I had been pondering this idea of things in nature that are opposite of our intuition, in that doing the 'right' thing at times in our life doesn't follow what we would expect.

I've been talking about this idea for a few weeks with some people at work, and then Seth Godin wrote up this post that then inspired me to write down some of these ideas.

Humans encounter situations that force the mind to do one thing that pairs with instinct, but in modern society, does not follow the normal human protocol.

  • Looking rich vs being rich
  • Wanting something out of someone vs doing something you want for someone else
  • Wanting things to be happy vs being happy
  • Sales to clear stock vs having quality products on limited supply
  • Professionals talking in a field vs people doing the required work
  • Crowding someone to get closer vs asking them for time spent

These kind of sitations occur all the time in my life and I wanted to document them in a post. This post serves that purpose. Here's a few anecdotal lessons I've learned in my life.

When Headwind speed equals air speed

This situation occurs in airplanes when their physical airspeed matches that same speed of the headwind. You seem to be doing a lot of work but you are suspended in space, ultimately going nowhere. The airplanes is doing a lot of work, after all! The machine is working. What is the problem here? If the goal is to suspend in air, you succeed. Eventually, however, you will run out of fuel and find yourself out of control in the air.

What does intuition tell you to do here? Certainly not stay the course. Maybe your goal is to just get a ton of work done, but go no where. Hopefully the closest landing strip is near by.

The instict is to attempt to increase velocity to get where you're going; the opposite is finding there are easier ways forward to manuever around.

Too much wood on a fire

This situation occurs when more often when you're cold and behind schedule when you are camping and in a hurry to get warm. You'll throw tons of wood on the fire and attempt to light it. To your dismay, the flame can fail to start. You have all the necessary ingredients, so why is the fire not blazing?

Opposite of intution is leaning into knowledge from others to learn how to make a flame with smaller kindling, applying more as time goes on until full mass is reached.

Intuition tells us to dive in as deep as possible and become an expert. We all know expertise comes with tons of small 'unsexy' mistakes along the way. Our intution can trick is into fixed mindsets that 'someone' just knew how to make a perfect fire. He used gasoline, after all.

Instinct is throwing as much wood to be lit on fire; the opposite is using flint and kindling to slowly build up the fire.

Jiu-jitsu and the art of frames

When training grappling and ground fighting, one would think it becomes impossible for larger opponents, given that they can just lay on you and apply a little pressure. The trick here is to konw

People who are healthy and beautiful on the outside

Many body builders live a life looking like models. Many of them have an unreasonable standard to keep up with and therefore have to sacrifice many things (mainly calories) to look in their modeled physique.

The trick to this is having a very strict diet. Many body builders develop body dysmorphia, which is a mental condition where the viewers see themselves as very fat when in fact they are in shape. It's a trick the mind plays. Many body builders go to extremes where they eat and purge, use illegal drugs, or even try to outsmart their bodies through timing and chemicals.

What you see on the outside is a healthy, beautiful, and example of a healthy person. Inside their mind may be consumed, their intestines struggling with their diets, and their minds going into panic from the unnatural swings their body goes through. These are from their choices, after all.

The instict is to think they are a healthy individual; their innards may show the opposite.

The instict is to think they are very tough and can take you out; the opposite is that they spend more time lifting weights at the gym to know how to fight.

Work is what horses die of

Having the start up lifestyle i've been so fortunate to have, one thing that strikes me is the true hustle that goes into early stage companies. From getting hiring down, to getting an MVP put together, to marketing schemes, to UI design for apps, for customer attraction, customer retention, and customer feedback.

You can work with several different hats on and meanwhile get many plates spinning. It's exciting. It takes a ton of work. I've got a personality where I tend to get REALLY into something REALLY quick. I dive really deep on things early on, sprint style.

The trick here is knowing when to work and when to relax. When olympians were observed training in France for nordic skiing, others would observe the times they would relax, seemingly when they could be getting a lot of good runs in. The observation here was that rest is necessary to keep going.

When you're on a streak, when you're pushing harder than ever before, and when you're feeling like you have to work - try to ask what you need at the time. There are times when too much work is bad and other times when too much rest is bad. The good in the bad, the ying in the yang.

The instinct is wanting to go with the flow; the opposite is being aware of where you are.

Having money to solve your problems

More money, more problems. You think that by having it all, you can help everyone.

The instinct is that you're free; the opposite is now you're beholden to others.

Boredom for not enough of yourself

Yes, you can overcome your own negative thoughts. They can seemingly come up when you're bored. The instinct is you need something to entertain you; the opposite is that you need to dive inwards to find out why.