Paying the Entropy Rent
Managing Complexity, Stress and Relaxing into the unknown
Physics promises that dis-order always wins in the long run. Companies, products, gadgets, personal routines, people themselves are just temporary vectors on an ever‑shifting skyline. Everything we make will gradually stop existing, and we need to put in effort to maintain order.
We are tenants of that entropy. We pay the rent with our attention, energy — and action.
We often misjudge the real source of learning and growth. It's tempting to believe that mastery comes from repetition, from calming sense of control. We wish order and comfort guarantee us progress. But data and psychology suggest otherwise: growth emerges from confronting uncertainty, navigating change as smoothly as we can, and adaptively responding to variation.
That’s where the Bill Eckstrom Growth-Ring Map becomes a practical compass. It’s not just a diagram — it’s a diagnostic tool. It helps you locate your current state and decide what environment you might need to intentionally move toward. Are you in Order? You might feel good — but you're likely plateauing. Are you in Complexity? Doesn’t feel pleasant, but you end up in a better place in the end.
(I believe the entire planet is approaching Complexity ring, however hard the establishments resist it.)
The Growth‑Ring Map
(Adapted from Bill Eckstrom “Why comfort will ruin your life”, TEDxLincoln, 2017).
Chaos Ring
Focus is on the survival; learning sparse.
Flooded servers, market crashes, existential shocks. Long-term planning and large scale projects are impossible.
Complexity Ring
Old order no longer works, new patterns are still forming, errors illuminating. Highest growth potential — adaptation, invention, cultural rewiring. Outcomes are no longer predictable. Unpredictability makes you uncomfortable.
Order Ring
SOPs, dashboards, repeating sprints. Law and regulation. Innovation is possible, but with delays and bureaucracy (Hallo, Deutschland!)
Stagnation Ring
Bureaucracy, fear loops, checklist theatre. Innovation is impossible.
Entropy outpaces value, slow decay. The good news: out of stagnant corpse of any system, something new and much healthier evolves. The bad news: sometimes takes decades.
Where are you right now?
How comfortable are you?
Bill Eckstrom’s tracking of 11 000 salespeople showed performance spikes only when reps abandoned their playbooks and worked without a script, maxing their creativity and engagement.
That reminds me of Ellen J. Langer’s mindfulness experiments: orchestral musicians who played “mindfully” — changing the way they play ever so slightly, in a way only noticible to themselves, adding subtle novelty into familiar scores — were rated more likable by listeners and felt more alive themselves (Langer, Russell & Eisenkraft, 2009, Psychology of Music, DOI 10.1177/0305735607086053).
Both datasets point to the same law:
predictable input → output eventually flattens the learning curve.
no new patterns → nothing to learn (and little motivation to go on)
Once you’ve mastered any process, continuing to repeat it without variation no longer contributes meaningfully to your growth. That is why in medical biofeedback patients never follow the same routine for more than a few sessions — returns are quickly diminishing, more time invested into repetition did not bring any measurable benefits.
The same principle, of course, applies to physical training — the body doesn’t build and maintain the muscle it doesn’t use. You have to adjust and change the load to continue growth, engaging different muscle groups.
When the brain stops paying close attention — the entropy tenants rent, creativity fades, and adaptability atrophies. Here comes brainrot!
There was a young man
who said “Damn,
For it certainly seems
that I am,
A creature that moves
In determinate grooves,
I’m not even a bus —
I’m a tram.”Repetitive swiping is, of course, very predictable, with very little variability, very little learning.
To induce complexity:
Routinely vary your approaches in everything you do. Try different productivity tools. Learn to use voice instead of typing. Learn to work with AI tools, watch an in-depth tutorial or a course. Run the meeting differently (physical stand-ups work wonders, most people can’t do more than 20 mins). Try a new template. Automate part of your workflow just to see what breaks. De-automate something that should be using your judgement and taste and deservers attention.
Revisit familiar material through a different modality—teach it (to a child), draw it, debate it. As Langer showed, deliberate variation makes even the well-rehearsed come alive. Meaning, you will have more fun doing it.
In your relationships, change context—take the conversation to a new location. How about a beautiful coffee spot for a serious family talk? Swap roles, e.g., you listen while the other leads without interrupting for a set number of minutes. Introduce a novel topic, or a set of topics. Do something you’ve never done together.
Comfort feels efficient but erodes our capability. Injecting constructive unpredictability is what reactivates learning.
A Framework for Operating in Complexity
Sense the edge – notice micro‑signals of rising discomfort: latency, ambiguity, emotional friction. These are not bugs; they are boundary markers.
Name the variables – write down what just became uncertain: scope, cadence, roles, stakes.
Insert intentional variance – add or remove one element (time cap, new tool, any random constraint) to expose hidden structures and infulences.
Surface reflection loops – capture transcripts, Miro boards and Figma sketches, experiment with prompts and model outputs; let AI summarise themes so humans can spot pattern‑breaks. Always good idea: use a time-tested framework, like AEIOU.
Build prototypes, cycle small, harvest insight – ship a sliver, gather feedback, adjust algorithm of action, repeat before comfort calcifies. Use crude agile structures like design sprints, plannings, demos. Use OODA loop for strategic decision-making.
Soft skills are becoming more and more critical. For millennia, we rely on our intelligence for work. If you are reading this, chances are you are using primarily your intelligence to earn a living. If we can’t cope with stress, our cognition worsens. We need to be able to notice and prevent adverse health consequences of stress. The stress, for most us, is at least partially mental; the fears — real and unreal — of future, the regrets and shocks of the past.
If don’t learn how to chill, we become stupid
Self-regulation and mindfulness skills, grounding and basic embodiment, emotional literacy and communication are becoming critical.
And only after comes technology, which, if abused, of course can lead to disastrous consequences for mental and physical health of those who abuse it. (We will discuss the very important subject of how not to get stuck in a narcissistic AI-driven echo chamber in a separate issue of our publication.
Why This Newsletter Exists
“Entropy Tenant” is a weekly field note for builders, managers and creators who choose the Complexity ring on purpose. Expect
observations and ideas about living within exponential growth
practical AI workflows (for all levels, ChatGPT-focuses for now)
research‑backed tips and behavioral hacks that help transform anxiety into a value-based action
short case studies from founders and creatives who ride the complexity wave
Share how you pay your daily entropy rent, and the most original experiments will feature in a future issue.
Until later,
— Gleb
PS. Will be sharing my renewed journey on my LinkedIn and on Insta.
References
Langer, E. J., Russell, T. M., & Eisenkraft, N. (2009). Orchestral performance and the power of mindful variability: Playing with passion. Psychology of Music, Harvard University. DOI: 10.1177/0305735607086053
Eckstrom, B. (2017). Why comfort will ruin your life [Video]. TEDxLincoln.