Aren’t I clever. It may be a cheeky little title, but their is truth in this little pun. I don’t claim to know much about the actual official system GTD (Getting Things Done) by David Allen, but do know a bit about accomplishing goals - especially from a psychological perspective.

We’ll kick things off with the following statement: (pretty much) everything you do is the result of a subconscious decision based on an also subconscious analysis of pros and cons of doing/not doing the thing in question. In other words, you’re doing something because you enjoy the results of doing it more than the lack of results of not doing it. This may sound painfully obvious, but goal setting and systems for going through a to-do list can often leave out this fundamental issue.”Just make a list”, they say but seem to ignore the psychological necessities of doing this. Whenever you see someone being very good at something, you can bet they’re enjoying not only the achievement of the goal but the actual process of executing. Professional athletes love training. Anyone who doesn’t will not make the cut. If you want to excel at something, it’s a psychological must to enjoy the process. How could you compete with someone who loves to train and practice when you hate it?

In our lives, we may not be training for the Olympics, but we all have a list of things to do - a set of steps to get us to where we want to go. But we need to enjoy the ride. Otherwise those little tasks become psychological mountains. If you are able to change some key perceptions, then you can make the opposite happen - turning those ominous, scary, risky, difficult tasks into enjoyable adventures. It’s not just about using the word “challenge” instead of “pain in the ass”, but it is a slight dabble in mind manipulation.

You’ll need to convince yourself of 3 key things:

1. the thing you need to do is super important and accomplishing it will add tremendous joy and happiness to your life
2. not doing it will ruin you
3. it’ll be fun! So doesn’t matter if it works out of not, it’s all about doing your best.

Do these have to be true? The first one should be (otherwise, why are you doing it?). The second one may not be, but you can lie to yourself just a bit to get the desired result. You lie to your muscles when you work out saying “grow! or we’ll be tiger food!”. The reality of it all is secondary, but the perception is what it all rests on. Will it really be your downfall if you don’t set up a meeting with that one person? I’m sure you’ll figure a way to bounce back, but if you can rationalize how devastating it would be if you didn’t, then it should feel so much more natural and effortless to do it. Thirdly, “it’ll be fun”…

Truth is, everything is fun if you do it right. Just like every moment is a chance to be happy, if you do it right. The things you are and the things you feel only have meaning through your own perceptions. The universe doesn’t really care. Is coding a website fun? Is writing a business plan fun? Is creating a 1000-man company fun? I think it depends more on you than on the actual task. Some people are more geared to certain tasks than others, no doubt. Don’t ask my wife to code anything. And don’t ask me to pick out a color scheme for the living room. But many many things could be either fun or annoying. Choose fun and see how much easier it gets.

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I’ve just finished reading Felix Dennis’ book “How to Get Rich”. Brilliant. Finally a guy who’s done it explaining how - not just in vague terms and endless passages of subtle self-praise but in real concise strategy and mental approach. As Dennis points out, many of the books on the market are written by those who have not attained any staggering wealth and are abound with all too obvious tips such as “be good at what you do” or “be a leader” (ok, he mentions these too, but goes into lots of juicy detail). Dennis also airs some distaste for the feel-good strategies of cooperation and partnerships abound these days, seeing the attainment of wealth as a more predatory undertaking. While I’m still in denial of that part of the equation, I can say that the book is a real page turner. It stirred me to the point of insomnia.

Book praise aside, Dennis’ dislike for self-help is understandable to a degree. It seems it was a conversation with a friend about the book “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” by Malcolm Gladwell which spurned him to write his own book. There does seem to be an accent on concepts and attitudes (positive ones, of course) which override the self-help industry. How could it be otherwise? My own theories purport self-help to be more akin to a skill like boxing - you need to start with a clear definition of rules and theory, but at some point you need to jump in the ring. From there, it is a constant back-and-forth of practice and execution, practice and execution. Perhaps in the business world, the execution is all you get (aside from occasional courses or your college degree), so you’ll need to use reflection as your trainer. So, self-help books focus largely on the principles and theory. They are text books, and did you really ever learn how to do anything from a text book? Nothing related to the outside world… I’ll bet.

What self-help does achieve is the molding of a mindset - giving the reader the option of a life and set of beliefs different to the ones a mediocre, ignorant environment has drilled into his head from the start. You’ll need a good mind set when executing. As Dennis himself writes, you’re unshakable belief in yourself and your ability to control your fears are half the battle. This is mindset.

The other half, is indeed the work. There is no substitute for hard, focused, effective work. Work which leads to positive results. Once you get that, you’ll abhor anyone who is not a hard worker. Like a smoker who quits and becomes an uber-anti-smoker. Perhaps I am now partaking in the obvious tips Dennis rejects, but the fact of the matter is, you only need a few bits of wisdom to have the life you want. The trick is incorporating those bits into every fiber of your being. People are shaped by just a few events or thoughts, namely the ones with the most emotional weight behind them. Emotion is the welder of learning, without it, everything just glides right off. But I digress. Once you know what you want (no small feat), then hard work must follow. The beauty of it is, that hard work toward a most desired goal is enjoyable. Many people who have never had the pleasure of experiencing this are turned off by hard work. In effect, if you find yourself enjoying the hard work you are doing, then you will know that you are doing what you want. If you find your daily toils to be an unbearable burden, then you know that you are doing what you are made to do. Sort of working backwards, I know. Preferably, you know what you want before you start working on it, but things will not always be so clear for everyone. And indeed it is a pain to give something a try and then find out after months of invested time and energy that you hate it.

So, let us have a brief overview of the best way to begin hard work. And as I start to think up things, I see that they fall into categories, and I notice that self-help deals largely with the first category. Maybe it’s the most important one. If you have the first category set, the rest comes by itself.

