The best ideas are counterintuitive.
Concepts that aren’t immediately obvious are just interesting. They change your perspective once you think hard enough about them, and make everything more nuanced. The good thing about them is, if you look hard enough they’re all around you.
Here’s a few examples.
Being first in the local race feels better than being last at the Olympics
If you are racing in the Olympics, you’re better than most at your sport.
You should feel great about yourself and accomplished. But if you come in last, you won’t.
Instead, if you can barely run but come in first at your neighborhood amateur race, you’ll be elated. Even if you are a thousand times worse than that last olympian.
It’s all about context.
History is all shrunk down
We are closer to Cleopatra than Cleopatra was to the Great Pyramid of Giza.
We tend to flatten really large periods of time so that they feel essentially a single time. When Cleopatra was the queen of Egypt, the great pyramid of Giza was 2400 years old. That makes the Pyramid 300 years older to her than she is to us.
Time perception is weird that way.
You think almost certainly too short term
Imagine your car breaks down. While it’s raining. On your way to a job interview.
If you’re like me, that will fuck up your day. You’ll start thinking that your life sucks, and this kind of shit always happens to you, and on and on. But, in one year, or even two weeks, you won’t even particularly remember that event. It will just be a crazy story for drinks with friends. All of that despair for nothing. Similarly, when you need to take a hard life decision, you generally go with the immediate or near-term rewards, and that includes (but isn’t limited to) “feeling good right now”.
Ask yourself: when I’ll be 80, will I regret taking/not taking this opportunity? Which I might regret more?
That last one is a tip from Jeff Bezos. So give it a go, and let me know how that works for you!
Some thoughts this post makes me think of –
Longer time horizons are always key. Rocking chair test is also a must.
I always find it ironic that people talk about getting out of their comfort zones but hate the idea of being uncomfortable. Cognitively understanding that it’s one thing, but the feeling is another. I’ve had the same performance coach for the last two years now and I continue to be reminded that when I feel the fear, that’s when I need to act.
This post makes me think of a favorite video of mine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAFcHMidJj8
Completely agree, Steven! Comfort zones are hard to leave because, well, they’re comfortable. Fear, used right, is a great trigger. That’s also really hard to achieve!
Love the video too, Jocko is kind of strong on the stoicism view of the world.