Increasing Shannon’s Entropy in Relationships

Under normal circumstances, entropy signifies the amount of disorderliness in a system. For instance, a highly disorganized room can be said to be in a state of entropy.

In information theory, however, entropy is given a slightly different treatment. This form of entropy is called Shannon’s entropy and it deals with the amount of surprise that is embedded in a message. The higher the entropy, the more informative the message is.

Think about the last time you heard a baby babble. In this instance, the amount of information you can extract from the baby’s vocalizations is small. There’s really nothing inherently novel or interesting about hearing a baby say “baa-da, baa-da…” over and over again. The Shannon’s entropy of the baby’s message is low.

On the other hand, say, you’re listening to a subject matter expert talking about a topic you’re very interested in. In this case, the Shannon’s entropy of the speaker’s message is high. Why? Because the words encoding his message can open new frontiers in your mind once you are able to decode them!

Generalizing to interpersonal relationships today, many relationships have the Shannon’s entropy of a baby’s babble!

There are at least two heuristics for detecting an interpersonal relationship with a low Shannon’s entropy: (1) Recurring conflicts on the same issues, which could eventually lead to (2) Cold indifference, where one party is simply apathetic to the other.

So, how can you increase Shannon’s entropy in your interpersonal relationships?

First, listen to truly understand what the other person is saying. Merely mouthing ‘I understand you’ does not cut it. To understand the other person means embodying the spirit of empathy. That is, trying as much as possible to enter the same emotional and psychological space as the other party. Doing this will increase the amount of information you can extract from the other person’s message, thus increasing the Shannon’s entropy of the other party’s message to you. This may be crucial in taking your interpersonal relationships to the next level!

Second, understand that winning the person is sometimes more important than winning the argument. In a scientific study investigating the dynamics of social interactions among rats, a typically dominant rat engaging in playful rough and tumble with another rat will usually let the other rat win 30% of the time. That is, even stronger rats instinctively appreciate the idea that winning the individual is sometimes more important than winning the fight. You can imagine how much more the Shannon’s entropy in your interpersonal relationship will be increased if you took a hint from a rat!

Disclaimer: The “Notes/Ideas Lab” category on my website will contain ideas and thoughts that I have not fully developed. I may eventually get round to fleshing them out into a full essay. I also reserve the right not to do so…

The Psychological Significance of the Bible Stories: David and Goliath

Stories in the Bible are compelling because they are packed with multiple layers of meaning. One reason for this is that the Bible stories describe reality on different levels at the same time.

Christians are already familiar with how the Bible describes the realities of the spiritual realm. We are made aware of how we can either yield ourselves to the influence of God and angels in the kingdom of heaven or to the devil and demons in the kingdom of darkness. There’s no middle ground. He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. In the David and Goliath story, David was victorious because he was under the influence of God’s Kingdom and Goliath lost because he wasn’t. It couldn’t be any simpler.

The same David and Goliath story describes the realities of an “objective”, physical realm. In a talk he did years ago, Malcolm Gladwell, the bestselling New York Times journalist, gave an account of the David and Goliath story from another perspective. According to Gladwell, Goliath had a medical condition known as acromegaly which is the result of the overproduction of growth hormones by the pituitary gland in the brain. People with acromegaly have enlarged body parts and may experience symptoms such as impaired vision and limited mobility. If he indeed had acromegaly with its attendant symptoms, Malcolm Gladwell argued that from the onset of the face-off with David, Goliath was doomed to suffer defeat. The lesson here is that physical advantages can spell your doom in another context. As the Yoruba people say, The hand of a child cannot reach the ceiling, the hand of an adult cannot enter a gourd.

The Bible stories also describe the world of phenomena perceived from the viewpoint of subjective human consciousness and experience. Indeed, despite the conflict between science and religion, the Bible still remains the oldest psychological book. This post will be unpacking some of the psychological insights compressed into the David and Goliath story.

Whoever Controls the Frames, Holds the Power

Let’s imagine a scenario with two men. The first man, Mr. A, is well-to-do and has 4 cars, while Mr. B has only 1 car. If you were to give both men an additional car each, which man will be happier? Studies have suggested that Mr. B will feel a greater amount of happiness than Mr. A. Similarly, if you were to take one car away each from both men, Mr. B will feel more pain than Mr. A.

But that leaves an important question: Why would both men feel a different degree of happiness (or sadness) when the same number of cars is given (or taken away) from them? The reason is fairly straightforward. Both men are in different initial states. In other words, they have different frames of reference. Mr. A already has 4 cars, so giving or taking away one car from his collections is not going to affect his happiness much. On the other hand, taking away one car from Mr. B is likely to be hurtful to him because that will mean that he no longer has a car. And when you give Mr. B a car, his happiness will be great because you have literally doubled the number of cars he has!

People’s behaviors in a particular context are dependent on the frames of reference that are active in that context. In the presence of food, a man who just arrived from a dinner date will behave very differently from a man who hasn’t had anything to eat in the past three days. Similarly, on a hot day, the individual who has been indoors all day will not drink as much water as the individual who just came back from a run. Frames of reference even change rapidly from moment to moment. That explains, for instance, why the first bite you take while eating a meal is more satisfying than subsequent bites. At each moment, you’re in a different place, psychologically speaking.

In the David and Goliath story, you find that Goliath held psychological power over the Israelites because he changed everyone’s frames of reference. Even though the Israelites were in the same physical place with the Philistine soldiers, the two armies were in different psychological spaces.

Under normal circumstances, opposing armies simply arranged themselves in position and fought. Every soldier knew his tactical and strategic roles, as well as what was expected of him. What constituted victory and defeat was clear and members of the opposing factions conducted themselves accordingly.

By changing the rules of engagement, Goliath redefined the criteria for victory and defeat. Rather than fight in a war where victory was determined by the military savviness of the warring armies, Goliath wanted man-on-man combat:

Choose a man for yourselves and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will become your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall become our servants and serve us.” Again the Philistine said, “I defy the battle lines of Israel this day; give me a man so that we may fight together.”

The amazing part of this story is not just Goliath’s 9-foot frame or the sophistication of his weapons. Rather, it is the fact that he dictated the frames of reference for everyone on the battleground and everyone behaved as though they agreed – consciously or unconsciously. No one engaged according to the rules of combat they were already familiar with. Rather everyone, particularly the Israelites, were paralyzed into a state of passive compliance.

As an interesting comparison, when you place an animal in an unfamiliar space – before it starts to sniff around for threats and opportunities – it freezes in a state of inaction. This is the observation that informs the colloquial expression, “Looking like a deer caught in the headlights”. By controlling the frames of reference, Goliath took the Israelites to a place they were unfamiliar with. And when you are in a place you are unfamiliar with, you will look like a deer caught in the headlights. That’s why whoever controls the frames of reference in an interaction wields the power in that interaction.

