Evolve or Die

by Thomas C Triumph

Minimal Time Required

  It’s actually hard to imagine, but this superpower will not take any additional time from your life.

  No Cost

  Free. Free. Free.

  OK, it’s time you learned of your superpower. Are you still sitting down?

  It’s the power of 1 percent. By making just 1 percent change at a time, you can change yourself, your life, and your world. Profoundly.

  Let me explain. Better yet. Let me demonstrate the superpower. Please stand back.

  Let’s say you start with just one of something. Could be one pull-up, or one dollar, or one idea. Now, apply your power of increasing that just 1 percent.

  It goes without saying, that a 1 percent increase is small. So small, that you could not even discern a bowl of 100 blueberries versus a bowl of 101 blueberries (superheroes love blueberries).

  But if you apply your micro improvement of 1 percent each day for a year … that 1 will have increased to 37.8 in just a year.

  Your superpower of 1 percent holds the key that can lead you to the greatness you were destined to lead. It’s a superpower you share with some of the most accomplished people in history. People who’ve attained mastery in endeavors ranging from music, art, science, athletics, business, and social work.

  Is there a downside? Yes, as with all great powers, the superpower is difficult to acquire. And even for many people who discover the secret, they often fail to utilize the power. Furthermore, it is easily misused. Here’s why.

  Easy to Use

  Because it’s so easy to do, it’s also so easy not to do.

  No Pain

  Because your superpower doesn’t involve a lot of pain, you might not notice that it’s working. Maybe you won’t even notice the butterfly landing on your shoulder.

  No Major Transformation

  Some people want to be heard.

  No Costume Required

  Some people want to be seen.

  No Special Instruction or Teacher Required

  Some people want to be told what to do.

  No Permission Required

  Sometimes we’re conditioned to wait for a “go-ahead.”

  You Don’t Need an Assistant

  “What?” you say. “You mean I gotta go alone?”

  Not Complicated

  When it comes to superpowers, the simple often gets overlooked.

  Minimal Time Required

  How can it be a superpower and not take decades to acquire?

  No Cost

  Runs counter to the advice of “You get what you pay for.”

  Let me explain. Better yet. Let me demonstrate the misuse of the superpower. No need to stand back this time.

  Let’s say you start with just one of something. Could be one pull-up, or one dollar, or one idea. Now, don’t apply your power, but rather let it decrease just 1 percent.

  It goes without saying that a 1 percent decrease is small. It’s 99 nickels lying around instead of 100 nickels lying around (superheroes love Thomas Jefferson, and he’s on the nickel).

  And if you allow things to micro decrease 1 percent each day for a year … that 1 will have decreased to 0.03 in just a year.

  Just as your superpower of plus 1 percent holds the key that can lead you to the greatness you were destined to lead, if your superpower is applied negatively at minus 1 percent, it will lead to mediocrity and disappointment.

  And that is your superpower that will let you transform just about anything you want. I’m glad you finally know the truth.

  Good luck in whatever you choose to do in life. In whatever arena you choose to use your superpower.

  I leave you with the words of Commissioner James Gordon from Batman. “You’re going to make a difference. A lot of times it won’t be huge, it won’t be visible even. But it will matter just the same.”1

  The Most Important Lesson (Never Taught in School)

  Of all the things I never learned in school, here’s something that should go right at the top. That’s saying something, as it seems like there’s a million things I didn’t learn in school.

  It’s pointless to blame the teachers for not teaching this lesson.

  The nuns in elementary school were preoccupied with the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. And the occasional whack with a ruler. The middle school teachers had to deal with our awkward adolescence. High school teachers were focused on their lesson plans. College (and graduate school) brought even greater focus on the coursework material.

  For the life of me, I don’t know why a single teacher didn’t invest just one hour and explain it to me. It could have changed the trajectory of my life and career.

  Maybe none of my teachers knew this lesson. But, for whatever reason, this most important lesson was never taught.

  In the end, I figured it out myself. That’s actually not a bad way to learn something. The downside is that it took me decades to figure it out; through working, reading, and living. And painfully—from the real-world experiences of mediocrity and failure. I hate to say those words—mediocrity and failure. But urgh, it’s true.

  It took a while to figure it out, despite the many clues from life and work along the way. To mention just a few …

  Years ago, I heard someone explain that if you sign your signature 10,000 times, the last signature will look almost exactly like your first signature—unless you consciously work to make it different. My signature looks today exactly like it did decades ago.

  Once I was training for a marathon where I wanted to do well. So, I’d significantly increased my weekly mileage and sustained that high-training mileage for months. Throughout this period, if the training was a 3-mile run or a 20-mile run, I habitually ran at the same pace—which was p l o d d i n g. The result? My marathon time was slower than prior times trained on a fraction of the mileage. Basically, I’d spent hours training to run slowly.

  On the workfront, I’ve experienced various endeavors that never improved much beyond the performance metrics I’d achieved early in the project. My team hit average milestones week after week, month after month. Maybe you can relate.

