The photo of the cloud is one of the [many] reasons why I love taking the time to drive across country instead of flying. It’s not every day you get to see views like that when you’re stuck in the office, right?
Saw that about half way through my 12 hours of driving today on the first show travel day I’ve had in 18 months.
Feels good to be back!
And it’s as eventful as I remember it.
How It Started
I reserved a compact car for the long trip.
When I got to the counter I made some pleasant small talk with the attendant who seemed to be a bit frazzled. I told her I was in no hurry, and to take her time.
After just a moment she looks up my reservation. Looks at me. Then asks, “Do you want a Mustang?”
Absolutely!
#FreeUpgrade #Blessed #Gratitude #GasMileageSucks
Always a good sign when you haven’t even started yet, and your trip is already going great.
Bad Day
Then there was this truck having a bad day.
Yes it’s on fire.
Pretty sure that’s a feature not a bug?
Hotel
I rarely make hotel reservations ahead of time because you never know if you’re going to get stopped by a burning tractor trailer, get delayed by construction, or some other act of the [travel] gods.
Instead I like to call a hotel that’s a couple hours out from stopping time.
Tonight I found a hotel that was right next to the gig tomorrow, and it was the perfect end of the drive.
When I was about an hour and a half away I stopped for gas and called the to ask if there were rooms.
The woman said, “We have plenty of double Queen bed rooms.”
I said, “It’s just me, so I guess I can sleep in one for half the night, and the other for the rest.”
She laughs.
I tell her I’ll be there in a couple hours and get back on the road.
Flash forward to arrival.
I walk in and I say, “Hi, I’m the guy who called earlier” as I hand her my license and credit card.
“Oh! I wanted to tell you! Right after we got off the phone I sold, like, 12 rooms in a row. I didn’t want you to miss out, so I reserved one under ‘guy who called’ and that’s what you just said, too! So glad you made it, and you’re getting the last room. Everyone around here is sold out, too. I didn’t want you to travel all that way and not have a place to stay.”
Bookends
What a wonderful way to end the day which provided the cap to a wonderful start to the trip.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: kindness is a wonderful strategy for going through life.
(And it pays to treat people like people.)
You never know how or when someone is going to appreciate that little sparkle you can bring to their life.
This is a fantastic video explaining the concept of “frame of reference.” The cool thing about this concept is it’s not limited to understanding motion. Once you watch it, you’ll have a better grasp on the straight vs straight line discussion addressed in a couple articles already on the blog.
In the introduction of the video there’s a great gag where two men see each other as being upside down. We, the viewer, see one being upside down, and the other as right side up. This is due to our limited context.
Literally, the frame around the scene causes us to perceive things in a certain way. Once the frame expands, moves, contracts, or in some way changes, our perceptions change, too. We absolutely cannot extract our understanding from our perception.
Howyou see things dictateswhatyou see. In all areas, contexts, & relationships in life.
Change your frame of reference, and you change everything.
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. ~Archimedes
There are no straight lines in nature. ~Antoni Gaudi
Archimedes is arguably one of the smartest human beings to have ever lived, and I mean that with absolutely zero hyperbole. He’s most commonly known for shouting “Eureka!” as he got into a bath as he realized the amount of water displaced from the tub was equal to the volume his body occupied, and for the water screw which is still in use today in many places.
In the late 90’s a book sold at auction for $2,000,000 was discovered to be a palimpsest containing 7 treatise written by Archimedes, and two are the only known copies of those works in the world. Researchers also discovered that Archimedes was not only familiar with the concept of infinity, but he outlines seven types of infinity. SEVEN.
On a geometric plane it can extend in both directions to infinity
There can be an infinite number of points on this plane
The number of straight lines drawn between two points are infinite
There are infinite numbers of curves possible between any two points
What made his mind so unbelievably powerful was his ability to use logic and reason to intuit solutions in the abstract mathematical world. His strength was using his imagination to reason his way towards understanding universal truths.
With this approach, he was able to discover timeless truths about the world, and build his understanding on rock solid foundations built on logic & reason. It’s an incredibly powerful ability to pull order from absolute chaos. This is the way of fighting entropy and decay; find answers that are beyond the mere considerations of this broken-down world we live in; truth lives in a universe beyond the scope of time & space. This is the world of First Principles.
But, What About the World of Gaudi?
Antoni Gaudí was an architect born in 1852, and died in 1926. His buildings look like Dr. Seuss drawings brought to life, and they’re absolutely gorgeous. If you’d like to see examples of his work, click here for a Google image search.
