You’re tired and we tell ourselves we can’t go any further.
But what if you were asked to take one more step?
Chances are you could take another. I mean it’s only one more step, right?
And then asked to take another. And then another.
When we break down a marathon to steps it seems to be so much more doable. Because it is.
You probably got more in you than you think. Take another step.
Telling someone they are privileged when they don’t see themselves as such is shocking. Because they know how hard they worked to get where they are. The effort is separate from the advantages one has that others don’t.
Perhaps, you were born in a rich country, you’re a male, white, had opportunities for education, a two-parent household.
Let’s go deeper: A warm bed, food on the table, your parents made more than three dollars per day, clean water, transportation, were taught the dominant language.
Another level: Safety was abundant. You grew up in a household with expectations.
Advantages are not something to be ashamed of. They are, however, important to recognize when telling ourselves a story of inefficiency–which all humans like to do. Understanding the limitations of others humbles us when we drink the Kool-Aid.
The well-worn path is available to most of us with an email address.
By contrast, shortcuts on a hiking trail lead to erosion. Compromising the trail for the rest. Creating problems for the rest of us.
Smart cuts–more difficult to see and to create–are the sustainable path forward for visionaries.
Hand someone an iPhone from 200 years ago, they wouldn’t even know what to do with it.
Network effects only work when there is a network to draw upon.
One fax machine is useless until someone else gets one.
Technology and tools and money often feed our egos–we think we are more sophisticated than we are.
It’s easy to think we have come such a far way. But are we evolved or are the tools just better?
We are all products of our time.
It’s almost certain that 200 years ago, I would have been a farmer or perhaps a blacksmith or an ice dealer.
I would not be running a nonprofit that helps teens improve their mental health through adventure activities.
If I was born in a different place, I would eat their food, worship their God and play their games.
We are all products of our time. So much of what we do is based on where we start.
Extremism is born from the absence of duality.
The extremist wants to extinguish this tension that opposing ideas create.
He works overtime to keep things as they are not what they can be.
COVID-19 vaccines have been a marketing problem.
12 people are responsible for disinformation of vaccines. Just seeing a couple posts about vaccine misinformation can cause an 8% increase in vaccine hesitancy.
Even with 7 billion vaccines administered, people are still hesitating. Data is not enough to change our minds. They amplify a story we are telling ourselves.
Even though data isn’t enough, we still need to understand it to craft the right kind of story.
Recent posts on COVID data:
Our world on data
Nassim Taleb
A learning a day
I agree with Rohan Rajiv that in 2022 with vaccines becoming available to most and the development of the anti-viral pill we will return to a new normal.
Isn’t to write an email or to have a meeting.
It certainly isn’t to have a review or to work on the logo.
The next step is to do the difficult work that you are afraid to do.
That is always available for us to choose each day.
Jacqueline Novogratz recounts how she created a gift drive of Christmas presents to a family in need. Excited putting the gifts together, they had a sinking feeling walking toward the house when they can see that this particular family had struggled with poverty. Perhaps, they went over the top? What if this embarrasses the parents? Too afraid to see them, she left the gifts at the door and took off.
It’s easy to get in this cycle of doing things towards people. Change is much more powerful when we do things with people.
We all need to be rescued. Even if we think we are the ones who play the role as rescuer.
But what kind of grace are you giving the others?
It’s easy to see our flaws and imperfections because we truly know what kind of effort we are bringing to the table.
Yet, we can only guess what everyone else is bringing. And if someone’s doing less then we often assume they must be bringing less effort.
Give the A to those around you. If not, you are giving them less than what they probably deserve and won’t hear what they have to say.
We all are rational actors. Not because we see things objectively, but we keep talking ourselves into any narrative we create.