  So what’s the most important lesson (never taught in school)?

  It’s a fundamental lesson that specifically explains how to improve. And it works for a great many things. It’s been studied for decades, and it’s probably been known by many people for centuries. Yet, it was something nobody ever explained to me.

  It’s called purposeful practice, and it’s actually easy to understand.

  The best person to learn it from is Dr. Anders Ericsson. Dr. Ericsson is a globally recognized authority on improving human performance. He’s a professor of psychology, has conducted many illuminating studies, written countless peer-reviewed professional papers, and authored several books. Basically, Anders Ericsson knows how people get great at something.

  It turns out, there’s no magic involved with purposeful practice. And the good news … there’s lots of good news.

  Purposeful practice is all of the following.

  Proven (it’s practically a law of the universe)

  Simple to understand

  Consistently shown to be the factor in moving good to great

  Applicable across disciplines, including music, sports, chess, medicine, memory, etc.

  Free

  There’s an excellent book on the topic written by Ericsson and Robert Pool called Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise. Dr. Ericsson’s kindness and correspondence with me is greatly appreciated. His research can help you (and maybe even me) get on the path to making major improvements.

  He’s found that purposeful practice is the way to achieve significant performance improvements. It consists of four core components.

  There must be a specific goal. This provides clarity of focus.

  The challenge must be addressed with intense focus. Deep thinking and attention to the matter at hand is required.

  There needs to be immediate feedback. It’s important to quickly know the effect
iveness of what you’re trying. You can’t make improvements, if the results of what you’re doing are obscured.

  Frequent occurrences of successes and failures. Having frequent successes and failures by definition means that you’re on the edge of what’s possible and expanding the envelope of capabilities.

  Anders Ericsson’s work is where the “10,000 hours to mastery” rule originated before being popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers: The Story of Success. Though the rule has often been misinterpreted. As summarized above, just putting in 10,000 hours of practice doesn’t necessarily lead to improvement. It’s why a physician might be no better at medicine with 25 years of experience, than she is after just 5 years. Same with an athlete or musician (and I’d think executive manager). Contrary to what we’ve been taught, practice does not make perfect. But “purposeful practice” is the path toward perfection.

  There are countless examples of purposeful practice leading to success in the research papers and the book by Ericsson. And there are many historical examples, like the Wright Brothers, where the four core components were clearly applied.

  This lesson of purposeful practice is of utmost importance. It’s a fundamental principle of how humans learn and improve, and it should be taught to every kid in school. And every person out of school.

  Baseball manager Yogi Berra humorously said, “In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.”

  Turns out, Berra was exactly right. In practice … there is a difference.

  Ten Ways to Rewire Your Brain

  There were some amazing things that happened in the ’90s! And one thing in particular that absolutely will expand your mind. Here’s the crazy thing … it was overlooked, or forgotten, or maybe suppressed—until recently rediscovered.

  But, let’s back up a second. Just to make sure we’re on the same page, I’m talking about the 1790s. But don’t get your pantaloons twisted or flip your powdered wig—this is actually late-breaking news. To show you how groundbreaking this is, let’s set the stage with what else was happening in the 1790s.

  President George Washington gives the first State of the Union address.

  The US patent system is established.

  The first blast furnace is constructed by George Anshutz.

  Eli Whitney is granted his patent for the cotton gin.

  Coffee is forbidden by royal decree in Sweden (don’t ask me why).

  Mozart creates a prolific amount of music.

  And there’s fighting and warring all over the place (some things never seem to change).

  Meanwhile, in the 1790s, an Italian anatomist name Michele Vincenzo Malacarne was asked to come up with some experiments to determine if mental exercises could have an impact on the growth of the brain. He came up with a clever experiment.

  He took several pairs of brothers and sisters from birth (not people, but dogs and birds), and, for a few years, he trained one of the siblings extensively. I’m not sure what the training was, but I am guessing it was learning how to do tricks or remember a path through a maze—and be rewarded with a nice scratch behind the ears and probably some bacon (or whatever Italian dogs and birds enjoyed, maybe salami). Meanwhile, the siblings were allowed to just hang out and do whatever the equivalent was of watching daytime television in the 1790s.

  After a few years, Malacarne sacrificed the animals and compared the sibling brains to each other. What he found was astounding. The animals that were trained had larger brains, with more folds, than their untrained siblings. This was big news, as previously nobody thought you could change the physiology of a brain.

  His work was so advanced for the times, that it was promptly forgotten and played no part in brain research (albeit little) that happened over the following nearly 200 years.

  In fact, during most of the 20th century, scientists believed that the brain was basically a fixed organ, and that its structure was immutable after a critical period of early childhood development. It wasn’t until about 1950 that this long-held belief was even challenged by others, including Canadian psychologist Donald Hebb, who has since been described as the father of neural networks.