Preparation
1. Find what you love
This is harder for some than others. A lucky few know what they want to do right off the bat, while others may look their whole lives. The mind is intricate and there are a million reasons why these differences may exist. What I’ve also noticed is that some people really don’t care what they’re doing. They feel no real passion for anything. Should they then have less drive and thereby less chance of being successful? I don’t know. Maybe less of a chance at being fulfilled. But if you are about to embark on a journey of hard work, you’ll be best prepared to be doing what you love. More so than by doing what you are good at, I would venture. Talent can be developed. More often than not, people love the thing they are talented in. But if you love something, but lack loads of talent, do not fret. Neuroscientists claim that anyone can become a virtuoso with about 10 years of hard work. Still, Paul McCartney was a talented motherfucker, and I can’t imagine anyone being able to emulate him with any amount of elbow grease.
2. Love yourself/Believe in yourself
These are the same thing really. Many books have been written on the subject and many therapists do quite well to help you along in this, so no need to go into details here. But notable is the relevance to hard work. People who work hard love themselves and believe in themselves. No point working towards a goal if you do not believe you can accomplish or if you feel the benefactor is not worthy of the rewards. Are you worthy? Are you capable? No more and no less than anyone else, I suppose. It is thereby, in reality, a neutral factor. Of course, in your mind’s eye, feel free to believe that you are slightly more worthy and capable than your peers. It can only help.
3. Choose to be positive
The truth is, all situations are neutral. Good and Bad exist in the minds of the men and women who experience a situation as one or the other. As Bugs Bunny used to say: one man’s meat is another man’s poison. This gives you carte blanche to judge any given set of circumstances as is most beneficial to you. Poor? You just have nothing to lose. Rich? You have the means to accomplish your goal. The economy is booming? Enjoy the plentitude of cash and options. Market is declining? Enjoy the low prices. There is good to be gotten from every situation and success will favor those most able to see it and prosper from the mental benefits this investment returns.
4. Get motivated
I used to (actually, I still do) marvel at the drive that world class athletes possess. They have to be the best. They have to win. I would like to win, and that is why I’ve never really been that good of an athlete. Motivation is nothing more than perceiving that the benefits of a result are in dramatic contrast to the consequences of not obtaining that result. In this sense, there are no lazy people, only demotivated people. Your brain, being the lump of malleable shit that it is, is fair game for self-inflicted brain washing. Grab a pen and paper, draw a line down the middle from top to bottom and make a list of benefits on the left and consequences on the right. Con yourself by making the left side into everything you’ve ever wanted and the right side into being absolutely unacceptable.  Keep the paper on file and look at it regularly with a dollop of emotion.
5. Plan it
As an entrepreneur myself, I’ve had to write a business plan. It was one of those things people recommend you do, but you think it’s silly, until you actually do it and you see how useful it is. It is so friggin’ useful, I can hardly imagine doing anything major in my life without some detailed plan prepared in advance. It’s not written in stone and no, it doesn’t suck all the spontaneity out of life and/or business. It gives the gift of clarity and keeps all your actions aligned. It can change dramatically from one day to the next but at least you know where you stand and what you’re dealing with. A good business plan will eliminate inconsistencies and justify every move you plan to make in the achievement of your goal.

Damn, and that’s just preparation. But I’m sure you’ve guessed that preparing for hard work is itself a lot of work. Does everything have to be perfect before you start? No, but it helps. Anything which is not set up at the start will probably come under the loop once you’re underway, and it will cost time, but hopefully will not cost much more than that.

OK, go!

How to work hard. As I outline the points, I see that Dennis himself has actually noted many of these. Will he sue me for plagiarism? Only time will tell. Despite the fact that most of these points are common knowledge, he probably has some good lawyers.

1. Stay focused/Keep your eye on the prize
I think these are the same thing. All the effort in the world will not help you if they are not directed at a specific goal. There are a million different distractions in life and you must stay vigilant to keep them at bay. Constantly ask yourself: is this helping me accomplish my goal? If not, scrap it.
2. Delegate
As Dennis points out, delegating is not avoiding hard work, it’s just being smart.
3. Get healthy
Hard work involves physical energy. Even the act of thinking is an enormous drain on your energy. The healthier you are, the less you’ll ake an excuse out of fatigue. Take care of your body in the same way you would a car which is taking you on a road trip. Find time to choose and eat healthy foods and work out regularly. Nothing wakes you up and energizes you like a good work out.
4. Study time management
Time is the one area in life where we are all equal. 24 hours in a day - for everyone. There must be a zillion books on the subject. Find one good one, apply it, and you’ll be way ahead of the rest of them.
5. Measure results
This may be a part of the whole “planning” thing. Your plan should have some clear and measurable targets - preferably with sub-targets. Are you getting them? If not, no big deal, but at least you can evaluate your strategy and change it accordingly.
6. Visualize your goal being achieved
Your brain doesn’t know the difference between something you imagine vividly and something that actually happened. This is why a bad dream can screw up your week and how athletes who visualize tend to perform better than those who don’t. Tons of literature on the subject, but the bottom line is, you want to be visualizing yourself attaining your goal regularly. Feel how good it feels with as much intensity as possible. If 80% of any game is mental, shouldn’t you be spending a good deal training mentally? Yes, the answer is yes.
7. Use the 80/20 rule
The rule is as follows: 20% of the things you do contribute to 80% of the results. Focus your efforts and give priority to that 20%. Do an evaluation from time to time of all your activities surrounding a particular goal and see which ones are part of the 20% and which ones are part of the 80%.
8. Make yourself happy
Make sure you are enjoying the process. Otherwise you’ll start to slack at some point. Your brain will take off like a bored party guest if he’s not having fun.
9. List the many different ways you can end up successful
If your goal is to build a successful company with 50 employees and 10 million in annual revenue, try making a list of all the other accomplishments you will be proud of. Not that you need to focus on them, but show that they come with the territory as well. A hitchhiker of sorts. Like, learning about financing, having employees, being interviewed by radio stations, giving speeches at conferences, etc. Anything which allows you to be proud of yourself along the way.

This is just a primer, but again, you’ll only need to have a few of these sink in for real effects. This stuff applies to everything, not just making money. Use it in relationships, in sports, arts, you name it. It’s the framework for success at anything, even if your goal is just to be happy. Those of you who want the Quan, the Good Life, had better be prepared to work. Hard! Look at all your idols, all the people you think have it all and, on closer inspection, you’ll see that they work their tails off. Maybe you didn’t notice because they’re enjoying it so much.

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Sometimes, you start with a title and go from there. Although I specify writing, this pertains to all forms of art. “Writing” just happened to be in the sentence that was floating through the cosmos.

The artistic and technical types (like me) can be jealous of that small percentage of guys that women drool over. But those guys can be jealous of the artistic for their wealth of creativity and ability to satisfy cultural urges…that is, if those guys can feel jealousy, they probably feel nothing at all, those pretty boys with their square jaws and accentuated Adams Apples walking up to any woman they fancy… (oh, there’s the jealousy right there…).

People want to write and create things with their minds like they want to bonk with their bodies. Proliferation via cultural channels is not as old and not as strong as via biological channels but it is just as widespread. It feels good to create art just as it feels good to fornicate. Every body wants to write a book just as everybody wants to have sex. The former is executing cultural proliferation strategy while the latter executes a biological one. It has been built in by evolution as a means of gaining cultural credibility which, in turn, leads to genetic proliferation…statistically speaking. These are the major drives in life. Sex and art. And status, I might add, which may have a finger in the cultural and biological jars.

I’ve heard of a book called The Instinct of Art or something. Wait, let me Google it. The Art Instinct. Right. Denis Dutton. He claims that art should be on the list of cultural universals with religion, language, social structures, and discos. I’ll agree to that.

