A World that Supports Complacency
That’s a Big Problem
Our priorities:
- Survive COVID-19
- Cure Complacency
- Save the Planet
- Fix the Inequality Gap
We strive to be comfortable. Comfortable with our lives, our situation and we’re okay with not achieving our dreams. Start accepting what you have, without challenging yourself or your environment and you will become complacent.
Status Quo + Unawareness of Potential + Comfortablilty = Complacency
Ironically, being comfortable is dangerous. Complacency leads to stagnancy, you’re not doing much differently day-to-day, you start to become bored.
Case Study — 4/10/2020: We Lack Change
A few months ago, before COVID, our life was normal, full of certainty and we felt comfortable, there was little to change. Now people are facing uncertainty, not feeling comfortable and making huge changes to their day to day life.
Changes like: mass buying toilet paper, having to work from home, supporting families in new ways, social-distancing
People are panicking because they're not use to changing and adapting, from small to big things. Another sign of our complacency…
We Follow the Status Quo
“I’m bored” — Said to many people in the past few months
We have always been told what to do, have a planned out path shaped by the status quo.
Go to school — Get good grades — Get into a good university — Get a well-paying job — Live comfortably ever after
In school, you’re told exactly what to do every day in order to get those good grades. When grade 11–12 starts to roll around, you’re told what to do during the application process. To get that raise, you do what the boss tells you.
People rely on others to tell them what to do with their life. If you let people dictate your life, you’re going to be following the status quo. Once you have enough money to support your family…you can sit back and relax. You got an A+ on the math test…enjoy some ice cream and Netflix
And now, all we’re told is to stay home.
Q: But what do I do at home?
A: You Decide
Q: Well what are other people doing?
A: Either panicking or doing nothing and feeling bored
Okie Dokie, if everyone else is doing that, then I should too. Really, you could learn a new skill, master Machine Learning or be helpful to others.
Start making your own decisions, think beyond the status quo, the planned life with little change, or be satisfied and complacent.
The Bystander Effect: You Can Change the World
We live our lives aware of the many problems in the world, always thinking someone else is going to solve them. If everyone thinks that, then nobody is going to save the world. Luckily, there are ambitious people in the world who understand the lack of people working on important problems.
The reality is you can change the world. You have the potential.
Don’t feel satisfied with the status quo. Don’t live for achievements and checkpoints. After this, don’t comfortably sit down and watch TV, don’t constantly watch news sources on COVID. Instead, work on our priorities.
If we have more people working on the world’s problems, our odds of solving them drastically increase.
How to Cure Your Complacency
To avoid complacency, you have to constantly practice avoiding it. Mindsets are a way to constantly think and act, like stoicism or gratefulness. In this case, adopt an anti-mindset towards complacency, meaning you don’t want to be complacent.
By practising to adopt change and be able to adapt, not following the status quo and internalizing you can change the world, along with these three things, you can cure your complacency.
1. Question why things are the way they are
If you accept how things are, you’re being complacent. Question why you do certain things in your life. Your sleep schedule, eating habits, how you spend your time, even how you operate. You're never going to have as much free time to change your life as now.
Question how the world functions. Why do solar panels have to be inefficient? Why does the education system operate like it is? Why do we need music? It can be drastic or simple. Doing this can even lead to a vision of the future and possible startup. Examples: Google, Apple, Tesla, Re-Usable Rockets
2. Shift from short-term goals to long-term goals or habits
There two types of games we play, the infinite game or the finite games. Often with finite games, we resort to short-term goals and recognize them as achievements. Achievements can cause complacency.
Ever finish a huge project and you were so proud for completing that goal that you convinced yourself to be rewarded. Fast forward, you didn’t start your next project until a week or two later. You did something unlike others, you’re better than most others, but you can’t be satisfied with one project done.
To avoid this, tie projects to long-term goals or habits. You will almost never achieve anything because it’s not about the goal check-points, it’s about your own growth.
Instead of setting the goal of completing a project, say “I want to work on a project 2 hours every day.” That makes it into a consistent habit. Raise your bar for every project, recognize high standards and it’s going to be harder to be complacent.
“My goal is to become a great app designer.” To become one, you have to adapt to demands, constantly learn and develop over-time. Remember to think big, you have the possibility to change the world, set goals accordingly.
3. Understand Your Going to Die
Now that you have questioned everything you know, which helped you figure what you want to constantly be working towards, understand you don’t have forever.
You can’t be complacent or stagnant if you understand you only have a certain amount of time. There is just no time to be sitting around in your rocking chair or waiting for COVID to end.
Key Takeaways:
- Complacency is just accepting how things are, which leads to stagnancy and feeling bored
- You need to adapt and change, not follow the status quo, and understand you have the potential to change the world
- How the world currently operates, supports complacency. You have to train an anti-mindset of complacency to avoid it
Before You Go
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Check out my Personal Website
- Check out my YouTube
- You can reach out to me at adamomarali37@gmail.com for any questions or if you want to chat