  Work over the past couple of decades now proves the principle of neuroplasticity—basically that your brain is constantly creating new connections and is doing so based on what (and how) you’re thinking.

  In fact, a study completed in 2005 shows that the human brain rewires faster and more robustly than previously ever imagined. Brain imaging, which was previously not possible, was used in the study. It showed that when medical students studied for their exams, that in a matter of just months their gray matter increased significantly in the posterior and lateral parietal cortex.2

  It’s a shame the work of Malacarne and his animals was forgotten for nearly 200 years!

  So, how can you expand your brain and its capacity? Here are ten ways (none have been tested on my dog).

  Keep Thinking

  Learn new things. Struggle to understand new concepts. Maybe that’s why Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM, had the simple word “THINK” on a plaque on his desk. Also, “Use your brain every day, so it gets better” wouldn’t fit.

  Exercise

  Your brain needs oxygen to function. Getting plenty of oxygen to your brain is good.

  Eat Healthy

  The brain weighs about three pounds. That’s just 2 percent of your body weight (if you weigh 150 pounds). Yet, amazingly, your brain uses 20 percent of your resting 1,300 calories used a day. Give yourself, and your brain, good nutritious food. Note to self: “Goodbye, Twinkies, I shall miss thee.”

  Meditate

  There have been several studies that link meditation to increased gray matter, including one from Harvard University.3 In addition to the increase, studies show improvements in a multitude of areas, including decreases in anger and sadness, and improved clarity, etc.

  Be a Lifelong Learner

  Stay curious. Stay interested. Ask “Why?” and, more important, look for answers. Stop saying, “I don’t know,” and go find out. Don’t be an over-consumer (of content). Be aware of the difference between creating content (or art) and consuming content. Sure, it’s ok to consume some content—to watch the game, or some news, or a favorite show. But according to a report from Nielsen, the average American watches more than five hours of television per day.4 That’s frightening.

  Be Creative

  Sir Ken Robinson, an internationally recognized leader in education and business, says, “Creativity is putting your imagination to work, and it’s produced the most extraordinary results in human culture.” Yea, not only that … it makes your brain stronger. Take some photographs, learn an instrument, make a collage of whatever it is you like, write a letter or a story. Go create.

  Enjoy Music

  If you’ve not yet seen the 2014 documentary Alive Inside—you should watch it. It’s excellent. Get started by watching the trailer.5 It shows how music remains alive in parts of the brain that are essentially untouched by the ravages of Alzheimer’s. Go put some beautiful music (whatever that is to you) into your brain. It’ll always be a part of you.

  Drink Water

  Your brain is 75 percent water. It functions and you think through chemicals and electrical impulses traveling at unimaginable speeds. Best to provide a clean medium.

  Get Your Rest

  Just because scientists don’t know a lot about sleep, doesn’t mean you don’t know why it’s important. Even as an experiment of one—you know this for sure. You think better when you’re rested, when the restorative powers of sleep allow your brain to work its magic. Rewire, store, dream, remix, whatever. Let your brain do its best by letting it sleep.

  Love

  I’m adding this tenth way without the benefit of a clinical study, or any advanced molecular, cellular, or brain-imaging studies. I’m just going to flat out tell you what my brain is thinking … it needs love to function at its best. The chemicals of dopamine, phenyl
ethylamine, norepinephrine, oxytocin, and serotonin are released when we love. They stimulate thinking and that will make you feel all tingly and connected to each other and the universe.

  In closing, my brain wants to wish your brain well. Despite our outward appearances, we’re really much (much) more similar than dissimilar. Regardless of what’s on the outside, it’s what’s on the inside that matters. Let’s continue to think and grow.

  Yes or No?

  The first time John Lennon saw his future wife was at an art exhibit. The Beatle walked in to a local art gallery in London and took a look around. One of the art pieces was an installation by an artist named Yoko Ono. Her installation involved a wooden ladder, the kind you might get out of the garage when you need to change a light bulb on the porch, or maybe reach some apples in a tree. On top of the ladder, she mounted a spyglass. Visitors to the art exhibit were able to climb up the few steps of the ladder and see what was visible through the lens.

  John was curious, so he climbed the ladder and looked. He later described that what he saw made an immediate and positive impression on him.

  Which naturally reminds me of an executive meeting I attended. As with many meetings, there were too many people. Probably thirteen from the client side, and the president of the company and me from my side, trying to sell something.

  The meeting was not going well. The president was knowledgeable, confident, and articulate. He was also exceedingly verbose. He talked. A lot.

  Here’s the rundown. The client would ask a simple question. The president would use it as an opportunity to regale them with a rambling story, leading (sometimes) to the answer. A few times, he forgot the question and had to ask for a reminder. Sometimes the client had to ask again.

  Simple question. “Does your product allow for various user rights and permissions?”

  Rambling answer. “Back when we first started thinking about the feature set to offer …” (minutes later). “What was your question again?”