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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“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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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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Yes, a new term only a Quanologist could come up with. GPP - Genetic Proliferation Potential. GPP is a variable which obviously denotes an individual’s potential in genetic proliferation. For those of you just joining us, here’s a bit of background.

As nature sees it, we are here to pass on our genes. There are different ways to do this - some men sleep around, some men are loyal fathers, some women seek the support of multiple men, and some women seek out one man for a long-term relationship. It’s all part of the Universe. But in this quest for genetic proliferation, some are better equipped than others. It would be silly to imagine a race involving everyone on the planet and thinking they all have the exact same chance of winning. The fact is, some people are born with a higher potential for genetic proliferation than others, BUT the good news is that people can develop a higher potential within their lifetimes. So, your GPP is not stable but varies from time to time.

What are the factors?
Again, for those of you who are new to Quanology, evolution works on different levels. Biologically we pass on our genes directly through our offspring, and indirectly through our genetic relatives. Culturally we can pass on our genes on a slightly vaguer, those more expansive level, by our thoughts, beliefs, and cultural and technical contributions. Therefore, our ability to breed, to parent, to care for our relatives, and to contribute to society all factor into our GPP. And what attributes are therefore necessary to accomplish these things.

No man is an island. It is often hard to say where one individual ends and another begins. It would be all too simplistic to think we function alone in the world. I’m sitting on a train right now built by someone else and driven by someone else. The laptop I’m typing on was made in some far off land in a factory by a group of workers. But these things are tied to me right now. They are at my disposal and I use them to my own devices. They are not a part of me physically, but they contribute to my effectiveness on this planet, ie my genetic proliferation. We will also use the term “resources” to describe anything which is available to an individual for his/her use.

Resources can be anything. These are all considered resources:

• physical attractiveness
• physical strength
• athleticism
• money
• property
• family
• ideas
• power
• psychological capacity (ie, consciousness, awareness, creativity, rationalization, perspective, positivism, etc)
• intelligence (in the traditional sense)
• talents
• mind set (ie, drive, motivation, confidence, etc)
• knowledge
• skills
• social standing & personal network
• technical ability
• artistic ability

All these things should be seen as resources since all contribute to genetic proliferation. Somethings may help out more in certain environments, so obviously a person can have a higher GPP in one environment than in another environment. In the western world, for instance, artistic ability can get you further than say, in the Middle East. So the weighted sum of your resources in relation to the characteristics of your surroundings adds up to be your GPP. The cool thing is, GPP is passed on and developed over generations, just as genes themselves are. Raising your knowledge on a certain subject should improve your children’s chances of also being knowledgeable on that subject. Making the investment to increase your knowledge is similar to putting money in the bank to let it be passed on down to future generations (and it’s not taxed!). Of course, somehow lowering your resource level in some area will also be passed on. Squander $1 million in your lifetime and it obviously cannot be passed down to future generations. Squandering a good mind set in your lifetime will similarly ensure that a good mind set will not be passed down to your children.

The moral of this story? Realize that resources are all around you and you have many different means to help you be successful. And be conscious of the fact that everything you do is an investment in your resources and as with any investment, there is potential gain and potential loss. Both will be passed down the genetic ladder.

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Everywhere you look there are people underachieving, living dreary lives, or just not living the life they want to live. So why aren’t they? In the age we live in, there should be no excuse.  There is one example after another of someone whose life has quickly gone from crappiest to happiest. Here are the 4 reasons why people aren’t getting the good stuff.  

1. They don’t really want them
Ask people what they want in life and they tell you all kinds of standard things: a cool job, lots of money, good friends, plenty of free time, and good relationships. Dig a little deeper and you might find they don’t really want the things they say they want. Money often means hard work and hassles. Good relationships require intimacy which itself require a whole lot of honesty and openness - something many people subconsciously or consciously avoid. A cool job will require initiative, potential insecurity and maybe even a lackluster salary. It’s the same in all cases - one part of you wants something but another part knows of a possible downside and keeps you from going after it.

2. They don’t know/believe they exist
You can’t do or have something if you don’t know it exists. A happy family life? Indeed many of us have been sold the notion that all families fight and all kids hate their parents. ‘Tis not so. Happy families do exist but unless you know this, you will never set out to get it. Recently, I’ve had to get up early for work and there’s a little voice inside me that says I should be tired. If my body doesn’t feel tired, then there is a dissonance - one part saying I should feel tired and another part saying I feel pretty good. Eventually the first part tells the second part to shut up. It thinks waking up at 5:30 and feeling good isn’t possible. It’s only when I present it to myself as a possibility that I can actually feel good that early. A good part of the wellness movement must be geared to educating the public of the existence of these “products”. We are confronted more and more with evidence that every human experience can be reproduced and we are not limited in taking some person’s good reality and making it our own. The first step in getting something is dropping the idea that something is impossible for you. “Easier said than done”, you say? Drop the idea that it’s easier said than done… It really is just like a light switch but you first have to drop the idea that it’s impossible that changing your life is easy. Get it?

