Once again, I give you a monster post – about 2400 words.
In almost anything that we can endeavour to do, the end result is often the product of numerous tiny accumulations which become significant over the course of time. Tiny jumps in the evolutionary ladder brought us apart from our chimpanzee cousins (albeit very distant ones). Likewise, tiny jumps lead to the cumulative product of experiences that characterise an Individual.
I want to speak of these under the backdrop of the oft quoted phrase, “Healthy, Wealthy and Wise”. We will examine how this has implications for all of these three elements.
First, I would like to make a qualification for where this applies: ignoring randomness. This can be quite a major factor in some cases. [1] For example, becoming a successful musician may have a more profound role for chance, but becoming a technically proficient musician does not. In the latter case, consistent work over a long period of time using the right methodology will certainly yield relative success.
Why I only daresay ‘relative’ success is because there is always the genetic factor at work. Not everybody was born a Mozart, and the level of virtuosity which he obtained is arguably not attainable by most people.
With the definitions settled, let’s get to the first of the 3: Health
Health – The Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back
This is an area whereby the overall well-being of the individual’s health is a sum of his/her daily activities as well as his/her genetic per-dispositions. I think many people have yet to gain a real appreciation for the power of accumulation. [2]
I hate and love that line. I hate it mainly because it is an attempt at over-simplification. I love it because it helps one relate to the concept of accumulative stress on your body.
We have to recognise that what we do on a daily basis affects us in the long run. We may not see the effects of something in the near future, but you can be sure that against infinite time and the infinite possibilities of what can go wrong, not taking conscious care of your health is a recipe for disaster.
Let’s look at this in the case of obesity, posture and heart disease, starting with obesity.
People are not born obese. Some people may have a genetically lowered insulin sensitivity, lowered dopamine response to feeding, etc. In any case, the root of cause of obesity is a systematic caloric surplus held over a long period of time.
In short, you get fat by eating too much, too often.
The cure to all of this, regardless of current status, is consciousness of current eating patterns, and the desire to change. Because most people (other than the bodily/performance obsessed) don’t bother with this, we get a very subconscious food consumption pattern.
Next, I bet we can all recognise the individuals hunched over a computer screen. Ten years later, they complain about back pain.
I myself was a throwing athlete in high school, a shot putter to be exact. The thing was that we did plenty of technical work, which involved rotation of the hips in only one direction and the bearing of body weight mainly on one leg. We did without unilateral movements to balance out the body. It didn’t seem important to my ignorant self and equally ignorant coach.
6 years later, I have asymmetries in my leg strength, and more importantly my hip structure. These lead to a whole host of problems that I am beginning to feel, such as tightness in my lower back and knee pain. Fortunately, I can fix these problems with the right work. Unfortunately, it will take some time (3 months at least), and my coach still follows the same practices with his current athletes. This would not have been the case if there was proper programming of pre-habilitation and re-habilitation work along with a workout program that did not result in imbalances. But hey, we’re only in high school for 4 years, not enough for the imbalances to be noticeable.
Finally, heart disease. The causes of this is arguably subject to a lot more debate, but we still have to acknowledge the slow build-up effect. We also have to acknowledge the fact that if people did not continue to follow their unhealthy lifestyle of fine foods and little exercise, the rates of heart disease would be much lower. Just like obesity, you don’t get heart disease by eating a little foe grais once a week, but by eating such foods on a frequent (say 3-4 times a week) basis while simultaneously over-eating. Pretty often, obesity and heart disease go hand-in-hand, and by slimming down, we often see a much improved blood-lipid profile.
But then again, habits build up over time too, and many people find it difficult to kick such a habit. The issue with food is particularly troublesome, mainly because it is such an essential item for life. The habits attached to food consumption patterns are thus pretty hard to break, especially for those who have practiced bad habits (like midnight snacks) all their life.
Typically, such people manage to muster the willpower to change only when the situation becomes so dire that it is already too late for the change to have a preventive impact. Once you’ve had heart surgery due to a clogged artery, changing your habits may prevent you from landing again in the hospital with the same problem, but it will never change the fact that you will be left with some unwanted side effects.
This is also the case with injuries. The most notorious being the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in the knee. Once this is torn, it is possible to be replaced, but it will always be more susceptible to damage.
Sometimes problems crop up that are beyond our control. For example, we may tear the ACL in a sports match due to a fall. However, there are many other injuries which are the cause of repeated stress without proper rehab measures. Examples of this would be rotator cuff injuries due to imbalances in the surrounding muscles and my case with my hips.
In any case, we will always benefit from doing two things. The first is to recognise the long term impacts of our actions. There are countless examples around you of people who did not do this and now suffer the consequences. Use these stories as motivation to adopt good practices today.
The second would be to look for the people who have managed to come up with solutions to these problems. Look at the experts in the particular field and hear what they have to say. Very often in areas concerning health, the true experts would have seen many different individuals. Despite the human body being complex, its functions and ailments still fall within a predictable spectrum. The true experts would have seen enough to be able to tell you about your ailments.
In this regard, I see spending a few hundred dollars to getting educated and getting educated opinions on how to prevent injury as a paltry sum compared to the thousands I would have to pay 50 years later to get such a thing surgically fixed. The key is discipline and perspective.
