Give me a place to stand and [with a lever,] I will move the whole world
I've been exploring the phenomena of leverage in different contexts for quite some time: design, productivity, antifragility, professionalism, and more. Basically, since I first heard the saying, "Give me a place to stand and [with a lever,] I will move the whole world" in my childhood, I've been intuitively searching for leverages in every aspect of my life.
At that time, I thought of leverage not as something that could help solve my problem easily but as a particular point of view, a frame that changes how one perceives a problem. That is, how should you look at the problem first. Then the resolution would come second.
The perfect-tool fallacy
Yet, I noticed recently that the idea of leverage was popularized as this "perfect-tool" concept. Hence, leverage is finding the right tool for the right job. Seems like a sound idea. Yet quite reductionist. It also cultivates the myth of a "silver-bullet" solution that fits every aspect of life.
I personally saw dozens and dozens of headlines like: "How [such and such technique] could leverage your productivity" or "How kindness leverages [such and such] aspect of your life", or even "How to leverage your introversion".
I totally get it: focusing on leveraging as a tool also requires this visual representation of the balance of force applied to the tool and pushing something.
Here, I see a fallacy. The tool's fallacy distorts the idea of leverage. By the way, I mentioned it in one of my Twitter threads. Let me explain.
Remember Abraham Lincoln was quoted as saying:
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.
Some people think he meant that preparations matter the most. Others insist that this is the metaphor for a sharpened axe as a multiplier of force. I believe that this is an excellent example of the idea of a demystified leverage.
While choosing the right tool is essential (that goes without a doubt), still, there's something one can miss in this eternal pursuit of the philosopher's stone. Let's get back to Archimedes, a Greek mathematician, philosopher, and scientist, who said: "Give me a place to stand and [with a lever,] I will move the whole world".
Here, we see 4 key concepts or building blocks for the idea of leverage:
The person. Someone is applying leverage. That is, leverage can't be initially used as some kind of automation. It has to be initiated by someone or something.
The lever. The tool: a stick or something more serious. We must apply the tool to trigger a consequential reaction from the outside.
The place to stand. A critical point, a special place that multiplies the final results of the force applied by the person and the lever as the tool.
Move the whole world. The result we expect.
Here we see at least four key concepts: each contributes to the phenomena of leverage. Now, let's imagine a situation.
Experience + point of view
You're walking in the forest. Suddenly, you see a huge rock on your way. You guessed it: you have to move it away to continue your journey. Thankfully, there're a lot of sticks lying around. Ok, let's grab one and move the rock. You lean one of them against the rock. Crack! The stick breaks. Not a rich tool for the job, heh? You take another one. This time you lean it differently. This one breaks as well. Damn it, what the heck! Ok, let's try another one. This time, you position yourself differently. And it finally worked.
Here, we can clearly see that the tool we used might not be perfect. What matters is the way you apply force to move the stone. Remember, Archimedes said, "Give me a place to stand", stressing the idea of a critical point to which one applies force and lever. That is, the place to stand is the lever.
Zooming out, the tools' fallacy is not about leverage. Leverage is the way you position yourself against the problem. Hence, leverage is about clearly seeing critical points that multiply the force you apply. And, as life demonstrates, this ability to see can be gained through experience and iterations.