Also worthy of note is how God inspired David to defeat Goliath by the same rules that the behemoth had laid out. Just as Goliath had changed the rules of combat and took the Israelite army into unknown territory, David also changed the frames for Goliath.

And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”

As Malcolm Gladwell noted in the talk referenced earlier, Goliath expected to engage in close combat with whoever came forward to fight for the honor of the Israelites. That had been the implicit terms of the frames of reference he had laid out for the battle.

Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him….

The last thing Goliath expected was to have a projectile hurled towards his forehead at speed from distance. Yet, that was exactly what happened as he embarked on a one-way trip to a psychological space foreign to him. The tables had turned and now, it was Goliath’s “deer-caught-in-the-headlights” moment from which he could never recover.

Error is Variation and You Need More in Your Life

In a previous post, I talked about how the life of the average person in the 21st century is devoid of variation. Individuals who permit variation in their lives are more likely to encounter alternative histories with potentially life-changing outcomes. They are the ones likely to forge quality relationships at a networking event. They are the ones likely to come in contact with paradigm-shifting ideas that could revolutionize entire fields and industries.

When we think about David’s life leading up to the encounter with Goliath, we find that the kind of life he led afforded him the opportunity to incorporate variation into his day-to-day existence.

But David occasionally went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem

David occasionally left the routine, security, and predictability of the king’s palace to confront the unknown as a shepherd in the wilderness. As a result, David was exposed to more variability than he would never have encountered in a controlled environment like in the city.

For instance, at some point, David would have had to care for numerous sheep who may have gotten injured or sick at unpredictable times. Despite this not happening every day, the occurrence of sickness or injury to sheep in a flock remained within the realm of possibilities. Because these events could not be predicted ahead of time, David must have developed the skills necessary for taking care of a sheep when it was sick or injured.

In the same vein, David was exposed to the uncertain weather elements as he discharged his duties in the wilderness. Since there were no meteorological devices at the time, David needed to be ready for the possibility of sudden weather changes. As soon as the first raindrops fell from the sky, David had to find a way to get himself and the sheep under the shelter. Again, weather changes are always a possibility, even if they do not happen all the time. Over time, David must have developed the skills for coordinating his father’s sheep in response to sudden changes in the elements.

Finally, David was more likely to encounter wild animals in the wilderness than within the protected walls of the city. Note that hungry predators do not announce their intentions in advance. Rather, they all show up without any prior warning. In response to the possibilities of attack, David must have developed self-defense skills to keep himself and the sheep safe as they roamed the wilderness.

Indeed, life is like a series of games with different rules running at the same time. The more wide-ranging your skills are, the higher your probabilities of winning a good number of these games. You are equipped with the wide-ranging skills necessary for winning only when you are willing to confront the unknown by incorporating variation in your life.

Leaders are not Born, They are Shaped

Humans have the ability to categorize things into groups based on their similarity. Broadly speaking, people that have the same physical features can be said to belong to the same racial group. Fluorine, Chlorine, and, Iodine, are all elements possessing overlapping chemical and physical properties. As a result, they are said to belong to the same chemical group. This tendency for categorization is not limited to just tangibles, such as physical appearances or chemical compositions, but also our experiences. Experiences that make us feel a particular way are perceived by the mind as belonging to the same category.

In his conversation with King Saul, notice how David lumped the dead lion, the dead bear and a still living Goliath into the same category:

But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” Moreover David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

David could not have been confident in his ability to defeat Goliath if he had not gotten the experience of defeating the lion and bear. Likewise, there was no way David would have defeated the violent beasts of prey if he had not been exposed to the possibility of such events in the wilderness. Indeed, the most dependable people in times of crisis are those who have habitually confronted the unknown with courage over time.

Many people desire victory over the Goliaths that rear up their ugly faces in their lives. Unfortunately, they cannot recall a single event where they confronted the unknown and emerged victorious. This is because they have no experiences in their histories that fall into that category of personal victories. All they have ever done is run away from the slightest scent of discomfort. As a result, such people will produce that famed “deer-caught-in-the-headlights” reaction when faced with uncertainty.

It has been said that leaders are not born, they are forged. Exceptional leaders are shaped into what they are, by the gradual, repeated exposure to various situations where the odds are stacked heavily against them. David did not just wake up overnight with the confidence to confront Goliath. On the contrary, that confidence had been shaped into him by the events that played out in the wilderness. The comparatively ‘smaller’ victories God gave David over the bear and the lion created experiences that could be categorized into his mind as the same thing. Consequently, as David faced Goliath, all he saw was another event waiting to be filed into his category of personal victories. And that’s exactly what played out.

How to be the Wisest One in the Room: Maps, Circles, and Axioms

In the beginning, all that existed was God – the peerless Personification of perfection, pulchritude and perception. At the appointed kairos time, God acted out the model for moving to a desired state of being from an undesired one. With the Logos, He pried out specific order out of multiple alternative histories combating for preeminence in a soup of potentialities. We call these multiple alternative histories chaos. Then, God looked at the order He had created and said it was good.

At all levels of existence – individual, familial, societal – people desire to be in a state of being that is an improvement on their current states, whatever that might be. For many people, however, this state remains in the realm of uncrystallized potential. Why? People have learned to tolerate the status quo and shy away from whatever better state there might be.

The wisest one in the room is the person who can move from an undesired current state to a more desired one. They follow God’s model by stepping into a situation, taming chaos, and extracting order from it. The wisest ones are those who can crystallize gestalts of meaning from the fogs of potential. This is not necessarily easy, as life’s complicated and there are billions of ways that issues and events can be arranged in your mind to make sense of them. Many of these arrangements will not make your life’s experiences any better, and some might even make matters worse – just ask the nihilists and rationalists! That said, there are also specific attitudes of perception that will put you in the right frame to dissolve chaos, while bringing you closer to that state God has prepared for you. Three of them are discussed in this article.

1. Be Humble Enough to Understand that Your Map is Not the Territory

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Your worldview is built on certain assumptions that may be very different from reality. For instance, sentences in English and many similar languages are in the form of actor-action. The unspoken assumption of such languages is that an act can never occur in the absence of an actor. Hence, we have sentences like “The rain is falling”, where the rain is an actor carrying out the action of falling. Contrast that with the Hopi language, where an action can occur without an actor acting anything out. When the Hopi speaker describes the phenomenon of rainfall, he simply says “Raining”. He is not concerned with what caused the rain to fall. Unlike his English-speaking counterpart, the underlying assumption of the Hopi speaker makes him focus on the meaning of an event, rather than on its cause!