His work “Sagrada Família” in Barcelona looks like a sand castle brought to life, and it will be finished 100 years after his death. It’s a testament to the enduring power of his work.
He recognized that in the world of nature, there are no straight lines. Even the unerring line of the horizon is actually a curve so large it only appears straight to us.
And there lies his genius.
Gaudi lives in the realm of nature. In the real world. Archimedes lives in the realm of abstract mathematics.
The world that human beings live in never moves in a straight line. It’s curved. It’s messy. It’s pure chaos.
The World of Chaos
This fundamental truth about the world we live in is the reason why the most elegant, simple answers lack mathematical beauty. They twist, they turn.
In the real world, indirect is more effective than the direct.
Success is usually the byproduct of aiming at something else. The straight line approach is often the longest way to get somewhere.
Training Artificial Intelligence
There’s a fascinating exploration in the world of AI that shows us this counter intuitive truth.
Researchers built systems that were allowed to play inside their environment without any specific goal or outcome; it was given free reign to discover what it could do on its own.
Later, researchers would establish a specific goal and see how long it would take the system to achieve it. After that, they would increase the difficulty by introducing a variety of obstacles and challenges.
The AI system took longer in the second case to achieve the goal, but was still able to do what was asked of it.
The Wrinkle
Here’s where things got interesting: AI systems built specifically to complete the task were almost completely unable to accommodate the simplest obstacle or challenge.
The most direct approach (design the tool to do the task) wound up being the least effective when presented with anything other than an optimal environment. The roundabout solution (design the tool to play on it’s own) takes more time & resources, but winds up being profoundly effective even in the face of insurmountable difficulty.
Our World
You might live in a perfect fairy tale world, but I sure as hell don’t. I face challenges, obstacles, and frustrations every day.
That’s why the direct approach rarely works in any context; whether it’s in relationships, a physical confrontation, business plan, marketing, or any other situation involving humans.
In ideal situations, yes, the abstract world of logic & reason will serve you well. But, we live in a crazy, chaotic swirl of doubt and uncertainty.
That’s why success is often the result of trying something else.
Want to make tons of money? Don’t focus on making money. Focus on solving peoples’ problems; the money will follow.
Want an amazing romantic partner? Don’t focus on finding someone. Focus on being an incredible person who has a lot to offer, and your match will show up.
Real World Success
Whatever you want to do in life, don’t aim at it. Look to what naturally creates that successful outcome, and then focus all your energy on that.
Live in the beautiful, organic, curvy world of Gaudi, not the world of Archimedes (no matter how much you love clean lines).
I was seriously spiraling out. My wife left me. My friends were telling me I had to stop everthing.
But I didn’t care.
I was chasing the next big thing. More fame. More fortune.
And it destroyed my life.
How’d I get there?
Let’s Rewind
Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a performer. I always thought that would be the coolest job on the planet. Get paid to have fun with people? Sign me up! Hell, it got me on the front page of the Sunday full color edition of the local newspaper.
On the advice of my parents I still attended college and got a degree in fine art. While there, I met a magician who came to campus to put on his show. It was a great time, and I stuck around after the autograph line to talk shop. We hit things off, and kept in touch for years after.
I also met a wonderful woman while on a summer internship, and we got married right out of college.
We were living in Orlando, and my first job was at a magic shop at Universal Studios. I made remarkably good money selling tricks to tourists from all over the world. It was a phenomenal introduction to the power of an effective sales pitch.
After a couple years of that the magician I met back in college asked me if I wanted to be his tour manager for the upcoming year of shows.
It was awful pay, but great experience.
I jumped at the chance.
I learned everything about how the business of running a show worked, how to schmooze clients, how to work an autograph line, and everything else by watching the guy I was working with. I’d ask him everything I could think about , and he answered everything.
I was learning everything I always wanted, but it was not easy.
It was a great time, but it meant being on the road 280 days out of the year. Two thirds of the year meant I was away from my wife. She understandably was upset, and it seemed like every time I got home the couple days I had before the next trip was spent arguing about how much time she was spending by herself.
It felt like I had to choose between the dream I wanted and the life I had.
I felt guilty for not wanting to come home where there were “real” problems. When I was on tour, all that “stuff” was far away.
The Highway To Hell (And I Must Go Faster).
So I went all in on the rockstar path thinking this is how I’m going to make it all better.
I escaped into being on the road as much as possible.
