What Is Humans?

We can go through life recklessly moving about day to day inefficiently bulldozing our way through obstacles in our way ultimately making it to our final destination battered and bruised or we can make things work for us. Our conversation today centers around structure being essential to our everyday lives. We create systems and tools to make our lives more efficient, but even that can be exhausting to even think about getting into place. It’s easy to sit back and kick our feet up after a hard day’s work without any desire to look back on or improve on our systems that we currently have in place. Nobody would blame you, you’re tired, you worked hard, we get it, but it could make your life a whole lot easier if you took the time today to save yourself one more headache tomorrow. 

We know that small things compound over time. Wasted hours here, wasted energy there, a few dollars down the drain every month. What's the harm? Well over time there’s a substantial amount of harm. Life is hard enough as it is. That's why in technology and biology we adapt to the world around us to become more efficient in our everyday functions. For example, our blood cells have a hole in the middle of them to help oxygen flow through them more quickly. In user interface and design engineers study for years on the best and most practical and efficient models to be as aerodynamic and user friendly as possible. We don’t need to spend years working and refining our systems, but rather let’s just begin. 

Whether we know it or not, we all have some structure that gets us through the day regardless of how loose that structure is. The point is we could be functioning at a much higher level if we implement structure and systems that allow us even on our worst days to perform at an optimal level. From putting your shoes out in the morning, to meal prepping there are a ton of systems and structures to help each and every one of us get better. It will take trial and error to find our what works for you, but the point is there is some system that you are already using, you might as well find the one that works to your advantage. 

Sometimes when things are going wrong it feels like everything is going wrong. Murphy’s law takes over and it can feel like our world is crashing down around us before our eyes. Routines, relationships, or activities that occupied much of our time and mental, physical and emotional capacity can disappear in a moment’s notice leaving us to pick up the pieces. It’s easy in moments like these to dwell in hardship, unable to see the silver lining that our friends and families try to tell us will be on the other side of tough times. The ability to see the silver lining or the learning moment in the face of adversity, can often be the moment that we recognize that all the “bad” things that were happening around us ultimately were setting us up for the next steps in our lives. 

Think back to your teen years, things like making the varsity team, the prom and other can’t miss moments feel like the end all be all of your existence. Now as an adult they probably don’t pass your mind all that often. Sure they are memories that will live with you forever, but relative to your experience now you recognize how insignificant some of those moments are now in the grand plan of it all. Our understanding of the world is fragile, it’s hard to understand and take in how small our problems are in regards to our existence at the moment. We overreact, get frustrated, and lash out when things don’t go our way. The thing that we constantly forget is that we are strong individuals, capable of adapting and overcoming adversity with the best of them. Think back to times when things didn’t go your way, sure you were sad in the moment, but ultimately you recovered and forged a new route that probably led you in a different and more fulfilling direction in anyways. 

It’s hard in real time to see the bigger picture, but throughout this episode we are looking for ways to understand that when things feel like they are falling apart in reality they are often falling into place for us. Tough battles and tests challenge us and make us resourceful. Recognize hardship as an opportunity and not as a condemnation from the gods. In most cases the reason that whatever happened happened because it wasn’t meant for you and that is ok, but the one thing that isn’t ok is staying there. Take a deep breath assess where you’re at and what your next move is going to be, we’ll bet it’s going to be even better than where you were at. 

“The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.” This quote perfectly encapsulates the necessity of mystery in our lives. Naturally we are trying to figure out the next step or the right path forward, one that is secure and safe and yields the most known result. This obviously isn’t incorrect, if anything this appears to be the most logical approach to life. Why would anyone do anything that they are unsure of what they are getting into in the first place? Mystery creates life, certainty creates death. Death of spontaneity, death of creativity, and ultimately death of a childlike wonder that lives inside of us. In order to create life we must push ourselves into the unknown so that we can live more fully.

The story of our lives is an exciting one, filled with mystery and adventure. Maybe you feel at home like my life isn’t that remarkable, surely you can’t be talking about me…The truth is we all have been given the gift of life and thus the gift of mystery and wonder as well. We have made decisions up to this point and already weaved a beautiful story. The most important part of this topic is to understand that whatever mystery you are telling, we have the ability to affect it. 

If you feel like life is mundane and boring at times, you can do something out of the ordinary and rewrite the script. If the last few chapters have seemed like you have been knocked down time and time again, that’s just the beginning of what will be an epic comeback! No matter what we do there is uncertainty, rather than look at that uncertainty as something terrifying, rather seize the opportunity to make it what you want.

