When was the last time you felt that conditions were truly in your favor - where everything is in place that supports you to do exactly what you want, when you want?
Let me think...
Never?
Conditions are seemingly never optimal or perhaps it might be better to say, that conditions are always optimal, but never optimal for what we want, when we want. Perhaps as they say, the best time to act is now.
The world as we know it is obviously struggling at the moment, but even so, we as a species have probably never enjoyed better conditions than at this moment in regards to our general standards of living and general opportunity. So why is it that so few of us apparently feel that the time is not right to make a move?
I think that this is an eternal species problem, where we have always "suffered" a blindness of the present as we experience, where we focus on the negatives to the point we hold ourselves back from even attempting to improve our position. Maybe we are just built to restrict ourselves and those who find a way to "be bold" are breaking the code.
"Impossible is nothing"
― Muhammad Ali
It is a lovely quote that is easy to say and easy to feel one understands - yet how many truly contemplate the meaning of those words and onboard them? Perhaps it would be better that rather than a platitude, people read the whole quote:
“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
― Muhammad Ali
Impossible truly is nothing as impossible can never exist. If something truly is impossible, it truly can never be, but as the quote says, Impossible is temporary. There is an enormous amount of profundity in that quote, yet few stop long enough to think much about it.
What this quote means to me is that something might not be possible today, but that doesn't mean that the conditions of tomorrow could support it into existence, into being possible. Impossible truly is an opinion as we do not and cannot know all conditions that have been or will ever be, which means that we cannot know what could exist. All we might be able to guess at is what is impossible at this state and under these conditions, but even this is a tenuous position, as we do not know all conditions present or the full potential of what is possible under the conditions - we can only possibly know what we have managed to observe and possibly guess at what might be still hidden from us, yet to be observed.
The conditions we face might always be sub-optimal for what we want to do right now, but they must be optimal for something or perhaps, optimal for parts of what we want to do. I think that in some ways it is like the people who want to get fitter, but won't work while they have an injury, even though they could work under restriction at something that aids their end goal. When it comes to some of the larger things we want from our life, I think we are always injured to the point many of us restrict ourselves to subsistence alone.
Of course, you might have a completely different view of your world and believe that you are doing all within your power to reach your potential, but that would make you an outlier on the very edge of any population, several standard deviations from the mean. It is possible - but is it likely?
Well, that is the thing with probability, it is a confidence level of possibility and while we might intuitively feel that we have a good understanding of conditions and our potential, I strongly suspect that perhaps it is impossible for any of us to know what we are truly capable of, what our true potential actually is. Sometimes I consider what it might be to have lived an optimized life where every decision and action was the best in the moment, but that is unimaginable, as we be necessity will narrow our focus to specific points. But imagine just from a monetary perspective the difference of your current position if up until now you had done "everything right" and bought the right thing at the right time, sold at the right time, held at the right time, spent at the right time. What would your financial position look like? That outcome was a possibility, but the probability of only making perfect decisions is highly unlikely.
We are uncertain by nature and will always question the decisions we make because we do not act on pure instinct alone and we are able to reflect on what we have done and imagine the counterfactual alternatives, the things that could have happened - the ifs. If only conditions had been better.
They won't be.
It is not that they won't improve, but at any given moment conditions are perfect for something, even though it might not be what we might want that something to be. However, this is always going to be the case and since we can't change the immediate conditions, the only thing we can actually do is make a decision on what we are going to do given the circumstances we face.
Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it.
Everything we do has an effect and therefore, it is going to change the conditions in some way and create the possibility for new potential outcomes - for better or for worse. Each moment we have the choice to do something and standing still is a choice, as is blaming conditions for not making a move. This isn't even about taking risks as every moment we are surrounded by risk, the potential for loss, the potential to be harmed. If we live our world in an attempt to avoid risk, we are trying to empty the sea with a bucket, while standing in the sea. Perhaps this is the only impossibility we should accept - that there is no such thing as certain, there is always margin for error.
I don't know about you, but for me the conditions of the last six months have been sub-optimal for reaching my goals as I had planned them earlier, but it doesn't mean that the last 6 months haven't had the potential for great outcomes. For the most part, I have performed sub-optimally for the conditions, rather than adjusted and optimized for available opportunity. It isn't that I haven't adjusted at all, but I have been far from perfect in my decision making.
We do the best we possibly can with what we have at the time - and that includes the mindset we hold. Perhaps if we change our mind, the conditions of impossible might just shift enough to open up the possible - even if it is still not probable. But then, maybe once we change our mind, we might be able to make a few more decisions toward improving our conditions and increasing the chance that the impossible of now, becomes what we did yesterday.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
I think if I was born a couple of decades ago, I would be working in a factory instead of sitting at my home, using my computer.
And if I was born a couple of centuries ago, I would be working as a mason, or a farmer or something. Totally hard work.
So, in terms of history, it is the best moment for me to do something.
As you said, we do the best we possibly can with what we have at the time, we are trying our best and achieve something according to our potential.
