Category Archives: Life Philosophy

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The Power of Initiative

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Today, it’s easier than ever to send out a message into the world or to start a new organization. Within a few phone-calls, you and I can reach almost any person in the world. 

As the barriers to create value decrease, our power (and responsibility) to write our life narratives becomes bigger. Decades ago, the story of a young man born in rural Kenya was almost fully defined by the situation into which he was born – the “starting conditions” of his life. The same young man born today has a realistic option to craft a life story much different than previously imaginable. In a world where more is possible, initiative – the power to act -is becoming one of the most important conditions for human success.  

More than ever, we have the opportunity to turn our big ideas into reality. Whether we choose a life of action or a life of passive agreement is up to us. With that, I’d like to share a quote from Bucky.

“We are blessed with technology that would be indescribable to our forefathers. We have the wherewithal, the know-it-all to feed everybody, clothe everybody, and give every human on Earth a chance. We know now what we could never have known before: that we now have the option for all humanity to make it successfully on this planet in this lifetime. Whether it is to be Utopia or Oblivion will be a touch-and-go relay race right up to the final moment.”

 

– Buckminster Fuller, Critical Path

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Everybody gets their “musts”; nobody gets their “shoulds”

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“Human beings absolutely follow through on who they believe they are.”

You may not like his voice, but Tony Robbins very nicely packages a few key lessons for personal progress in this video.

Take 30 minutes to watch it – and implement his exercises – it will change your state of mind for the better.

Among his advice, which also comes from Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”

1. Define a Compelling Vision (Burning Desire)
2. For which you have Strong Reasons
3. Review it Every Day

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Back when American politicians would speak about fundamental issues

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Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product … if we should judge America by that – counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts Whitman’s rifle and Speck’s knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.

“Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it tells us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.”

Robert F. Kennedy Address, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, March 18, 1968

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Lessons from a Stoic – Practical Philosophy by Seneca

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Imagine you were alive during the height of the Roman empire, at the start of the Christian calendar. As an admired political figure, you spend most days orating in parliament or tutoring soon-to-be emperors. Everyday life brings you huge banquets, death sentences and near-fatal strokes of disease – not exactly the circumstances inductive to the virtuous life. Yet it was under those temptations that Seneca, one of the most practical philosophers, relentlessly focused on improving his personal character. The series of letters he wrote at the end of his life, collected in “Letters from a Stoic”, are a must read for every (young) person who is interested in forming his or her own character.

Seneca’s writings are surprisingly timely and highly practical. I have collected below excerpts from his letters that I found truthful or that triggered personal questions. Note that I do not agree with all quotes below.

“Extend your stay among writers whose genius is unquestionable, […] if you wish to gain anything from your reading that will find a lasting place in your mind.”

“Think for a long time whether or not you should admit a given person to your friendship. But when you have decided to do so, welcome him heart and soul, and speak as unreservedly with him as you would with yourself. […] Regard him as loyal, and you will make him loyal.”

“Personal converse and daily intimacy with someone with someone will be of more benefit to you than any discourse. […] Plato and Aristotle derived more from Socrates’ character than from his words.”

“Retire into yourself as much as you can. Associate with people who are likely to improve you. Welcome those whom you are capable of improving. The process is a mutual one: men learn as they teach.”

“The many speak highly of you, but have you really any grounds for satisfaction with yourself if you are the kind of person the many understand? Your merits should not be outward facing.”

“Indulge the body just so far as suffices for good health. Spurn everything that is added on by way of decoration and display by unnecessary labor. Reflect that nothing merits admiration except the spirit, the impressiveness of which prevents in from being impressed by anything.”

“If you wish to be loved, love.”

“The wise man, unequalled though he is in his devotion to his friends, though regarding them as being no less important and frequently more important than his own self, will still consider what is valuable in life to be something wholly confined to his inner self.“

“We need to set out affections on some good man and keep him constantly before our eyes, so that we may live as if he were watching us and do everything as if he saw what we were doing.” 

“Every day should be regulated as if it were the one that brings up the rear, the one that rounds out and completes our lives.” 

As the opening of a letter: “I trust this finds you in pursuit of wisdom”

“When a person is following a path, there is an eventual end to it; with wandering at large, there is no limit. If you want to know whether the desire to pursue a journey is natural or unseeing, ask yourself whether it is capable of coming to rest at any point.”

“Making noble resolutions is not as important as keeping the resolutions you have made already. You have to persevere and fortify your pertinacity until the will to good becomes a disposition to good.”

“Appoint certain days on which to give up all physical pleasures and make yourself at home with next to nothing: bread, water, a bed. Cultivate a relationship with poverty.”

“Assume authority […] and produce something from your own resources. The people who are forever acting as interpreters and never as creators are always lurking in someone else’s shadow.”

“Praise others for what is truly their own. Do not praise for possessions or physical shape, but praise for spirit and certain characteristics you admire.”

“Treat your inferiors in the way in which you would like to be treated by your own superiors. […] To be really respected is to be loved; and love and fear will not mix”

“Let us rouse ourselves, so that we may be able to demonstrate our own errors.”

“People who are really busy never have enough time to become skittish. And there is nothing so certain as the fact that the harmful consequences of inactivity are dissipated by activity.”

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Principle Pragmatism

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I was fortunate enough to attend the Tällberg Forum 2012 in Sweden last week. During the Pathfinder program, a 3-day long leadership training, I was caught by a simple term: “Principle Pragmatism”. Principle pragmatism equals the least possible compromise in your action for being true to your ethics. Differently put, principle pragmatism means that you walk your talk.

