Imagine sitting enjoying a picnic with a friend at the side of a river. Suddenly you see a kid drowning, you and your friend dive in and save him. A few minutes later the same thing happens. When the third kid comes down river, your friend runs away. You scream at him - why the hell aren’t you helping. He replies, I’m running upstream to stop the bastard who’s throwing kids into the river. Upstream is the idea of solving problems before they start. It’s the basis of habit 3, First Things First, where we tackle the important not urgent.
This is my summary of upstream
- What’s blocking us from operating upstream?
- What questions do we ask to solve upstreams problems
- Far Upstream
- Themes
- Further reading
What’s blocking us from operating upstream?
I don’t know about the problem
It’s not my problem
- car seats
- men stand with women on abuse topic
I don’t have the capacity to solve the problem (Tunnelling)
- Systems need slack to operate upstream
What questions do we ask to solve upstreams problems
How will you unite your allies
How will you change the system
Where can you find leverage
How will you get early warning signs
How will you know you’re successful
How will you avoid doing harm
Who will pay
Far Upstream
The chicken little problem
Themes
The scope of change: Societal, Organizational, Personal
- The big head problem
- The charger shuffle problem
- Mindful eating