200 Words A Day archive.

Have you stopped winning?

From the beginning, you were born a winner. Estimates vary wildly, but let’s just say the minimum number of sperm cells released in one ejaculation is 50 million. That number might be much higher. So at minimum, the sperm cell that won and fertilized the egg that created you beat out at least 49,999,999 other sperm cells. That’s quite an accomplishment. 

Have you noticed newborn babies have hands that are clenched into fists? Apparently this is called the palmar grasp reflex. I think it’s cool to imagine a baby being born and ready to fight and defend itself. This is a silly idea, of course.

We are all born to win but we are programmed to lose.

We start learning from our caregivers until we start school. Some estimates show that by the time we graduate high school, we will have received over 14,000 hours of education. Depending on which schools you went to and which teachers you had, you might have gotten a lot of bad programming. 

The Director of Training mentioned that he has tried various techniques to get the crowd quiet when returning from a break. The technique that is most effective is the simple “Shhhhhhhh” directive. Why is it so effective? As little kids, we were told to be quiet in this manner by adults. This happened over and over again until it was ingrained within us. This is the power of programming.

Is your programming causing you to make choices that are not in your best interest? You may not even realize it because you might be unconsciously competent at certain tasks. Maybe it’s time to evaluate some of your assumptions and reasons why you do the things you do. 

If you have stopped winning, it’s time to start again. That’s what you were born to do.