Jumpstart Your Dream Life

Victory Disease: The Negative Consequences of Overestimating Our Abilities

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Throughout history, countless leaders have suffered the fatal consequences of poorly made decisions. Not necessarily from lack of experience, but from overconfidence due to previous successes that ended up ultimately in catastrophe.

The term used to describe this effect is called “victory disease”.

One of the earliest, and maybe the worst, cases of this disease happened thousands of years ago near a Greek island called Salamis.

In 480 BC, Greece was in a long war against Persia. Greece, which was made up of an alliance of city-states, had joined together to prevent Persia from conquering their land. The Persian army, led by King Xerxes, was large and powerful, and they were winning.

The Persian Empire had expanded west to a large part of Greece, and King Xerxes was determined to conquer all of it. Xerxes’ army easily went through Macedonia and Thessaly as they made their way south to Athens.

Then they reached Salamis. At this time, the Persian navy had 1,207 ships, whereas the Greeks only had 310. Xerxes was confident of his victory. So confident, in fact, that he set up a throne on the shore before the battle even began.

What happened next shocked him.

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The Intelligence Threshold: Why You Don’t Need to Be The Smartest to Be The Best

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What does it take to be successful?

Is it a matter of being the “best and the brightest”?

We hear this term thrown around so often today that it seems as though intelligence is the gatekeeper to opportunities.

This idea that inborn smarts and talent are the great divider causes us to hold certain beliefs about our world.

If we see someone performing better than ourselves, we’re quick to assume that the person must be smarter or naturally more talented. And when this happens, it creates an excuse for us to give up on our goals.

For example, have you ever thought to yourself…

  • “Wow, it’s amazing what that person accomplished. I could never do that.” [I’m not smart enough.]
  • “I really want to do that, but…” [I’m not talented enough.]
  • “How does that person stay in such good shape?” [I’m just not built like that.]

Notice how there’s the self-limiting belief at the end of each of these examples?

We might not consciously think those words – after all, it would be painful to admit these things – but it’s there, hidden underneath what we tell ourselves. This negative train of thought then justifies our inaction.

Now, we can agree that people aren’t born on equal footing. Some of us are probably have a better ability to grasp certain skills naturally. But do you need to be a genius to be successful in a field?

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Just Take the Easy Route: Why You Shouldn’t Always Challenge Yourself

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How often have you heard the phrase “Anything worth doing is hard”?

Whenever I struggled in something, I would complain, “Do I really need to do this? What’s the point?”

And of course, someone would respond by telling me something along those lines. It seemed as if I was supposed to take pride in hardship. Hard work, after all, is seen as a necessary evil to get anywhere.

Maybe people are right. To get good at anything, you have to be willing to do what most people won’t. You need to be willing to persist for a long time before you see results.

On the other hand, I couldn’t help but wonder about this phrase.

What exactly does it mean? What fits into the definition of being worthwhile?

Does the fact that something is difficult to master mean that it’s worth doing? The whole thing didn’t seem to quite make sense.

After all, we only have a limited amount of mental resources. Dedicating ourselves to one project means that we take away energy that could be spent working on something else.

I think that while this phrase sounds nice, it could be misinterpreted and used the wrong way. Today, let’s talk about two misconceptions when it comes to putting in effort and getting results.

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A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With a Single Step

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photo credit: O Palsson

It’s interesting how when we were children, the world was filled with endless possibilities. We grew up thinking – no, knowing – that someday we would be famous and rich, with the world at our feet. We weren’t sure of the steps that it would take, but somehow it would happen eventually.

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