What Is Humans?

It can be hard to keep track of things when it moves so fast, but if we don’t keep track things can get lost and blown out of proportion. Whether it’s your metaphorical bank account or your goals the only way to keep track of things is to stay on top of them. Being your own accountant allows you to take agency over the goals you set and keep track of the progress along the way. 

When we set out to achieve big goals it’s easy to get lost in the weeds, that’s why we have to create smaller more achievable goals along the way. By taking the emotion out of decisions and goals we can focus on putting one foot in front of the other. Accountants are logical and when it comes to numbers it is very black and white. 

Keep your account open and visible this week and look at the way you're spending energy and time to ultimately achieve your goals. Celebrate the wins and visualize future successes. We can’t achieve what we can’t see. 

We are constantly taking actions in our lives, doing things every single moment of every day. Sometimes these actions are selfless and for others and sometimes they are for ourselves. What happens when some actions are for others and for ourselves? Maybe you bring a bottle of wine over to a housewarming party to show you care, what if you send a late email to surprise your boss that you’re working extra late to get a new promotion? Some actions are never just as they seem, some can have ulterior motives. 

Ulterior motives are extrinsic or alternative reasons for doing something, especially when concealed or differing from the stated reason. They can come up as feelings inside, maybe I want someone to like me, maybe I secretly want something from someone like a raise. There is a fine line that we walk with ulterior motives, the internal battle with ourselves and then the line externally that can stretch as far as manipulation of others. Ulterior Motives are usually concealed and come from the idea that others may not accept an agenda of our own. 

Rather than concealing our true feelings and motives, there is an innate freedom that comes with being honest about them. Tell your boss you want the promotion and ask how to get it, ask genuinely of others that you want to make a good impression. Is there anything I should bring? This honesty with others can be freeing and relieving for others but most often relieving for ourselves. When we share our goals and motives with the world, often times the world rewards us, by answering us with honesty in return.

Winter, it's cold, lifeless and full of food. These are some of the normal things we associate with this season of the year. It’s a time to celebrate, be with family and friends and more than anything curl up in a ball and drench yourself in comfort. While this is our natural instinct to the cold and windy nights of the season, it doesn’t seem like it's necessarily the most advantageous reaction to the cold. 

We have a couple of different options, we can give into the cold and let it dictate our next 18 weeks, or we can fight against the cold and accept it for what it is, an opportunity. A moment in which we can forge a routine and a path ahead that ultimately puts us in the driver’s seat coming forward into the new year. We usually curl up and wait for the new year before we put a plan together and really think about what the future could look like, but this season we want to do it a little differently. 

Limit your decisions and your distractions this holiday season and think about who you want to be on the other side of this winter season. If we can put in place a plan and goals for the new year, this will breed decisions that will be made with or without the presence of the cold weather. Our environment is often something we try and control, but in other times our response to our environment is what’s much more important.

 In a world where it seems we have more time than ever, the one thing that seems lost is a sense of urgency. A skill that seems like a must to achieve insurmountable goals we set for ourselves, can be very hard to come by and leave us wondering if it is our fault or the goal’s fault. The real question then lies in the way that we curate this urgency, if it comes naturally, like in moments of peril or when a superior needs something of us, or if we can create that urgency ourselves. 

Our environment as always can play a large role in the way that we approach a sense of urgency. Never out of control, but also not leaving anything on the table either. A cool calm and brisk pace that allows us to succeed or fail fast and often ultimately allowing us to win the day. There are always going to be varying degrees of urgency, not every day is the same, but long term success starts with short term habits and one of those lies in the way we approach every task every day. 

Begin to think about the obstacles that potentially stand in our way, the things that make it difficult for us to better utilize these moments of profound urgency. If everything in our lives is a difficult task we have to be prepared to do the easy things swiftly so that we can better apply our mental and emotional focus towards the big tasks that require the most from us. If we can continue every day to live with urgency, the mundane and not so mundane tasks that make up large and sometimes daunting goals can seem that much more achievable. 

Being recognized for the things we have done can often seem like all we ever want, but is it always the most important thing? Taking credit can often cause us to become resentful or selfish especially in our relationships whether that be at work, friendships or relationships. Many times when we fiend for the recognition or the credit that we desperately craved it can fall flat when we are standing up there alone. The biggest reason that we feel the need to remind others or ourselves of the hard work we’ve done or think we deserve can come from a lack of connection. 

Sharing the way that we feel whether that be overwhelmed or underappreciated in the roles that we hold with other parties can allow others to understand the ways that we are feeling and how they can help. When we isolate ourselves and exclude others from the proceedings both good and bad it can lead to miscommunication on both ends. As a true leader look to give credit rather than be the first one to take credit when the job is done. 

