Dave Macleod is a climbing coach who is always trying to understand and communicate the ingredients of becoming really good at climbing. I enjoy his blog even though I’mm too much of a wimp to actually climb. I enjoyed this post as it resonates with a lot of what I’mve been feeling recently.
I spend a fair bit of time observing other disciplines like art and business. An idea I read today looked at the lotteries we play as wannabes in whatever field.
Not the ‘actual’ lottery, but the lottery of getting picked by a talent scout, signed by a big record company or featured in a TV programme. Most people get to show some raw, unrefined talent as youngsters. It’s not really gone anywhere yet. It needs focus and application over years to develop before it has the power to break new ground. If you are gearing everything you do towards winning that lottery, are you accepting that you’re almost certain to be one of the ones who loses? People don’t really keep playing the national lotteries as a way to become millionaires. What keeps them buying the ticket is the buzz of buying the ticket.
A lot of the time, ‘waiting’ to win opportunity lotteries like record deals causes young talents to languish without ever going anywhere. In a flash they are no longer 18 but jaded and tired out from the fruitless wait for something they will never win. I’mve seen a lot of talents in climbing fizzle because they are ‘waiting’ to score a sponsorship deal, strike on a magic training formula, move to a climbing mecca and magically soak up the ability etc.
How would it change your approach if you bet on never winning a lucky break? If you bet on having to get there just on the resources you have right now? That’s when industriousness kicks in and some actual progress happens.
Unusual to attempt to link the above idea with political activism, but I’m going to try anyway:
It came to me on a bike ride one day (!) that those of us who pour their energies into trying to change some aspect of the world for the better – to pluck a scant few examples; cycle advocacy, ecological awareness, cross-cultural understanding – should never expect to see their vision realised in the world at large. The odds are too small; too many people on the planet for one to hope to make a visible difference. To expect otherwise is to set oneself up for disappointment and demoralization.
Having accepted that, we can get on with the task at hand, content in the knowledge that some small effect is in fact filtering its way into the system as a result of our beliefs and energies, and that this is the best we can hope for.
Cheers Einstein (!)
Thanks for raising the tone!
I don’t agree with what you say, because it’s subjective and depends on the context. It’s impossible to know your exact affect on the world, and it’s certainly impossible to have an idea and then make it happen exactly as you planned it. You need the idea but you need the action too. The action in the world bit is completely unpredictable.
Those who own land, such as businesses and other organisations are able to establish a strategy, put in place laws and rules etc and they can better influence what is happening. But for an individual without such advantage they are limited to employing tactics within the domain of the strategic entity.
However I think that more and more with the internet we are moving towards self-organisation which tends to obey ecological rules… This always happened but is happening more so due to systems in crisis (capitalism, western society, environment) etc. Where the strategic rules are becoming outdated, and more irrelevant and people are becoming generally more conscious of the restricting effects of some aspects of these ideologies.
I know it’s possible to see direct effects as an individual working with other people in terms bringing energy to process and affecting memes.
What about the organisation 38degrees. If you were part of that you might think differently as a contrary example to what you say.
Like I said depends on context doesn’t it. I think that to reside oneself to not seeing anything back from your energies does have some existential problems. Working in the medium of the internet is problematic for this.
I think there’s a misinterpretation here. I said not “you won’t see the effect”, but “you shouldn’t expect to see it”.
If you it happens that you do see it, bonus! But if you don’t, does that mean you give up? Does it mean your ideals are wrong? If the answer to either of these questions is yes, are you an activist for the right reasons?
Hi,first,how do I pay her for helping me,this is my story.this might help anyone of you who is into gambling like me,lotto,black jack,dice etc…
I was lounging in poverty,picking numbers everyday, but I kept on failing… But I was hopeful,I kept on believing that there is light at the end of the tunnel… Months later,after serious heart break and frustration… I came across a blog. Testimony about a woman who won lotto after consulting with a particular spellcaster… I contacted her,and told her my problems… To cut my long story short. She gave me some numbers to pick.. Truthfully, my life took a U turn,I won the lotto,made money,moved out of my old house… And now I am good.. You can contact me on felicevondutch@gmail.com if you want to contact her… Goodluck