As I sit hear pondering what to write in my office (of course, by “office” I mean Starbucks in Chapters), a Starbucks employee mishandles a glass, and it goes crashing to the floor and smashes into a billion little pieces….
Next, I start thinking about how amazing last night’s Think By Design seminar went, and how much fun I had talking about the key concepts and components.
I realize I had something important to say….
Step #1 in Think By Design is to develop your philosophy consciously. This is a very difficult and often long task to get started because it requires abstract thinking, which is very difficult.
Today, let’s quickly (so I won’t bore you) talk about an abstract principle and how it applies to real life.
The one I have in mind is the Law of Identity.
The law of identity states, and I’m quoting JG here (... wait… “Who is JG?” you ask …. hmmm):
Whatever you choose to consider, be it an object, an attribute or an action, the law of identity remains the same. A leaf cannot be a stone at the same time; it cannot be all red and all green at the same time; it cannot freeze and burn at the same time. A is A. Or, if you wish it stated in simpler language: You cannot have your cake and eat it, too.
I can hear it: So what? Who cares? How does this help? Like I said, converting abstract laws into a real world example is hard, so here goes…
It means that the world behaves in predictable measurable ways and, by knowing and understanding those ways, we learn how to achieve what we want both in the world and in our lives. When that Starbucks employee dropped the glass, I thought that is the law of identity – gravity is gravity (A is A). It works every time. It works outside of the realm of beliefs, voodoo, money and everything else.
Imagine someone trying to tell you that “gravity didn’t work for them.” The thought is a joke. Yet the problem with most people is they want to avoid the law of identity but have all the results of having lived by the law
For example (and FYI, all are contradictions):
-They want to be healthy but continue to eat grains
-They want a loving marriage, but want to continue other intimate relationships with other people
-They want wealth, but don’t want to create value
-They want a great body but don’t want to train hard
-They want the recognition of being a great producer, yet have no ideas of their own
Of course, my examples are very simplified but you should get the idea. Yet, remarkably, people live by similar standards and then are upset that they have not gotten what they wanted.
So … the solution then …
Unfortunately, too many people are attempting to rewrite reality. They think the world is wrong and they are right. They are trying to have their cake and eat it too. That will not work, not now, not ever.
What we (myself included in some points of my life) need to do is understand how the world works. And then simply start living by those rules.
Dr. K
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