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It’s Charlie D’s birthday, so I thought it fitting (pun intended) to do a quick review of the wonders of evolution. There’s been a lot of mud-slinging in the past 150 years, and one cannot escape the irony that evolutionary theory itself is involved in the very struggle for survival that it attempts to explain. And of course, understanding why religions fear and denounce evolution can be explained by evolution. Now that’s a theory! Let’s have a look at some of the finer points and what they mean for you. 

Evolution takes place on the gene level
None of this “survival of the fittest”. It is not the individual who struggles to survive but the individual genes inside him. This distinction is super, super important. Not only can helping someone lead to personal benefits in the life of an individual, it can benefit the common genes in both parties which will are helped to live on over generations. The closer the relation you have to the person you are helping the greater the genetic reward, and the stronger the innate drive to help. This also explains the love/hate relationships in so many families. On the one hand, you love them because you share the same genes, but on the other hand, you try to use them because you don’t share all their genes. Parents feel compelled to give to their kids, but are always expecting results inline with their wishes. Sibblings too have an innate love for each other but will always fight over toys and compliments. It is a constant back and forth of altruistic behavior and competition.

Biological evolution occurs when traits in individuals lead to improved genetic proliferation
Since humans got so good at manipulating their environment, physical traits no longer provided a big enough advantage to warrant changes to our DNA. As a result, we stopped physically evolving some 10,000 years ago. This means that our bodies were really best suited for life 10,000 years ago, including our brains. If you want to understand your brain, you’ll need to put everything in the context of life at that time. If you want to feel good and be happy, look into what was natural and fulfilling back then and you’ll be sure to feel a certain innate joy in partaking in those activities. Hint: physical activity, natural foods, contribution, sex, and achievement did a body good. Cheating, lying, there were no unhealthy foods, sitting on your ass all day was also not an option….but all these things did a body bad.

Evolution is not just a biological phenomenon
Actually, everything is evolving. Quanology (and other scientists) contends that evolution itself is simply a manifestation of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. That’s right: entropy. That cool word you learned back in high school is actually the motor behind evolution. In its quest for equilibrium in an ever expanding universe, entropy is constantly looking for new ways to dissipate energy. And it gave evolution the job for living things. If Jesus is the son of God, then evolution is the son of entropy. That being so, the real goal of evolution is to dissipate energy and the genes which contribute best to the universe’s energy dissipation needs at the current moment in space/time will get to do their thing while the others die off. Right… It therefore happens to be that evolution doesn’t care how it fulfills the universe’s energy needs. It can do so with genes, but also other things, like cultures. Cultures evolve just like species evolve. Some traits get some cultures farther ahead than others. To find out what cultural traits fare best, you need only look at the most successful cultures in the world. Some are doing well and some are not. And the ones that are not will need to change… we don’t make the rules, we just follow them.

We are still involved in evolving
To continue from the last point, the good news is: we are still evolving. While we quit biological evolution (that was sooo 10,000 years ago), cultural evolution continues. See Quanology’s article An Introduction to Cultural Evolution. Every day we are learning new traits which will help us adapt to the fast changing environment we live in. And just like with biological evolution, these traits can be passed on to future generations.

Cultural evolution and biological evolution have different plans for you
Like having two parents who want different things for their child, biological and cultural evolution want different things for you. This will lead to bouts of confusion and frustration. It’s natural. You can’t make everyone happy. Can’t be the Spiritual Leader of a Generation and the owner of a Hedge Fund. But human creativity was spawned in trying to appease these two demanding parents. Morality itself evolved as a template for successful living on the cultural side of things. See Quanology’s article on The Evolution of Morality.

Men and women are playing the same sport but have different equipment
When God was handing out reproduction methods, humans must have been off watching Lost. Sexual reproduction, though a great way to end a game of ping pong, does not come without its share of pitfalls. Although it ensures that men and women must live together in a certain degree of harmony, its biological implementation ensured that they should seek completely different traits in a mate - with men focused on quantity and women focused on quality. And so male aggression was born. With women being so damned choosy about the men they reproduce with, men are forced to compete. This means, war, greed, crime, and bar fights. But also art, technology, interior design, gourmet cooking, and luxury automobiles.

The third layer is upon us
Biological evolution is the first layer in our existence, cultural evolution is the second layer, and the third layer is already here: digital evolution. Those jag-offs with the bluetooth headset in their ears are actually highly evolved individuals. They get it, and we will all soon emulate them. It freaks me out too but hear me out. Evolution is simply Mother Nature saying yes or no to a series of choices. These choices deal with genetic survival. She says yes, and a choice gets implemented. She says no, and it goes back to the drawing board. Nature has the ultimate say in what flies and what doesn’t - not the government, not the UN. If nature likes it, it’s gonna happen. And nature likes communication. Nature likes effectiveness - anything which ultimately leads to energy dissipation. The acceleration in technology is completely in line with the increasing needs of Nature to dissipate energy (as the rate of expansion of the universe increases). So nature loves technology. People doing three times as much work in a day is the nicest Mother’s Day present she could get. And at the end of the day, that stupid ear piece does allow you to call more people than a phone in your pocket. And this is just the beginning. Look at the incredible growth rate of the internet. The blogging engine this site uses is used all around the world and has facilitate the expression and compilation of unprecedented loads of garbage. There are technologies being developed right now that would blow your mind. It’s all happening so fast… The point of all this is that these technologies become extensions of its users. It’s all part of the same storyline: we adapted opposable thumbs to help us use tools better, we “adapted” spears to help us hunt better, and we will soon “adapt” chips in our brains to give us omnipresent computing power and globally integrated systems to guide our cultures.So, that’s evolution - 150 years old, and still evolving.

Note: Charles Darwin is certainly a historical giant. But, let’s face it, the time was ripe for humans to get what was going on around us. If he didn’t discover and detail evolution, someone else would have. In fact, someone else did: Alfred Wallace - Pete Best to Darwin’s Ringo Starr. Now, that’s not to steal his thunder - the glory is all Darwin’s. But let us not confuse Darwin as a person and a scientist with evolution as a theory. It was 150 years ago, the theory has since been adapted and tweaked, all for the better. Hell, Darwin didn’t even know about genes back then - and, as you see above, the differentiation to individual-level evolution is fundamental. For the sake of proper discussion, I’d like to try to leave his name out of it and focus just on the theory. I’m sure that’s what he would have wanted.

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“Money is what makes a man not funny”.

Just saw Niall Ferguson interviewed on the Colbert Report. He says “anything can be money”. True that. But I’d like to clarify what money is. Money is energy. If that sounds a little “New Age”, forgive me. I’ll give it legs. Wait. Let me stop real quick to eat a hand-full of nuts.

