Battling Your DNA

Throughout the journey of life, we all face many barriers and battle obstacles. Unfortunately, for many of us, the biggest battle we fight is against ourselves and our own human nature. In fact, there is an African Proverb that says, “If there is no enemy within, the enemy outside can do you no harm.”

Why do we hold ourselves back? Human being, you are hardwired to seek survival, not significance. Your DNA is designed for you to survive and not thrive. The brain is set up to give you the best chance possible to pass along your genes to the next generation. Impacting the world in which you currently live and leaving a behind a legacy beyond your DNA contribution isn’t a natural, primary goal. Your brain naturally wants whatever is comfortable in the moment rather than what is best for you and the people you love in the long-run.

If you lived back in the cave man days, your brain was too worried about finding food for today and avoiding becoming food for a saber tooth tiger to worry about the future. Self-development, creating value for others and serving your community wasn’t really a big concern. Taking risks and enduring temporary hardship for a long term payoff didn’t really make sense either if your brain was just trying to figure out how to survive the day.

You want pizza instead of broccoli, new shoes instead of paying down debt, one more rerun episode of The Office instead of reading an educational book and sleeping in rather than going for a run. You literally have to work against your own DNA and natural “wiring” to live up to your potential and create a positive lasting impact. It’s a battle you must fight daily. You are seeking excellence but your brain searches for ease. Don’t give in to the temporary urges for pleasure and comfort. Seek significance over survival.

Comments

Toxic Humility

We have all seen false humility: the guy who tries to hide his arrogance with feigned modesty. It’s usually pretty obvious and always obnoxious. But there is also another variation of false humility out there: toxic humility. This is often displayed in self-deprecating talk and a lack of self-confidence, belittling or undermining one’s own talents and abilities. The danger in this kind of behavior is twofold: it is too often accepted as true humility and like a virus, it spreads doubt and disbelief. To clarify, it is not that the bearer of this toxic humility isn’t honest about his view of himself. That is the very issue: he absolutely believes he has little value or utility. He thinks downplaying his own worth is humility but I disagree. CS Lewis said it best when he wrote, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking about yourself less.” His point being, true humility is not an ever-present raincloud of self-doubt that follows you around. It’s a focus on...

The Art of Intentionality

“Intentional living is the art of making our own choices before others’ choices make you.” – Richie Norton I am not even sure who Richie Norton is, but I love that quote! I imagine a ship drifting out to sea, pushed around by the wind and the waves. No course of direction, yet the captain is frustrated when the ship ends up dashed against the rocks, trapped on a sandbar or marooned on an inhospitable island. It is easy to complain when life takes us where we do not want to go. But who is really to blame if we have never set our sails to align us along an appropriate course? Do we blame the waves, wind and the weather? Or should we blame the captain of the ship? It is our life and our ship. We must set our sails with intentionality and determined choices. Otherwise, we are doomed to aimlessly drift along according to the choices and decisions of others.

The Hungry Lion

Early in my career, as I was struggling to both build up my clientele and provide food for my family, someone tried to encourage me by saying, “remember, the hungry lion hunts best.” At the time, that made sense to me. And it probably even provided some much-needed reassurance. But I have since come to think differently. I was a starving lion, and I learned a few things from the experience. Hungry lions get fatigued. They become desperate. They cut corners. They make unforced errors. But fed lions have their own issues. Their satiety can turn into selfishness. They get comfortable and then complacent. These lions do not hunt well either. I believe the lion who hunts best is not the hungry lion nor the satisfied lion, but rather the lion who hunts not for himself and his own hunger, but for the pride of lions around him. His drive is not his own need for nourishment; it is the hunger of those around him that motivates him. Our world is a hurting and hungry place. Not just ...

Mindset Matters

Search This Blog