3. They don’t believe they can/should have them
I saw an interview with Tom Cruise once (ok, it was on Oprah) where he said he used to believe that the life he lives was for “other people” and it was the point that he changed that belief at allowed him to actually live it himself. Many people feel subconsciously unworthy of having good things in life and surrender to not even trying to get them. Lots of money, a good job, a partner who treats them well - you see on a constant basis people all around settling for the things they subconsciously think they deserve. Belief systems are all-powerful. Everyone beliefs something different and you see that all combinations are possible and that all belief systems lead to their eventual reality - so feel free to choose the one you want - not the one you think belongs to you.

4. They don’t know how to get them
And just sometimes you might find all the other three points are ready and waiting but you just don’t know how to get them - how to break the patterns that dictate your behaviors or how to find and approach the mate you want or how to get the job that’s perfect for you. And that’s what human technology (psychology, self-help, personal development, GTD, etc) is all about.

Now what?
What’s so great about the age we live in is that there is a whole army of experts who dedicate their lives to these 4 points. If people don’t know about this army and what they do, they’ll never look for it. But they do exist and they can work wonders. Try and think of these 4 points in relation to your life and what’s holding you back from getting more of the good stuff. Don’t feel like thinking about it? Maybe you think it won’t lead anywhere? That’s kind of my point.

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Often pain and frustration are the womb of progress. Since pain and frustration are undesired states, it is natural that men will push to leave them. “It is always darkest before the dawn” they say. This is just that people cannot stand the “darkness” and so are inspired to invent light. Notice in history that so much good was preceded by so much bad. Personally, Quanology comes out of the frustration not having a proper definition of a life science - not that that’s so horrible…

“How should we live our lives?” “Where is the manual for this car?” There seem to be many sciences which explain so many facets of the universe and humanity but none which attempt to study how humans should best live on this planet. Many people would argue that there is no one way to live well, and they would be right. But what I hope to do is to shed light on why things are the way they are in hopes that people become more conscious of what they are actually doing and are better able to feel and decide what they want for themselves. Quanology is not here to tell people how they should live, but rather to increase their self-awareness and consciousness so that they can make better decisions themselves, and have a better understanding on how to take action once they decide.

Obviously the truth requires in depth investigation and the natural result of this is a series of specializations - all sort of next to each other with an occasional overlap between two and an occasional gap of unanswered questions between two. Quanology strives to unite all the specializations through a primarily high-level overview with the necessary references to the specialists who give the necessay substance to it all.

Psychology largely studies the human mind with little after-thought to how it is happiest and how to achieve such a state**. Philosophy does not… Self-help comes close but is continuously avoids scientific backings and lacks a underlying base. Religion attempts to but fails. Why? Because any science which attempts to look at how people should live must be treated as a technology. And technology is always changing and developing. Religion, by its traditional definition, does not change. Buddhism, for me, comes very close to a proper definition of how people should live, but slightly escapes this short-coming by its often vague and ambiguous conclusions. It too, though, is in need of some tweaking. Quanology is meant to unite various disciplines of science and direct them at a healthy human experience. I’ll be arrogant enough to call it a unified theory. So, let’s start at the very beginning.

A very good place to start
Science is layered. Every truth has a truth just below it which it must be based on. So, we go back now to the very first truth we (think we) know and we’ll build from there. Quanology assumes that The Universe was born with The Big Bang. Matter concentrated into a very small space and exploded. It has since been expanding - riding on the initial release of that explosion. The Universe is expanding and everything in it is expanding. Ultimately, this trend underscores every aspect of life. Once you understand it, you’ll see it everywhere.

Expanding and fitting
The details of this expansion are pretty interesting. If you drop a cup of water on the floor, you’ll witness an impact on the floor and the water shooting out in all directions. If the process of the water shooting out could be slowed down, you’d see an uneven dispertion of that water. Some side will have higher pressure and shoot farther and some will have lower pressure and remain closer to the initial point of impact. So, what you’ll get will not be a perfect circle around the point of impact, you’ll get a very uneven pattern. Whatever you get, you can conclude that the splashed water fit perfectly with its environment. Drop another cup of water and it too will fit perfectly with its environment. The same can be said for everything in The Universe - it is expanding and fitting in with its environment. This is the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.

Entropy
The definition most of us got in high school is “entropy is the amount of disorder in a system” and the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics states that the entropy in a system is always increasing. The definition of entropy has since been clarified*. Entropy is now defined by scientists as the “dispersion of energy”. Seems to fit better with The Big Bang and the water falling on the floor. The Big Bang is the beginning of The Universe’s energy dispersal. Everything in The Universe is involved in energy dispersal or dissipation.