So often in the news we read something shocking from a corporate juggernaut and just like a Hollywood film we all hold our breaths to see what the corporation will say in response. Sometimes a CEO acts out brashly and responds right away with no consultation, sometimes we hear no response leaving us all wondering whether they even care in the first place, and then sometimes a corporation responds just right. This is called a Public Relations Crisis, something that has its own name and industry in fact, because it is that important to most big name corporations. Experts have studied and acted on years of research to determine what exactly is the perfect strategy, and yet we rarely if ever take their advice in a personal crisis. 

Throughout our days inevitably we will have things come up that don’t go exactly according to plan, that’s what makes life interesting right…Well most of the time when we are knocked off track we can become emotional, angry, frustrated or just pissed. Naturally as human beings we look for ways to get the problem out of our control, blame traffic, our alarm clock not going off, or maybe a boss that isn’t giving us the opportunities to excel. This is all perfectly natural to feel after something goes awry, but remember that internal dialogue spinning in your head amidst crisis is training and creating patterns. Those patterns sense trouble and recognize our negative and passive response. Next time something bad happens our brains naturally will create that connection again, rewiring us to believe that this is the correct response to crisis no matter how big or small. 

Just like a Big Fortune 500 corporation it is equally important to consult with your team before responding emotionally. Take the time to address the situation and see where you are at, respond quickly and think about next steps and how you can be a part of the solution or what you are doing to rectify the situation. The same way those corporations think about crises, so should you. By training our minds to take emotion out of the equation and rather lead with logic, we can more quickly become problem solvers. As we begin to practice responding to adversity with the precision and excellence of a whole industry behind us, small inconveniences no longer feel like the world is crashing down on us but rather like a drop of rain. Practice controlling the narrative within your mind and you will begin to see how big problems soon become small opportunities instead.

We are always trying to create within our lives whether we know it or not. Creating opportunities for ourselves or our loved ones through work, creating memories with friends and family, and of course creating the lives that we have always dreamed of. Now when we put it in those terms it can seem unbelievably daunting to try and undertake. Creating something from nothing is unbelievably difficult, just ask a magician or a successful entrepreneur. Discovery on the other hand feels like a path we have all been down before. Learning about new things in school or at work, learning about the world and how it operates, and of course always learning more and more about ourselves. While these two ideas seem miles apart from each other, the sweet spot is actually a place where the two meet. If we can find a place where we no longer remember whether we created something or rather discovered it we are probably on the right path. 

Creating your dream life is difficult, to say the least, but creating circumstances that allow you to discover your dream life seems possible even on a micro level. By creating circumstances that force us out of our comfort zones we can then begin to discover more things about ourselves and the world around us and what we want from it. By creating an environment for learning we are able to discover what makes ourselves tick and truly get up and go in the morning. Discovery only comes when we are searching for meaning and fulfillment in our endeavors. 

Create circumstances in your life that you can look back on and forget whether you created them or you discovered them. Learning more about ourselves is what makes us better for people around us. Never stop trying to create chances and moments to discover what you were meant to do in this world, because the moment you stop trying to create those moments you lose sight of discovering who you truly are.

In this week’s episode we talk about a new thought that comes off the back of themes that we have discussed many times over like finding fulfillment and following your curiosity. The initial idea for this conversation came from an essay titled, “How To Do Great Work” by Paul Graham. It should be noted that Paul Graham is an amazing computer scientist, most famous for his work on Lisp, Viaweb which later became Yahoo Store, and then startup accelerator and seed capital firm Y combinator. First off, the title of the essay itself, “How To Do Great Work,” caught our eye. Something that is so simple such as doing great work seemingly has an enormous amount of depth and layers to achieve. 

In order to do great work, you have to first and foremost find something you have a natural aptitude for, something  that you are interested in, and finally a field that has room for expansion. The first two are hard enough to check the box on, but in order to know if a field has room for expansion, you have to go to the edge of that field of knowledge. As you dive deeper into the field that you are interested in you will then discover what once looked like the edge of what we know, has new and undiscovered opportunities for you to uncover. These are the gaps that lie all around us that are just waiting to be exposed. 

Most people rarely ever find out a way to figure out how to find what fulfills them and in turn how they could possibly churn out good work over a lifetime. You can clearly be good at something, but not love it and the same goes for the opposite, you can have an interest in something, but ultimately just not be that great at it. This episode is all about finding that sweet spot and noticing the gaps that you uniquely fit in. Don’t settle for anything other than greatness! 

We consistently go through changes, specifically in our identities. We change jobs, relationships and roles. We mean different things to different people all the while trying to figure out who we are to ourselves. When these changes happen and new habits and ideas are formed it can take up to two years before our psychological self realizes this. Even though other aspects of our life have changed there is no denying that it takes time for other parts of our mind and emotions to catch up. We continue to grapple as do others with the new journeys that we embark on which can lead to some very tricky circumstances. 