By now I had started performing my own show at colleges all over the country. I’d take any opportunity, even if it didn’t pay much. When you have to pay for your own plane ticket, hotels, rental car, and gas it means that sometimes you paid more to get to the show than the payday was worth.
But it was worth it because I didn’t need to face the problems at home.
Plus, on the road, there are many opportunities to give into temptation.
Being a rockstar means you do rockstar things, right?
So I pushed the big red self destruct button.
Destroyed my marriage with a couple bad nights and bad choices.
I told her about the affairs.
We get divorced.
I move out into a tiny apartment nowhere near as nice as the place I had been living in.
The opportunities that cost more than they were worth meant they ate through what little money I was making.
My car got repossessed. Twice. In the same year.
On social media it looked like I was having the time of my life. I was traveling the country. Lots of cool venues. Fun stories and adventures.
But I was in a tailspin.
I even decided to move halfway across the country to start over, thinking that would fix things.
Nope. I spent another couple years making it worse.
There’s a time where I was technically living out of my car, but it’s a lot easier to make it sound cool when you’re “on tour.”
On the other hand, one of the perks of being a touring entertainer is that you quickly build a network of friends all across the country who will let you crash on their couch.
One of those friends helped me turn my life around.
My Own Personal Life Wizard
He and I had known each other for about five years by this point, and he always seemed to have his act together. He was a full time performer, himself. Worked high dollar events for paydays with one or two commas on the check. Great clients. Nice house. Solid home life with kids and a wife. Reliable cars in the garage.
Any time I stayed at his place I usually put on a good front talking about how everything was fine, but this time he could tell it really wasn’t. He saw right through the rockstar front.
So I got honest with him.
For the first time in years I was honest with myself.
And that was a tough conversation with someone I looked up to.
Ever feel that warm wave of embarrassment start at the pit of your stomach and radiate through your whole body, but somehow your hands are still cold and clammy? Not even realizing your hands are balled up in fists as you try not to break down?
Yeah. That kind of talk.
And he got real with me.
“Your problem is that you’re trying to be the rockstar and it’s destroying your life. It happens in your show. ‘Look what I can do that you can’t!’ That’s not fun to watch. It’s alienating. Don’t get me wrong, you’re a great entertainer. You have skill. You’re great at what you do, but you’re doing it for all the wrong reasons. You have to figure out how to stop making it all about you. That’s the only way you’re going to get out of this.”
What did he mean ‘stop making it all about me?’ It IS all about me!
I knew what he meant at an intellectual level, but I still didn’t “get it” at the time.
The next day I had a long drive and I couldn’t stop thinking about what he said.
How was I supposed to stop making it all about me?
Then I started thinking through the show. What was I trying to say with it? What were the routines I had chosen?
It dawned on me. He was right. The whole thing was one thing after another ‘proving’ that I was ‘so great.’
Then I started thinking about why I was even doing the show in the first place. It was to make me feel like the center of attention. Then I thought about my agent who ‘wasn’t booking me enough!’
Me, me, me, all the way down.
My buddy was right. I had been incredibly selfish. I had taken everything from everyone because I thought I deserved it. And what did I give them in return? Hardly a thank you.
Not an easy realization to take.
So, I asked myself: If it wasn’t all about me, what would that look like?
Fractal Improvements
And I started where I was most comfortable; with my show.
If I’m not the star, who is?
The audience!
And if the audience is the star, what does that look like?
That means I should rework every single demonstration I did to make my volunteers look like they’re the one making all the “magic” happen.
That was the strategy: figure out how to use all the tips, tricks, skills, and techniques at my disposal to make my audience members look like a million bucks.
The routines that might be embarrassing? Cut out. The ‘witty banter’ that was funny, but at their expense? Cut.
After the process there wasn’t a lot left of the original show to be honest.
Over the next few weeks I built a completely new show from scratch. New demonstrations. New script. New everything.
And I wasn’t too sure about it. It was strange. It was uncomfortable. It didn’t feel right.
But I figured that what had felt right is what had gotten me to rock bottom in the first place.
So I decided to give it a couple trial runs at a run of community college gigs coming up.
And it was phenomenal.
Got my first standing ovation in years. I sold out of all the t-shirts I had on hand. My autograph line literally was longer than the show was. Everyone was so enthusiastic and excited to share their story. They asked all sorts of great questions, and we had big group discussions about life and what’s possible.
I was stunned.
And it happened at the next show.
And the next.
Complete 180 from how things were previously.
It looked like I was on the right track, but I had no clue how deep the rabbit hole went.
