Why you don't [insert thing you KNOW would be good for you]
"No human being will work hard at anything unless they believe that they are working for competence."
– William Glasser
Do you have things you want to do because they’re good for you or move you in the direction of your dreams, but you can’t seem to start? Or maybe you begin but then promptly fall off the wagon only to agonize about beginning again?
Why does this happen? Basically, you end up on the wrong side of Mount Stupid. Let me explain.
With any new skill, practice or endeavor, you begin with vim and vigor. A big vision and untested confidence. This is the peak of Mount Stupid. You don’t know what you don’t know.
Then you plummet off that peak because it’s harder than you thought, you’re face-to-face with your incompetence, or you realize there is a loooooooooooong way to go.
This is the Valley of Despair. Where most people turn around, give up, deny interest, or scurry back into the shadows. The friction, frustration, and humility is just too much.
Unfortunate for us pleasure-seeking-mammals, the Valley of Despair is where growth happens. It’s the melt-down for metamorphosis. The ground where antifragility is gained.
If you can stomach the suck, each step moves you up the Slope of Enlightenment. Eventually you reach the Plateau of Sustainability. Where you can cruise. Until… you decide to take on another mountain. Which is any new skill, dream, career pivot, or relationship. The journey begins again.
Does this shed light on some things? Maybe a whole era of your life? Knowing this cycle helps you trudge through uncertainty and frustration. It prepares you for evolution and ambition.
Knowing about Mount Stupid and the 4 Stages of Competency has helped me:
build an online business (even when feeling perilously and perpetually behind).
learn to snowboard at age 40 (and keep going back even when falling, flailing, and flopping).
commit to strength training (3 years later there are still machines I have no idea how to use).
When have you turned back after falling off Mount Stupid? Where is it still stopping you?
Dive deeper into the Mount Stupid metaphor and the 4 Stages of Competence in this Youtube video. Meditation was used as an example because it’s a practice anyone can do, it has ridiculous life-changing benefits, and yet most struggle with it.
🎖️Antifragile, Part 2: Mount Stupid, Willpower & Quiet Confidence
🎖️Becoming Antifragile: How Stress, Challenge & Mindset Make You Stronger(part 1)
May your practice have a slope of enlightenment,
Alison
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