3-2-1: On Passion VS Practicality, Competition VS Cooperation, and Ego VS Creativity
Wisdom Wednesday #18
Hey fam,
It's time for your weekly does of wisdom (now in a new, denser, 5-minutes-or-less format!)
Here's 3 ideas from me, 2 quotes from others, and 1 question for you to mull over this week.
3 Ideas From Me:
I.
You'll be happier at the bottom of something you love than at the top of something you hate.
Our desire for stability and status can drive us to achieve, but it can also trap us in the golden handcuffs of "too good to leave but too bad to stay."
Know: freedom, fulfillment, and impact will always feel better than money, status, and stability.
And, when you pursue the former, you'll achieve the latter far quicker than you think.
II.
If you want to win in the short term: compete. If you want to win in the long term: cooperate.
When you defeat others, you get the majority of what's available right now.
When you help others win, you massively increase the total available in the future.
Ex: spending your energy cooperating to build a bigger company will always net more for you than competing over position in a fixed company.
And this is only compounded by the fact that when you raise other's up, they'll feel compelled to bring you with them.
III.
How much you know about something means nothing if you can't communicate it.
Most knowledge is only useful at scale.
Knowing "the right way" to run a company doesn't matter if you can't get your team on board.
Knowing "the right way" to have a relationship doesn't matter if you can't get your partner on board.
Even knowing "the right way" to run a country doesn't matter if you can't get the population on board.
And blaming others for their part, while a nice scapegoat, doesn’t actually do anything useful.
If you want to make change: learning the arts of persuasion, communication, and influence are just as important as knowing which change you want to make.
2 Quotes From Others:
I.
1912 Nobel Prize winning surgeon and biologist, Alexis Carrel, on self improvement and courage as necessities to thrive in a post-industrial world:
"Science, which has transformed the material world, gives man the power of transforming himself. It has unveiled some of the secret mechanisms of his life. It has shown him how to alter their motion, how to mold his body and his soul on patterns born of his wishes.
"For the first time in history, humanity has become master of its destiny. But will we be capable of using this knowledge of ourselves to our real advantage?
"To progress again, man must remake himself. And he can cannot remake himself without suffering. For he is both the marble and the sculptor. In order to uncover his true visage he must shatter his own substance with heavy blows of his hammer.”
Source: Man, The Unknown (1935)
II.
Comedian and host of the world's largest podcast, Joe Rogan, on how reducing ego is a prerequisite to creativity:
"One of the things about creativity seems to be that if think about yourself a lot, if you're really into your self, or your image or you're selfish, those ideas don't find you... which is one of the reasons the people that steal jokes are terrible writers. If they have to write on their own, they become terrible comedians. Because the thing that would make you steal a person's idea is that ego part—the wanting to claim it for yourself, the wanting to "be the man", the "I wanna’ be the person who get's out there and says it and everyone's going to love me for it". You can't think like that and be creative. It requires a humility and a detachment from self in order to create."
Source: Lex Fridman Joe Rogan Interview
1 Question For You:
And finally, here’s one question to ponder this week:
What is one thing I am better at or know more about than anyone I know? How could I leverage this to improve my income, impact, or freedom?
That's all for today!
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Catch you next time,
Matt