…2 minutes later.

Ah, that’s better. You see, I can’t think straight if I’m too hungry. The little mouse in the wheel in my brain doesn’t have enough energy to run. So I need to eat - recharge the batteries with food. And food, is of course, energy. Not just “converted to energy”, it is energy. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity states that mass and energy are interchangeable. In the example of food, let us not forget that the food we eat is digested and broken down into sugars which act as a sort of fuel for our bodies. Coincidentally, fuel is a form of energy… How do we get food? How do we get fuel? We buy it, with money, which is energy. 100,000 years ago there were no grocery stores and no gas stations. So, people had to hunt and gather for food. And they had to gather dried wood to burn fires. And you bet they were hungry after all that hunting and gathering. Damn straight. All that work takes a lot of energy… They didn’t have money, but they had energy (which they got from food, which is also energy). Manual labor is energy. Farmers harvest crops and then sell them to me for money. I would harvest them myself, but I don’t have the energy or the time. Now time is not energy. It is a forum where energy plays out it’s roll - a stadium, if you will, where energy sings its set of rock ballads. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, money.

Money is Energy
People constantly fight over money. Coincidentally, they also always fight over energy, over power. There is a never-ending and continuous power struggle going on in the world. All human interactions on every scale are ultimately power struggles, fights for energy. They become harmonious when the parties involved both perceive they are getting more energy than they are putting into it. And it’s entirely possible that both parties are getting “richer”. Life is not a zero-sum game. But if one or both parties perceive they are losing energy, a fight will ensue. Don’t believe me? Try this. Guys: don’t go to work for the next month. And gals: don’t cook dinner for the next month. If you’re horribly offended by these two stereotypical examples from 1953, feel free to substitute anything you do with regularity that your spouse or partner relies on. It won’t take long before your significant other brings this failure to your attention. If it lasts too long, you’ll get a fight - a fight over commitment and responsibilities. But what lies underneath is energy. If you don’t go to work, there is no money and the two of you will take a step back in life. Why? Because money is energy and you are trying to accumulate (and then dissipate) energy. If dinner is not cooked, then you may not eat. If you do not eat, then you lose energy… Get it? So both parties are trying to gain energy and rely on the other to help them along. Otherwise, why are you together? You may very well enjoy each other’s company, but once the courting phase is through and the deal is sealed, the work begins. And just like in a business, if the one party is not living up to the agreement, there will be an issue. And relationships ultimately have lots of issues. That’s OK. The good relationships get those issues resolved.

Everything is energy
I’m not going to pretend to be a physicist, but most accounts seem to agree that matter (excluding the dark kind) is made up of molecules, which are made up of atoms, which are made up of particles, and on and on until you get to these ridiculous scientific entities like quarks and shit. For more info, see here. Fah sho, there is much the average person does not know about physics, yet physics governs everything you do. Ultimately you can’t understand yourself until you understand physics. And I am sad to say, we will probably never really understand physics. It’s just too complicated. It dangles on the outskirts of human intelligence. The smartest motherfuckers in the world don’t understand physics completely - and they’re physicists. No matter. (Pun was not intended, but it just goes to show: there are some freebies in the universe). The point is, everything you do is somehow tied to the Laws of Physics. It’s just a question of connecting the dots from The Laws of Thermodynamics to “buying a lottery ticket”.
Tis true that everything (ie, matter) is equal to energy only through the eyes of Relativity, not Newtonian physics. But try throwing out the distinction and looking at everyday things as if it were energy. What do we “have” which could be thought of as energy, or even as money? What things, other than money or goods, can be valuable? Think about this: Money is only valuable in relation to what you can do with it. It’s just paper. Gold is the same. Everything is the same. If you have a million dollars in the bank and then inflation goes up 10,000%, you can no longer do much with that million. So the value is not inherent in anything, the value is in the ability to do something with it. Nothing has value unless you can do something with it*.   The value of money (or anything) is strictly related to your ability to dissipate energy with it.  And you can dissipate energy with money, but also with other things. Let’s take a look at some more energy dissipaters…

Thoughts
Yes, some good thoughts are worth money. A good idea may be worth money. In effect, the song American Pie was nothing more than a “good thought”. Keith Richards, and numerous other artists, claim that songs just “come to them” - they “found them”, or God writes them and they just heard it from him. Like finding a pretty stone on the beach. That stone may be worth money. So is the riff to Satisfaction. In that sense we see a thought as having value, having energy.

Thinking styles
Thinking style can be very valuable. It is shown that certain ways of thinking lend themselves to greater output and effectiveness. And yes, an effective thinking style is something you can acquire. Something you can invest in - put energy into in hopes to get more energy back. And something you can transfer - both positive and negative thinking styles will rub off on those around you. These italicized words ringing any bells? That translates to green, my friend.

Belief systems
An empowering belief system also pays well these days. The belief system that includes “you can accomplish anything you put your mind to” won the editor’s choice award over long-time rival “life’s a bitch and then you die”. Believing one over the other will have a profound effect on your effectiveness. This belief system is not tangible, yet it translates into tangible things: money, a good job, a good relationship, a good life. What’s more, it’s one of the few things of value you can pass on to future generations which is not taxed. Think of it: invest now in an empowering belief system and watch your value (your GPP) go up and you can treat it as a tangible asset which can be passed on to your kids (kids largely take on the belief system of their parents) so they can enjoy the benefits as well.

Status
Have status will travel. Any son of a former president can attest to this. Status, just like any other form of energy, can be increased or it can be wasted. Win the World’s Strongest Man contest and your status will increase, and you’ll be able to do more. Doors will open up for you, people will buy you dinner, athletics companies and shampoo brands will offer you sponsorships. All these perks serve one goal only…(dissipating energy - just checking in case you are totally missing the theme of this article, and website…). Get caught backstage injecting steroids with your Swedish rival Hans and your status may fade.

Location
Locations too have energy. You can do more in New York City than in Muncie, Indiana. And big cities dissipate tons of energy. By the sheer fact of being in a city, you have more value than by being in the middle of nowhere. Want to increase your wealth? Take a bus to New York. I always feel great to go to a city and feel re-charged when I leave. There is so much going on and you feel the power and the vibe and you feel like you can do anything. And indeed, you have a better chance of doing anything in a big city.

Now there is a slight twist to this: being in the majestic arms of nature also feels good. It feels good because there is a lot of energy being dissipated and you feel connected to it. It is indeed a spiritual feeling. You may not be doing the dissipating, but it’s happening all around you…and it’s wicked cool.

