It’s A Created World – Don’t Hold Yourself Back
The Philosophical Baby
In her book The Philosophical Baby, Alison Gopnik, a developmental psychologist, writes about the distinction between the “spotlight consciousness” of adults and the “lantern consciousness” of young children. The former gives adults the ability to focus narrow attention on a goal. For young children, attention is more widely distributed, allowing the child to take in information from a much wider sphere (certainly wider than most adults).
“Children are better learners than adults in many cases when the solutions are nonobvious”, says Gopnik. “Their thinking is less constrained by experience, so they will try even the most unlikely possibilities. Consciousness narrows as we get older. Adults have congealed in their beliefs and are hard to shift, [whereas] children are more fluid and consequently more willing to entertain new ideas.”
Ingrained Thinking
As we become older, we get stuck in our thinking and beliefs. Maybe your parents or grandparents - or even a teacher - told you something years ago and it’s become ingrained: “I can’t do that because…” or “that won’t work because…”. Or maybe it wasn’t something somebody said to you, maybe it’s just a habit you’ve grown up with, for example, about relationships, money, or success.
What happens when we let ingrained thinking take over? We stop being curious and start assuming that’s just the way things are, and eventually, we stop taking responsibility for our actions (or inaction) and start blaming events or other people: “My team aren’t pulling their weight” or “I’m too busy to go to the gym” or “the customer just doesn’t understand.”
This is what it looks like when we let life happen to us. And the result is that our hopes and dreams and plans wither and die.
It’s a Created World
I’m not suggesting we try and imitate the thought-processes of Gopnik’s philosophical baby. But if you are the type of person who blames other people or circumstances as the reason life looks the way it does, there is something you can do to change.
Start to ask yourself questions.
“Where does that belief come from?”
“Is it actually true?”
“My team isn’t pulling its weight, so how can I create the right kind of environment to allow them to thrive?”
“I’m too busy to go to the gym, so what do I need to do to carve out the time 3 days a week for exercise?”
Life does not have to happen to you. You can create the life you dream of having - by taking control of it, by having ownership of it. It’s a created world if you want it to be!
Understanding that is an incredibly empowering place to come from and will transform your world.
Until next time,
Julian