Which language do you think has the upper hand in describing reality? The honest answer is that we do not know. English and Hopi are both valid languages that describe aspects of reality. None is better than the other. English prevents you from seeing the significance of a phenomenon, and Hopi may kill your curiosity about causal factors at the roots of that phenomenon. Yet, reality has both causes and meanings that extend beyond our perceptions. The wisest one in the room is humble enough to acknowledge that he may hold assumptions blinding him to certain aspects of reality.

When making a physical map, cartographers assume that critters, trees, rocks, electric poles and grasses are a constant occurrence wherever you go. As a result, these details are never depicted, despite being present in the territory that is being mapped. In the same way, as you navigate through life, your maps about the operations of the world are riddled with assumptions that pervert your perceptions from seeing reality.

Note that assumptions are not always all bad or useless. The world we live in is complex and events do not fall into neat categories. Hence, assumptions can be useful in helping the mind act more efficiently. The brain does this by lumping things that are similar into the same categories. This enables us to focus our attention and resources on the information that matters: threats and opportunities. Without assumptions, we’d all be in a state of action paralysis, as we’d have to expend mental effort determining whether every information is a threat or an opportunity – regardless of whether they are familiar or not.

In what Thomas Nagel, an American philosopher, called the View from Nowhere, there is an objective reality that describes the inherent nature of things. I prefer to call this the “View from God’s Perspective”. On its own, no human mind will ever see this objective View from Nowhere. This is because we all approach reality through our maps which have been shaped by our experiences in our pasts. The consequence is that when your girlfriend says, “Let’s be objective”, what she’s really seeking out is consensus by agreement, not objectivity! The same thing plays out in every kind of human interaction.

Understanding that the Map is not the Territory is a superpower that accomplishes two things: First, it makes you more humble. Solomon, the original philosopher-king, wrote, “Surely He [God] scorns the scornful, but gives grace to the humble”. Humility is coming to the realization that you really do not know everything, and all you know has been shaped by your own map. Those who choose to be the know-it-alls and sophisticates will inevitably encounter the humbling curveballs that life throws at them. The humble, on the other hand, “will inherit the earth”. As it were, the survival of the fittest is in reality the survival of the most humble. Secondly, when you recognize that the Map is not the Territory, you become more open-minded and understanding of others. You start to see that others do not know everything too. You begin to understand that their motivations and perceptions are only shaped by the maps with which they see the world.

Today, there are not many people who are willing to accept that the maps with which they see the world can be outdated or wrong. Such people are married to their maps and have formed an emotional bond with it. They will defend the rightness of their maps with every fiber of their being. On the other hand, those who will thrive in uncertain or novel terrains share one characteristic: They are all individuals who are humble enough and willing to accept that their maps may be wrong. As a result, they are better able to learn and adapt to new terrains and survive.

2. Know the Boundaries of your Circle of Competence. If you don’t have any, find one

As a human being, you neither have the luxury of time nor resources to be the master of all domains. However, because people have different histories and past experiences, there are fields of endeavor where they can choose and learn to thrive in their element. The reason is fairly straightforward. People who are in their circle of competence have often already devoted sufficient time and effort in their pasts to be proficient in their domains. Problems arise for the individual that tries to compete in a domain where he has zero competence. Such persons end up being crushed into oblivion. It’s nothing personal, it’s just the way the world works. Therefore, a major task in your life is to identify that domain where your history and past experiences can give you a comparative advantage. It’s your responsibility to “[b]e fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion…” in your domain of competence.

If you have not identified your domain of competence, here are a few useful recommendations:

First, you can hone into a specific fragment of a broad field and/or dig deep into the foundations upon which that fragment is built. Most people do not have the patience, resources, discipline, or time to commit to such depths. However, by applying yourself to this method, you can have a relatively easy path to creating your circle of competence. In the broad automobile industry, companies such as Lamborghini or Rolls Royce are not just in the business of manufacturing cars. Rather, they remain profitable by staying focused on a specific slice of the automobile market – those interested in luxury cars. Such is the impact of finding and sticking to your domain of competence.

Alternatively, you can explore the overlaps that exist between unrelated domains of endeavor. One of the reasons why life can be complicated is that events are more interconnected than humans acknowledge. These overlaps have been criminally under-investigated and there is a big demand for people who are willing to devote the time, resources and mental effort to identify associations between fields that appear to be unrelated. As an example, Norbert Wiener investigated the overlaps between mathematics, physiology, engineering and psychology to develop a whole new field of cybernetics and control theory.

Furthermore, you can create your circle of competence by reproducing ideas that are geographically or chronologically separated from you. For instance, there are certain commonplace ideas, goods and services in 3rd-world countries that are highly desirable in developed countries, and vice versa. The same thing plays out when you consider the differences between rural and urban areas. Another area that is commonly overlooked is the past. A common assumption among people living in an epoch is that their generation has an overall better quality of life than previous generations. This is not necessarily the case. In fact, it can be argued that there are areas of contemporary life that are worse than that of previous generations. Nonetheless, this kind of ‘chronological superiority’ makes people in a generation disregard beneficial ideas and innovations from the past. As in other cases, you can create your circle of competence by visiting the past and extracting ideas that can be of service to your generation. Stoicism is an idea from Ancient Greece that has received a new lease of life in the past 5 years. There are tons of similar ideas that are waiting to be unearthed.

The wisest one in the room is the individual who has identified his circle of competence. Whenever he’s faced with problems that fall within his domain, he rises up to the challenge and solves them. And when the problem is outside his reach, he is not afraid to defer them to others better suited to solve them. That probably explains the following tongue-in-cheek remark from the wisest king who ever lived: “Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive”.

3. Learn the Power of First-Principles Thinking

The complications that often arise in life are usually because our unknown unknowns exceed our known unknowns. In other words, the things we do not know we are ignorant of are more than the things we know we are ignorant of. To untangle these complications, we have to identify the assumptions upon which these issues are built. Some of the assumptions mapped onto an issue are a function of the individual’s personal history and experiences. Nevertheless, there are other assumptions that can remain central and true to an issue, regardless of the individual’s past experiences, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status or religion. These central assumptions are referred to as axioms. The more common name is “first principles”.

In a conversation with His disciples about the greatest in the kingdom of God, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven…” In other words, access to certain aspects of reality will be obscured from you until you are possessed with the spirit of a child. Consider, as an example, the curiosity of a child. Due to their inquisitive nature, children question answers till they arrive at a point where they are satisfied. When you give a child a meaningful answer, you’d better be prepared to go on a journey that’s at least 4 – 5 layers deep to satisfy them. This is because each of your answers will be met with the response, ‘Why?’. As children grow up, however, they learn to conflate childishness with childlikeness in the name of appearing mature. They stop asking ‘Why?’ A natural consequence of this is the propagation of dangerous narratives, ideas and ideologies as people no longer have a willingness to question anything. First-principles thinking is a return to this childlikeness.