But with time, our potential changes. Our mindset changes. I think what we believe our potential and mindset is, changes with our circumstances. For example, 2017 and 2018 were the best years of my life. Made more than enough money, travelled the whole country, did a lot of adventure sports. So, I thought I had a lot of potential.
Then, 2019 was okay. At the end of 2019, I somehow fell into depression. I felt like a complete loser.
And now, about 6-8 months later, I feel good. I think I have more potential than I envisioned in 2017-2018.
A lot of people talk about developing skills, doing a lot of shit during lockdown. I think lockdown period was one of the most productive period of my life.
I exhausted myself working, reading more books, and writing on hive, twitter, quora, reddit.
Analyzed myself more, and now I understand myself more.
The best thing that happened to me because of lockdown was I lost contact with a lot of people. And somehow, I feel good about it. More positive.
So, being socially distanced from people around me was a big winning factor for me. An opportunity I wouldn't have easily got.
Hopefully there is more to life than sitting at home on a computer :)
I think for many it was a wakeup call. Some of my colleagues have returned to the office in far better condition than when they went home. It is nice to see.
When things improve, make sure you are picky with who you spend your time with. Don't waste it on undeserving people - use it on people who bring the best out in you.
Yeah, in the morning, I am learning boxing a little bit. Just throwing some punches on my boxing bag. And in the evening, I am playing badminton. Lol, pretty much sums up my life these days😂
I usually find inspiring people online only. Quite difficult to find someone who understands me around here. Here most people of my age are about alcohol, drugs, fighting, and girls.😅
90% don't have any interest to talk about career, money, or dreams or anything.
Well said...
The lockdown changed my perspective about life.
I read more than I ever did and I'm still reading.
The reading process improved my thinking
That's great to hear🙂
I do not think there is such a thing as the perfect decision, there is only the now in which a choice is made. Sometimes those choices boil down to a gut instinct, do I stay or do I go.
Most of the big choices decisions I have made in life are from the gut, from a feeling of this is the right choice. I then live with the choice I made. We chose to move after I retired, we chose to move again while retired. Two move in three years. Not a good way to start a retired life.
Many would view such quick moves, involving buying and selling of the house in less than three years, as fool hardy, especially being retired now. It worked for us. It was not an impossible thing to do, though many would see it as such.
With the move I was able to learn I had skin cancer, and then lung cancer, and was able to get both of them taken care of. Where I was living, since we had only just moved there it was a 6 month wait to establish a first appointment with a doctor to re-start our health care. Choosing a health care doctor for normal family care is not a quick process. Even the clinics were not taking new patients in the area we moved to.
We moved, then learned of my health issues since we moved back to the area we moved away from.
!ENGAGE 25 Very nice food for thought.
If there is a perfect decision that can be made - it is made by luck.
I think intuition gets better with experience :)
It is good that you got treated - but the US system is a mess....
Is it better to know and treat or not know and go about your day? I know people who have chosen both sides or when they found out, went without the treatment by choice. There is no perfect decision.
Treatment really is a personal choice. When it comes to skin cancer, no treatment could lead to disfigurement, treatment can also lead to disfigurement. For me it was either a open ugly wound look, or a loss of halve an eyebrow, and hair where there never was before. (very fine but annoys my eye and needs trimming a lot).
I think it is better to know, one should never be afraid of knowledge even if that knowledge can cause fear.
It all has to do with the way we are and the way we face the situations. It is like the saying "It is not richer the one who has the most but the one who needs the least". When you thing you are struggling three is always people having worse conditions and still believing or adapting. It's though sometimes as we are affected by the environment but everything is in our mind.
While I am not a fan of centralized education, perhaps it would be good to introduce some kind of ideas around developing mindset or at least, developing skills of self-reflection at a younger age. It seems that parents on average are unwilling to do the job and will instead limit their children with platitudes.
Well said. life has a way of making us forget how important and special each and every moment in ours lives can be. Change usually doesn't happen so instantly but though many small actions strung togetherness.
Improvement and degradation are a series of steps and if we are paying attention, we might be able to affect the direction in some areas. There is a cost to making decision, there is cost of not.
Lovely quote! I think that no one is defeated until they have given up in their mind. So victory is always possible if you never give up mentally. We also need to reconsider failure as a part of the process instead as a dead end.
A weird thing with that I guess is if one thinks they have a chance and dies, they die in potential - not failure.
Actually I think the worst kind of death is the one you experience while still living. A sort of living just to kill time. I think it's the worst kind of death we should be afraid of
I agree. I get the sense that many of us are killing time while being scared of impending death.
A scary thought, scarrier than death itself I think
below is the link to the audio version of your post hope you will and other users will enjoy this.Hi, @tarazkp your post have been randomly picked by @text2speech
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this is an introduction post have a looks and know more about this account.
Introduction Post
ENGAGEtokens.Recently actually ;D Just after I had to tackle the grass forest outside and just before everything piled up and I had to clean out the art cupboard (which I started three days ago and finished earlier today) to be more specific XP
Okay well maybe it wasn't "optimal" optimal (where that would be closer to "perfect") but it was a damn sight better than it has been.
I like some author I read once (should look up who it is but I'm lazy).