A CONFUSED PARROT
A CONFUSED PARROT.
There are a ton of slogans, one-liners, and cliches that people love to share, especially in the world referred to as "self-help" or "recovery". Some share to help others, some share to prove their wisdom, some share just to hear themselves talk (#guilty)...haha.
These statements help summarize an idea. They help make a certain "way of thinking" easy to reference for others. "Easy does it", "one day at a time", "work smarter not harder", "done is better than perfect", "good is the enemy of great"...on and on they go. After a while, it's not difficult to find statements that seem to conflict with one another if not downright contradict each other. It can be confusing, and confusion leads to uncertainty, uncertainty leads to fear, fear leads us to the need to find something to hang onto, something familiar, so we normally just go back to a way of life and understanding we are comfortable with, eliminating the opportunity for powerful change and we are doomed to remain the same.
We have to stop CRAMMING when it comes to our study of life. If we go through a text book, and we only read the summary... Sure, we might be able to get some knowledge. Hell, we might even temporarily memorize enough information so that we can pass a test and get a gold star, but we do not have the fundamental understanding of the topic to know WHY something is true. In science, they have a warning called AAA, or Always Add Acid. Now, you could see that in a "end-of-the-chapter" summary, and then if the test came and said, what is AAA stand for, you'll probably get it right. But after enough time, you'll forget, and the knowledge will escape you, quite possibly in a moment that could save your life. Since you didn't take the time to read the entire chapter and only relied on the cliff notes or summary, your brain doesn't truly and completely understand the concept: You don't know the WHY. You don't have the fundamentals.
Elon Musk, founder of PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla said "You boil things down to the first principles or fundamental truths in a particular area and then you reason up from there." He understands the necessity for us to build the strong foundation, understand the ground-level fundamentals, develop the knowledge of the reason WHY something is true in order for it to actually have an impact on our lives. When we fail to understand something, sure we can repeat and regurgitate phrases and statements and ideas that we have heard other people say, but we are not doing ourselves any favors... all we have become are good-intentioned parrots. We must put in the effort to truly understanding it.
- If you don't understand, ask someone who does.
- If it doesn't make sense, do research.
- If you don't believe it, then question it and make up your own mind.
All of the "phrases" and "cliques" are meant to be reminders of the core concept you already know, but if you don't know the WHY, the phrases will be short-lived and provide very little LONG-TERM growth. Don't be afraid to ask questions, don't be afraid to get to the bottom of things, don't be afraid to put in the work, because that is the only way you can TRULY UNDERSTAND the "WHY". Don't be a confused parrot. Be informed. Be bold. Be courageous. Be a champion of life.
Have a great day. I love you all; I mean it. (9.1.17 - Phillip Andrew)
