🤯Unknown Unknowns #70 - Striving
I went to the Museum of Natural History for the first time in forever. I'm not really a museum kind of guy, but it's probably my favorite museum. I enjoy seeing history rather than art. Although you can see history through art, so perhaps I should be more open-minded.
In the entrance hall are four quotes from Theodore Roosevelt. This is my favorite one:
"Living up to his ideals insofar as he can." Is there any reason to ever not do this? How can we normalize striving?
I always try to do my best, although I probably fail 99.99% of the time. But I try. Because of this, I’ve accomplished things that I don’t think are a big deal but other people find amazing. It’s not a big secret or a hidden power. It’s just because I’ve tried.
I lost over 20 pounds and I’ve kept it off for 14 years by cutting out sugar and carbs. I cured my asthma by losing the weight and by stopping eating inflammatory foods. I got comfortable walking around without glasses or contacts by walking around without them. I paddled around Manhattan by concentrating on one stroke at a time. I think anyone could do these things, yet people are amazed that I’ve done these things. When I tell them it’s no big deal, they either say that I’m special or deny the cause and effect. I tell them to just try it, give it a chance. But people are afraid to commit.
A lot of people are competitive at dumb things. Can we turn our competitive natures toward striving?
Discoveries:
1️⃣
Mr. Beast creates videos to entertain people. He often gives away money or prizes and he often tests human determination and ingenuity. I'm vague because I've only watched a few of his videos. He's one of the most popular Youtube publishers. In one lens, he's generous, he gives away life-changing money and he doesn't keep much for himself. In another lens, he's cruel, participants often have to partake in absurd challenges to win the money. From interviews, I think he sees it as a fun game.
One of his latest challenges was to stay inside a circle with a 100-foot circumference. That's 2500 square feet. For 100 days. To win $500,000. It sounds ludicrous and inhumane, particularly when you find out the challenger, Shawn, has a family with young children that he's separated for the duration.
But if you think about it,
100 Days = 2400 hours
2400 hours = 1 year of 8-hour workdays + 2-way 48 min commute
Hundreds of millions of people make this tradeoff every year, for less money. We're all defaulting to the decision that Shawn made for less money.
2️⃣
This podcast, from This American Life, has three stories. They are all examples of living to your ideals.
In the first one, a father strives for his daughter. The interplay of emotions, the relationship, I can’t talk more about it without possibly ruining the drama of it. This is the story that made me want to share the podcast. The other two are good, but not as impactful to me.
In the second story, a swimmer pushed past her limits. It’s an incredible nature story that starts off feeling like a horror story.
The last story is about two people who strive as hard as they can to cope with a tragic loss. Even though both are coping as best they can, they can’t understand where the other person is coming from. An interesting story of how people deal with emotions.
🔗 Podcast Here - (each story is marked in the player if you want to skip)
🔗 Transcript Here
Something Fun:
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Leaving you in peace,
Chris