The best you can do?

I think you could already foresee how this happens every day for most people.

Let’s take for example how in certain jobs they give some type of “gifts” or “bonus” for people who work extra hours. That is positive reinforcement in their behavior.

That is an easy and observable measure of it. The real problem is when there are not very direct consequences to our everyday actions. The consequences take weeks, months, sometimes even years!

You could waste away 5 hours a day between Netflix and Instagram, and no one will give you an electric shock for it. The same could be said for binge eating junk-food, not going to the gym, not making more money, not taking care of your relationships, etc.

Think about it, humans are as species adapted to surviving not thriving.

Take a moment to think about that,

Your body doesn’t want to “spend” energy by going to the gym.

It wants to eat all the calories from junk food, the taste of sugar and fat is just irresistible to your body.

As long as you have shelter and food, your mind is not incentivized to generate more money.

All of that is in our programing, as species, we are not wired for being happy, joyful, disciplined. That is just how it is, that is nature, we are mainly wired for survival and reproduction.

Genes ?

So, am i telling you most of your shortcomings in life are not your fault? but is just in our nature? AH, not so fast…

While it is indeed true that it may not be our fault some of the things i mentioned, that won’t solve the problems we currently face.

Let’s take for example the food.

Yes, our ancestors being hunter-gatherers could pass days on end without food, they walked lots of km per day, and when they had the opportunity to finally eat, they ate as much as they could, as they didn’t know when the next meal would arrive.

Now that specific trait, combined with the invention of all sugary, fatty, tasty combinations of junk-food we`ve created in the last decades, makes a perfect combination for trouble, over-eating, leading to diabetes, cancer, hypertension, etc.

That is true, but does knowing that solve our problem? Of course not.

Knowing that information is useful to some extent but is not going to solve the problem on its own.

You still need to take action and solve the problem, blaming it on nature or saying its not your fault wont magically fix you being a fat slob.

The same goes for social media and videogames.

Those are companies manipulating your attention, spending millions of dollars every year just to figure out how to make you more hooked and addicted to the screens.

They are literally manipulating your behavior, robbing your most valuable currencies:

Time and Attention.

That is a fact, they mess up your dopamine system, they play with your mind using behavioral psychology, you are literally the rat pressing the lever waiting for food.

Just instead you are pressing the Instagram app waiting for likes, dms, funny videos.

Why do you think Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, are all for free? 

You are the rat.

Again, you can see how the system and the companies are rigging the game to their favor, but blaming won’t solve any of your problems in life.

Now what about your environment?

Probably you have also heard about the statement that we are a by-product of our environment.

Meaning we as social creatures tend to “copy” what we are observing.

To this point psychologist Albert Bandura known for his social learning theory, in the year 1961 did a famous experiment called the “Bobo doll” experiment.

The experiment consisted of children divided into groups.

The first group watched a film containing an adult displaying aggressive behavior towards a Bobo doll.

The second group watched a film that didn`t contained any aggressive behavior.

After that the children were place in a room that contained multiple toys including a Bobo doll, as you can imagine, the children that saw the aggressive film were more prone to imitate the aggressive behavior they had seen.

This is not only for aggressive behavior but many different cultural and behavior aspects can be learned through observation.

That is a scary thought if you think about it, means the circle of people being your friends, family, spouse, coworkers, etc. Have a greater influence than what you could have thought before.

That can be also taken to a positive note, if you are already aware of this knowledge, then you would be intelligent by cutting off from your circle people who are negative, or misaligned with what you want. 

Then surrounding yourself with people whom you admire and add positive things and value to your life.

Then what does doing your best mean?

Thats the beauty of it, doing yourself means no comparison towards others but towards yourself. You can lie to others, but you can’t lie to yourself.

If you have that inner feeling/responsibility that you can/could do better. Then is time to act towards the best possible version of yourself.

Get in shape, improve your relationships, enjoy your hobbies, challenge yourself to do something new, get out of your comfort zone (whatever that means to you), make more money, learn a new skill, go after your purpose in life.

After all is said and done, if you are one of the few people on earth who dare to achieve most of what i mentioned, you are going to be living a great life, one that the majority will still only dream of.

Don`t forget to share what you learned along the way, share with the world what you are uniquely passionate about, your best learnings, mistakes, lessons, art, whatever you think is worth sharing.

The world will thank you and become a better place because of that.

You`ll light a little candle that maybe can start a fire down the line, you`ll never know if you don’t share.

Remember this is a lifetime process and you can always do a little bit better.

Always aim for the best you can do.

Much love,

Zifush