Broadly speaking, the ability to engage in first principles thinking is useful in at least two ways.

First, it can be useful in helping you untangle complicated problems. A classic example of how first principles are used to resolve complicated issues can be found in the way the Allied forces handled the 1945 Nuremberg trials.

Prior to the end of World War 2, the extent of human rights violations perpetrated by Nazi Germans on Jews were not known. With victory secured for the Allied Forces (Britain, Soviet Russia, France, China and the US) after the surrender of the Nazi leaders in 1945, the horrors of life at the Nazi concentration camps became widely published. However, a complication came up. There were no international guidelines for trying war crimes on the scale of those perpetuated by Nazi Germany. Although everyone knew the Nazi leaders had sanctioned orders that left carnage and destruction in its wake, there were no laws that classified such actions as crimes. As a result, the Nazi leaders could defend their actions by claiming “…where no law is, there is no trangression”. Furthermore, trying the German war criminals according to Soviet laws could potentially raise issues with the US or Britain. Trials based on US or British laws could also raise the same concerns among other members of the Allied Forces.

To resolve this, members of the Nuremberg tribunal had to think in terms of first principles. They identified and agreed upon the fundamental assumptions a person must hold before he could sanction the execution of war crimes on a population group. Once this was settled, prosecuting the Nazi German leaders became more straightforward.

The second way that first-principles thinking can be useful is when you are interested in testing whether the maps with which you navigate through life are obsolete or incomplete. As we’ve already established, many people’s outlook on life is informed by the stories and narratives that have been passed on to them from other people in their lives. Because stories are very compelling, few people take the time to question the assumptions that power such narratives. Like a child clutching on to his toy, people learn to see the narratives as their own – refusing to part ways with them. In this state, anyone who doesn’t share the same narrative is seen as the enemy. It’s no wonder that we live in interesting times where people are divided along ideological lines. This is a dangerous place to be in. When one learns how to engage in first principles thinking, it becomes easy to identify and avoid narratives that are built on wrong foundations. Here’s the bitter truth: Unless people take the time to ask themselves the uncomfortable questions about the assumptions powering their ideologies or worldviews, we can expect a future of friction and division.

The wisest ones in the room are those are refuse to be distracted by irrelevancies obscuring the first-principles upon which an issue rests. They are the ones who are comfortable with asking ‘Why?’ until it hurts, and then some. These ones embrace their childlike curiosity and inquisitiveness for the purpose of getting to the roots of an issue. Because of their willingness to do this, they are rewarded with the lucidity that eludes the yes-men and echo chambers. They access raw wisdom and enter the kingdom of heaven – starting from here on earth!

The Zidane Effect, Kairos, and, Alternative Histories

In the dying minutes of the 2006 World Cup final match between France and Italy, Italian defender Marco Materazzi had grabbed at the shirt of French player, Zinedane Zidane.

Disgusted, Zidane told Materazzi, “If you want my shirt so much, I’d give it to you afterward”

Materazzi replied, “I’d prefer the whore that is your sister!”

That was all it took to set Zidane off.

He made the decision to butt the Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the chest, got himself sent off for violent conduct, and France went on to lose the match after a penalty shootout.

Here’s the million-dollar question: Would France have won if Zidane hadn’t gotten the red card?

We’ll get back to that. First, let’s lay the groundwork.

I. The 8th Wonder of the World

Albert Einstein, the 20th-century theoretical physicist known for his theory of relativity, is said to have quipped, “Compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world. He who understands it earns it; he who doesn’t pays it.”

There are two things wrong with that quote. First, there’s no evidence that Albert Einstein ever said that. Einstein died in 1955 and the first appearance of that quote was in 1983. Two, there are 2 other forces in the physical universe that are infinitely more powerful than compound interest: They are Time and Probabilities.

A short, ancient Hebrew book, called the Qoheleth, introduces these two forces as the cause of every phenomenon you see on this side of eternity.

“I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, neither is bread to the wise nor riches to men of intelligence and understanding nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.”

If you pause and reflect on this carefully, you’d realize that success is impossible without understanding and partnering with these 2 forces.

Unfortunately, in every human, there is a nagging desire to explain the causes of events without acknowledging the roles of probabilities (chance) and time.

When a person wins a race, humans say it’s because he’s fast

When an army wins the battle, we say, it’s because the army had superior military strategies

When a person accumulates wealth or obtains valuable outcomes in their lives, we say it’s because the person had certain traits that made such results more likely

Yet we conveniently forget the stories of people who were fast but still lost a race.

We forget about powerful armies that succumbed to smaller and weaker armies

We forget about the hardworking men and women who apply all the tricks in the success guru’s playbook but still end up struggling to make ends meet.

As it turns out, our perception of causality is fractured because we don’t understand probabilities and time. Living life with such a fractured perception of causality is like crossing a busy highway blindfolded – you may make it to the other side, in every sense of the phrase.

So, what’s the way out? You must understand probabilities and time.

II. People Do Not Inherently Understand Probabilities

In 1979, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky published a journal article titled, “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk”.

One of the big ideas in the article is the manner in which people think about probabilities.

People do not think about the probability of an event, but rather the impact of that event. And this is reflected in their decision-making process.

For instance, assume I’m about to toss a coin.

If I asked you to choose between head and tails, you will probably pick one side at random. Why? Because you know that every coin has a 50% chance of giving you a Head and a 50% chance of giving you a Tail.

What if, before flipping the coin, I told you that I will give you $1000 if the outcome is Heads?

Most people will subconsciously weigh “Heads” more valuable than “Tails” – even though the probability of either option is still 50% each!

The same thing happens in other kinds of decision-making.

For instance, the probability of winning the lottery is very small, but the impact $1,000,000 can have on a person’s life is high. As a result, gamblers overestimate their chances of winning and continue to gamble. Similar patterns occur in the way people handle their health and finances. Below a particular age, the probability of developing high blood pressure, or experiencing a financial emergency is reasonably low. This time, most people underweigh or even ignore these probabilities and continue to make decisions that can have bad outcomes. By the time they realize the error of their ways, it’s often already too late.

But that’s only just the tip of the iceberg.

III. Probabilities Are Wider Than You Realize

Back to the million-dollar question: Would France have won the World Cup if Zidane hadn’t gotten the red card?

That is one of the several alternative histories we will never get to see. What we do know is that Zidane’s absence had an impact on the game’s final outcome.

The same thing plays out in your day-to-day individual decision-making.