Potential vs Kinetic Energy
As you may recall from 8th grade science class, energy takes on two forms: potential energy, energy being used; and kinetic energy, energy stored up waiting to be used. The examples above are all potential energy - they give you possibilities to dissipate more energy but they do not necessarily do so. What still bothers me in this whole theory is the transferability of it all. See, in life, you dissipate energy, then you die. Money can sit in a bank account as potential energy, and when you die, it will maintain its energy level. Thoughts and belief systems too can be transferred to the people around you. They can be transferred to your children, and in that sense, they too maintain their energy level. But what if you have thoughts with high energy levels but die before you do anything with them? Is the energy gone? Can’t be. Energy can’t disappear, it can only be transferred. Sure, you will rot, and that’s an exercise in energy dissipation, but you will not rot any better than someone with dumb ideas. Any help out there? I’ll try to answer my own question. All these things have a certain potential value, but since something is only valuable to the extent that you can do something with them, they hold little value at the moment they are in your head. Taking them to the outside world is when they really gain value. Maybe that’s why it’s such a “high energy process” to write, or to share your thoughts with someone. They’re all nice and safe in your head, but the real guts come from bringing them into the world. I was very nervous the first time I wrote a blog article. It felt very strange and vulnerable. But my thoughts gained value once they were shared**.

Ergo, money is everything. To say that money is simply an exchange for goods or services is missing the real story. If thoughts and skills could be transferred with money, they would be. You may freak out at the idea of “downloadable mind-sets” 200 years from now where high school basketball players can upload Michael Jordan’s game face, ie his set of thoughts as he plays. As technology progresses, the distinction between energy and money will slowly disappear. We all can imagine a time in the not-so-distant future when money disappears all together, and a new form of currency will have to take its place and the value of everything will be determined by how effectively it will dissipate energy.

* That Picasso hanging on my wall is valuable since I get to look at it. And somewhere in the process of evolution, someone deemed this a high-energy activity

** Yes, we can all debate the actual value of these thoughts. Remember, “good and bad” are fictitious connotations. There is only valuable and invaluable. Some thoughts may be good but if nothing is done with them (maybe nothing can be done with them) then they have no value, even if they are pulled out of your head and into the world.

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The lines of the new age and scientific communities seem to mirror those of the US political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. On the on hand you have a group of New Agers who are approaching health and life and fulfillment from an almost religious point of view. Heavy on the “heart” and easy on the “brains”. On the other hand you have a scientific community who approach the same topics dressed in lab coats and engulfed in methodology. No scriptures, just journals. No transformed lives, just experiments and data. Heavy on the “brains” but lacking the “heart”.

If you’re into mental health and well-being, which side do you choose? Just like the Republicans and Democrats, there is much to be gained (and avoided) on both sides, so no need to limit yourself to just one.

I liken the mental health and self-help industries to big, tall apartment buildings. Ideally, you want a room with a view on the top floor. But this room needs a good foundation. The New Agers seem to have gone straight to the goal and built the penthouse. Problem is, they are not too concerned about the foundation and as a result the penthouse is a bit shaky. The scientists are building from the ground up, building a nice firm foundation which is rock solid. But it’s complicated. They demand perfection and they focus on the smallest of details. They spend so much time and energy on that foundation that they can lose sight of the ultimate goal - the room with a view.

The only solution is not to fall into the partisan trap. Be open minded for either side. If you’re a scientific person, open up for the wonders of all this spiritual crap that’s out there. At the risk of sounding cheesy, it can help you to experience the most profound feelings there are - to build a full life beyond anything conclusive data can bring. If you’re a New Ager, check out some of those science books. Lots are written for the layman these days. They may all be theoretical but they can be entertaining as well. And don’t be afraid, they may have prove that some of your beliefs are bullshit, but who cares.

You don’t have to be right to be happy.  And that’s the goal, remember?

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People seem to be having a harder and harder time keeping their heads financially above water in today’s society. Why is there so much opportunity and so many maxed-out credit cards?

Evolution and natural selection have often been associated with a fight for resources. As your average “Joe the Plumber” (sorry, I couldn’t resist) tries to make ends meet, he is fighting the competition for his slice of the pie. Animals do this and it is called natural selection - the ones who get their slice of the pie get to pass on their genes. In life, it is called competition. But it is ultimately the same fight for resources, and since it is the same process, it leads to the same thing: evolution. Animals and ecologies evolve (biological evolution) and life for humans evolves (cultural evolution).

And just what is the result of all this development over thousands and thousands of years? What has been the result of cultural evolution? Coincidentally, some very cool things. Democratization, technology, freedom, integration, and decentralization are some of the big ones - and they’re really all related. But democratization especially is causing the problems in your wallet.

The fruits of Cultural Evolution
As technology increases and spreads and the ability of the average person grows. Democratization means that power is spread more evenly over a society. This implies increased competition. The more equal people become the more people are able to “fight” for resources. Increased competition often means less profits, since companies with similar resources are forced to lower prices to make themselves more attractive to potential clients. “Can’t they just create more features and functionality to their products and services?” Yes, but the point of democratization is that their competition has greater means to do the same. The famous “moat around the castle”, ie “barrier to entry” which every business strives to create to fend off competition is getting harder and harder to maintain. This is not just for businesses, this is for individuals as well. Individuals have also entered into a situation where there is less of a gap between rich and poor*. This means that there are more people around to buy the same things. We compete as consumers. This is easy enough to see in the housing markets. Prices continue to go up with only brief periods of price decline. More people have similar amounts of money and want to spend this money on houses. Supply and demand ensures that house prices thereby increase (not now, obviously, as the bubble has popped). The same is happening on the other end of things in the job market. Thee are more and more people who are able to do similar jobs. Employers care less about specific skills and expect more and more to train new employees on the job. Since differentiation between employees is lower, in general, relative to 20 years ago, the salaries are pushed down -> increased competition. So we have increased competition for the goods we want to buy and higher competition for the salaries we want to pay for them. No wonder you can’t make ends meet! Add to this whole mix the individual’s desire for a bigger and better lifestyle than his neighbor (yes, competition for lifestyle) and you have people with less money to throw around throwing around more money.

Money and energy
To be fair, it is harder to effectively manage one’s finances these days. There are many who would say that money is really just a form of energy (I’m one of them, but won’t go into the details here). But as we progress we get better at dissipating energy - that’s what evolution ultimately is looking to do. Getting better at dissipating energy means there is more energy, ie more money - more coming in and more going out. It can be a bit frenzied at times. It was much easier to manage your finances when you made $200 a month and only had 4 things to spend money on in that time. Can you see that as a low-energy situation comparable to a small pool of bacteria-filled sludge some 3 billion years ago? Now you could compare us to an earth teaming with complex and varied life forms some 100,000 years ago. See the difference in energy levels? The difference  between your personal finances and life on earth is who is managing it - you are managing your finances, whereas life on earth is managed by the Laws of the Universe. They have a great track record, tons of experience, and is not at all swayed by emotion.