Evolution - Entropy for Living Things
If entropy is defined as increasing disorder, then Evolution presents a quandary. “Why is there this pocket of organization if the world is supposed to be increasing in disorder?” But when we see entropy as the trend to dissipate energy, then evolution fits in as simply “a great way to dissipate energy”. And indeed it is. Humans consider themselves highly evolved, and in this context we are: we contribute to the dissipation of more energy than any other species. Evolution is just a system for self-organizing beings to fit into their environment. To wrap your head around it, it’s best to look at it from a macro level. If the population of mosquitoes in a swamp seems to be getting quicker, then the frogs in the area will also get quicker in trying to catch them. The frogs are just fitting into their environment - much like the cup of water fit into its environment. The water did it by simply moving from a high-pressure environment to a low-pressure environment. The frogs do it by a similar mechanism, but much more complex. The low pressure in the environment when the water hit the ground, was the area around it - relative to the high pressure area which was where the water hit the ground. Low pressure areas can simply be seen as “areas of opportunity for energy dissipation”. Energy can be dissipated into areas of low energy. And that’s what’s going on in The Universe. With the mosquitoes and the frogs, the environment shifted. There was relatively high pressure when the mosquitoes were a certain speed and then it became low-pressure when they got quicker. So, the frogs evolve in the direction of the “area of opportunity for energy dissipation”. It’s a universal trend. It is the same when water hits the ground, when investors put money into interesting stocks, when they pull money out of uninteresting stocks, when men flock to pretty young women, when a tennis player wacks a “short ball” to finish off a point, when The Beatles are allowed to achieve God-like status in the world by the rise of media technology, when inventors devise the remote control for the people sick of having to get up to change the tv, when the food industry shifts from high calorie foods to health foods as the population gets exccesively obese…etc etc.

Evolution and you
Using evolution as the basis for life allows us to better understand ourselves and our motivations. Religion has tried to do this for some time now but its conclusions have never really been based on anything tangible or empirical. And you get the inconsistencies, the hypocrisies and the legions of dissatisfied members who demand a life manual with more footnotes. We love the spirituality but hate the gaps in logic. So, evolution can do all this for you. We can finally understand ourselves and our motivations by putting them in the evolutionary context. Understanding evolution then becomes the first step to understanding ourselves - and evolution is often misunderstood. Please have a look at Intro to Evolution for more details.

Quanology makes the simple assumption that we are happiest doing what is natural. And thereby spends lots of time and energy trying to find out what is natural for us - ie, what Nature wants for us. In the context of evolution and entropy, we conclude that Nature wants us to dissipate energy and to do it well. If we can see the parallels in our lives between what we do and how much energy we dissipate, we should find the keys to happiness and fulfillment. Depressed? Depression, in the context of Quanology, is not dissipating energy. It feels bad. Mania is when you dissipate lots of energy. It feels good. Get it? And that will be the goal of Quanology: providing the world with a blueprint for a happy life.

The Players
The world is a system and Quanology is attempting to thoroughly describe the system and your role in it. The following elements of the system or “players” have already been identified on a high level and will be further explored in the Quanological Journey.

Entropy- The Queen Bee. It is the top level element of the system. All other elements are simply a derivative of this one.

Evolution - The mechanism for energy dissipation of all living things. Of course, there are different kinds of evolution. Biological for individual members of a species, Cultural for groups of individuals. Read more on cultural evolution here.

Technology - Technology is simply evolution in pieces. If evolution is how things develop on a larger scale, then technology is just pockets of development. The TV industry evolves, but LCDs are one of the technologies. Everything that “does” or “happens” is a technology.

Energy - The currency of the system. It is what everything is composed of. Remember the Theory of Relativity? It’s really saying that mass and energy are interchangeable.

Dissipation - The universal trend to have energy move from places of high concentration to places of low concentration.

Decentralization - Decentralization is, of course, just dispersing energy. But more often we use it when describing the trend in systems to remove power or control from a single point and delegate these elements to the subordinate parts. Decentralized systems tend to work better (ie, disperse energy better) on the whole than those in which power and control are kept bottled up and hoarded.

Integration- Another corollary to entropy. Is The Universe expanding? Or is it just integrating with its surroundings? Integration is basically dissipation, so we see that everything in the world is eventually involved in integrating. Look all around these days in world affairs and business and you’ll see integration. Look at The European Union. Someone even pointed out to me how much more passing and teamwork there is in soccer these days as opposed to 30 years ago. The players are not islands, they are an integrated team…

GPS - Genetic Proliferation Strategy - Since the goal of Biological Evolution is genetic proliferation, this term describes a person’s individual choice of strategy for genetic proliferation. To put it in layman’s terms - it’s your personality, as defined from the perspective of evolution. Read more on Genetic Proliferation Strategies here.