Right before you commit to any decision, there are a ton of potential outcomes that are available to you. Before you choose a spouse, there are tons of potential spouses out there in the universe that can complement you. Before you choose a job, there are tons of potential jobs out there that can be a good fit for you. Before you invest your hard-earned money, there are multiple opportunities vying for your attention. However, once you choose, you will only experience the outcomes attached to your choice.

And what happens to the other alternative histories? They may or may not be available to you again at a later time. In the context of our football example, it took France another 12 years before the opportunity to win the World Cup presented itself again.

Many will not be that fortunate. Why? In addition to not thinking in terms of probabilities, very few people think about the alternative histories and the potential outcomes of these histories.

IV. Errors and Alternative Histories

The quality of your life is a function of the probabilities you are aware of at the point of decision making. These probabilities are not merely limited to the outcomes of your decisions, but also to the outcomes in your alternative histories.

But how can we access these alternative histories when we cannot see them?

The answer is something the writer of the Qoheleth understood:

“There is an evil I have seen under the sun, like an error which proceeds from the ruler—folly is set in many exalted places and in great dignity while the rich sit in humble places.”

To the laity, the word “error” implies a mistake – something that should not happen, or something that one must avoid at all costs.

On the other hand, to scientists, “error” has a second layer of meaning, which describes a variation/deviation from one’s expectations. That’s why you won’t see researchers freaking out when they see errors in their data. Sometimes, scientists, unlike laymen, are humble enough to acknowledge that their expectations may be built on faulty assumptions about reality. At other times, certain statistical tests WILL NOT even be valid unless there is some variation (i.e., ‘error’) in the observations. In other words, errors are desirable!

What determines your stake at the table of honor is neither your wisdom, nor your wealth, but how much error (variation) you permit in your life.

Take a moment to think about how the day-to-day existence of the average person in the 21st-century is devoid of deviation.

In the name of productivity and personal development, many people lead machine-like lives. They plan their day to the microsecond and leave little to no gap for anything else. Because of their ill-advised adherence to their tasks and to-do lists, these people rarely break routine. As a result, there is little room for them to experience potential outcomes from their alternative histories. You see the same thing play out in the deadbeat, who wakes up, eats, plays videogames all day, watches porn, and sleeps – only to repeat the cycle the next day. Like his type A counterpart, there is very little “error” in his life that could bring him in contact with life-changing outcomes in his alternative histories.

People who benefit from probabilities have consciously or unconsciously acknowledged its impact by embedding variability in their lives. This takes different forms. For instance, some read books outside their fields that expose them to cutting-edge knowledge which is often commonplace concepts in other fields. For others, it’s their willingness to do something as simple as talking with strangers. Over time, such people develop a wide network that often proves invaluable in the long run.

Understand this: Whenever you introduce variability in your routine, you are exposing yourself to more happy accidents from your alternative histories.

V. Understanding the Times

The language we speak heavily influences the way we think. Unfortunately, many modern languages, including English, do not do justice to the concept of “time”. This is why many people lack an understanding of the times.

In Ancient Greek, there were two major words used to describe the concept of time.

The first word was “chronos” which implied the passage of time from morning to evening, day to day, month to month, or year to year. Chronos dealt with the quantity of time. The second word was “kairos” which described an opportune time where you needed to act with decisiveness. Kairos was qualitative and it varied from person to person. Your actions during kairos can affect the trajectory of your life.

Many people fail to understand the times because they cannot distinguish between chronos time and kairos time. Here are three reasons why this is so:

First, people put their emotions in the driving seat of their lives. It is easy for this to play out today because of the relationship people have with information abundance. On one hand, you have the news media bombarding your mind with violence, gore, and death. On the other hand, you have the noise from modern-day pharisees and influencers who profit from your attention on social media. Of course, you can never meet their standards. This is why a lot of people’s actions are reactive – only informed by the emotions of fear and anxiety. In this state, it is hard to distinguish between chronos and kairos time.

Second, people are not patient. This is where the Yoruba maxim, roughly translated, ‘Don’t run on another man’s clock’ rings true. Kairos time varies from individual to individual. By focusing on your neighbor’s journey, you will miss out on your kairos when it inevitably arrives. Refuse to allow impatience and resentment to build in your heart. Here’s one more verse from the Qoheleth, “To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven”. When you are patient, life-changing opportunities will inevitably come your way. This is an immutable principle on this side of eternity.

Third, people do not know when to be decisive. Some people may appear to be models of patience, but deep down in their hearts, they are afraid of taking action. Kairos is like a portal that can give you access to alternative histories with life-changing outcomes. If, in the name of patience, you fold your arms and stay put, that portal of opportunity will be closed and you will remain at the same level.

VI. Tying it all Together

For the last time, let’s go back to the 2006 World Cup final between Italy and France.

We’re in the dying moments of the game with the scores tied at 1-1.

Both teams have an almost equal shot at winning the cup.

Now, Materazzi has just grabbed Zidane’s shirt, to which a disgusted Zidane has replied, “If you want my shirt so much, I’d give it to you afterwards”

Pause.

Materazzi understands that in the current timeline, Italy and France are equally matched. However, the Italian hardman is somehow aware that there is an alternative history where the Italian team has a higher probability of winning the World Cup.

The portals of kairos open up and Materazzi jumps in ‘heart first’.

“I’d prefer the whore that is your sister!”

In less than 30 minutes, an alternative history has played out and the Italian team is crowned World Champions.

And what about Zidane, one of the most skillful playmakers of his generation?

I bet he was wondering how differently everything could have played out if he had paid more attention to the 8th wonder of the physical universe – time and probabilities!

Developing an Understanding of the Times: The Curious Case of General Sani Abacha

Disclaimer: I’m not advocating for coups, dictatorships, or human rights violations. Ensure you adequately understand the example before drawing your conclusions.

In 2019, I took an online course where the instructor made an interesting argument.

He said when you really detest someone, that person usually has some other traits that would bring you phenomenal success if you applied them to your life.

In recent Nigerian history, there’s no one that has gotten as much hate as General Sani Abacha, the military head of state who ruled Nigeria with an iron fist from 1993 – 1998.

I’m old enough to remember the celebrations of the masses when news of Abacha’s death filtered out to the street in 1998.

Over two decades later, Abacha’s name continues to stink to high heavens, even as the millions of dollars he embezzled from the country’s coffers continue to be restored.

Yet, for all his failings as a leader, Abacha understood something that so many people fail to grasp at an elementary level.

He had an understanding of the times

Between 1960 and 1993, there were 9 coups in Nigeria, with 6 resulting in the toppling of the incumbent government.

Out of the 6 successful coups, Abacha was involved in the planning and execution of 5 of them.