In order to practice principle pragmatism, we need to take two actions. First, we need to make explicit our values & ethics. Second, we need to actively judge our actions with those ethics as a yardstick.

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On virtues

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“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

I believe that we have much more control over our character than we realize. We see our lives, by default, from our own perspectives. This leads us to think that much of our behavior is natural, where in fact it has been shaped over our individual history. To become the sculptors of our own persona, we need to adopt a “third-party perspective”: looking at ourselves critically as if we were a distant observer.

A great proponent of human virtuosity is the late Benjamin Franklin, one of the “Founding Fathers” of the US. He proposed a simple, yet powerful exercise, to become a more virtuous person. This exercises was one of many used in his pursuit of “moral perfection”. Franklin believed, and so do I, that the best way to serve humanity is by being good to others.

Step 1 of the exercise is to set a “gold standard” for behavior. Franklin suggested to do this by establishing a list of the virtues you hold in high regard. For each virtue, write down a short sentence for clarification. Additionally, I have added a list of vices that I wish to keep away from. This provides us with a framework upon which to evaluate ourselves critically.

Step 2 is evaluation. In a notebook, create a table with seven columns for the days of the week, and rows for each of the virtues you aspire to. Each morning, read through your list of virtues. Each evening, with your notebook in front of you, assess which virtues you were able to show and which you failed to comply with. I keep an additional page of notes to explain in more detail how I could have behaved more virtuous.

virtue table

Over the past few days, this exercise has helped me significantly. First, studying a list of virtues each morning creates a positive mindset to start the day – it sketches the potential of how good you can be. Second, I have experienced more moments in which I looked at myself from a third-person perspective, because I recognized a situation in which I could behave more virtuous. Third, reflecting at the end of the day helps you evaluate your behavior.

The goal of this exercise is not to be totally virtuous, but to be mindful of yourself, particularly when you are about to make “a mistake”.

This exercise is in its essence very similar to one proposed by Warren Buffet, which I have covered in an older post. The gold standard of virtues in that exercise is established by looking at your classmates, which is an interesting way of deriving virtue from practical behavior. Franklin’s exercise is worth a new post however, as the table-form evaluation is very helpful and practical.

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Reading the classics

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In a recent biography of Einstein, by Walter Isaacson, I learned about the “Olympia Academy”. During Einstein’s first year as a patent officer in Bern, Switzerland, he founded, together with two friends, what was to become the basis of a reading club. Multiple evenings a week, Einstein, Solovine and Habicht would get together for a wholesome meal to discuss their readings of the classics. They covered books from Hume’s A treatise on human nature to Spinoza’s Ethics, discussing their personal views and critically reflecting on the concepts proposed by the authors.

As I was visiting the Rocky Mountain Institute in Boulder, Colorado last week, a friend kindly showed me around the University of Colorado campus. My eye was caught by the quote on the face of the library. When you think about it, time plays the role of a very strong filter on century-old pieces of literature, art of music that are still recommended.

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As the urgency of books on best-seller lists fades with time, only the truly good, beautiful and truthful books will keep being recommended. That’s the beauty of diving into old books: it takes a lot more effort to read, but you will find very deep sentences on each page, forcing you, the reader, to think about the truth contained in them.

From that perspective, I would like to share with you an index of great books I recently stumbled upon, mentioning some of the best works of the past 2500 years. We should all take more time to actively read these. I have found that the most valuable way of reading the classics is to stop after every other sentence, to try to think of (counter-)examples of your own life that (dis-)prove the truth of the matter. It is slow, but meaningful. If you want to recommend a book, or discuss a certain topic, please do reach out to me.

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Plan for Future Conduct – adapted from Benjamin Franklin

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To shape ourselves to become the person we want to be, and to build “good” habits, it is valuable to write a personal code of conduct, which you try to stick to. Read it every morning before you leave the house, and go through it in the evening, reflecting whether you behaved according to the rules you set for yourself.
The four rules below were listed by Benjamin Franklin, on his sailing journey from London to Philadelphia. They resonated particularly with me, hence the reference.
  1. It is necessary for me to be extremely frugal for some time, till I have paid what I owe.
  2. To endeavor to speak truth in every instance; to give nobody expectations that are not likely to be answered, but aim at sincerity in every word and action–the most amiable excellence in a rational being.
  3. To apply myself industriously to whatever business I take in hand, and not divert my mind from my business by any foolish project of suddenly growing rich; for industry and patience are the surest means of plenty.
  4. I resolve to speak ill of no man whatever.
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Admiration vs Aspiration

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Many of us express considerable admiration for individuals who by our own metrics have achieved success. In some cases, this can lead us to create in our minds a distance between the person admired and ourselves. You start to tell yourself “what he/she has accomplished, I can never be”. In that form, admiration is disastrous: rather than trying to solve meaningful challenges, you downgrade your own potential.

The thing is, the distance between the admired person and ourselves is imaginary – it is entirely created in our head. Accomplishment comes from setting big goals and acting tirelessly upon them. Change is created not by accepting naturally what others say, but by questioning all you hear and developing your own answers, based on what you truly sense is true.

Aspiration might be a healthier form of moving forward. If your aspiration is to achieve a truly meaningful goal you have chosen based on metrics you personally believe are important, aspiration is more actionable than admiration. The best and only way to make a change is to start acting!