A year or two goes by. Things are improving.
I start getting emails from those college kids.
“I don’t know if you remember me or not, but you took the time to talk with me after one of your shows and it completely transformed my life. After our talk, I made some big changes, and I couldn’t be happier. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart for taking the time after your show. It means the world to me.”
And that’s when the second wave hit me: This is way bigger than just a show.
Helping people forget their problems for an hour is an honorable profession. But what if I could help more people solve those problems permanently?
I realized that the same psychological techniques that work on stage, also work off stage, too. They’re exactly what had been working for me to get my career started, but somewhere along the line I had gotten focused on how I could make it all about me me me. But the instant I focused on using those strategies to help other people on & off stage, my whole life transformed.
The Fractal Grows Bigger Across Multiple Dimensions
My clients were even more impressed with the show. The testimonials started going through the roof. That meant I started getting booked more. With more shows I had more money. Then I started talking about what it means to make your audience the ‘star of the show’ to civic groups, then business associations.
Before long I was talking to the senior executives of BP, United Airlines, and other global companies about the power of focusing on their audience.
Then I started being invited to train sales & engineering teams on how to use these psychological techniques to empower their clients to solve bigger problems.
I started working with individual clients walking them through my strategies. One early client was homeless. Living out of his car like I had been years before. Within six months he was on his feet with a great job and putting his life back together.
Then I realized I was making more money than I had been while touring. Also got a solid girlfriend who eventually became my wife, recently.
I still do the performing, but I make more money teaching people these frameworks online. That meant I was perfectly positioned for 2020 when all my in-person events evaporated, and everything pivoted to digital-first.
Now I love my life. I enjoy being home. Have meaningful work that gives me a sense of purpose that chasing the rockstar life never gave me. I’ve been able to let go of the belief that I need to be the star of the show, and counterintuitively I’ve gotten everything I thought that would give me, and more.
So if you’re stuck in the middle of a downward spiral, I’m here to tell you that it can get better. You just need to change a few simple beliefs you have that have powerful effects on yourself, your personal relationships, and your professional ones too.
That’s what I’m on this planet to do: build a tribe of people who are ready to get everything they’ve ever wanted without having to destroy everything they have.
Growing up in the Appalachian mountains meant I was surrounded by storytellers.
Whether it’s folklore, tall tales, or making small talk it seemed like everyone in the mountains of North Carolina has the gift of gab.
One year in college I even took a storytelling class. We studied music, narrative structure, pacing, character development, suspense, tension, and more.
Through the years I continue to see more and more parallels between effective sales, negotiations, and presentations.
It’s all just storytelling.
What’s your story?
It’s a common conversation starter, and for good reason.
We understand everything through the lens of story.
The facts and figures help us make quantitative decisions, but the quality dimension is always within a context (and that context is the story you’re telling yourself, someone is telling you, or you’re telling them).
Branding is your story. Marketing is telling your story. Sales is helping someone believe your story. Referral marketing is helping someone tell your story to their friends.
Learn To Do It Right
Since everything is storytelling, it makes sense to dedicate some effort to getting better at it.
To that end I wanted to share five details that you should consider.
1: Accept the mantle
If you’ve ever told someone how your day went, you’re a storyteller. If you’ve ever given someone your “elevator pitch” then you’ve told them a story. If you’ve ever tried to get your friends to watch your favorite movie, then you’re a storyteller.
You’re already doing it so you might as well take it seriously.
You might have a lot of baggage to work through.
I don’t like being long-winded.
I hated Aesop’s fables.
I’m not imaginative.
Nobody wants to hear what I have to say.
Whatever those roadblocks are, the first step to breaking through them is being honest with yourself about the fact that you’re already a storyteller whether you want it or not.
You can’t avoid it.
To be human is to tell stories.
2: Avoid the Superman problem
You know what that is?
He’s too perfect.
He can fly. He’s impervious. He has X-ray vision. He can move faster than a speeding bullet.
BORING.
At least he has one weakness; kryptonite.
Without a single flaw, Superman wouldn’t be worth paying attention to.
What could someone like that teach me about being the fallible creature that I am?
So don’t hide the tough parts of your story.
I know you’d rather not talk about your most embarrassing and regretful decisions, but they are a part of what makes you you.
In fact, it probably makes you more relatable to people.
Me? I’ve been divorced. I had my car repossessed. TWICE!
I’m not proud of those years of my life, but I also don’t hide from them either.
Share the struggle.
Which leads us to the next point.