So, what to do?

1. Work on autopilot
Acknowledge that all your conscious will power ain’t worth a damn. Sometimes you need to operate on an unconscious, unemotional, habitual level. This means putting systems in place which rule you - not the other way around. Here are some prime examples.
- automatic savings - arrange it with your bank to have money put aside every month. You can start out small, really small if necessary, just to work your way up. It’s about the forming the habit initially, not about how much you’re actualy making. Better to take a year or two to build up a good habit that will last the rest of your life.
- health habits - don’t just join a gym, join a club - where you are expected to show up and participate. This can be a work-out group or a healthy cooking group, or yoga lessons, meditation classes, etc.
- education - school is no longer a place you need to go to from 8AM to 3PM. There are tons of classes available online and, if you really want the classroom experience, you can even attend classes at a nearby college. Don’t need to get any degrees, just some new fuel for the motor in your head.

Example of being a slave to the system: personally, I’m too lazy to work out on my own initiative. Luckily I can admit this to myself. What I need is a group or scheduled activity where I am coerced into working out regularly. And guess what - I work out regularly. Don’t always want to, but almost always do. The system rules me. And as a result, I am 34 and thin.

2. Get creative
Innovation is the key to overcoming the “shortage”. As economist Paul Zane Pilzer expresses, “there is no shortage [of resources]”. He means that technology itself helps create new resources through innovative ways of using current resources. Individuals who try to compensate for an increase in competition by working harder are doomed to failure. It’s the equivalent of depleting existing resources. You want to innovate - create new and better ways of accomplishing more than you were before, and ultimately more than your competition.

3. Have faith
As we know, it is our belief system which determines our reality in this life. Believe that nothing you can do will help, and you will behave accordingly, the world will treat you accordingly and indeed, you will make this belief a reality. Conversely, believe that somehow nature takes care of those who follow its wishes and you will easily align yourself with natural, evolutionary principles, feel the power of the current, act positively in your daily experience and indeed you shall prosper and enjoy the process. It’s called a “leap of faith” because you go from one place to another in an instant. It may mean unloading lots of baggage, and that can be scary and time consuming. But the leap is quick and painless. Again, is the universe really caring for you? It doesn’t matter. As long as you believe it, with every bone in your body, then you will have the same power in you.

* I know, I know, everyone thinks that this gap is increasing. While it’s true that the richest one percent increases their wealth more than the rest of us, the remaining 99% (or 90% or whatever) have never had less of a variance in their net-worths than in any time in history.

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There’s something about chilly cities and dense populations that lend themselves to progress and sophistication. Let’s take a look at how cooler weather and higher population density have helped some countries progress well and how the same principles can be applied to progress you.

Hot in the City
It may be cliché but warmer climates trigger the lazy gene in people. When it gets too hot things start to slow down and not much work gets done. There’s a certain energy involved with work and progress and it has to take long breaks when it’s hot. It’s all on a macro level, but it’s just like an individual brain on a hot day - slow and lethargic. With no real constant flow of progression in warm societies, people have to stop and rest and try to start back up again - a most inefficient way to go. Contrast this with the cold. I hate the cold, but it’s been much easier to heat things up then cool them down in the past 5000 years. We’ve had fire to heat rooms for thousands of years and outside in the cold we have coats to warm us. The best you could do to cool off up until 100 years ago was to strip down, or if you were lucky enough, go for a swim. Ever try working in a swimming pool? Some say this is how the Beach Boys fell apart. People also work best when they can focus on the task at hand. Environment plays a big role in this. Cooler, milder climates put little in the way of progress. The wind blows lightly and even the insects die in winter. Working indoors has been historically easier up until about 80 years ago. Working outdoors still is easier and more effective in cooler climates.
 

Closer to the heart
Historically, you’ve had to be next to someone to communicate with them. People work best together when they can communicate well. Even today with the internet and cell phones, physical proximity provides societies with efficiency in their endeavors. There will be a lot of useless, irrelevant, and downright negative communication, but over time, the more people communicate, the better things get. It’s not only communication of information that’s important; it’s also transactions – exchanges of energy. I use the term energy, because it’s at the core of those things we associate with transactions, namely money, services, and goods. Ultimately they are all forms of energy and they can be exchanged. As the universe dictates, all exchanges in energy over time, on a large enough scale, will result in an increase in local energy*, ie a good investment. If every transaction of money, goods, or services can be seen as an investment, over time these exchanges result in good investments for the society. The more investments a society makes, the better off it will be. And the closer the proximity, the easier it is to exchange these goods and services making it easier to invest. Societies with large distances between people have had a disadvantage in all this - like a race car with two suitcases in the trunk.

Moral of the story 
What does all this have to do with you? I didn’t forget. We see two principles here in action: 1. communication and exchanges of energy and 2. a favorable environment.
1. communication and exchanges of energy
And communication is really just exchanges of information – which could just as well be seen as a “service”.
People are social and you’ll see in the course of evolution that the size and power of our brains is largely attributed to the social aspects of being human. If we lived on our own and didn’t see other humans much, evolution would never have needed to make us so smart. Being social is elemental to being human. Want to see an increase in happiness and productivity? Be social. Get out there and talk to people. Network. Make new friends. Sometimes I know I want to talk to someone but I’m not sure what I actually want to get out of the conversation, but I know that the best thing to do is to just dive into a conversation and things will become clear either during the conversation or afterwards. If you’re stuck in life, go out and talk to people. Remember that people like positive, friendly individuals, so always try to be conscious and aware of your emotional presence in a conversation. The ultimate goal being to have a large, “highly energized” network which you interact with frequently.

2. a favorable environment
One of the tips on being effective in your homework as a student is to create a favorable environment - comfortable, but not too comfortable, quiet, free of distractions, etc. I’d like to make a generalization about the perfect environment to live in, but I think it’s best to see what your personality requires. Again, no need to get it perfect right away, just try to develop an awareness of your surroundings and if your environment is facilitating you in what you are trying to do or holding you back. Do you need external pressure, quiet, variation in your environment, positive people, no people, Mozart in the background, etc. Take 10 minutes to jot down what the best environment would be like and you’re already way better off than you were when you started.

* Ok, ok, energy is not increasing, but our ability to dissipate it is increasing. The basic principle of the universe is that energy is dissipating, so investing is not so much as increasing the level of energy of an entity, but increasing its ability to dissipate energy. Bill Gates has lots of money and therefore has a lot of options for dissipating energy. Yes, he has more energy (money) now than he did when he was 20, but what really increased was his ability to dissipate energy.

