WE ARE AWESOME and FOR THE REST, EVERY TRICK IS ALLOWED
Friday, April 6, 2012 § 2 Comments
“The best you is you with more self-discipline”
BEING THE BEST YOU
When it comes to making ourselves more disciplined, every trick is allowed:
– Writing down goals
– Setting (artificial) deadlines
– Creating rewards
– Creating penalties
– Telling friends
– Setting up or joining a team
– Making a routine sacred
Jonathan Haidt (http://www.happinesshypothesis.com/) describes our brain as made up of a rider on top of an elephant.
The elephant represents our instinctive brain – developed over millions of years and common with much of the animal kingdom – it allows us to catch a frisbee mid-air, while holding a Budweiser in the other hand, yelling “Wazzzzzupp” and meanwhile breathing and conducting all other essential functions. The elephant is awesome: People are Awesome
The rider represents the more recently developed capabilities of the brain, giving us humans complex language skills, allowing us to form abstract thoughts and be self-aware. While our abilities far exceed those of animals, our mental capacity for analytical processing is still quite impotent. It’s easy to imagine a science fiction world where our ability to solve math problems and play chess is magnitudes better than our struggling to compute 7 x 14 brains now. The rider is a pretty clever dude, but only a little speck on the awesomely mighty elephant.
When we sit in front of a piece of candy, the elephant has long-established reasons to “go for it”. Evolutionary speaking, taking in calories has long been our friend. Being fat is only a recent problem. The rider can recognize the problems with the candy eating. In a straight up match of strength with the elephant though, the rider doesn’t stand a chance. Only with clever trickery and distraction can the rider steer the elephant away/to something else.
Conclusions:
1. The elephant and the rider are both you.
2. Don’t ever think you can get rid of the elephant or beat it.
3. Where instincts are your best guide, let ‘em rip.
4. In matters where instincts guide you poorly, have the rider steer the elephant lovingly and playfully with every trick in the book.
APPLIED LOVE
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 § Leave a comment
When I am full of loving energy, but I don’t apply myself for lack of discipline, I drift and become unhappy with myself. (pink corner)
When I am blindly disciplined about something, but it is not based on values that I am passionate about, but rather motivated by fears of fitting in, not being lonely, being expendable, then there is a degree of satisfaction I receive from the achievements, but I do not arrive at content. (gray corner)
When I am fearful and don’t apply myself with any discipline, I am insecure and have a sense of being lost. (black corner)
The gravitational force of the matrix is towards the black corner. Lack of discipline eventually drains my loving energy. And lack of purpose eventually drains my ability to be disciplined.
It’s hard to move up and right in the matrix below. But while it’s hard to move into the blue corner, it’s always clear when I am not in it. If I am not in the blue corner and sit myself down for a quiet minute, I have an acute sense of not being happy and fulfilled.
So I sit often for that minute to check in. And if I am not in the blue corner, I try to bust a move.
PAINFULLY DISCIPLINED
Tuesday, March 20, 2012 § Leave a comment
You know someone who is exceptionally self-disciplined, say in a sport. They are following a gruesome regimen of training and races. When they speak about their harsh discipline, they are full of pride and self-worth.
They don’t seem happy and full of content though. Rather, they are so hard on themselves that there appears to be a degree of self-loathing. They might even sound addicted to the routine of training and accomplishment.
Self-discipline is necessary for self-love, but it is not sufficient.
If you are hard on yourself – pushing your physical limits by not sleeping enough or otherwise hurting your body – pause! Why are you hard on yourself?
An adaption of Monthy Python’s Four Yorkshiremen might go like this:
“I only slept 5h last night!”
“You lucky bastard. This morning, I got up an hour before I went to bed, ran 20 miles, brought the kids to school, finished my work and now have two more days of work to do in the next hour.”
The original:
Business Buddhism 