Prove Me Wrong: All Of Life Is A Game Of Luck
You were born with a functional brain.You were born outside of a warzone.You were born as a human being with opposable thumbs.You were born right here, in this century.You were born with the desire to improve yourself and the world.You were born with enough resources to get the traction to start making things happen in your life.You were born with the opportunities to learn social skills.You were born with the opportunities to work for a living.I could keep going, but I think you get the point.You're lucky. I'm lucky. Most of us are lucky.All those thoughts in your head that tell you the opposite aren't considering the whole context.And without getting into the long explanation of the subtle, nuanced interaction between DNA and environment . . . I think we can all appreciate how much luck we had before we even started.
2 Minute Action
Reframe your thoughts for the next 2 minutes.
- What ways have you been successful?
- What gifts have you been given?
- What opportunities do you have?
Reflect on this and it will turn it into positivity and optimism.That optimism will quickly turn it into your fuel for the day.Go get 'em.
The Brain Hack From The 60s That Still Works Today
Your brain works on a reward circuit.
- Stimulus.
- Behavior.
- Reward.
That's the cycle.
Example:
- You see the living room is dirty and kinda smelly.
- You spray Febreeze.
- It smells fantastic.
That's the whole cycle and its part of everything we do as humans. No matter what you want to do, you will need to face this cycle.In fact, super successful products like Febreeze, Listerine, and Coca-Cola have built-in rewards that increase consumption behavior from customers.This isn't new--it's called reinforcement and it was coined by B.F. Skinner and the other Behaviorist Psychologists in the 60s.
It works in business and it works in life.
If you want to build a habit, break a habit, stop dating the same type of person, start exercising more, finish that novel, improve test scores, increase sales, decrease staff turnover, quit smoking, eat healthily, or WHATEVER . . .You're going to need to understand this basic, fundamental human circuit for behavior and how people respond to it.If your employees feel crummy every time they talk to you, they are going to stop talking to you and leave.If your students feel empowered and capable every time they leave your class, they're going to show up and try hard.If your customers feel like they didn't get what they expected, they are not going to tell you (they'll tell their friends) and they are not going to come back.
2 Minute Action
What's a habit or behavior you want to start, stop, or otherwise change?Don't stop there.What's the stimulus, behavior, and reward?It's up to you to identify, test, and solve for this reward circuit. If you're serious about getting your results, you're going to need to figure out how to hack your own behavior and do what you need to do.
"A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying."- B.F. Skinner
[SERIES] 2/7 Unpopular Belief: Be Good At One Thing
In his list of directives, Derek Sivers refers to this idea as pursuing market value instead of personal value.
Part 2 of the 7 Unpopular Beliefs Series
Don't be a starving artist!
When I was I college, I spent a lot of time studying and training for what I wanted to do: brain research.I was studying the neuroscience of the developing brain. I wasn't thinking about how much money I'd have later, or the value I was worth as a researcher. I was just thinking "hey, brains are really important and really interesting. I bet I could help a lot of people if I understood how they develop and how they work."I was sort of right.It turns out, researchers can bring a lot of money for their institutions. At Penn State, a top research institution, people are often surprised to find out that the amount of money researchers bring in far exceeds that of the football program. It's not even close.Anyway, the point is that what I wanted to do and what was valuable had a great overlap. This is called "an opportunity."If you're in love with the idea of being a starving artist, don't be mad when you are starving and can't help anyone else because you need to take care of yourself.
Go where the opportunities and money are.
If you are trying to help people, this can only lead to good outcomes. Your hard work in combination with opportunity will yield.Here's an equation for success that I pulled from a book Michael Johnson (the Olympic gold medal sprinter) wrote:
Success = Hard Work (Talent + Opportunity)
The notable part of this equation is realizing that if Opportunity is 0, the whole thing nulls out.Also notable, is the understanding that Hard Work is the multiplier. This means if your effort is distributed across many projects you're less able to drive up the success of any one of them.
Focused, deliberate effort applied in a single direction can lead to a hefty multiplicative factor.
The tricky part is that I truly believe that if you want to develop personal value, you need to be good at lots of things.Here's the conundrum:If you want to make a difference to the world, you're going to have to build something the world values--not just something that you personally value.It's up to you to pick and adjust. It's not that you can only do one thing for the rest of your life. It's just that if you choose too many, you will have a hard time getting the flywheel moving.
In fact, it's not always a good thing to make a career out of the things you really like.
Examples might include and are not limited to: sex, drugs, rock/roll, etc.
2 Minute Action
Make a list of the things you love to do.Make a list of the types of impact you're making.If you had to choose only 3 in each category, which would they be?Great. Now pick one in each category.Remember, each of these is fighting for its life for your attention and hard work.You don't have to decide your entire future in 2 minutes. But you do have to start with a change.