has two most important characteristics. One is openness; the other is non-equilibrium. When a system has a "dissipative structure", it can effectively combat entropy increase.
So, how should we build ourselves into a "dissipative structure" that can resist entropy increase based on these two characteristics?
1. Open
The entropy of an isolated system will definitely increase with time. When the entropy reaches the maximum value, the system will reach the most disordered equilibrium state, so the isolated system will never have a dissipative structure. Therefore, the dissipative structure must be generated in an open system. It must have a negative entropy flow from the environment to the system, and it can offset the entropy increase of the system itself. Only in this way can the entropy of the system decrease and the degree of order increase. Wikipedia and the online version of Encyclopedia Britannica are very professional, but Wikipedia does not require a group of experts to collect and compile. It is an open system and everyone can contribute content to it. Because of this, it even has a higher degree of dissemination than the online version of Encyclopedia Britannica.
So, how do we make ourselves an open system?
(1) Replace "fixed thinking" with "growth thinking"
Many people have always maintained the notion that we are born with certain fixed abilities and qualities, like "I am not good at sports" , "I have no talent for learning mathematics", etc., so it cannot be changed
But is that true?
Actually, the intelligence, creativity, athletic ability and other qualities of people can be forged and can be changed through time and effort.
In 2006, Carol Dweck, a professor of behavioral psychology at Stanford University, published a book titled "Thinking Mode: The New Psychology of Success". In this book, Dweck summarized his 30-year research results and proposed two thinking theories: fixed thinking and growth thinking.
Fixed thinking is to believe that we are born with a fixed amount of talent and ability. People who adopt a fixed mindset tend to avoid adjustment and failure, thereby depriving themselves of a life rich in experience and learning.
and growth thinking is a systematic thinking mode of with mental plasticity as its core belief. It believes that through practice, persistence and hard work, human beings have unlimited potential for learning and growth.
People with a growth mindset can deal with challenges calmly. They are not afraid of making mistakes or embarrassment, but focus on the process of growth. They are not afraid of failure because they know that learning from failures and mistakes will eventually become success.
As the big data of scientific research tells us: if a child has a growth mindset, this advantage may close the gap between the richest and poorest families, because the growth mindset children will get better and better.
From this chart, we can also see one thing, perhaps we often overlook, that is that the two treat other people’s success differently: growth-thinking people will take others’ success as themselves People with a fixed mindset will regard the success of others as a threat to themselves, which will trigger a huge sense of insecurity and vulnerability. And such a sense of insecurity and vulnerability often makes him choose to block his ears and close his eyes, thus cutting off the channels and ways of self-growth, making the whole situation worse.
(2) Use "flow thinking" instead of "stock thinking"
The pile of oil paint lying on the desk will not automatically turn into a wonderful oil painting. It must be because there is some kind of external energy exchange. For example, you picked up the paintbrush, opened the paint, and started painting. The paint can become an oil painting. What does it mean?
means that only after exchanges energy with the outside world, a person may undergo earth-shaking changes. People like are those with "flow" thinking, while the opposite is "stock thinking".
What is the typical behavior of "stock" thinkers?
compared toTo invest in himself in study, he is more willing to save money and let it generate interest; he is more willing to continue to do his present stable and comfortable work than to change to a more suitable and more promising position or industry; He is more willing to collect the good articles and books he sees and recommend them out; rather than communicating with those excellent people, he is more willing to keep others from knowing his thoughts.
Unfortunately, in this way, the increase in entropy will intensify, and the crisis will be latent. According to the "law of increasing entropy", entropy is the opposite of orderly prosperity. However, on the surface, prosperity and order are a recessive state of entropy.
Therefore, when we see the appearance of prosperity and order, we think that entropy does not exist, but in reality, it is the opposite. Entropy is secretly watching. It's not that it doesn't exist anymore, it's just invisible.
In 1975, the 24-year-old Kodak engineer Steve Sassoon invented the world’s first digital camera. When he presented this amazing result to the company’s senior management, the arrogant management could only take 100 shots. · The 100-pixel strange machine sneered—"No one wants to see their photos on TV." At that time, Kodak was arrogant in the film era.