Systems - Everything is a system and all systems have similar characteristics and goals. The Universe is a system, humanity is a system, your government is a system, and you are a system. You all have a lot in common.

Resources - All the things you have at your disposal to help you accomplish your goal genetic proliferation. These include things like physical health, wealth, social and family networks, psychological assets, skills, knowledge, environmental assets, and talents.

It’s all about “Happy”
The only reason to delve into all this is to make you happy. That’s the drive behind everything that humans do. “I thought you just said it was to dissipate energy.” Ah, sharp. It is to dissipate energy, but dissipating energy makes us happy and we dissipate the most energy when we are happy. It’s a beautiful circle. And the big quest for Quanology is really to define what happiness is for humans. I’ve already taken a stab at it here in the 7 Keys to Happiness article. Happiness is only slightly different for everyone. For the most part, true happiness is a static thing - though not necessarily somewhere we can ever perfectly reach. Why not? Because of our natural drive to expand. “Happiness” as a target will always be moving away from you. The most you can do is to do your best in life and be content in knowing that you will always have a small spot of desire and restlessness inside you. And that’s part of life as we define it.

I might be wrong
Of course, I’m just putting this all together from concepts I’ve learned and stolen from others. Information here may be incorrect and/or incomplete. But all is open for discussion, critique and correction. The system itself is probably immutable but our understanding of it will develop over the course of time. And so will our precision and skill in explaning it. Perfection is the journey, but I’m just getting started, so a few sore feet are to be expected.

So, that’s Quanology in a nutshell. Hope this site does this concept justice and provides sufficient explanation to every little aspect of the world, and more importantly, can teach you something about yourself and how to be happy.

*The definition of Entropy was already updated in the 60’s, so we probably just had some outdated text books. This is another theme of Quanology - how fast technology changes and the delay we experience in incorporating new technology.

** Positive Psychology is actually beginning to ask and answer such questions as “how cn we live best” and backing it up well with scientific research. Quanology incorporates many of their findings in both its theory and application.

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Here, we’ll discuss why Michael Jordan and Eminem are smart, but their IQs might not reflect this. Who cares about intelligence anyway? What you want is to succeed in life. This article will explain that you have to be intelligent to succeed, but you don’t need a high IQ. And since there are an infinite number of ways of succeeding, there is an infinite number of intelligence definitions. And of course, we cannot measure success without knowing what it is. If intelligence is the extent to which someone is successful (not their capability to be successful), then we must define what success is before we can say if someone is intelligent. In this sense, we are working backwards - taking a result and concluding on the intelligence of the individual instead of the current paradigm which tests the individual and applies a degree of intelligence based on their score. A score which no one should care about unless we are correlating IQ with success, ie predicting success on the basis of IQ test scores.

Potential for Success vs Actual Success

Why is intelligence correlated with acheived success and not capacity to acheive success? IQ tests will measure your capacity to do something - not what you’ve already done, so our new definition adds that extra element of achievement. But why? The logic is, nature does not reward talent, it rewards acheivement. There are two kinds of energy - potential and kinetic. But as you know from 8th grade science class, only kinetic energy is actually dissipating - doing what nature wants it to do. So, we define success based on what nature wants for you. If you have talent and have done nothing with it, then you are lacking somewhere. It goes against nature to have unused talents and it is very much an ability, or a capacity to convert talents into actual achievement. We get annoyed at successful people with little talent, but the fact is, they have the most important talent of all - the ability to acheive. So, it’s part of the equation here. Nature does not care about potential, so why put it in your definition of intelligence? The new paradigm is: we all have the same level of potential. Or to be more specific: any differences we have in terms of potential success are insignificant. I’m not saying all men are created equal, I’m saying all men have relatively the same potential for success. Of course, if actual achievement is figured into the calculation for intelligence, it implies that your intelligence level is not static, since your success level is not static. Indeed it is not - one might have a real string of “intelligent years” only to succumb to lesser intelligent years down the road. Success comes and goes and everything in the universe is in motion - how could your intelligence level stay the same?

The Scientific Definition of Success

Right, so what is success? Success is defined by how well a system dissipates energy. Period. All other definitions are simply anecdotal or are in some way derivative of this. Look at any situation - human, or otherwise - and this definition can be applied, though it won’t always be immediately obvious.  This is why we can say that we all have relatively the same potential for success. All systems deal with energy and The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the energy of any system is dissipating - ie the order is decreasing. A classic example is an ice-cube melting. Energy is dissipating when the ice becomes water. And the ice cube is successful (yes, there are successful ice-cubes) to the extent that it melts. The faster it melts, ie the faster it moves from a state of order to a state of disorder, the more successful it is. This obviously must be translated to the human experience. Here we go.

