Unlocking Human Potential
I. Timescale
In the long run, good things happen to good people.
“Things gravitate toward what they were intended for.”
— Marcus Aurelius
If it’s bad now, you just need to wait longer.
Extend your time scale (backwards-looking) and be more patient (forwards-looking).
Do these, and it will be clear.
I. Boring Beauty
When something profound (good or bad) happens, we finally realize the beauty of our mundane lives.
“I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you actually left them.”
— Andy Bernard (Ed Helms)
Life is like a good record.
Fleeting with unlimited meaning.
However you want to listen, the choice is yours.
I. The Hidden
Reality is also what we don’t see.
“Just because you haven’t seen a black swan, doesn’t mean one doesn’t exist. Just because you’ve only seen white swans, doesn’t mean that’s all that exists.”
— Nassim Taleb
Our realities are mostly shaped by our experiences. Yet, different (unseen) outcomes are possible, even typical, for other people.
It would sometimes serve us better to see what we cannot see.
I. Rivers of Time
Every moment is unique.
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
— Heraclitus
Whether it be your view of the world, your circumstances, or the people around you, each second that passes is accompanied by change.
You cannot live the same moment twice.
I. Fighting Types
The best skills come from within.
“The student as boxer, not fencer.
The fencer’s weapon is picked up and put down again.
The boxer’s is part of him.
All he has to do is clench his fist.”
— Marcus Aurelius
We spend time trying to control the wrong things. With limited attention, what are the weapons you care about most?
Be a boxer, not a fencer.