Wealth
Wealth also depends on accumulation, more so than people think. It also depends on luck, more so than people think.
First, let’s talk about the first point. Though people often make it big very quickly, the back story behind it is usually less sensational. If you look at many big companies, the founders usually display a very profound competency in what they do.
For example, the Google guys were math geniuses. They didn’t get that way overnight of course, it was a slow process that took basically their entire youth. Factors such as living in an academically driven household, getting early access to computers, etc all set them up to become great at what they did. This was the case with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak as well.
If you look past large companies, we also find that this is the case in independent pursuits. The best musicians around largely got that way from years of practice and sticking to their goals. The best sale-people are those who have honed their craft over a long period of time. The best actors are usually those who have done it their entire life.
Of course, there is also the big factor of luck. You may be lucky to be born into an entrepreneurial family. You may accidentally land a deal. Your song may suddenly become viral. And as Paul Graham likes to put it: Where would Microsoft be if IBM insisted on an exclusive license for DOS?
The value of luck can become the subject of an entire book, but the following still holds: To benefit from luck you need to be exposed to it, in most wealth-generating scenarios (except lotteries), this requires a level of competency, and competency requires the accumulation of something of value.
We next discuss this more broadly, in terms of knowledge and wisdom.
Wisdom and Knowledge
This is arguably where this principle comes into play with much more significance than the previous two areas.
In the context of knowledge, wisdom and skill acquisition, the very nature of your proficiency in a skill, your wisdom, or your knowledge of a subject is the product of three things:
- The sum of all your knowledge
- The links you can establish between this body of knowledge
- How effectively you can apply this to practical work
All three benefit from accumulation. Obviously, your knowledge needs to be accumulated over a long period of time. The bridges between your knowledge are then established via various thinking processes which also take long periods of time. And finally, you tend to be able to show your flair from something increasing better the more experiences you have with the subject in question; this is directly proportional to time again.
Sure, some people are born more talented than others, have more efficient learning methods and capabilities, but that doesn’t discount the need to accumulate and refine whatever skill/subject in question to levels of proficiency that are world-class.
Finally, just a random rant. I just hate it how people try cramming several days out from an exam. Realising that performance during the exam and thereafter in life is likely going to be influenced much more by the work done 6 months prior and rehearsed regularly gives you much better perspective as well as a much better standpoint from a study schedule planning perspective.
Closing thoughts - a reminder to do history and philosophy
It’s useful to think that we are bound to the past, live in the present, and dream in the future. The great thing about human brains is that we can have experiences in our head before they actually happen. This is a powerful tool which is sadly not utilised as aptly as it should.
We have got to learn to project ourselves into the future. Not just 5 days, or 5 years, but 50 years into the future. We must then ask ourselves, what do we really want to be in 50 years.
The recognition that what we will be years from now is dependent on the little things that we do in the present is both extremely humbling; for it shows us the patterns derived from the noise of the present, and extremely empowering; for it allows the imagination no bounds to achievement.
At the same time, do history. Not the type of history in your school history textbooks. That kind of history is great to know, but will never be as useful as the history that surrounds you.
Recognise that history refers to basically everything we call the past. Hence, look to your own history, and that of those around you. See the old smoker with lung cancer, see the alcoholics, see the wife beaters and cheaters, and most importantly, see the unseen, see randomness.
After all that, look at yourself, realign your desires, strive forward and celebrate.
I thus leave you with this monster of a quote from Adam Smith:
The great source of both the misery and disorders of human life, seems to arise from over-rating the difference between one permanent situation and another…. Some of these situations may, no doubt, deserve to be preferred to others, but none of them can deserved to be pursued with that passionate ardour which drives to violate the rules either of prudence or of justice; or to corrupt the future tranquility of our minds, either by shame of the remembrance of our own folly, or by remorse from the horror of our own injustice.”
- Adam Smith, Theory of Modern Sentiments 1759
Take note of the first sentence. Consistency is key. Trying to live a lie is going to be tiresome at best and devastating at worst. The key is deciding where the lie truly occurs. Does it arise from your over-rating of the difference between outcomes of certain events? For me it sure did.
And lastly one of my own quotes: I am a man of the moment, and the millenia [3]
***
Notes:
[1] I would even go all out to say that much of the success that we see is attributed to luck. Be it a chance encounter with someone important for your career, a lucky failing of a competitor, and an infinite number of possibilities. I’m not going to debate further, if you really want a detailed discussion, pick up “The Black Swan” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and read it through twice.
The secret to success would then be trying so many times that luck gets on your side sooner or later.
[2] I am in no way saying that we should be overly pedantic about health issues. However, recognising that the lousy way we eat now is going to affect us when we’re 60 gives a much better sense of urgency and purpose for the pursuit of good health. The last thing I want is to have a heart attack due to obesity due to habits that I develop now. Changing them when I’m 60, as well as recovering from that trauma is going to be a lot harder.
Why then do people not think and act this way? Because they lack perspective. They live in the past and yearn for tomorrow. Instead, live in the present and yearn for next year (or longer).
[3] Feel free to substitute for a woman. And if you’re interested, I have an accompanying cartoon of this phrase up in the sketches section.
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