Inputs and Outputs
By: Ben Someck
Tags: Personal Growth, Personal Development, Learning, Productivity, Busyness

Let’s go over some of the benefits of inputs and outputs, and some of the drawbacks of being unbalanced.

Benefits of input

Allows for improved outputs

For example, if you want to create beautiful designs in a particular program, you need to learn (input) about the design program itself. The more you learn, the more polished your designs are going to look.

Allows for more frequent/larger outputs

It’s easy to think about this with our food-exercise analogy. More food allows for more exercise. It works with money too, the more you earn, the more you can spend. But there’s a mental aspect to this as well. When you input new information, your perspective changes, you understand things differently. This means that the previous output you produced might not be relevant anymore. Inputting feedback about something you produced allows you to improve on it, which will then lead you to produce more.

Drawbacks of Disproportionate Input

Stuck in a feedback/input loop

As helpful as learning is, it also causes stagnation. You can learn passively, or you can learn actively.

Passive learning is input learning. It’s watching, listening, and reading.

Active learning is output learning. It encompasses everything from taking notes on information you input, producing drafts, and creating prototypes.

It’s important for me to drive a point here: switching between passive and active learning is the key. It’s immediate feedback, it’s skin in the game. It’s the only way you can figure out if you learned something or if you’re inputting information into a black hole.

No time for outputs

0 is a dangerous number. If you spend your whole day learning (input), you’ll produce nothing. It’s simple but crucial. You want to keep in mind that your likely end goal with learning is to produce something of value.

Benefits of Output

Produce value

As mentioned before, producing value means that you create something that helps you and/or others.

Collaboration/Feedback

When you produce something, you externalize a part of yourself onto an object. This might sound metaphysical, but what it means is that you allow others to interact with your thinking. This allows them to either shape the object with you or provide feedback to you (input), which you will use to create a better version of the object (article, product, etc.)

Drawbacks of Disproportionate Output

No feedback means no improvement or validation

If you find yourself enmeshed in creation — good for you. But being busy with producing puts you at risk of being stuck in your own head. In this case, make sure you receive some signal from other people. How is your creation received? Does it help them? Is there a way to make it better? Not inputting these signals will cause you to miss out on two things:

Feedback from others. You’re not listening to the signals others send you about whatever it is you’re outputting. Meaning, you can’t tell if it’s valuable to them or not. Feedback from yourself. Say your output is public speaking. Before you communicate your ideas to others, and before they provide you with feedback, you have to write, edit, practice and maybe even listen to your own recordings. All these inputs are feedback from yourself. These inputs allow you to correct and improve your outputs before they even reach other people.

Burnout

When you produce value, it’s tempting to simply keep going. Think long term here, and allow yourself to rest. It’s an obvious challenge, but make sure you don’t burnout. Fragment your day. Diversify your output. Take a walk.