Do you want to succeed?
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
Do you want to succeed in today’s extremely noisy and confusing world? Then be unreasonable and don’t compete. I’m being quite sincere. Think about the word “competition.” It’s from the Latin “competere,” which means “seeking or striving together.”
The competitive paradigm forces you to compare yourself, and to align your thinking and action, with others; others in your “group” who are like you. And so inevitably, you begin focusing on the wrong things; things as they are.
It’s like running a road race. At the start of a race, you have a panoptic view. You’re aware of everything and everyone. But as the race progresses you tend to focus narrowly on those runners nearest to you, and you adjust your psychological stride to their cadence.
Instead of viewing your life from this classic comparative angle, try seeing it from an unreasonable point of view. Look beyond the horizon to the way things could be, and head in that direction. Move outside of the flow and into the edges. It’s a perspective that will make all the difference in the world.
Seymour Cray, the inventor of the supercomputer said:
“One of my guiding principles is don’t do anything that other people are doing. Always do something a little different if you can. The concept is that if you do it a little differently there is a greater potential for reward than if you do the same thing that other people are doing. I think that this kind of goal for one’s work, having obviously the maximum risk, would have the maximum reward no matter what the field may be.”
I agree with Seymour, but I suspect for an entirely different reason.
I’m presently working on something quite different, and I have no idea how the experience will unfold or turn out. And that’s what makes life interesting and exciting, which, to me, is success.
Here’s the gist: Being unreasonable in one’s pursuits is not for the faint of heart, and it may or may not bring progress. But it sure as hell is a lot more fun, and that, my friend, is the maximum reward.
Happy July!
☀️ Random information for the month of July
* Dmitry Muratov, who received the Nobel Peace Prize medal in 2021, sold it at auction for over $103 million to help Ukrainian children.
* The name Gilligan, of “Gilligan’s Island,” was chosen at random. Director Sherwood Schwartz just dialed a random number in the phone book and the name of the recipient was Gilligan.
* A fireproof copy of The Handmaid’s Tale auctioned for $130,000. Proceeds will go towards PEN America, a nonprofit campaigning for literacy and freedom of expression.
* Sales of digital music are in freefall, bringing in only 4% of US music industry revenues in 2021.
* Netflix confirmed ads are coming. A drop in new subscriptions prompted the streaming platform to cut jobs and seek new sources of revenue.
* Many commercials continue to play on ad-supported streaming services after viewers turn off their television, new research shows, a problem that is causing an estimated waste of more than $1 billion a year for brands.
* There’s a lifeguard shortage in the US forcing pools to stay shut and leaving beaches unguarded.
* Apple employees voted to form the company’s first US union. Retail workers at an Apple store in Maryland voted by a nearly 2-to-1 margin to unionize amid a nationwide surge in labor organizing.
* Chinese scientists have developed a helmet that can read brainwaves to detect consumption of illicit material. Watch out, daydreamers!
* In Italy, it’s considered bad luck to lay bread upside down—either on a table or in a basket.
* Giraffe necks may have evolved as a weapon. Snacking on tall plants is a huge plus, but the mammal’s ancestors also may have been able to win head-butting contests.
* Researchers found that coffee drinkers were 30% less likely to die than those who didn’t during a large-scale study, but the mechanism is unclear (and doesn’t apply to milk-heavy espresso beverages).
* A Google engineer was put on leave after claiming that the internet giant’s new Lamda AI has developed a conscience, and its desires should be respected.
* Lego unveiled plans for its first US factory. The Danish toy company will invest more than $1 billion in a renewable energy-powered site scheduled to open in 2025.
* Poseidon’s ribbon weed is the largest plant in the world. The Australian sea grass has cloned itself for more than 4,500 years to grow to about the size of Cincinnati, Ohio.
* Mondelez, the food and beverage giant, announced a $2.9 billion deal for energy bar maker Clif Bar.
* VR at work may not actually… work. A study found that being in the metaverse all day can lower productivity, increase stress, and give people migraines. Duh!
* Canada cracked down on single-use plastics. By December 2022, companies will be barred from importing or making six types of plastic products, including straws and plastic bags.
* Thailand legalized the growing of marijuana and its consumption in food and drinks. The first Asian nation to delist the substance also freed more than 3,000 inmates jailed on marijuana-related charges, though smoking and selling weed are still illegal.
* Nature has its own superglue. Mistletoe can produce a versatile, powerful adhesive.
* Apple’s iconic “Think Different” slogan is up for grabs in the EU. The bloc’s highest court ruled the trademark was past its sell-by date.
* A Thai YouTuber has amazed the internet by creating an origami city with a fully working train made entirely of paper.
* Bumblebees are fish, according to a California court. The unanimous ruling straightened out a legal debate between conservationists and farmers over a half-century-old endangered species law.
* Neuroscience says listening to this song reduces anxiety by up to 65 percent.
👁 Take a look
NASA's Cassini spacecraft’s last image before entering Saturn’s atmosphere and burning up.
🎭 Think about this
“Someone’s intelligence can be measured by the quantity of uncertainties that he can bear.” ~ Immanuel Kant
“When you’re thinking about something, you're exaggerating its importance.” ~ Daniel Kahneman
“You live in a deranged age - more deranged than usual, because despite great scientific and technological advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing.” ~ Walker Percy
☝️ And don’t forget
My new book, Your Brain on Story, is available wherever you get your books. I’d love to hear from you about it. (I read all messages, and try to respond.) Reach out to me with any questions, complaints or comments, or simply to say hi: hello@tomasacker.com (or use the contact form).
Until next time, don’t mess with those living in cages.
P.S. If you enjoy these emails and know someone else who would enjoy them, please forward this to them and encourage them to sign up. Thanks.
It certainly does, Aaron. That said, Simone Weil wrote, "Risk is an essential need of the soul. The absence of risk produces a kind of boredom which paralyses in a different way from fear, but almost as much."
Self-imposed risk, and the resultant anxiety and inevitable pain, is what, in fact, creates a soul.
Sometimes it hurts so very much to be unreasonable. Very, very much.