Turning This Negative Thing Into A Positive Is Totally In Your Control
I was demoralized.I was sitting on my front porch, looking into my hands.I was holding a cigarette.I had just smoked a cigarette for the first time in 2 weeks.What made it worse was that I had just gotten home from the gym.I had gone 2 weeks without a cigarette, was eating healthy, was exercising, and now--this.I crushed it into the bowl with the others.Regret.Self-loathing.Anger.But it was the last one . . . anger.That was what offered me the energy to try again.I walked inside, reset my focus, and headed out for the day.I've quit smoking many times, but that time was one of the last.I've now been completely smoke-free for 4 years.It wasn't the patch--I tried that.It wasn't the gum--I tried that, too.It definitely wasn't dieting or exercise, either.It was all of this, together with the people around me, and an eagerness to convert anger into fuel.That was my first experience being relentless-- and it's paying off.After you crash and after you feel the wave of emotions that inevitably strike--remember that you have a choice.The rest is up to you.
2 Minute Action
Choose 1 of these things to accomplish, today.
- 15 Pushups
- 10 Sales Calls
- 1 Difficult conversation
- Call a parent, mentor, or role model and ask for support
You don't have to do everything, that's impossible.You just have to do something. Make it small--that part doesn't matter.Just start.
Where Have All The Geniuses Gone?
You've been taught that there's a right answer and that there's a way to get there.Transitive Property.Pythagorean Theorem.Grammer.There's a right way and there's a wrong way.We're only going to ask you questions to which we adults already know the answers.But when was the last time school taught kids to work on problems that had no right answers?When was the last time we prepared them to fail again and again and again, without knowing when it would finally make sense?School was designed to create compliant factory workers, not geniuses.If I asked you to name a genius, you'd probably say Einstein.And you'd probably say that he was a genius because of his DNA.Almost no one would refer to an idea as genius, but would rather refer to the person as one.And the statistical probability of having more geniuses is higher than ever, now that we're around 8 billion people on the planet.So we know it's not the DNA.
So then where are all the benevolent geniuses?
The problem isn't the DNA, the problem is the system with which we're educating.And if you want to have a society where people have genius ideas, relentless execution, and profound social impact, we're going to need a system that's thoughtful, enriching, and practical enough to give people a chance.There are geniuses all over the place, we just never notice in the Age of Distraction.And the cool thing is that anytime you've had an original idea, you've been one, too.
2 Minute Action
When was the last time you put your phone down for 5 hours so you could zoom out, identify and solve problems you're facing?Perhaps a better question is: when will you?It takes 2 minutes to look through your calendar and block out the time.You're ready.You don't need to "know what you're doing," because no one does.That's just the reflex your schooling has installed in your brain.You're ready.You have everything you need to start.Go.
How The Data Will Hurt You
Blockbuster said, "our data show that people still like the experience of walking into a store and choosing a movie."The FBI had all the data they needed on September 10th in their Sentinel program, but they were unable to communicate on time.So what happened?
BLOCKBUSTER
People like sitting on the couch and watching Netflix for $7 more than going into a store. And Blockbuster's billion-dollar empire is down to one remaining store somewhere in Alaska.They thought they had all of the data in front of them but weren't looking at the whole picture.
FBI
The FBI didn't know what they knew. They had everything they needed to put the case together but their Virtual Case File system couldn't help different departments put the picture together.They had records of Al Qaeda activists entering the country in the weeks and months before 9/11. One office was suspicious of a specific terrorist.Another department wondered why so many suspicious foreigners were getting flight training. Another had someone on a watch list but never told anyone. No one in the Bureau ever put it all together
The Moral of the Story
Obviously, we can see here that having the data is important, but processing and analyzing it is equally important for a successful outcome (at least in a zero-sum game like these examples).The issue with the "Information Age" that we're living in now is that we're flooded with what looks like data. Yet, scientific literacy in the United States is surprisingly low considering the resources available.I'm not talking about fake news and Twitter bots.I'm talking about what people choose to believe without inspecting the source of information.The insights that can come along with analyzing data are just as inaccessible as if we had no data at all, and sometimes worse.The data are useless if we don't have the critical thinking skills to detect what's b.s. and what's valuable.The data are dangerous if we mistake b.s. for value and proliferate it.
2 Minute Action
What is a primary source? Secondary source?What does "empirically supported" mean?It takes 2 minutes to look up these definitions. Hopefully, they help you ask better questions about the information that enters your view.It's up to you to define your world-view and perspective.Use data.Be relentless in your pursuit of the truth.And when you err, err on the side of helping others.