Big Idea #1 From Me
At any given moment in time, there’s a range of behaviors you can perform.
I call this your behavioral repertoire.
Here’s an example that will help you visualize what I mean:
As you are seated/lying down in your bedroom, reading these words, you can decide to stand up and touch the wall closest to you. The probability of this happening is high, right?
Do you also know that you are capable of touching the ceiling with your feet?
But the probability of that behavior happening is very low. As a result, that behavior is collapsed within your repertoire. That’s why you probably can’t recall a time when you placed your feet on the ceiling in your room, even though it is something that is possible.
Now, let’s assume someone brings a double-bunk bed to your room and asked you to sleep on the top bunk. What would happen to the probability of you putting your feet on the ceiling (if you choose to)?
It will increase dramatically!
In life, some behaviors in your repertoire will bring you closer to your destiny, while others will collapse opportunities, thus taking you away from the destination God had prepared for you from the foundations of the world.
And still, some behaviors in your repertoire will never be expressed unless there are enabling factors in your immediate environment.
Here’s the wisdom in the paradigm:
- Amplify those behaviors that will bring you closer to the fulfillment of your potential.
- Extinguish those that will take you away from destiny.
- Stay sensitive to discern whether a change is necessary in your environment for the right behaviors to be expressed.
Big Idea #2 From Research
In a study titled “Hedonic Consequences of Social Comparison: A Contrast of Happy and Unhappy Individuals”, researchers Sonja Lyubomirsky and Lee Ross asked people to teach children simple maths.
The people were divided into 2 groups.
For some, after they had taught the children, they were told ‘good job’. For others, in addition to being told they had done a good job, they were also told that other participants had done a better job.
After receiving feedback, the two groups of participants were asked to rate how happy they felt about their job performance.
Unsurprisingly, those who received the extra information in the form of comparison to an alternative group were less happy than those who were just told they did a good job.
My key takeaway is this: Don’t build your happiness on things that change. If you’re hell-bent on comparing yourself with others, you’d find that there’s always going to be someone wealthier, prettier, or more knowledgeable. If you must compare, compare yourself with where you’re coming from and where you’re headed to. Remind yourself: The story isn’t over yet!
Big Idea #3 From the Bible
Ecclesiastes 1:9, 11 says, “The thing that had been is that which shall be, and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there’s no new thing under the sun…There’s no remembrance of the former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that come after”
Every question you’d ever ask on this side of eternity has been answered in some shape or form by people in the past.
This reminds me of a quote by German poet, Friedrich von Schlegel, who said, ‘The historian is a prophet in reverse’
By being a student of history, you can identify patterns in the past that will position you for opportunities in the present and future, when they arise.
This principle applies to both your personal history and historical events in general.
History is valuable when it compounds. However, if your memory of it decays over time, it will be useless to you.
Unless you take deliberate effort to harness the power of revisiting history, you will always be caught up in the present moment without an understanding of your roles in it.
There’s a reason the men of Issachar (1 Chron 12:32) were called men of understanding…
May the Lord give you understanding in these things.
