Saved by Ajinkya Wadhwa and
Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think (Taming the Mammoth)
Your Authentic Voice, somewhere in there, knows all about you. In contrast to the black-and-white simplicity of the Social Survival Mammoth, your Authentic Voice is complex, sometimes hazy, constantly evolving, and unafraid. Your AV has its own, nuanced moral code, formed by experience, reflection, and its own personal take on compassion and integr... See more
end meta • Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think (Taming the Mammoth)
Above all, mammoths want to fit in—that’s what tribespeople had always needed to do so that’s how they’re programmed. Mammoths look around at society to figure out what they’re supposed to do, and when it becomes clear, they jump right in.
end meta • Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think (Taming the Mammoth)
This doesn’t sound that hard, but it is. It takes some serious reflection to sift through the webs of other people’s thoughts and opinions and figure out who the real you actually is.
end meta • Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think (Taming the Mammoth)
3) Decide where the mammoth needs to be ousted
end meta • Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think (Taming the Mammoth)
Because of this, humans evolved an over-the-top obsession with what others thought of them—a craving for social approval and admiration, and a paralyzing fear of being disliked. Let’s call that obsession a human’s Social Survival Mammoth.
end meta • Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think (Taming the Mammoth)
Society has evolved to accommodate this mammoth-feeding frenzy, inventing things like accolades and titles and the concept of prestige in order to keep our mammoths satisfied—and often to incentivize people to do meaningless jobs and live unfulfilling lives they wouldn’t otherwise consider taking part in.
end meta • Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think (Taming the Mammoth)
Back then, being part of a tribe was critical to survival. A tribe meant food and protection in a time when neither was easy to come by. So for your Great2,000 Grandfather, almost nothing in the world was more important than being accepted by his fellow tribe members, especially those in positions of authority. Fitting in with those around him and ... See more
end meta • Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think (Taming the Mammoth)
And since our 50,000-year-old brains are wired to give the mammoth a whole lot of sway in things, your Authentic Voice starts to feel like it’s irrelevant. Which makes it shrink and fade and lose motivation.
end meta • Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think (Taming the Mammoth)
Our bodies and minds are built to live in a tribe in 50,000BC, which leaves modern humans with a number of unfortunate traits, one of which is a fixation with tribal-style social survival in a world where social survival is no longer a real concept. We’re all here in 2014, accompanied by a large, hungry, and easily freaked-out woolly mammoth who st... See more