30 years later, when Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012, the decision makers of that year would not have thought that it was the digital camera invented and hidden by their own company that sounded their death knell. The history of
is always strikingly similar, and the same thing happened to Motorola and Nokia. Sticking to the "stock" and scorning the "flow" will eventually bring about the inevitable result of "the present is very good, but the future is bad", and this result is often not affordable for ordinary people, just like the Qing government's policy of "closing the country".
In 2012, Ren Zhengfei had a very important speech called "Huawei 2012".
sounds like he is singing bad news. In fact, he is more soberly aware that Huawei as an enterprise, like all other enterprises, always has a huge threat, which is entropy. Therefore, Ren Zhengfei believes that as long as Huawei exists for one day, it must fight against entropy.
He did the same with Huawei:
made huge investment in Huawei's R&D. For example, when Huawei invested more than 90 billion yuan in R&D in 2017, R&D investment accounted for nearly 16% of revenue. This R&D investment intensity , May be larger than the combined R&D investment of Ali and Tencent, and even more than Apple. In the past 10 years, a total of 240 billion yuan has been invested in research and development, and Huawei has also ranked first in the world for patent applications for many years.
Since 1997, Huawei has continued to introduce management experience from outside sources, including IBM, Accenture, and Boston Consulting Group. They have successively provided Huawei with changes in many aspects, enabling Huawei to make continuous progress in management innovation, organizational innovation, and process changes, laying the foundation for Huawei to become a global company.
These are all using "flow thinking" instead of "stock thinking". As a well-known domestic company, even if it does not make huge investment in scientific research, it can be proud of its existing "stock"; however, Huawei does not think so. What you see is the "flow", the energy exchange required by the open system.
(3) Use "lifelong learning" instead of "temporary learning", use "lifelong exploration" instead of "no longer exploration"
There are people who are learning every day, no matter more or less. Some people learn it once in a while, and it takes seven or eight months to read a book.
I call the former "lifelong learner", and I call the latter "temporary learner". For the former, learning is like breathing, for the latter it is like an emergency plaster, only when you are stimulated or when you need to work.
For "lifelong learners", he builds himself into an open system through daily study, and can produce compound interest effects. For "temporary learners",
is a closed system, unable to resist the increase of entropy, and unable to produce compound interest effects. Naturally, it is not obvious in the short term, but in the long term, there is a huge difference between the two.
Many people stop exploring after they reach adulthood. They stop exploring the world and self. They just want to walk on the well-defined path and lead a step-by-step life. But I don't know that according to the law of entropy increase, the shadow of entropy has already followed it, and the arrival of the "middle-age crisis" is only a matter of time.
and those "Lifetime Explorers"?
They are very different. They always have a strong curiosity about the world, about themselves, and about others. They want to explore the things they don't understand, and they want to solve the inexplicable mysteries. A movie, a trip, a magazine, or a conversation, they can all discover fresh information, knowledge or wisdom. They are like containers with open mouths, greedily absorbing everything from the outside world.
Therefore, if you want to build yourself into an "open system", you need to do at least three things:
First, use "growth thinking" instead of "fixed thinking".
Second, use "flow thinking" instead of "stock thinking".
Third, replace “temporary learning” with “lifelong learning”, and replace “no more exploration” with “lifelong exploration”.
2. Being far away from the equilibrium state
Being far away from the equilibrium state is the second characteristic of the "dissipative structure". The equilibrium state refers to the state where the macroscopic properties of each part of the thermodynamic system do not change for a long time without external influence. Prigogine, the proponent of "dissipative structure", believes that non-equilibrium is the source of order.
So how can we stay away from equilibrium?
(1) From the "comfort zone" to the "learning zone", even the "panic zone"
"comfort zone" is a theory proposed by the American NoelTichy. The three zones in the figure can be expressed as the level of things you want to learn: The innermost circle of
is the "comfort zone" of , , which represents knowledge or tasks that are not difficult for you to learn, and you can be in a very comfortable mental state. The middle circle is the "learning zone" of , , which represents those who have a certain challenge for you, and therefore feel uncomfortable, but not too uncomfortable to work, study, and think. The outermost circle is the "panic zone" of , , which represents too much affairs or knowledge beyond your ability, will cause serious psychological discomfort, which may lead to collapse and give up studying.
In the comfort zone, you can do well, because every day you are in a familiar environment, doing what you are doing, and communicating with familiar people. Even you are an expert in this field, and you are People and things feel very comfortable.