The Human Definition of Success 

Why are you on this earth? Why do humans exist? People have been pondering these questions as long as anyone can remember and the answers seem to all be incomplete. I would be silly to think this conclusion should be different, but I’ll take a stab at it anyway.  To keep it simple, I’ll start at the top of the hierarchy (human drives) and move down the ladder (energy dissipation).

3. Human level - what do humans want to do? Pass on their genes

2. Gene Level - why do genes want to be passed on? This is simply one way for them to dissipate energy - by organizing themselves into complex structures which fit into complex low-energy environments or holes. Think of evolution as a system to create keys for an infinite number of key holes. Fitting into a key hole would be how the energy is dispersed, so species mold themselves into the shapes of keys which will fit into the key holes. The other way for genes to dissipate energy is to die and decompose. This is coincidentally our other big goal in life. But since life dissipates energy better than death, most of us try to hold out as long as we can. Evolution is like a pool of water cut off from the ocean. Eventually a series of streams find their way to the ocean.  Imagine a virtually infinite number of streams and each little stream is like a form of life. Genes are made of matter too and the same behavior seen by the water can be seen by all living things. We’re all just trying to make it to the ocean.

1. Energy level - why does energy want to be dissipated? If you believe the Big Bang Theory (and we’re pretty much booking on it here), then a long time ago the universe was concentrated into a very tiny tiny space. That was the pinnacle of energy concentration and when it exploded, the energy began dispersing itself. Another visual is that of a swig of milk being poured into a hot cup of coffee. The milk is initially concentrated into one spot and slowly starts dispersing itself through the remainder of the cup. The paths it takes will be varied but you can be assured that it will always move from an area of high concentration to low concentration. That’s just how the universe is set up.

Though we are biologically here to pass on our genes, I am not implying that the most successful people are the ones with the most children and grandchildren. Evolution is not quite that simple. As stated in the article GPS - Genetic Proliferation Strategy, one can pass on their genes in other ways besides procreation. Cultural evolution has broadend the definition of success by associating culture and collective thought with biological gene pools - allowing artists, thinkers, leaders, and atheletes to be successful beyond their procreative efforts. Success now includes rushing for 2000 yards in a season or winning the Nobel Prize. No one would have cared 20,000 years ago, and even if they did, no future generations would have remembered. Success means fulfilling the goals of both biological and cultural evolution - with a noticable favor towards cultural evolution. This is why we value celebrities over good parents.

The Goals of  Biological & Cultural Evolution

And what are the goals of biological and cultural evolution? Here’s another bulletted list

Biological:

- Main goal: conceive and raise children who are in state to do the same and whose children too are in state to do the same (ie, raise a family and/or have lots of sex)

- Main goal, second best: help facilitate the above goal for members of the same gene pool and bearing that, a closely related gene pool (ie, contribute to society)

- Supportive goal: amass resources to help you in the above two goals (ie, get rich, strong, and popular)

Cultural:

 - Contribute to a belief system, since belief systems help unite individuals towards their common goal: genetic proliferation. Look closely and you’ll see that statistically, people who have followed religions have been more successful, according to the definitions of biological evolution, than those who have not. Indeed, the family that prays together stays together. And there is strength in numbers. Atheists, be they right or not, are all alone - just take a look at the US electorate.

- Create art. It is the artists of societies who have been able to pull the emotional puppet strings of the people. They are nothing more than psychological drug dealers. Our brains are set up to be emotionally manipulable. Just look at your teenage kid in his room all day listening to System of a Down. In a sense they have been able to gain a slight control over people in a society and thereby unite others to their own ends. Atheletes are in here too. Don’t tell me Roger Federer isn’t a painter. Everybody loves an artist - even a bad one. The good ones are the most revered members of society. 

Being Intelligent Means Being Successful 

With these being the goals and their achievement being “success”, intelligent beings are thusly the ones who actually achieve them. There may be a rapper out there as good as Eminem, but if he doesn’t get noticed and has to keep working at Burger King, it will be because he was less intelligent. Sure, luck plays a part in many instances, but statistically over the breadth of the population, intelligence is translated as success and success is a reflection of intelligence. There may be another tennis player as talented as Roger Federer but it is Federer’s psychology, his intelligence which have gotten him the results. And notice how his intelligence developed. He used to be a head case who was hot and cold on the courts - but in recent years he’s found the psychological plane to allow him to be hot most of the time.