3: Don’t fix what’s not broken
Struggle is part of the classic story structure that looks like this:
The hero
Is challenged
And overcomes
Leaves transformed
This is a framework that has withstood the test of time. The earliest oral-tradition stories and the latest Hollywood blockbuster follow this framework.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel here.
That’s why sharing your struggles is doubly important: it helps the listener/reader experience tension instead of just glossing over details.
4: They’re the hero
Everyone is the hero of their own story and an NPC in everyone else’s.
And maybe featured in an extended director’s cut scene if they’re lucky.
But this is important enough I’m going to say it again, but big this time.
Everyone is the hero of their own story and an NPC in everyone else’s.
This is a huge lesson if you’re in sales or consulting of any sort.
The temptation is to present yourself as this heroic character who has overcome obstacles and vanquished demons.
Great!
But how does that help me?
Instead of focusing on your own adventure, tell them the story of why you’re the best guide to help them conquer their own dragons. Be the trusted guide and advisor who shows them the path to their own greatness.
This is next level storytelling: help them tell their own story of success.
Which leads us to the final detail.
5: Encourage others to tell their own story
Everybody loves talking about themselves.
Even you.
Don’t fall into the trap of only talking about yourself. Give others the permission to share their adventures.
They want to do it anyway!
And if you’re the one who gives them the encouragement to talk about their favorite topic (themselves), then they’re going to love you all the more for it.
So become a master at helping others be better storytellers by asking great questions. Provided engagement through active listening skills.
Master this skill and you’ll never be without friends.
Lessons Learned
One day I was at Wendy’s with my Mom and we had just gotten our order. I asked her to get me some ketchup. Seeing as how I was old enough to get it myself, she told me as much.
But I was so shy I’d rather go without something that I wanted than talk to a stranger.
After years of acting this way, I realized that it was always the “obnoxious” people who seemed to get what they wanted, and I realized that the reason I didn’t like them was that they didn’t seem to hate themselves for the reasons I hated myself.
So I made a decision to get better at being outgoing, and I learned how to juggle knives when I was 13 years old.
That was my way of putting myself out there.
I quickly understood that having a strong network of people who know you’re amazing is an amazing resource.
I think that’s why I had an intuition (if not an explicit understanding) of the value of storytelling.
Being able to tell someone what you’re all about in a way that captures their imagination is a powerful skill.
Even better if you can get them to tell you their story in a way that makes them feel powerful!
Ultimately the lesson is this: humans are storytelling creatures. Since before the dawn of time we’ve spun tales around the campfire, and all human relationships are maintained on the threads of our shared stories.
Yesterday was a non-stop day of podcast recording. I was the guest on 3 different shows:
The first was “Stranger Connections” with Lisa David Olson, and it’s really well titled. She has a background in live performance, so she had a lot of insightful questions about the way my experience on stage ties in with my business consulting.
Very cool conversation.
She surprised me by getting the episode out so quickly, too. We had our chat at noon, and by that evening the whole thing was put together and posted.
Gotta be honest with you. I first thought it was Leaders and Laggers. As in, the people at the front (leaders) and the people they’re leaving behind (laggers).
No that’s not it.
His hook is LAGERS: he does a beer review at the top of every show. Makes a lot more sense.
If I still drank beer (gout is no fun, man) I would have loved to throw in on the “Stripper Dust” vanilla porter that he tried.
Including the label for comedic effect.
But that’s just the first 3 minutes. The rest of our time we got to dig into the consulting side of my work, and how the psychology that fuels the performance also powers the value I deliver for my clients.
Cool talk and I’m excited to share when it comes out.
Last recording of the day was “Every Breath Counts Podcast” with Ryan Shekell.
He’s a man after my own heart living in the woods raising chickens and keeping bees with his wife. Sounds like a dream.
One plus of talking with him was hearing his thought process shift as the conversation got deeper.
He had his pre-set list of questions and there was one where he stops and says, “I’m still going to ask this, but my reason & the context for asking it has completely flipped. Now I’m really interested to hear your thoughts about it…”
Hell of a leadup!
You’ll have to listen to the episode to find out what it is, and I think you’ll be impressed by his thoughtfulness and consideration that he showed through the whole chat.
Overall it was really fun to juxtapose such different host personalities in such a short time.
Really highlights how you can cover the same information, but see it in such different lights.
That’s the marvelous nature of communication; it’s a real-time collaboration of what’s said + what’s heard + what’s created.
It’s always an honor to be invited anywhere to share my thoughts, so my deepest thanks to all three for having me on their shows!
