I hear this in countless conversations:

"that's over my head" or "I'm not the type to learn that" or "it's not worth it for me to explore those concepts, I won't understand them".

The defeated mindset traces back to as long as humans have existed. I can easily picture a group of cavemen and see that 1 is less motivated than another to get a fire started or pick for some blueberries or chase down an animal.

Whether you're chasing down an animal to put food on the table or trying to grasp a new concept in the financial world, there comes a time when you have to decide: "am I smart enough?".

Some people run from challenges. They run from adversity. When they see something that is hard to understand and may require a lot of time and energy, they immediately come up with a million excuses for why they shouldn't even try to pursue it.

The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz

"the thinking that guides your intelligence is much more important than how much intelligence you may have."
 

I mentioned this in a post about a week back, but I'm re-reading The Magic of Thinking Big - it sounds like a "woo-woo" book, but I think many of the concepts apply in a very practical sense to our daily lives.

Take intelligence and enthusiasm as an example.

The Critical Factor: Enthusiasm

In answering the question, “Should your child be a scientist?” Dr. Edward Teller, one of the nation’s foremost physicists, said, “A child does not need a lightning-fast mind to be a scientist, nor does he need a miraculous memory, nor is it necessary that he get very high grades in school. The only point that counts is that the child have a high degree of interest in science.”

I dropped out of college. I know it affects the immediate perception that people have of me when they find that out. Where I'm from, if you don't have a college degree, people ask: "what went wrong?".

In conversation, however, I love to talk about a wide spectrum of topics. On one hand, people can call me uneducated (and trust me, I've heard that plenty) and on the other hand, others will say that I'm one of the most well-rounded and well-read people that they've ever met.

The answer: enthusiasm. I don't need to go to college to get a piece of paper that certifies my "knowledge" in something. That's often worthless in most situations (in my experience).

Instead, I aim to learn & explore concepts that I care about. 4 years ago, I got smacked in the face by crypto. I realized that crypto offered this vast world of technological concepts, applications and use cases. I fell down the rabbit hole and to this day continue to learn more about the crypto space than I could have ever imagined possible. My enthusiasm for the space drives me to learn more and more and more.

Cooperation and A Positive Mindset

With a positive, optimistic, and cooperative attitude a person with an IQ of 100 will earn more money, win more respect, and achieve more success than a negative, pessimistic, uncooperative individual with an IQ of 120.

As I was saying, much of this book can apply to our daily lives, if you really sit down and think about it. As someone who's spent a lot of time on Steem, it's easy to point this one out:

People who operate in a negative, pessimistic and uncooperative way on the Steem blockchain don't get anywhere. Now that we have better downvoting mechanisms in place, it simply makes sense to cooperate. That's some game theory for ya. Make the game more lucrative for people who pander to the greater good, and the whole system will succeed.

Bitcoin mining, for example, operates in a similar way. Sure, you could 51% attack the Bitcoin blockchain, but what will you gain from it? It will take you hundreds... thousands... tens of thousands of hours worth of mining & wasted energy to change a few blocks.

You could waste all your time and resources on changing blocks in the past and attack the network, but in so doing, your reward is far less than what it would have been to simply use those same resources to mine blocks in the intended manner. The reward for cooperating is much better than the reward for hostility.

Whether you're trying to learn new concepts that require a great deal of focus and energy or you're trying to make a full-time living on a blockchain like Steem, the right mindset is a core KPI for your achievement of either goal.

If you think negatively of yourself and of others. If you don't cooperate in the system for the greater good, then you will find a lack of progress. You may not even start the journey in the first place.

Perspective is everything.

Posted via Steemleo