So no more discussing how some people have book smarts and others have emotional intelligence or social intelligence, or whatever the flavor-of-the-month definition is, and that we’re all different. The truth is, some people are intelligent and others are not, but we all can be intelligent. Thankfully nature has left us many different ways to be intelligent, many paths we can take to get to that ocean. Some will involve using our emotions effectively and some will involve brute psychological force. Both are intelligent if both are successful. So, don’t be fooled by your IQ scores. If you’re successful in terms of the ways defined here, then you’re intelligent. If you’re not all that successful as per the definitions above, then your intelligence is lacking. The beauty of it all is, by means of study, practice, focus, and a good psychology, you’re in complete control.

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Be forewarned, for those looking for some new romantic, intangible definition of this deified emotion, this article will leave you with a sneer. The definition of love is so clear in my head, that I can hardly imagine the time when it wasn’t - when pop songs trying to crystallize it would almost make sense to me. I used to love those songs. Now I can only think about how the singer has no idea what he’s talking about. Indeed I too wear a sneer.

The Moral Animal 
A book on evolutionary psychology called The Moral Animal changed my life.  It convinced me how all-powerful and all-encompassing the drive to pass on one’s genes is. Everything we do is somehow directed to passing on our genes. If we really are a product of evolution, how could it be otherwise? If we look at any and every living thing on the planet, we easily agree that their sole purpose is to pass on their genes. Why would it be different with us? Because we are conscious beings? It took billions of years for humans to develop from lower life forms. Conscious thought is relatively new.

Reproductive Strategies 
So, part of the definition of love requires us to look at our reproductive strategies and see what mechanisms would help us attain the goals implicit in these strategies. We pass on our genes through reproduction. Sounds obvious, but there is a twist to it outside the scope of this article (read the Moral Animal for more). Reproduction has two parts to it - conceiving children and raising them. Love is the motivational drug that is present in both of these parts to ensure we partake in conceiving (romantic love) and raising children (parental love). Sure sex feels good, and that’s obviously another adaptation to ensure we have lots of sex, but attraction is the seed of love, and there will be no sex without attraction - no matter how good sex feels. Think of the most unattractive, repulsive member of the opposite sex you can imagine, and then think about engaging in sex with them. Who’s winning out here: your brain or your genitalia?…. OK, let’s move on.

Love vs Attraction 
Attraction is low-level, potentially short-term love. It can blossom into love, or it can fade minutes after the person starts talking. Love, is the more committed, long-term version, where, not only do you want to have sex with this person, you want to see the resulting children grow up. (Remember, to our 10,000 year-old bodies and the Catholic Church, there is no sex without children). And that’s why love is there. It’s your attorney signing the papers for you. It commits and legal binds you to this partnership. If we didn’t have love, then we would just be a species who produces herds of children, but feels no duty to raise them. Some animals can get away with churning out children who somehow make it far enough in life to propagate the species, but not us - which is why I don’t sleep in on Sunday mornings.

Real love
Van Halen’s song “How will I know when it’s love”. It’s when the decision has been made and your body has committed to it. You focus completely on the good things and foresee all the bad. The cap off the toothpaste goes completely unnoticed as you grab her toothbrush and imagine that it’s some romantic way of kissing her when she’s not even there. That’s love. You’re no longer in the “let’s think about it and test this guy/girl out” phase. Something solidifies in your brain, some set of chemicals join and become fixed, setting up a group of thought patterns and neural pathways which are all but impossible to deviate from. Doesn’t matter what your friends or family say. You become intensely focused. Which is why you start to hear love songs everywhere and take in these romantics lyrics as if they were scripture. Just like when you decide to buy a new car and you start seeing that car everywhere on the road where you hadn’t really noticed it before. You start to think about marriage and spending the rest of your life with this person. Indeed this is what nature had programmed you to do (among other things).

That’s not to say it will work out. HA! You may break up within months and be in love again shortly thereafter, but, rest assured, you were in love then. You just didn’t succeed. Like a lioness who commits to catching a zebra and fails after a 200 yard sprint. She’s upset and discouraged, but she’ll be back soon - she’ll have to be. And you too will commit again someday.

So, now you know
If you are a romantic, do not be disparaged by this scientific definition of this wondrous emotion. Does it make it any less exciting or beautiful? I love my wife, love my kids, love my family. Now I know where it comes from, and it’s only more fascinating and glorious. It’s as beautiful as a sunset, as a tree, or a work of art - all of these are part of this incredible universe. There is not one thing more beautiful than another.

That’s just my opinion though, maybe I’m way off.

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We hereby define a new term used to describe our “strategy” in life. Are you a giver, a taker, a lover, a fighter, macho guy, sensitive guy, Madonna, slut, etc - it’s all really your GPS.

If evolutionary psychologists are right - and they do seem to be gaining credibility and attention these days - then our personalities are largely endowed to us by Mother Nature during the process of evolution. In fact, your personality is simply an adaptation created and managed to help you navigate your environment and successfully proliferate your genes.