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After 8 eventful years in the White House, Bush will concede the presidency to Barak Obama. For any person, such a shift - from a position of ultimate power and visibility to one of… well, much less of both - would have major psychological effects. Paul McCartney admitted to having a breakdown after the Beatles disbanded - a move he himself initiated. But for George W. Bush, the psychological implications are even bigger. One can hardly imagine a more controversial presidency. And psychologists could hardly imagine a more interesting case study in life changes.

What happens to a person after such a remarkable time? I find it interesting anytime someone goes from one extreme situation to another. If he’s not the most powerful man in the world, he’s certainly the most well known and followed. And from one day to the next it will all be over. Because of the level of controversy of his presidency and his personality (I see him as a very emotional and sensitive person), it will be all the more difficult for Bush.

The number of significant and historical events (to put them mildly) which have occurred in the past 8 years have left few people on Bush’s side. Few, at least for now, will make efforts to praise his tenure in Washington, let alone associate with him. Not to bust on him - I understand Churchill had a hard time finding friends at the end of his stay as Prime Minister. Where will these leave George Bush? All the attention, all the power, all the controversy - gone. His own party seems lined up to simply try to forget about him.

As this site hints at. All real change is driven by emotion, by passion. Watching the concert in Washington today, motherfuckers are emotional. Motherfuckers are passionate. No choir of teenage kids would sing like that for George Bush. Step 1 in life, in any endeavor, is to get your emotional drive up. The rest will follow. Intelligence and talent all come second in line to drive and determination. Bush’s presidency was built on fear, not passion. And run on arrogance, not confidence. The result of Bush’s way is pretty obvious, while the results of Obama’s presidency remain to be seen. One thing is unmistakable - there is a real energy around Obama taking office. And that energy will propel and drive whatever measures he takes for the time being. And of course that energy and motivation and passion are so crucial to any initiatives he will take. That’s how it works for individuals and that’s how it works for countries. 

All that energy, all that hope, has largely been created by Bush. Not because he was energetic and positive, but because America has been so out of touch with hope as a result of the last 8 years (not judging it, just calling it as I see it). That seems to be the ultimate jab at Bush as he leaves the White House. As I see it, George Bush has several possible options after he retires from Washington.

1. Get a job.Obviously the best way to avoid sitting around and contemplating what the hell just happened is to bury yourself in work. It’s not the healthy thing to do, but few would accuse Bush of being psychologically healthy. Bush would be a prime candidate for an executive-type position - not one in a corporate environment, but rather one that makes use of his best skill, his likability. His well-known ties with the Saudi Royal Family would be a clear option to liaison between them and American interests. I personally can’t see him going into charitable and activists roles as Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Al Gore have done. He’ll simply be too much of a liability for such groups who are too often associated with the left. No, his bread lies in the private sector - making money, working out deals between the wealthy and governments and organizations. He can feel useful and wanted without having to dwell on any perceived failures of the last eight years. America will try to forget about him and he’ll do (subconsciously) the same in return. Only on occasion will he think about the events his presidency and possibly never consider that he may have screwed up royally.

2. Retire.If George W spends the next few years clearing shrub and hunting in Texas, it will be his own decision - not for a lack of other options. Being a man of conviction, he may simply choose to relax and continue in his belief that he did what he thought was right. This will be a bit trickier for the president. Quiet and isolation, though gifts to the mentally healthy and guilt-free, may wreak havoc on the vulnerable psyche of George Bush. He’ll have to work hard to push thoughts of self-doubt out of his head. And following the news is inescapable. I can hardly imagine a person who wouldn’t spend a large part of his day reflecting on the time which was so important to so many, so shrouded in various perceptions, yet flew right by.

3. The Book Deal. In these final days of his presidency, you see the media really trying to sink their teeth into Bush one last time. Maybe they subconsciously feel the contrast to the situation after 9-11 when they felt they really couldn’t stand up and be critical without somehow worsening their cause. Now is their chance to make up for lost time and “grill this asshole while it still counts” (I’m not quoting anyone, I’m just imagining what a journalist might be thinking). And sure enough, they’re not letting up, they’re not giving him the slightest acknowledgement that there was something positive in his presidency. And he hates it. You can feel his reluctance to give his final press conference and exit interviews, even for Fox News. He knows that the only issue is “how everything has gone completely wrong” and how most people view his presidency as a complete failure. “Time to set the record straight”. A book deal would normally be a good way to at least formalize your own side of the story in a situation gray with political intricacies and complicated interests of two opposing takes. Rumor is, the book is in the works, and I’m sure it will come out. What I’m also sure of is it will be fired at and quickly passed off just like any other interview these days. A last desperate attempt to present himself as right, if not unlucky.

4. Humanitarian Aid.In an interview I heard a few months back, Bush expressed “interest” in helping the poor and needy in Africa. While other presidents have proved quite effective in the humanitarian arenas, Bush will probably have a different experience. While it seems true that there are African nations which embrace him, most humanitarian organizations who operate there do not. I could see it possible that he simply set up his own humanitarian organization using a few political connections and a few million in donations. Entirely possible. But don’t expect the media, or the rest of the world for that matter, to suddenly like him. Most likely it would be a limited effort with limited real effects. He won’t be doing it for them, but more for himself (subconsciously, of course - that is the only way he knows how to fly). And that’s fine. I can see him feeling a real sense of accomplishment and contentment in this.

Bush’s real agenda: Love
Let us not forget what shaped this man in the first place. Typical of any middle child, and especially one surrounded by such high expectations, this man is only after validation and acceptance, and he’ll do some crazy things to get it. The biggest nightmare for such a person (and maybe any person) is when the whole world hates you in spite of your efforts to be loved. When your strategy isn’t working out, you’ll tend to get angry and rebellious - as he did in his youth and as he seems to be doing of late. Maybe he’ll join a punk band. He could call it The G-Hate Summit. I’d download that. Personally, I feel for the guy. He got in over his head and had the worst of luck for 8 straight years (and yes, getting re-elected was unlucky). He meant well, but missed the mark. Let him go down as the ultimate example of how worthless good intentions are.

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There are some people who would see every element of humanity as a result of natural selection. Currently, I am one of them. If something is unexplicable in terms of natural selection, I will simply assume all that is missing is a good explanation and some supporting data to show that it probably does exists as a result of natural selection. “Opposable thumb?” Good for climbing trees and grasping tools. “Language?” Great way to communicate with members of the group who you are probably working with to help proliferate common genes. “Consciousness?” Ahh, that holiest of human traits. “There’s this being and it can wonder,” my high school ethics teacher would proclaim. “Only humans have consciousness” he would boast. And whether he is right or not is not something I’m prepared to go into at the moment. But what I will attempt here is to tie consciousness with evolutionary theory.

