Mission: EVOLVE
Many writers open their books with great philosophical quotes, that give you an ideaof how well read they are, how deeply they think, and what to expect going forward.
Let’s not end that tradition now…
“Get ready for a major remodel, fellas! We’re back in hardware mode.” – Iron Man.
With regards to who we are at our core – those are words that we should never have to tell ourselves. Because we should never leave hardware mode. We all at some point do though, even if we know we shouldn’t. We all reach times in our lives when we become disillusioned and don’t want to evolve, or lost and lose reason to evolve, or believe we are adequately adapted to the world, and that we no longer need to evolve.
Hardware mode should be a permanent state of mind.
In building the foundations for our best possible selves, we have to accept that these are not the normal concrete foundations that so much of life teaches us as so vitally important. We build our foundations with knowledge, and that knowledge is always subject to change. We have to allow the very core of who we are to be subject to change in response to new information.
The bigger and more accurate that information set becomes, the more you become connected to reality. And the more connected to reality you become, the better you become at both experiencing it to its fullest, and understanding where and how it can be improved.
Hardware mode does have an off button, but we can make it more difficult to press by learning why we shouldn’t press it, and we can make it more difficult to find by becoming so good at evolving that we forget where it is or that it even exists.
Never stop evolving. Growth is not enough. We have to be willing to change.
What’s the big deal though? It sounds like a lot of work, right? All this change, forever and always. Is it worth the effort?
With an evolutionary mindset, we become able to achieve incredible, and even incomprehensible successes. For all of us, a bunch of things immediately spring to mind when we think about how our lives could be better. You could merely be bored and struggling financially, or you could be suffering from debilitating anxiety and/or depression: If you aren’t happy with your life, then without doubt having an evolutionary mindset will be of benefit to you.
Those things you think of that will make your life better – they are only the things you know of right now. With an evolutionary mindset, as you continually evolve, you will be discovering new goals that you come to realise are important to tackle. And so we have ourselves a never ending adventure. You will never reach a point in life where you are lost or bored, because you will always be changing and therefore working on something new.
Your list will even feature things that you currently don’t even think are important, and perhaps even currently dislike. That’s the thing with evolution – we don’t only add new aspects to ourselves; we change the aspects that were already there.
For example, an absolute fundamental necessity for becoming ALIVE is the participation in regular exercise. Many people think, “no, I am not someone who exercises, there is no way in hell”. But what if I told you that there are ways to change that reaction? There are ways for you to change, and think of exercise as something enjoyable. The amount of happiness you may feel when you sit down with snacks to watch TV, is the same amount you could feel when you get ready to exercise. Knowing that is possible – why would you not want to at least give it a try? There is nothing to lose.
That is an example of something easy to achieve. It also applies to things much more complicated. Like the anxiety you feel in certain situations. There are ways to swap that anxiety for indifference, and even excitement.
It all comes as the result of learning new information. The more we learn how important exercise is for not only our health, but our mental wellbeing and therefore our ability to live our best lives possible… the more motivated we become to exercise.
The reason so many of us fall into a fixed mindset and become resistant to change, if that change is not all sunshine and roses. It always moves us in a better direction, but it often involves fighting through tough times first. The light at the end of the tunnel is not always visible, and worse, it often feels like it will never come.
We could build ourselves a great life, for example, but then learn something that changes the way we view our world. What we learn could change us in such a way that we become no longer happy with what we thought was a great life. We could potentially be throwing ourselves into misery as we are left lacking secure sources of happiness while at the same time working harder than at first feels worth it.
By choosing to prioritise the importance of evolution, we are giving up an ignorance that could make our lives perhaps not the best they could possibly be, but instead at least relatively happy and easy.
As we progress, we will talk in depth about values. Developing an evolutionary mindset is without doubt the morally right thing to do, as opposed to living in willful ignorance. By becoming a better person, you in effect are able to have a better effect on the world around you. By choosing not to do that, we would be lacking good values.
If that wasn’t bad enough, say hello to the ego. It’s annoyed it’s been left waiting so long.
Evolution requires the acceptance that conclusions we have made in the past are wrong, and now need to be adjusted. We will discuss how our ego is not tied to these false conclusions. Who we are is not based on historic information. By refusing to adjust our conclusions, we bake our egos into delusions of reality and exist outside of where deeper connection with others is possible.
Our pride can act to harm us if it is used to defend what we know could be false. The reasons for this will become clear later when we unravel “purpose”.
Inevitably, evolution will lead to the realisation of mistakes we have made, and things we need to make right where possible.
You are wrong about a hell of a lot of things. We all are. We must figure out what those things are.
Our foundations are ever changing as we explore and make new discoveries of our reality.
That is what makes life exciting.
Our mission is to find and hold on to the things we love as we rocket through life’s wild adventures.
Throughout this book I aim to enhance your connection to the importance of evolution.
For some, this will all feel natural. For others, not so much, but it inevitably one day will, if you continue to simply move in the right direction. The right direction is what you will hopefully learn to understand as you continue to read.
If you have lived within a fixed mindset for a long time, it’s impossible for you to imagine how change can improve your life. Your mind is wired to focus on protecting what you already have. You will see change as barely more than a threat to your happiness and security.
For those with a powerful fixed mindset, change will be difficult to embrace. What we need to focus on when things are difficult is only the next step. All we need is faith that we are moving generally in the right direction.
We have to remember that the evolutionary mindset is what guarantees we will become better able to live a good life.
Let’s try to imagine what it can make possible. Multiply what you achieved this past year by 10. Where will you be in 10 years? That result will only turn out to be correct if you have a fixed mindset.
By continually evolving, as each year goes by we will achieve more than we achieved in the year before. As we evolve, we become better at navigating life, and so we are continually achieving more over the same time frames. Our progress is no longer linear; it’s exponential.
What we achieve this year will not be merely multiplied by 10 over the next 10 years. Instead, what we will achieve over the next 10 years becomes incomprehensible. We remove boredom from our futures. Our futures become unpredictable in every way except that they will more than likely get better and better.
Instead of repeating the same years over and over again, we turn our lives into never ending adventures. And even in the areas of our lives that must remain repetitive, we will always be looking at them from new perspectives as we become better people.
A life in hardware mode will feel tough at times, but it will bring with it incredible rewards for you, and for everyone around you.
If history has proven anything, it is that evolution always wins. Change is inevitable. If you embrace it, you can be on the leading edge and thrive, rather than becoming a victim swept away in its wake.
Never stop evolving.