Have you ever found that your interests, or what you found important was changing and you became conflicted? Well it turns out that is natural, we are all on different progressions throughout our lives, but it's uncomfortable when or how they come about. As we start to do these new things we pine for past activities and relationships that gave us stability and meaning. It may not set in until years later that you have truly changed despite having to mentally or emotionally convince yourself. Your setting and your circumstances have changed, but “you” haven’t. 

We have to allow ourselves grace throughout this journey as we recognize the new ways that we find joy and fulfillment. Coming to grips with this can be traumatic for those around us and ourselves, therefore the worst thing we can do is try and blame our changing identities on anyone. It isn’t our friend's faults or our faults. Residual effects from our change in identity is hard to understand and hard to calculate when it will come about, but just try and understand that what grounded you and gave you emotional support for so long is changing now, and that takes time to understand.

 “Pressure is a privilege,” was a quote that was said by Billie Jean King. She was one of the greatest female tennis players of the 20th century. Today we discuss this idea that she built much of her career on. The idea that pressure is a gift that only those who earn it can receive is contradictory to much of the human experience. We spend most of our time trying to avoid pressure, stress and deadlines. A popular phrase is the feeling of being, “stressed out.” Stressing out to the point of worry or exhaustion feels like an altogether different feeling than what Billie was referring to. 

Pressure in this instance refers to channeling stress in a healthy way to sharpen our own skills and life. Without pressure we can become lackluster and soft, with no motives or incentives placed in front of us why would we do anything at all. Today we will discuss the ways that we can take the opportunity to apply more pressure in our daily lives in order to earn that privilege. 

The game winning shot isn’t just given to anyone…it is earned. Whether the shot goes in or out you have to earn the position to take the shot. Going after a big dream or goal is daunting, but you have to earn your seat at the table. Pressure is inevitable especially as we rise up the ranks in our careers, hobbies and daily lives. We can either embrace the challenge and welcome the opportunity to take the game winning shot, or we can shy away from it, allowing others to hold our fate in their hands while we look on. Challenge yourself to welcome the pressure into your life, you are more than capable of handling it.

Pain and suffering are always present, we have talked about that many times before, the difference is how we approach it. We have to make thousands of decisions a day and each of them have some form of “i don’t want to do that”. As a conscious individual it is imperative that we recognize when these feelings come to fruition and what we do about them. We have the option to ignore the fear, and pain that comes with making hard decisions or we can embrace them. Attacking the hardest parts of the day is the key to moving past the fear of pain and hardship. 

The minute we can wrap our minds around the fact that things are going to be difficult day in and day out, we can accept what the course of action looks like. The more that we ignore that course of action the more it hangs over our heads. It’s like waiting until the last minute to do your hardest assignment. All day you would be thinking about how awful that is going to be and dreading it the entire day. The opposite reaction is doing the most difficult thing first with the right mindset and the rest of the day is a cakewalk. 

When we can approach our day with the mindset of embrace vs ignore we begin to understand how our mind can dictate the way we feel about objective tasks. We are emotional beings, imperfect by nature, but if we can understand that and attack the hard tasks before they are allowed to fester in our minds, big dreams that seemed insurmountable become much more digestible. From the moment we wake up we have a decision to make…attack attack or retreat…embrace or ignore. 

We all have to take a risk at one point or another in our lives. It could be a risk as small as trying a new food, or something as big as going after your dreams. The conversation around risk often goes the same way. It starts and ends with…”what’s your backup plan?” Meaning if you fail, how are you going to hedge your bets in order to be ok. The idea that you would have a backup plan and not go all in on your dreams contradicts everything the very confidence you have in achieving the goals you have. The argument that we are making today around the idea of risk, is that with a world changing so rapidly the greatest risk that you can actually take is to not take any risk at all. 

To play it safe, stay the course, and do what has always been done in the past feels like it is the safest route, but it also lacks the most control. Betting on yourself is the one risk that you should be most confident in. When it comes to yourself, there should be no escape or backup plans. The minute that we begin to doubt ourselves is the minute that we have already begun to sabotage ourselves. The act of taking risks and believing in ourselves is one that we can practice daily. Start with something small and work your way up, by the time you go to take that big leap you will be so used to taking risks that it will just seem like another day. 

Finally, it’s important to change our mindset around risk in general. Risk inherently in society feels like a taboo word or topic, doing something out of the norm always will be. If betting on yourself and trying new things is normal for you however, that will begin to feel normal. We are more capable that we could ever imagine, now it’s time to believe in it. Take the risk and make a splash, going half in on anything means that is exactly how much you will get out of it…half.