Month: October 2017

What is it?

Is it to make a profit? To make an “impact”? To make a difference in the world? To solve an interesting problem? To live a happy life? To be remembered?

What is the specific goal you are trying to achieve?

Once you have decided, everything you do is a means in achieving the goal.

Everything.

So what is it that we’re measuring in order to achieve the goal?

Examples:

The goal is not to lose weight but to live a healthy lifestyle, to feel good about oneself, to run and not be weary.

The goal is not to get to a good grade but to learn something, make yourself more marketable for a career.

Losing weight comes when you live a healthy lifestyle and you get good grades when you are an active seeker of truth and knowledge. Not the other way around.

As a rule, we improve what we measure. More often though, we are measuring the wrong things that don’t help us actually achieve the goal.

David Eagleman ran a fascinating experiment by rotating a circle with a flashing center. The participants were observing that the flashing light was slightly behind the circle–not inside it.

It turns out that our nerve impulses travel at a speed of 250 miles per hour and it takes 80 milliseconds after an action has occurred for our brains to process what has happened.

Think about that for a minute…

What we are thinking is happening “right now”, is actually the story of what our brain is narrating to us of what actually happened 80 milliseconds ago.

In other words, in everything we do the brain is waiting for the slowest information to arrive and it causes a delay.

We are always living in the past.

Contrary to what the media has told us, there has never been a safer period in human history to be alive.

Steven Pinker has shown deaths by homicide, worldwide battles and genocide are all down. Our culture has grown, we no longer accept torture and mutilation as a source of entertainment. We no longer chop off a limb or sentence someone to death / slavery for stealing a loaf of bread. Technology and the internet has brought us closer together. Human rights have shattered barriers. Resources are more abundant lifting entire nations out of poverty for the first time. Vaccinations are combating diseases. More people are dying of old age than ever before.

Yet, if the world is the safest it has ever been, why are we so afraid? The thing is we are more likely to be killed in a car accident than a terrorist attack.

Senseless crimes are still senseless. No question, we still have a long way to go. But it is important to note in the steps we have taken towards a just world, how far it is we have come. We need to realize that the fears we have of the world are often wrong, irrational and distorted because of the media we consume. We are led to believe things that distracts from being the person we are born to be.

One drop in the bucket is enough to tip of the scales.

With every interaction, with every contribution, with every generous act, the scales tip–bending towards justice.

Drip by drip by drip.

A recent study found that when it comes to conflict between rival groups (such as Republicans and Democrats or Israelis and Palestinians), each side felt that their group was motivated by love. When asked why their rival group was involved in the conflict they pointed to hate as the other groups motivating factor–meaning people feel that their position is “good” while those who oppose them are “bad.”

No matter what side of the *fence you’re on with any controversial issue, we can start at places where we can all agree upon:

Every human being deserves dignity, opportunity and respect. We all want to feel safe, we want to be happy, we want to be heard, we want to be missed when we are gone, we want to make contributions that matter, we want to leave the world a better place, we want freedom.

Bridging the gap of our differences begins with recognizing intent. People are us and we are people. We can’t go forward without each other.

*A note about fences or lines in the sand or any type of barrier that divides us, let’s also agree that these aren’t necessary to maintain. All human beings have 99.9% identical DNA, it is the 0.1% that makes us unique. We have more in common than we think. We are the same.

We have to be vigilant seekers of truth and not cement ourselves into thinking that there is one simple answer to very complex problems. Likewise, we can’t seduce ourselves to believe everything we read in our news feeds–they are designed to filter out opposing views and ideas.

Now that everyone has access to a microphone, people feel the need to correct other people’s behavior. Just because we can say something doesn’t mean we should.

If someone posted something that you don’t agree with that doesn’t mean you have to be the one to correct them. And it doesn’t mean you have to troll them looking for more holes in their argument. Crafting the perfect spite is a waste of everyone’s time and only makes things worse. It is okay to say, “Thank you. It’s not for me.”

No one will learn from the lesson you are teaching them, especially coming from a position of hostility, resentment and anger.

Better to understand where this person is coming from. How were they raised that lead them to believe in this? What kind of environment are they living that promotes this type of behavior?

Make no mistake: Lacking the courage to stand up, to stand out alone is one thing that I don’t want to discourage. Important is not the same as popular. If we are going to stand for something, we need to say something that is meaningful and important, not what we had for lunch. Better to show what we stand for by example, by sharing our projects and giving generously.

If someone is going to toss garbage your way, let is lie. No need to throw it back in their face. Leave that to the trolls and go back to your work. We are counting on you to make something happen. Don’t lose course.

“The problem with quotes found on the internet is that they are often not true.” – Abraham Lincoln

If all you see is the damaged, the toxic, the spoiled, you are likely to find it around every corner.

If you are looking for the generous, the caring, the unselfish you can find these characteristics in the people around you.

But if you still can’t see the good in people, maybe the company you keep needs to change. On the other hand, maybe your lens need to be adjusted.

Is that you can’t stop pedaling or you won’t get to where it is you want to go.

Having a bike just isn’t enough without someone riding it.

Have you ever noticed that the sun doesn’t actually disappear during a solar eclipse? It doesn’t cease to exist. No, it just appears that way.

The light is always there for us to access, even if we can’t see it.

We often think we are alone because we can’t see the forest from the trees.

It is an innate feeling in all of us–which means that the person sitting right next to you is likely waiting, desperately, for you to share your insights, for your connection.

If by “Whatever it takes” you mean…

If you say yes to this, what are you saying no to?

What is the challenge here?

What are your restraints?

When are you going to run out of money or time?

How is this going to affect the people around you?

Who do you want your customers to be?

What is the change you are seeking to make?

When is the last time you did something for the first time?

Are you prepared to find your own path, to throw away the map?

What is the worst that could happen?

Do you have the strength to push through the dip?

What do you fear most?

What else?

Then sure, “Whatever it takes” will suffice.

Of course, most managers that tell you to do “Whatever it takes” really don’t mean do whatever it takes. What they are really saying is to get it done–my way, the sure way to succeed. I don’t want to hear excuses. I want results. I want guarantees and certainties that this will work. I want deniability.

Zig used to say, “You can be a wondering generality or a meaningful specific.” Ask yourself what is it really going to take, identify everything that is going into this project and figure out if you have the guts to push through the dip.