“Anyone who isn’t embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn’t learning enough.” Alain De Botton
And you? Do you experience this awakening? Let us know.
The importance of a differentiator
If you want to survive or thrive you need something that sets you apart. How about being stronger than others? Check out the golfer Bryson De Chambeau’s differentiators that he created recently and has given him a distinct competitive advantage.
His strength
Golfer Bryson DeChambeau Explains How Gaining 20 Pounds of Muscle Transformed His Game
https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a32890755/bryson-dechambeau-body-transformation-muscle-strength/
His golf clubs (courtesy Wikipedia)
All of DeChambeau’s irons and wedges are cut to exactly the same length: 37.5 inches (95.3 cm).[28] Their lie and bounce angle are also the same; only the lofts are different. In addition to the single-length concept, his clubs are unusual for their extremely upright lie angle.[29] DeChambeau keeps the club on the same plane throughout his swing and does not turn his wrists during his swing.[30] In 2011, at the suggestion of his instructor Mike Schy, DeChambeau switched to Jumbo Max Grips, the largest grips commercially available. The larger grips allow DeChambeau to hold the grips in his palms and not his fingers.
Recommended reading
Surviving to Thriving – Mental Toughness (Steve Harris)
Chapter 1. WHY SURVIVING TO THRIVING? (Continued from last week)
Manage the mess
This brings me to the third point relating to significance, which is to manage the mess. Our world is complex, particularly the people. To strive for significance requires of us to embrace complexity and chaos as opposed to throwing up our arms or spewing condemnation, frustration and blame about the mess we confront on a minute by minute basis. My experience is that chaos and order can live together. In this instance, I will restrict the subject matter to environmental mess – obviously, there are many other messes! You could start by becoming a low profile, yet significant, eco-guerrilla. These people are helpers not hooters. They commit to small, meaningful actions to create a better environment without blowing their hooter about what they are doing.
They respect their environment. They do not litter. Significantly, they clean up the litter left by others i.e. they manage the mess – not only their mess. For instance, when they spot plastic bags, bottles, cans, or scrap paper lying around in their proximity, they don’t pass it up they pick it up and dispense of it in a trashcan or even better recycle it appropriately. They go beyond their space and pick it up.
There are many embracing the concept of managing the mess. An example of someone going beyond picking up their personal mess is Boyan Slat https://www.theoceancleanup.com. If this is too much for you, you may want to consider supporting a climate activist movement.
Japanese spectators
The Japanese spectators at the 2018 FIFA World Cup showed eco-guerrilla levels of responsibility. After losing to Belgium, the Japanese team cleaned the changing room, and their spectators cleared the mess in the stadium.
Eco-guerrillas additionally act to reduce their carbon footprint. Everyone has some influence over the greenhouse gasses that are contributing to climate change and their effects, such as increased incidents of super storms, and wildfires (including in the Amazon basin), droughts, Greenland’s ice melting, higher sea levels and floods. It sounds corny but we are going to discover; what happens in the Arctic does not stay in the arctic.
If you do not know how to help, I suggest you research reputable scientific papers on the subject. Emmanuel Macron, in his address to the US Congress on the 25th April 2018, put it this way: “There is no Planet B.”
Climate apartheid
I have become deeply troubled by the tragedy of displaced communities and the human migration of refugees. Initially, I had not made the obvious link to climate change as a driver of this distressing phenomenon. The logic is palpable; if poor people can’t survive where they live because of environmental factors, they will “migrate” to a place where they have a greater chance to survive. Just as wild animals migrate when there is a drought or a veld fire to seek other areas to survive.
My concern is twofold. Firstly, we should urgently limit human contribution to climate change. This means we need to let go of beliefs that it is justifiable to damage our environment in the pursuit of a “better” economy. Secondly, we must not create false equivalencies to defend inhuman treatment of migrants. I realise the problem is complex, but I can’t accept the conflation of “we have a right to protect our home” with inhumane treatment of refugees. Were borders closed to migrants when they fled to survive a war-torn Europe after the Second World War? If you Google ‘Climate apartheid’ you will see the effects that climate change denial is having on the poor.
If the problem of climate change is worrying you – and it should be – you may want to read about Katrin Jacobsdottir as an example of a concerned citizen. Before becoming the prime minister of Iceland, her road to significance included being an eco-activist. Another high-profile activist was, the then sixteen-year-old, Time magazine person of the year 2019 – Greta Thunberg. You could listen to her speech on September 23rd, 2019 given to the UN assembly? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMrtLsQbaok
Have you been thinking about becoming more significant? Write to us and let us know how you will do it.
Are you passionate about or have a talent for working with kids? https://go.fitnastix.com/
We all know that the past few months have been really challenging for the fitness industry as a whole.
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Regards,
Dr Steve Harris | eta College CEO
