Following the logic...
Following the logic...
Taking a simple rule to see where it leads us.
Let’s explore some results you’ll see if you look closely at the rule that drives evolution, “Survival of the Fittest”.
It’s the mechanism behind every living being. “Every living being must adapt and reproduce or die.” It’s elementary.
It doesn’t set the bar impossibly high. If you can find a way to get to sexual maturity and successfully reproduce, your children will have the chance to survive. That leaves a lot of room for experimentation. All living things are running that experiment every day.
Imagine you were one of the very first living beings on earth, billions of years ago, a collection of cells with one purpose - reproduction. That means you had to survive long enough to reproduce. Maybe you have a mutation that allows you to move slightly better than others toward food or away from danger. In a few thousand generations, your offspring will fill the environment. Back then, the bar for survival was low. There was little competition for scarce resources.
Think of surviving long enough to reproduce as the ratchet mechanism on a jack. Once the ratchet clicks, the advantage you have passes to the next generation.
RULE #1 - Survive
Competition enters the picture once a resource becomes scarce and more than one individual can access it. Other living things are competing for resources. Competition is one of the pressures driving evolution. Think of it as one of the forces pushing down on the jack handle.
Rule #2 - Survive AND Compete
We are all competing for resources. It might be food, available mates, cooperation with the group, status, or any other resource. At the same time, we must avoid things that injure us. More pressure to apply to the jack. The process of evolution speeds up.
Mother Nature is running a risk-and-reward experiment. We are it. She keeps leaving her bets on the table and our evolution is the payoff. Over time, following simple rules allowed evolution to produce us all.
Rule #3 - Culture and education change the rules.
Think of them as the hydraulic lift, or maybe more appropriately as a rocket booster!
Imagine you’ve come up with a new survival trick that helps people thrive. That idea can become a meme that spreads through the culture (versus thousands of generations to spread the evolution of a genetic feature.) Of course, your meme will have to compete with all of the other ideas in circulation and survive to get broad exposure.
This is an example of evolution in action. Learning and spreading the best “memes” allows those who can adopt them to thrive and compete better.
Here’s a practical example you can try on for yourself.
Dealing with “stuff” - Filter and Focus:
Pay attention to the things you can change. Only a tiny part of all the “stuff” that comes at you is something you can have any effect on. You probably don’t have the answer to war, famine, disease, or tragedy no matter how much you care about them. Any effort you spend on the things you can’t affect is a waste of time and energy. So, it makes sense to pay attention to the things you can change.
There are too many things that you COULD change to be able to do them all. So, it makes sense to focus your efforts where they will help most.
Pay serious attention to the important stuff. Some “stuff” is life-changing, irreversible, or high-impact. However, most of us only face these kinds of decisions a few times in our lives. So, it makes sense to give them your full attention when they come up.
Most of the “stuff” (almost all of it really) that comes at us is routine, every day, not earth-shattering. That’s where we spend the most time. It is the small choices like “What to eat?”, “Who to see this weekend?”, and “What to do?” that make up most of our lives. We make most of those decisions habitually and easily. So, it makes sense to spend some focus and effort on making sure the habits are good ones.
You can’t know in advance what stuff is coming - but you can make your system of small habits just a bit more likely to help you thrive. Small changes in areas where you constantly make choices will have a big impact over time.
So, if you’re not currently facing an earth-shattering crisis, it makes sense to focus on a single, small habit and make sure that your default setting becomes one that’s going to help you thrive.
Lather, Rinse, Repeat.