In fact, it can be said that the only coups that failed were the ones Abacha didn’t help plan.

Was this a consequence of Abacha’s wisdom as a master strategist?

No. I believe it had more to do with his intuitive understanding of the times.

The Bible says, “The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of the light”

Possessing an understanding of the times is a key distinction between the wise and the fools. Unfortunately, a lot of good people have good intentions but lack this intuitive understanding that Abacha possessed.

So, how can you develop an intuitive understanding of the times?

Apart from your personal walk with God, which I believe is the most important criterion for developing an understanding of the times, here are 3 points from Abacha’s career that you can apply to your life for positive outcomes.

1. Learn to keep your emotions in check

Right now, there’s a lot of hype fueled by the current COVID-19 pandemic.

On one hand, you have the news media throwing out the daily number of deaths from Coronavirus.

On the other hand, you have experts and life coaches motivating you to take advantage of the global lockdown to learn new skills.

The problem with the two scenarios is that they force you to take reactive actions in fear.

Because of your constant consumption of the news, you are forced to live in a realm where fear and anxiety becomes your daily reality.

Because of the constant noise from the self-proclaimed gurus and life coaches, you find yourself reacting in “sheep mentality”, learning for its sake, when you could really benefit from keeping your eyes and ears open to the times.

In an interview, Ibrahim Babangida, former Nigerian military president was asked whether he could have predicted that Abacha would have ever become military head of state.

After dribbling around the question in his usual “Maradona” manner, Babangida admitted that he didn’t see it coming.

Why?

In all the times they had been together, the only side of Abacha that Babangida saw was the loyal soldier.

Abacha mastered his emotions.

He never, at any point, allowed his emotions to betray his ultimate ambitions or the slightest indication of interest in the country’s highest office.

You can never go wrong when you make equanimity your friend.

2. Be patient

In a world of fast cars, fast food and fast internet, everyone seems to forget the power of patience.

When you are patient, life-changing opportunities will eventually come your way.

When you’re patient, your faculties of perception are sharpened and you are more likely to position yourself to be a beneficiary of the times.

That’s why there’s a lot of wisdom in the Preacher’s words when he said, “The race is not to the swift…nor the battle to the strong…nor favor to the man of skill; but time and chance happen to them all”

Buka Suka Dimka and Sani Abacha were both conspirators in the July 1966 coup.

Both men were ambitious and thirsty for power.

Yet, it was Abacha who was seated in Aso Rock by 1996.

At that point, Dimka had been dead for 20 years after he had hastily hashed out a coup that ultimately proved abortive.

Abacha’s patience allowed him to read the times clearly. And as a result, chance seemed to partner with him at every decisive stage of his career.

3. Know when to be decisive

Some people appear to be models of patience, but deep down within their hearts, they are afraid of taking action.

After a season of waiting, there’s always a window of opportunity that time and chance will bring your way.

When such an opportunity arises, you need to be decisive.

After Babangida annulled the June 12, 1993 elections in Nigeria and installed a clueless interim government, I can imagine Abacha rubbing his hands in glee, hardly believing his luck.

It was like everything in his life had been leading up to that point.

Because of his understanding of the times, Abacha staged a bloodless coup that saw him installed as the Nigerian military head of state for the next 5 years.

Now, imagine if Abacha had chosen to be more patient.

That window of opportunity would have been closed and Nigeria may have been in a much better place today.

Stories like this will continue to play out in history, especially when evil men possess an intuitive understanding of the times.

May the Lord give you Understanding in these things.

The Law of Exuberance: Abundant Potential is Always Bubbling Within You!

The first of the 7 indisputable laws of Potential Crystallization is what I call the Law of Exuberance.

The Law of Exuberance states, ‘There is an abundance of lively potentials and possibilities bubbling within and around you.’

In the world of computer programming, the concept of open-source software intrigues me every time.

Here’s how it works:

From time to time, brilliant programmers spend countless hours perfecting a software that is designed to solve a problem.

According to the laws of demand and supply, money flows wherever solutions to problems are. Therefore, it follows logic that whenever there’s a software that can solve a specific problem, the creators should charge people money for the benefit of using the said software to solve their problems. And that is what normally plays out in the normal marketplace.

But it’s at this juncture that the concept of open-source software makes an unexpected detour.

Rather than ask the users to pay money as the software is utilized, these programmers do the exact opposite – they share the program’s source code, blueprints, and documentation freely with anybody that is interested in it. That’s tantamount to spending years of research creating a drug that can cure cancer, only to show everybody how to create it themselves in 10 minutes!

Indeed, this kind of unhindered giving is only possible with a perfect understanding of the Law of Exuberance.

When the creators of these open-source software develop them, their dominant paradigm is not the fear that someone will steal their idea and profit from it.

Rather, on the contrary, their dominant paradigm is two-fold: First, they know that that there is an abundance of good ideas bubbling within and around them, from which they can always go back to draw from; secondly, they know that their software is not in the most perfect form yet, and that it takes input from others to bring the program to its full capabilities.

The immediate goal of these folks is not to make as much money as possible, but rather, to play their role as solution providers!

Perhaps, it is no wonder that these open-source programmers either go on to establish great IT companies, or more likely, get snapped up by multi-million-dollar companies who provide the money, the platform and the resources to keep on producing programs and software that attempt to solve even more ambitious problems.

The truth is that the vast majority of us were raised with a scarcity mentality.

We were taught that there is never going to be enough resources for everybody.

We were taught that there was only one way to win – finding a way to ensure that every other person lost.

We were taught to act as animals in the jungle – totally lacking in understanding and reacting solely on impulse.

We forget Proverbs 11:24 which says, ‘There is one who scatters yet increases more; And there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty’

The more you give, the more likely you are to receive.

The less you flow into others, the more likely you are to stink with stagnation!

Unfortunately, living from a paradigm of scarcity is like having logs of wood in place of eyes. You will be rendered totally oblivious to the abundance that is already around and within you.

If you want to crystallize your potentials without any tears, your default belief system must be one of abundance.

Your outlook towards life must be abundance.

You need to deliberately acknowledge abundance in everything you do.

You need to deliberately acknowledge abundance in everything you say.

You need to deliberately acknowledge abundance in your thoughts and reasonings.

This is not a call to trick yourself into living a lie.

On the contrary, this is a call to acknowledge the real objective truth – that there is an abundance of potentials and possibilities around you!

Helplessness is Learned: When You Feel Your Life Spinning Out of Control

In the 1960s, Richard Solomon and his team of researchers conducted a simple experiment.

They got some dogs, restrained them, and, gave them about 64 electric shocks.

The following day, the dogs were placed in a special box with two compartments separated by a short barrier.