While we often feel that we haven’t been compensated or recognized for the hard work that we have done, it is important to remember that we are all connected as human beings. We are feeling a lot more alike than we are different. Think about the ways that you can take more responsibility off the plate of another in times of strife and you can look to give gratitude in times of triumph.

In life we can feel stuck in one of two places, go go go or no motivation whatsoever. We know that an object in motion tends to stay in motion, but what’s the downfall of just doing the same thing over and over again. Do we become fatigued and burn out? Do we become masters at whatever we are doing? 

Today, we discuss a new training technique called dynamic loading and its effects on aspects other than just the physical. In a world previously prided on more is more, many are now seeing the benefits of rest days physically, mentally and spiritually. 

Is rest really rest though if we aren’t intentionally recharging out batteries. Think about your rest times; late at night, early mornings, over the weekends or during the week. Are you decompressing or just numbing out? Maybe fidgeting around and thinking ahead about what’s next. Rest is a skill the same way that play is. Make sure you’re putting the time, effort and intention towards it this week.

Mandalas, an ancient work of art that has been used throughout religion, history, and even the most ancient of civilizations, but how can it apply even further in our everyday lives. Mandalas start with a point in the center, have two circles around them typically and then patterns that stretch and interweave to reach the outer circle. The tiny dot at the center is you and the other rings represent close friends and family. These building blocks for ourselves are necessary, and ultimately what keep us afloat just like in the self actualization pyramid of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The question is how do these two symbols differ and why is it important? 

The importance of this circular pattern lies in the idea that we at the center of our own mandala touch everything in some way from the outer ring to our closest rings. The patterns that come within our circle represent us sharing ourselves with the community and the beauty that can be realized. Now, this can be scary and often times make us feel vulnerable to go out in the world and share more of ourselves than is required, but this is where the magic happens. 

Look in your own life first at the way you view your unique self, the things you have to give to this beautiful world and recognize they are worth sharing. Then put that into action. Build a network that will take your unique stamp on this world to others, not only for them but also for yourself so you can have unexpected interactions that you may have never thought possible.Then as you do and spread your unique self always look to see how you can teach and mentor others in the same way that you found your own unique self.  

 Friedrich Nietzche once talked about the largest barrier to higher level thinking as our natural instinct as humans to simplify things. The early understanding as the first humans to take experiences and categorize them as opposites. For example, light and dark, good and evil, master and slave. 

This categorization makes it easy to understand and initially Jussie people, things and experiences without much thought. This major simplification ingrained in our DNA is false, argued Nietzche. Things are not opposites in our world but rather differences of degree. There is no good and bad just varying degrees between the two, and this small change in mindset can lead to an enlightened view of society as a whole. 

Think about the ways in your own life in which you previously have been categorizing your beliefs as opposites of one another as opposed to differences of degree. Never judging or predisposing yourself to the idea that someone of something is completely opposite but rather a unique difference in degree compared to you and me.

The journey or the destination? An age old debate that is always a constant lesson in appreciating the moments we are in instead of longing for the result or outcome we are starving for. In today’s episode of What Is Humans? We reflect on the idea of outcome obstruction through an inspiring Japanese pottery company. The company requires apprentices to work for 20 years before becoming full time at the company. After making every pot for the first twenty years the masters will break their pots to keep apprentices from becoming too attached to any one creation. 

In many ways this ancient practice that still exists today is something that is very hard for most of us to learn in our own lives. The idea that we may be limiting ourselves by accepting the first attempts and unafraid to fail we just stop where we are. It is always better to work smarter and not harder, but the ability to commit to a higher standard and accept the mistakes and the journey along the way is the true goal for many of us. 

Striving to achieve something larger than ourselves will never be easy, but the ability to have fun and embrace the opportunity of mistake and failure is a far greater outcome than any other. In every facet of our life it is massively important to embrace the opportunity of failure and risk, because that is what most of our lives turn out to be. Never perfect, always learning.

As we have stated many times, change is the only constant. Something that is hard to come to terms with especially as humans we fear it so much. Our environments change, and our relationships change, but the one thing more than ever to remember is that we as individuals change. Today, we discuss a Stoic saying from a famous philosopher Heraclitus. He said, “No man ever steps into the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.” 

This saying begins to get at a natural phenomenon about time, space and the way we view the flow of the two. While we often long for normalcy and static fearing change in any way we must begin to understand that it is in reality the most natural thing. We are not who we were yesterday and neither is the world around us. Rather than tearing down our sense of identity, this phenomenon of change and flux gives us an insight into the way that change truly inspires our identity. 

Our constant change reveals that we are in our most natural state when we are in constant motion, like the cells in our body, or the sun rising and setting differently, and finally like the river flowing constantly. Begin to think about the way that we can more aptly accept change, and begin to take advantage of the peace that it can bring.