Do you think nature is wicked? Why is there a bitter taste in the things that heal us? Why is there a sweet taste in the things that kill?
My first thought was that to keep fewer people at the top, something must be stationed to scare ‘mediocre many’ so they can occupy the base of the pyramid.
Think about these two illustrations:
- The bitter leaf contains chemicals that cure or eliminate potential disease-causing organisms, but we hardly consume it until we are in pain due to our self-imposed ailment.
- The sugary drink does not need to beg for attention. We would behave like ants, naturally gravitating towards it and consuming it until it shortens our lives. Ants, like the ‘mediocre many’ at the bottom of the pyramid, are usually killed in their multitude when they gather.
You see why “vital few” succeed but “trivial mediocre many” fail.
In the professional world of work, evidence from research has shown that expertise is a function of at least 10 years of deliberate practice.
Deliberate Practice
According to Psychologist Ander Ericsson, deliberate practice includes challenging yourself, breaking complex or difficult tasks into smaller, manageable ones, setting and implementing goals, intentionally seeking and acting on feedback, all in an attempt to raise standards.
Deliberate practice is bitter but in 10 years, it heals insecurity. It accelerates self-actualization and fulfillment.
What happened to those who ignored deliberate practice?
You might have seen people spend 35 years pursuing security but end without a legacy. They retire never to inspire. All the years of experience never equate to mastery.
Why are we afraid to create new paths in the forest? Why are we comfortable with mediocrity? The bitterness of the bitter leaf is not only to heal a wound but also as an immune system to protect us from unseen invaders: viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites.
Nature is not wicked. Nature only expected that we use the 100,000,000,000 nerve cells in our brains to reflect on our experiences and ask ourselves questions.
The danger in the sweetening
In 1970, psychologist Walter Mischel at Stanford University experimented with Marshmallow (sugary confectionery). In the experiment, children were left in a room for 15 minutes and offered marshmallows. The instruction was that if they did not eat the marshmallow there would be a reward.
Many years later, the researcher followed up with the children and discovered something amazing. Those children who were able to wait for 15 minutes without consuming the sugary confectionery had better outcomes in life when compared with their counterparts who consumed it before the researcher returned.
This article consciously reminds us that challenging experiences that deprive us of immediate sweetening are not a denial of our desires. Achieving self-actualization is like uncovering the value of raw gold through a series of furnaces.
You will succeed!
Call to Action
I wrote a book, “The Pathways of Highly Successful Global Teachers” which explored 20 different countries’ contexts where 23 intrapreneurs used the knowledge of their value to transform their organizations and increase their own profitability. The book is available for purchase. You can reach out on Whatsapp at +2348039147549