The idea was that if the floor of one compartment was electrified, the dog could hop over the barrier and escape into the other side.

However, that wasn’t what happened in Solomon’s experiment.

When the dogs were placed in the special box and the current turned on, they didn’t move an inch.

The dogs were in discomfort, yet, they didn’t do the one thing that could relieve their pain – Jump to the other side!!!

As it turned out, the experience of being restrained and shocked 64 times in one day taught the dogs one thing: No matter what you do, you can’t escape the pain

This phenomenon is called Learned Helplessness

Unfortunately, as a human, you do the same thing.

Unlike computers and phones that are constantly updating to access better functionalities, humans love to build their lives on faulty and incomplete mental models established on incorrect and untested assumptions.

As a result, when you’re pushed to the wall, you are ill-equipped to view the situation from another angle where the solution is more obvious.

In this state, you forget that you are never really helpless or powerless.

You ignore the fact that God deliberately designed you to be a partner with Him in the continually unfolding story of creation.

You forget that God made you to institute order on chaos.

There’s good news, though.

You’re not a dog.

You can make a decision to seize your power back and step into the original way God designed you to function.

I share 3 useful ideas:

1. Elevate Your Perception

The beauty of a painting is not appreciated when you’re kissing it, with your eyes a few millimeters away from the picture.

To enjoy the painting, you need to step back away from it.

In the same way, you fail to see the masterpiece that God is making with your life because you’re too wrapped up in the minutiae of everyday living.

If you simply take a step back, it’s easier to find perspective and find what God is doing in you and through your circumstances.

Learned helplessness melts in the heat of perspective.

2. Your situation is not an isolated one

When going through trying times, humans forget that they are not the only ones who have experienced such circumstances.

No matter how rough the situation it is you’re going through is, there are people who have gone through worse and came through on the other side.

It’s easier to snap out of learned helplessness when you realize that: (a) your situation could have been much worse, and (b) other people in similar or worse circumstances pulled through.

3. There’s always a way of escape

Gavin de Becker once said, “When you worry, ask yourself, what am I choosing not to see right now?”

Learned helplessness is built on a foundation of faulty mental models that are in turn established upon incorrect assumptions of reality.

Once you understand this, you’d realize that you have no problem but a perception problem.

The fact that you’re faced with a situation means you have what it takes to get out of it.

Open your eyes and heart and stay sensitive, you’d realize that the answer is closer than you think.

The Reason You’re Not Getting Anything Out of Books

There’s always an element of difficulty that accompanies the pursuit of mastery.

People who go on hiking or mountain climbing could use vehicles and helicopters to get to their destinations. But, in addition to the feeling of accomplishment that comes from completing the climb or hike, there is also something about the journey that changes those who embark on it.

The same can be said about a good book. When you pick up a book, you should experience a “stretching of the limits of your mind to new dimensions.” This stretching should be uncomfortable, as old patterns of thought are uprooted and newer ones installed.

Most people walk through life with unchallenged and untested assumptions about how the world works. A good book should give you the opportunity to test those assumptions. Whether those assumptions are right, wrong, or incomplete, a good book will cause tension which will give you the chance to examine the foundations upon which your life’s philosophy rests.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case today with the kinds of books in circulation. Nowadays, we have a glut of information and a poverty of attention. As a result, there are few books in pop culture that are capable of doing any stretching to your mind. Rather, what you’ll see is the same crap recycled over and over again.

That’s why I’d say about 80% of the material in the self-help space is filled with simple, post-modern, watered-down, feel-good, motivational fluff camouflaged as books; each riding on the latest fad while claiming to be the best thing since sliced bread. And the more of these books you read, the more likely you are to suffer mental decadence, as well as action paralysis – a situation of inaction induced by the frequently conflicting ideas that self-help books offer. This is WHY you’re not getting anything out of popular books !!!

To start getting the best out of books, I recommend replacing self-help books with any from these three categories:

Biographies

There’s really nothing new under the sun.

Every challenge you will ever face has been faced in some shape or form by someone in the past.

When you read a biography that is presented in a balanced manner, you are free to objectively consider the events in the individual’s life without anybody force-feeding you with their opinions. As you are thinking about this person’s life, you are also indirectly examining how you would think if you’re in situations similar to the ones you’re reading about.

In addition to reading about the characters in the Bible, I like researching the stories of interesting people scattered throughout history. I’ve used the stories of people like Hakeem Olajuwon, Barack Obama, Dmitri Mendeleev, Harry Truman among many others to expound upon ideas in my posts.

Historical books

It’s often said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again with the expectation of a different result.

People who ignore history do so to their detriment.

When you read the story of the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, it’s hard to understand how the same events could still pan out years later in the Iraq War.

Many unnecessary pains that we face in contemporary times could be avoided if politicians and policymakers paid a little more attention to history.

As of this time, in addition to the Bible, my favorite source of history books include anything written by Robert Greene and Ryan Holiday. I enjoy listening to Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast – Revisionist History.

Recently, I’ve also been trying to read more about the history of the Yoruba people. In what I’ve read so far, I’ve been amazed by the level of societal organization and technological development that my people had as early as the 1400s. I highly recommend you not just reading contemporary global or foreign history, but more about your culture and people.

Books from other fields

If you want to genuinely change your life, you cannot afford to be confined to the self-help space.

Understand this: The idea that will change your life is common knowledge in another field

From reading books on Quantum physics, I came across ideas that ended up inspiring my book Mastering the Art of Observation

Ideas from chemistry inspired this quote which I used in my post, ‘Wisdom Shouts in the Streets: “Everything resorts to chaos, order is enforced by power”

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was fully formed after he read books from Geology and Economics.

Read books from biology, economics, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, chemistry, physics… And even maths!

They will enrich your mind with metaphors that will expand your mind to see the world in ways you never thought possible.

Even more, you don’t need to buy textbooks stuffed with formulas and all that jazz.

Nowadays, there are tons of books that will give you the gist of big ideas from other fields without boring you with mathematical proofs and other unnecessary details. Examples of good ones I’ve read in recent times include The Ghost Map (public health), The Fabric of the Cosmos (physics), The Impossible Will Take a Little While (sociology/political science).

Conclusion

The bulk of self-help books in print today will spoon-feed you with low-level information, thus depriving you of the experience of having your mind stretched.

The way a chick helped to hatch is condemned to life-long weakness, your choice to be spoon-fed mediocrity is severely limiting you.

By changing the kinds of books you read, you can start getting more out of every reading session

Things We Do Because of the Difficulty of Thought

Thinking is hard.

As a result, we try to make use of mental shortcuts to make decisions faster.

These shortcuts are called heuristics, and while they are useful, many times, they lead us down rabbit holes.

The other day, I sat close to a dude in a meeting.