This is the temporary "balanced state", because you can make everything reach a relatively balanced and comfortable state without too much effort.
However, don't forget that the equilibrium state is when the entropy is maximum.
At this time, you learn very little, progress slowly, lack of challenge and flow. This is a state of seemingly stable and comfortable, but crisis-ridden, that is, "false prosperity".
If you want to fight against the increase in entropy in life, according to the dissipative structure, you have to stay away from the equilibrium state, that is, leave the area that makes you feel very comfortable, and take the initiative to move toward the "learning zone" or even the "panic zone".
Amazon CEO Bezos did just that. He expanded Amazon's self-operated e-commerce business to AWS cloud services and FBA logistics systems. Moreover, when Amazon was doing its own e-commerce business, it boldly introduced third-party sellers to let them all open stores on Amazon to compete with their own self-operated stores. Amazon started by selling books online, but Bezos is still unwilling to develop a kindle reader to beat his own paper books with e-books.
If Amazon just stays in its seemingly very powerful self-operated e-commerce business, it will of course be able to make good profits and reach a stable equilibrium within a period of time.
However, as time goes on, companies will definitely lack vitality, lack of innovation, and eventually die.
It is precisely because Bezos is very aware of the serious harm of "entropy" to an enterprise, so he is working hard to overthrow Amazon every time he manages to build a good sense of balance, and constantly invest money and resources into new areas; in the enterprise Various forms of competition are created internally.
is also because of this, Amazon has created a heavyweight star business, Bezos has also become the world's richest man, this is a huge force away from equilibrium.
(2) Subversive growth
Personal growth follows an S-shaped curve. At the beginning, there will be a very long flat state, and then it will suddenly lift off like a rocket, and finally remain stable at a high position.
But this is not subversive growth. The subversive growth of is not only a flying over of the S-shaped curve, it is a number of flying overs, requires us to complete an S-shaped curve growth, then enter the second S-shaped curve, start again, continue to subvert self. In 2007, IPOD accounted for more than 50% of Apple's revenue, and iTune accounted for 74% of the market. It stands to reason that this is exactly when a product is in full swing, and normal people's thinking must continue to make this product and make money with it. But Jobs is good, he will personally overturn this already successful product.
So, he made the iPhone again. By 2012, the iPhone accounted for 58% of Apple's revenue and 70% of its profits. This is the "subversive growth" of Jobs, he used his own iPhone to subvert his own IPOD. He used a new S-shaped curve to overturn the S-shaped curve that he had finally climbed up. The same is true for
who wants to stay away from equilibrium. You need to walk on the long flat road again and again, and then jump to the peak. After finally jumping to the peak, you have to start the second S-curve. In this way, continue to self subversion.
And this self-subversion is difficult because once we reach the upper platform of the S-curve, inertia will occur. At this time, it is the peak period of a certain stage of career, the peak period of a certain stage of self-development, and it is a state that looks very good. However, once stagnates in this equilibrium state, you will no longer gain growth and progress, and the final outcome will be an increase in entropy. For me,
has done at least a few very disruptive growth after work.
from the sales department to the marketing department, and then from the marketing department to the sales department; from working in the workplace before to now working independently, each time is a subversive growth. In every subversive growth process of
, it has never been smooth sailing. Every time, it will encounter many difficulties and obstacles, as well as the loneliness and fear that follow, but the gains are very huge. My life has also been greatly expanded.
So, now to summarize, two ways to stay away from equilibrium:
first, leave the comfort zone, walk into the learning zone, or even the panic zone.
second, subversive growth.
This is the underlying logic of life brought to us by the law of entropy increase in physics-throughout our lives, we have to fight against entropy increase, otherwise our vitality will die in silence. The way to combat entropy increase is: builds itself into a dissipative structure that combines "growth thinking", "flow thinking", "lifelong learning, lifelong exploration", staying away from the comfort zone, and capable of sustained subversive growth.
Author: Effie; Public number: Effie ideal depth thinking bestseller "Watch the essence," the author, executive coach, trainer advantage of global certification, senior personal growth coach, former US Fortune 500 companies in Greater China market Head of Department.
This article was originally published by @艾菲. Everyone is a product manager. Reprinting is prohibited without the author's permission. The
title picture comes from Unsplash, based on the CC0 protocol.
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