Josh Allred's Blog

When two ideas are not consistent with each other it creates tension. So much so, that humans will go to great lengths, create elaborate narratives, to have the current information fit the worldview. Not the other way around.

Overtime it presents an immense challenge:

You become in a perpetual state of denial of your own reasoning power.

Which, by the way, is how cults thrive–the masses surrender their agency. You forget to reason and override your own perception of reality.

Difficult to change course when someone has been living in denial for so long. But I am confident that the truth eventually prevails. No matter how slow.

Because sometimes fantasy is better than real life.

It can be a defense mechanism or just a way to cope with our existence. Either way, our narrative will often betray us because it’s seductive enough to live in our dreams instead of seeing the world as it really is.

We give ourselves permission to escape when our realities don’t match our expectations.

Barry Ritholtz wrote a phenomenal piece about the hero’s journey.

He is absolutely correct that a single event is the result of many choices and circumstances. Luke Skywalker doesn’t just wake up and say, “I’m going to go blow up the Death Star today.” And 9/11 just didn’t happen out of nowhere.

If we are waiting for our moment in our life–the climax–where everything changes after, we are going to be waiting for a long time. In fact, I would argue that we are hiding instead.

A hero’s journey isn’t as dramatic as Hollywood would make it out to be. It could be sitting down, opening the computer and typing that book that you always wanted to write. It could be volunteering and opening your home to refuges. It could be pushing back on the status quo, squashing conspiracy theories, or speaking up about a policy that discriminates a class of people.

The hero’s journey is not necessarily wrapped in life or death situations. Most of us are not going to have an opportunity to jump in front of a bullet or run into a burning building. Don’t wait for a single event to occur to spring yourself into action. A warrior doesn’t decide to become one in times of peril. They become the kind of person that generously serves those around them.

We are products of our time. In many ways, the world is safer than it has ever been. But it doesn’t mean there are not problems. Problems that need to be solved and that also create opportunities for hero’s to emerge. Regardless of the media exposure. Do the right thing. Without the awards or recognition.

If you want to become a writer just start writing. Every day commit to sitting down at your computer and type.

The hard part is becoming the kind of person that writes every day.

Because life happens. Enthusiasm drops. You feel like a fraud. You lack “good” ideas.

When you can figure out that transformation, you’ve figured out something special that can translate to other areas of your life.

Thank you for reading. Here’s to 2,000 and to another 2,000 more.

On we go.

Of course, as a culture we have decided that marketing cigarettes to children is unethical. Yet, we haven’t found the political will to put guardrails on how Instagram is able to market to teens.

We know that the more Instagram that teens use the worst they feel about themselves.

Here are the highlights of the WSJ expose on what Instagram knows it is doing to teens:

• 40 percent of those who reported feeling “unattractive” said the feelings started when using Instagram.
• Facebook’s top executives concluded that Instagram was engineered towards greater “social comparison” than rival apps like TikTok and Snapchat.
• Teens told Facebook’s researchers that they felt “addicted” to Instagram and wanted to check it less often, but didn’t have the self-control to do it.
• “Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression,” said internal research by Facebook.
• Facebook found that among teens who said they had suicidal thoughts, 13 percent of UK users and 6 percent of US users said these impulses could be tracked back to Instagram.

We live in the age of junk food media or digital cigarettes. Whatever analogy you want to use, if we were to relabel the product, perhaps we be more cautious in how we use it.

We are not the customers, we are the products.

Many are mistaking research with “I googled it”. Research is the painstaking process of purposely putting yourself in a position of incompetence and then doing the work until you’re competent again. Reading a couple tweets or your Facebook feed or clicking a couple articles doesn’t change our narrative, it reinforces it.

We need to rely on experts because most of us don’t actually understand how vaccines work. Sure, we have basic concepts but there is an intellectual debt accrued. I don’t know how to work on cars so I go to a mechanic. I know some basics but ultimately I am trusting the expert to tell me what needs to happen next. The same is true if I am going to take Ibuprofen.

And yes, finding the right experts to trust can be harder than ever. In the last 20 years, government, banks, etc have failed the people. The mistrust is warranted. But listening to all sides makes zero sense. I don’t need to listen to a conspiracy theorist that hasn’t done the reading and lacks the credentials. We can toss that opinion to the side. We all know we live in an era of disinformation–someone is the sucker in the room. We need to find experts and listen to them not because they know everything but because the probability that they are right is much higher than a conspiracy theorist.

When 96% percent of doctors in the US are vaccinated and nearly 6 billion doses are administered worldwide–what are we actually talking about? Because there is a clear consensus and not a string of dead bodies from the vaccine. We are talking about ideology not science or truth seeking. What we are actually talking about is tribal. If I speak up against what my tribe has shown to stand for then I am hitting too close to who I am as a person. What happens if the tribe now throws me out?

We are biologically wired to connect, to fit in with those around us. We don’t want to stand out. Which leads us to the problem of self deception:

We all believe we are rational actors. As such we will continue to deny or go through great lengths to uphold a fragile worldview. Cherry picking the facts and fitting it into the cannon–the story we are already telling ourselves.

The mountain that you’ve chosen is not the mountain you have to die on.

Here’s the problem about explaining how to solve complex problems on Twitter:

There is more than one answer to the question.

Climate change, the pandemic, gun control, the border, universal healthcare, government and politics, education, the prison system–every major area in our lives needs radical change.

Yet, we think we have the answer if people would just listen. The hubris, right?

Each of us (including myself) think we are rational actors. The reality is we are all biased in how we see the world. We have blind spots, lack the education and ignore the data to fit a narrative.

I feel like the conversation we should be have is learning to see.

You can’t see until you learn how to see. And then we can discuss the solution.

Every day you live, you are impacting the planet.

The people, the culture, the environment–all of it.

It’s up to us to decide what kind of impact we are going to make.

Drip by drip.

And yet…

“You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the ocean in a drop.” – Rumi (13th Century)

What we do matters. Make it count.

Ikigai is Japanese for your reason of being. It’s your why. And when you have your why figured out you can move the next level.

Itadakimasu. Which means to receive something humbly. Usually for a meal. But it can also mean receiving whatever may come your way. Not just the good stuff but all the trials and tribulations. We can humbly receive them. Because we know, deep down, the struggles is where we grow.

I can quickly Google all the details about the War of 1812.

I can’t Google how to get Pivot Adventure off the ground and how to get to where it is today.

There is a huge gap in knowledge. If it can be Googled then it isn’t that valuable.

You can’t google what happens tomorrow. There is no clear path, no step-by-step set of instructions to follow.

Develop a skill that can’t be life hacked and you are on the right track for something special.