As we got talking, I found that he had relatives from the Middle East.

I concluded that he was a foreigner and a student.

Well, it turns out that I was wrong on both counts.

The dude was neither a student, nor a foreigner, and heuristics lost yet another battle.

The one that amuses me the most is the media’s use of statistics.

You hear stuff like, “70% of people who eat ABC will have XYZ in ten years”

What they don’t tell you is the number of people they are basing that statistic on.

70% of 100000 is 70000 and if that’s the case, maybe ABC has the effect they claim it has.

However, 70% of 10 is 7 people!!!

I’m not saying 7 people are not important, but any effects observed in them is likely due to causes other than eating ABC.

But here’s the interesting thing: Researchers almost always tell you all the numbers involved in arriving at their conclusions.

Yet, the media likes to conveniently ignore the details, while focusing on sensationalism.

And because of heuristics, we gobble up anything they place before us – hook, line, and sinker.

So, what’s my point in all these?

Jesus said, ‘…be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves’ (Matthew 10:16).

A good way towards manifesting that wisdom is knowing when you are misperceiving the truth because of an ‘over-reliance’ on heuristics.

I’m not asking you to be over-analytical and critical in every situation.

All I’m telling you to do is to be aware.

It can change your life!

What I Learned from a Bad Driving Habit

I only started driving in 2017.

In those early days, I remember being crippled with anxiety whenever there were more than two vehicles on the road.

Back then, crawling at 30 miles per hour was very fast.

However, for me, the holy grail of driving was the ability to drive with one hand. You see, I always held the steering wheel with both hands and my brain would always fry whenever someone tried to hold a conversation with me as I drove.

In contrast, I saw other people flawlessly executing what I was incapable of doing.

As I saw other drivers use one hand to control a 4000-pound vehicle as they nonchalantly engaged in conversations with passengers, I could not help but grow green with envy every single time.

The question that never seemed to leave my mind was this: How are these guys able to drive a car with just one hand?

Fast forward to a couple of months ago, my boss and I traveled for a conference.

In the car, we talked about the finer details of the presentation we were scheduled to deliver together the following day.

Of course, I was the cool driver cruising along the highway — with just one hand on the steering wheel!

That’s when it occurred to me that I had been doing this bad habit for almost two years and I did not even know it!

If you think I am advocating for one-handed driving, you are missing my point.

The bigger picture is the process that took me from the ‘Day Crawler’ in 2017 to the ‘Cool Cruiser’ a couple of years later.

Now that I think about it, the one thing that transformed me from one state to the other is so obvious.

Consistency!

I became a better, more confident driver because I continued to drive every day and in every circumstance.

I drove in the rain.

I drove in the snow.

I drove at night.

I drove in the fog.

The more I drove, and the more contexts I drove in, the better I became as a driver.

Consistency made me a better driver!

At the end of every year, people give different motivational talks about how you need to keep reinventing yourself every year.

They talk about how it is essential for you to make plans for the new year to be your best year yet.

However, while I am all for planning and reinvention, I don’t know why people wait till the end of the year before they make such moves.

It’s not like your life stops and resets at the end of every year.

The earth does not stop revolving around the sun to give everyone a breather at the end of each year.

Yet, we are quick to hop on the bandwagon of those who conveniently advocate for reinventing yourself every year — forgetting the rewards that may arise from persisting with your current path.

If you really want to be successful in any field of endeavor, you need to reflect on previous successes you’ve experienced in your life.

If none comes to your mind, think about the following:

You did not learn to walk because you planned it. Rather, you learned to walk because you were consistent.

You did not learn to write alphabets because you reinvented yourself, you learned because you were consistent.

If you’ve earned a degree, it happened because your study habits were consistent over the duration of your schooling.

Consider this quote I have been meditating on for some days now,

He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread; but he that followeth after vain persons is void of understanding
– King Solomon (Proverbs 12:11)

Every step of the farming process is a testament to the power of consistency.

A half-hearted attempt to clear the weeds on a farm will make it impossible to plant seeds.

A half-hearted attempt to plant seeds will jeopardize the farmer’s harvest when it is time.

Even harvesting is dependent on consistency. The farmer does not harvest half-way before trying to reinvent himself into a shepherd. Rather, when the crops are ripe, he goes all in and does not relent until he’s done.

On the other hand, there are the inconsistent ones who are tossed to and fro by the different doctrines pushed by the different thought leaders.

People in this camp are left overwhelmed with information, even as they sink into the cesspool of action paralysis…until the end of the following year when they get their next fix of reinvention talk.

If you are ready to thrive, you do not need to wait till the end of the year to make your desired change happen.

All you need is consistency, and here are 3 tips that will keep you on track.

1. Eliminate Ruthlessly

As humans, we are finite.

We can only be in one place at a time.

We only have enough resources for some things, but not everything.

As a result, we need to deliberately select what we choose to focus our attention on.

Again, when you think about the previous successes you’ve experienced in your life and you’d find them rife with elimination.

To walk, you needed to eliminate crawling.

To write, you needed to eliminate the uncoordinated hand movements that were not giving you the desired symbols.

Staying consistent becomes a simple ordeal when you ruthlessly eliminate the unessential and concentrate on what matters.

2. Design an Enabling Environment

When the defaults in your environment promote the performance of your desired behavior, you become more consistent at it.

For instance, if you want to be more productive with your time, you could redesign your physical space such that your phone is in a separate room whenever you need to work.

In the same way, if you want to be a generally more healthy individual, it is easy to build consistency in healthy eating when your immediate environment is filled with healthy meals.

Your environment is not just limited to the physical inanimate objects in your surroundings. Rather, it also comprises of your social environment, which is made up of the people you surround yourself with.

Before I started driving, no one in my immediate circle could move a car to save their lives. I naturally started driving as soon as my social environment comprised of drivers.

Think about it: You are able to walk today because the people who surrounded you as a child all walked and encouraged you to walk.

Like I said in my post, The Adullam Ring: Outsourcing Decision-Making for Better Outcomes, when you form your Adullam Ring of like-minded individuals, you set yourself for success in the long-run. This happens because of the positive peer pressure that constrains you towards consistency. No one wants to be the one dragging the group back.

3. Track Your Progress

When you are in the habit of measuring how often to repeat a desired behavior, you are more likely to stick with it.

As you track each time you write that article, meditate, go to the gym, make that sales pitch, or do some predetermined action outside your comfort zone, you will literally see those tiny actions add up over time in your tracker.

Self-sourced motivation is the best kind of motivation, and there are very few things that can spark motivation than seeing yourself going on a streak.

I have provided a simple habit tracker that you can download and adapt for the purpose of tracking your habit (No squeeze page or sign up!)