Notice we talk about a gene proliferation strategy - not a sexual strategy. We all have a sexual strategy (and not the “ok, you go up to her and start talking then I bust in after like 10 seconds and ask you if you want a drink and then I’ll just ask her and her friend if they want something to drink, and then we’re in”), but this is a subset of our gene proliferation strategy.

To explain - we do not need to have sex to proliferate our genes. Sure, we largely prefer it, but because our genes are also in our family members, expanding the gene pool goes beyond sex, and even child rearing, to encapsulate altruism and good old-fashioned brotherly love. My aunt has never had children but in a way, she ensures that her genes get passed on by giving me 20 bucks on my birthday. That’s part of her gene proliferation strategy but has nothing to do with reproduction.

Let’s explore the gene proliferation strategy.

Lots of personality
We are an expansive species. So much variation in our gene pool - unlike crocodiles; they’re pretty much all the same. But there are all kinds of people, personality-wise. And this variation, this range of personalities, was simply developed to allow humans to expand as a species. One sort of person can live within a range of environmental circumstances and another sort of person can live under a slightly different range of environmental circumstances. Put all the different personalities together and we’re covering a good bit of environmental circumstances. And indeed humans are doing well. We’re friggin’ everywhere and it is the variations of our personalities which have allowed us to do so.

And just what are the various personalities? I guess we all know them, but they remain tricky to define. Jung called them “archetypes”. You’ve got dominant people, meek people, introverts, extroverts, friendly, hostile, emotional, stoic, principled, loose, athletic, awkward, etc etc. These traits are largely inherited but nature has given you some flack to play around with. Shy? You can develop yourself to be less shy. But in the end, your genetic proliferation strategy will be in line with that of a shy person.

To understand the strategies, we must first take a look at the “game”. Relating this to football - there’s no point in explaining the strategy of “passing to the side lines when there’s little time on the clock and you’re down” if you don’t know what those 22 people are doing on the field in the first place. So, take a step back to understand what we’re doing on this planet.

Right. I’ll try to keep it short and completely remove any philosophical, religious, or existential underpinnings and start from the level of biology. We are on this planet to proliferate our genes. No other reason. Everything we do is somehow related to this. Go to work, go to school, have sex, raise children, pick your nose, jog a mile, drive a car, go skiing, even taking drugs is related somehow to gene proliferation. You may not understand how smoking pot contributes to gene proliferation, and it is indeed a stretch, but rest assured, it does. Note: I do not encourage anyone to smoke pot - especially if it’s shwag and you got it from a sketchy source.

But if we can continue in agreement with this goal, all this does seem to fit together. So, genetic proliferation is the game, and we each need to play a role in that. Some do it by raising a family, some do it by promiscuous and commitment-free sex, some do it by joining the priesthood. And all of these options can be seen as strategies - strategies which are linked to certain personalities in order to execute them. Obviously, it takes a certain type of person to do any of the aforementioned. And each one of us can take a look at ourselves and match up the way we are and the things we do with possible genetic proliferation strategies.

Let’s take a few examples of stereotypical personality types and see how their personality lends to gene proliferation.
Men and women being the two sides of the coin obviously have very different strategies for gene proliferation, so we’ll split the types between them.

Women
The untouchable beauty - yes, she’s a bitch but if she were nice, the guys would never leave her alone. Her bitchiness is a survival mechanism. They all want her and the goods go to the highest bidder. Anyone who isn’t up to par is held at bay with a cold shoulder and a stoic gaze. The strategy is to be cold and aloof, get some rich guy to adore her and take care of her and the kids. She will probably be doomed to an unstable life since her husband - being the highest bidder - has a lot of bidding material to throw around. Conclusion: Nature wants her to “win the jackpot” getting a huge amount of resources from one man to raise her kids. She will effectively do this and ensure her progeny will also follow the “high road” by enrolling them in etiquette school.

The awkward, shy type - she will most probably find love, usually from a warm and loving man (we’ll get to him in a second). She’ll be a good mother and raise her children with love and care. Were she to not get a family of her own, you can bet she’d be a great support to close family members with their own offspring. Conclusion: Nature wants her to have kids of her own and a fairly mundane existence. Barring that, she can simply lend a hand taking care of her family’s kids

The slut - she probably looks pretty good but feels pretty bad about herself. This leaves her with the possibility to be with lots of men but her low self-esteem will not allow her to stay in a lasting relationship. She is sweet, yet frail and insecure and constantly seeking appreciation. Since being with one man for a longer period is not working out, she will pass on her genes by seeking the “support” of these sooters - getting little bits of support many many times. Conclusion: Nature wants her to have children and get fleeting support from the men she sees.