There is much discussion surrounding consciousness. The scientists will address it on a neural level and the New Agers describe it on a metaphysical one. They speak of “higher consciousness”, implying that it is not a black and white state but more a leveled one. Their language remains vague and superficial. Even the evolutionary biologists and psychologists are at a loss to explain consciousness. They have no data to support its existence. “Everything humans do could be done without consciousness”. But I have a hard time believing that.

Why Consciousness?
Why should consciousness grow and evolve? As Dr. Robert Ornstein ponders in his book “The Evolution of Consciousness”, “why should human beings ever have evolved the ability to know what their mental systems are doing, any more than we know what our pancreas is doing?” He believes that we actually do not have the ability to know what our mental systems are doing. But I would content that the clear motivation for consciousness is its ability to improve the workings of your mind. I can’t improve how my pancreas works through thought (aside from the general health benefits of positive thinking). But I can improve how my mind works through thought. Look at how many people are interested in how their mind works. We don’t just think about it: we read about it and take courses on it. Every human has at least an instinctive minimal interest in how his brain works and if the things he is thinking are in line with reality.

Unlike organs like the pancreas, our minds are the only body part involved in cultural evolution. An evolving consciousness allows us to better adapt to our cultural environment. Our brain has stopped evolving on an individual level, but without consciousness, we would not be able to evolve on a group level. Just as the biological world has genetic winners and losers, so does the cultural world. Those best able to succeed on a cultural landscape hold a better chance of passing on their genes. And it is consciousness which is the key adaptation to facilitate this success.

Our brains must have the ability to evolve culturally. And this ability is consciousness. And we have been evolving on a cultural level for some time now. Most scientific accounts will end biological evolution about 10,000 years ago. Cultural evolution, this is: humans learning from each other, passing on information to each other, and working together in social groups, has been going on for hundreds of thousands of years. And it is that overlap in which consciousness, as a biological part of the brain, evolved.

If we’ll assume that consciousness is an adaptation, ie a result of evolution, then here we will try to work backwards to the possible cause. Though we like to think of our motives as noble and dignified, especially in light of cultural evolution, let’s not forget that cultural evolution is simply a group-level extension of biological evolution, whose sole purpose is procreation, so we start our thought experiment with sexual strategies. We’ll start with a set of observations and conclusions, and we’ll address men and women separately since their GPSs are so different. (read more on GPS here). And for clarification, when we talk about men and women, we are actually referring to them as they were 10,000 years ago - since this is the time for which their brains and bodies were built.

Men
To generalize, there are several types of men in the world. Please refer to the GPS article to get more details on each. But suffice to say here that while some men play more on the physical level of GPSs, being the dominant male in a group and physically controlling the pool of available females, other men have been forced into less dominant positions and have had to be creative in their pursuit of females to mate with. It is widely agreed that the speed of human evolution, particularly that of our intellect, in the last hundred thousand years or so is largely attributed to intra-species competition (man against man) rather than interspecies competition (man against tiger). In my article “Why Your Girlfriend has Such Bad Taste in Music“, I discuss the predicament weaker males have found themselves in during the course of human development and the options that were made available to them in the form of technology and culture. In this respect consciousness in males can be seen as “thinking outside the box”. The ultimate question to be answered being “how can I get these chicks to sleep with me”? The dominant males don’t need to ask this question. But the weaker males who were best able to step outside their own biological patterns and develop new ways of thinking and doing which helped or united their community were awarded rank and prestige, the cultural equivalent of strength, and thereby were able to acquire mates. One could conclude that these weaker males are born with a higher consciousness than their physically stronger counterparts.

Women
Whereas men use consciousness as a vehicle for status in the group, women have developed consciousness for other reasons. Consciousness in women can perhaps in part be seen as the proverbial “women’s intuition”. Indeed women do have a heightened awareness of their surroundings beyond that of men. My wife may buy a new vase for the living room which will escape my radar for days. Women posses a great attention to detail in their surroundings. Evolutionary psychologists conclude that this mystical sensory perception developed as women needed to know if their suitors were lying to them - falsifying their credentials, as it were. It is no surprise that women choose men who are either of high genetic quality, ie good looking, or who can support them using various resources, such as money or status. The former is hard to fake, while the latter is somewhat easier. Pretending to be a man of wealth and status is a treasured pastime for many men. So is lying about one’s commitment to a woman. Women have hence developed intuitions to help them cut through male BS. Also, while it is more commonly known that men compete with each other, women also compete with each other for the most “attractive” men, but they do so not with aggression but rather with more subtle and social tactics such as gossip, backstabbing, and “mind games”. It takes a sharp wit to play on that field, and evolution has helped women right along by developing their senses for greater awareness of their environment. This seems to be the seed of conciousness in women.

With this logic, you might see consciousness is an adaptation. Everyone has it, but similar to IQ or running speed, not all people are born equal. Some people are born with a greater capacity for consciousness and others with a lesser capacity. If you think of consciousness as any other physical attribute (or mental one for that matter), just as a person may be built with strong arms but does not exercise, he may still be weaker than someone who was built with weaker arms but trains regularly. By the same token, a person may be born with a high capacity for consciousness, but may have less of a conscious life than someone who was born with less capacity for consciousness but who regularly…yes, practices.

Practicing consciousness
You can practice consciousness. Buddhist monks have done it for ages, and now the mainstream public is seeing the mental and physical benefits of meditation and mindfulness. We learn, we reflect, we ponder, and it all raises our level of consciousness. We can step out of the car for a minute and kick the tires, check the oil, etc. This is the great gift to be gotten from therapists and coaches - they are consciousness trainers and, just as a fitness instructor at your local gym, they will pump up your self-awareness muscles. Before you know it, you will have a clearer idea of who you are, what you are doing, and why you are doing it. These being some obvious benefits of consciousness.

The burden of consciousness
But consciousness isn’t all roses. Consciousness for many is experienced as a burden. Think “self-conscious”. Being constantly aware of the world and yourself in it can create a level of fear, insecurity, and alienation in an individual. The head cases in the world are often the most conscious individuals. The ones who seemingly glide through life are often less conscious of their surroundings and of themselves. So, how then is consciousness a benefit worthy of passing through natural selection? Sadly it does not always work out to be a benefit. If consciousness is an adaptation mean to help groups evolve, they why are the most conscious people usually the outcasts of a group? We can understand how a normal degree of consciousness is necessary for minimal creativity and innovation, but are high levels of consciousness worth the added weight? High consciousness can lead to loads of self-doubt and insecurity and those with a very conscious mind often find it hard to relate to others. Indeed high levels of consciousness were probably not favored 10,000 years ago. It was only when art, culture, technology, and innovation became worthy displays of power that highly conscious individuals found their niche. Consciousness is like big stick you have to carry around. If you don’t know how to use it and you may not enjoy your experience with it. But if you know how to use it, understand it, and can take advantage of it, you’ll enjoy the benefits.

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