The prude - her sexuality has been repressed and she is pushed into the role of caring mother. A few kids taken well care of will suffice in getting those genes to future generations. Complete devotion will be expected of her man and he will not be the pick of the litter, but what he’s got her gives to her. Conclusion: she will settle for the doormat type of man, squeeze the life out of him and kill his sexuality accordingly.

The bitch - “help is hard to come by”. This belief means she struggles to get anything. Her interactions with others are largely hostile. Her intimate relationships will also be a battle, but she will squeeze out what she needs to raise some kids - bitchy kids… Conclusion: Nature wants her to “take what she can get” and push away those trying to take from her.

Men
The jock - athletic, right? this lends him to genetic credibility and makes him attractive to potential mates. He gets around. He feels no real need to settle with one woman. He takes on an alpha-doggish dominant personality and operates on an unsophisticated level - which proves effective to a certain point. Conclusion: Nature wants him to bone excessively. Either he’ll eventually settle down at an age well past the national average and be faithful, or he’ll marry early and continue his sexual destiny with extramarital affairs. Women will have a love/hate relationship with him - adoring him for his manliness and loathing him for his…manliness.

The comic - gets along with everyone and keeps the groups laughing. Of course, this is mostly done out of insecurity and fear of hostility. This is perhaps slightly dishonest. This can be interpreted as a lack of strength - were he strong enough, he wouldn’t have to care what the group thought. This lack of strength is translated to half-ass attempts at relationships and sexual congress. The fear and edginess can be translated as suppressed sexual energy. Conclusion: He will joke his way into the pants of a really nice girl, masturbate often in his regret that he wasn’t a leader type, and steadily shink over the years as the weight of the group bears down on him. He’ll be a pretty good father and provide well for a few polite children.

The nerd - though it sounds like an insult, the archetype can be the potential “intelligence jock”. Of course, there are nerds ranging from the classic computer geeks with glasses to the Hardvard professor with the tweed jacket and pipe. What unites them under one category is their lack of success with women. They excel on a group level - not an individual level. What I mean is, their gift is to the group, whereas the jock’s gift is to some lucky gal. So, nerds will not enjoy the adoration of women, but rather of groups, institutions, and governments. they are smart, so the game plays out in their head. This makes them laregly introverted and distant. Conclusion: Nature wants them to serve the group, and not get too distracted with women or even family. They’ll be decent dads but less decent husbands. Nice people but no one you want to spend too much time with.

The leader - Again, a testament to the diversity of personality. No need to have good genes for physical strength or even intelligence - just need to get shit done. Coordinating and getting results do wonders for your gene proliferation. Confidence is a must and it is attractive to both the group and the fairer sex. But they walk a tight rope between their instinctive drive to spread their seed and the moral standards of the group they are serving. You’ll find a fantastic example in Bill Clinton. Conclusion: Nature wants them to impregnate many and serve the community - and their personalities are built up to just both. Screw being a dad. These are some lovable charismatic people, but their families can barely stand them.

The doormat - just trying to keep everyone happy and on his side. Low self-esteem and a confused sense of purpose keep him in dire need of others. He’ll say yes to everyone and everyone senses his desperation and treats him like the doormat he subconsciously professes to be. Conclusion: Nature wants him to get a decent wife, have kids and live his life as a slave to work and family.

The skirtchaser - not necessarily good looking yet somehow attractive to women. Confidence is key and he’s got tons of it - largely in the “I just don’t give a fuck” sense. If he had confidence in another sense (ie competent and virtuous), nature would push him more in the role of leader. He actually has low self-esteem and dislikes his place on earth so is simply out to “go get his” by nailing every chick he can. Conclusion: Nature wants him to lay lots of pipe and impregnate as many women as possible. Finding proper support for raising the children is the women’s problem. So, he is the love ‘em and leave ‘em type. Hearts will be broken but genes will undoubtably be passed on.

The bad-ass - the male equivalent of the bitch. He’s angry and ready to show it. A low self-esteem and continuous struggle in this world leaves him with nothing to lose. He what he needs is a big hug, but he’d kick your ass for suggesting as much. He gets want he wants by force or intimidation. Would rather people just gave it to him courteously but that’s just not in the cards. Conclusion: Nature gives him no freebees, so demands that he take what he can get. He will have children to he same way as he has everything else. His genes will be passed on to the next round.

Stop stop stop before you comment on how this is a tremendous generalization. I know this and embrace it. These are just some of the “primary colors” of personality - indeed we are all tapestries. And these are just a few examples. But from this, I hope you get a rough understanding of the “game” we all find ourselves in, the strategies (ie. personalities) which are being used to succeed in the game, and where your personality fits into it all.

There you have it - a slightly new definition of personality. So, what do we do now?

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