Keep an eye out as I put the episodes into my cycle of shameless self promotion when they’re live (like Lisa’s is)!
If you had asked me about this idea 10 years ago, I would have told you it’s completely uninteresting to me.
Now it literally keeps me up at night.
The world of Mentalism is an unending wealth of deeply disturbing questions packaged within the wrapping of “fun” and “entertainment.”
In actuality, however, it points straight to the deepest mysteries of life.
This is just one tiny thread in its rich tapestry.
Archimedes
In my estimation Archimedes was the single greatest intellect in all human history.
He dealt with massive questions that wouldn’t be answered for 1500 years after his death.
Or so we thought.
Turns out he had many of the answers that were believed to be discovered centuries after his life came to an end.
He invented the “method of exhaustion” to compute the area of a circle. This approach is nearly indistinguishable from the Calculus “invented” by Sir Isaac Newton in the 1600’s.
Archimedes also dabbled a field of mathematics called “combinatrics” which deals with the question of “how many ways can these finite pieces be joined together?”
Think of it like the question of “How many ways can a Rubik’s Cube be mixed up?” In his day the toy was called the “Stomachion” and I find it so interesting that I used my 3D printer to create my own version:
Now, there’s an interesting detail here: finite pieces.
From a very limited number of parts you can create near-infinite arrangements and relationships.
This brings us to another detail: Archimedes also dealt with Infinity. Real Infinity. Capital “I” Infinity.
Big I Infinity is a terrible thing to deal with. All sorts of beasties come out to play when you invite Infinity to the party.
Imagine you had an infinite number of whole numbers increasing by one increment. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on to real Infinity.
Now imagine you doubled each number in the sequence to Infinity. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, etc. to Infinity.
Now you can have two Infinities of different amounts.
These genies are released into the world of mathematics and they wouldn’t be properly put back in their bottles until the 1900’s.
Or, so we thought.
Archimedes not only demonstrates his awareness of the issue, but shows how he can compute with Infinity in a way that goes unnoticed for 2000 years.
Stunning.
While Infinity is mind blowing in itself, smaller infinity or Potential infinity, is still worthy of our respect.
Let us look to the humble deck of playing cards in order to appreciate our insignificance.
From the world of combinatrics, we could ask, “How many ways can you arrange a deck of cards?”
Your first instinct might be to think: There are 13 values and 4 suits. Multiply them together and you get 52. But that feels a little low. So you multiply by 52 again: 2704.
Better.
Still not there.
The real number is genuinely so big your mind can’t comprehend it.
Even if I put it in human terms, you still won’t be able to appreciate it.
I’m still going to try.
Lifetimes
Imagine I shuffle the cards once a second every second I’m alive. Let’s say I live 80 years instead of my real lifespan that I may or may not know already down to the second.
Also assume that I’m competent enough to start shuffling cards when I was 5 years old.
(Which I was, because I did.)
Imagine that I don’t eat, sleep, or do anything else for 75 years.
Just one shuffle after another.
At this point, the more pedantic of you might be wondering if I account for leap year. No. No, I do not. This is already difficult enough without being silly about it.
Stop distracting me.
So for 75 years every day and night I shuffle cards. Never missing a beat. One every second. A new shuffle. A new order.
Oh, that’s right, we’re also assuming that I never repeat a sequence.
My entire life is devoted to shuffling.
How many lifetimes would I live before I exhaust the possibilities?
That’s how many ways you can shuffle a deck of cards without repeating a sequence.
When you pick up a deck of cards and absentmindedly give them a mix, it is not just a once in a lifetime chance. It’s a once in 34,102,052,752,809,013,432,969,996,979,707,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 lifetimes chance that THAT arrangement of cards comes into existence.
And then gone again the instant a single card is moved.
Is it Infinite possibility? No. There is a very real limit to the potential arrangements. Is it functionally infinite?
Absolutely.
You literally couldn’t make a meaningful dent in the potential in 100 lifetimes.
The takeaway?
You have near infinite potential in nearly infinite areas of life.
And you’ll never even get close to making use of any of it.
Your potential is worth nothing.
The only thing that matters is what you create with it.
For all that CAN be, it is only that which IS that makes a difference in the world.
Turn your potential kinetic.
After all, you only have one life to live.
This is why I am drawn deeper and deeper into the mysteries of playing cards.
Today we will lie to you and yet you will believe our little deceptionsbecause human beings are easily fooleddue to their limited understanding of the inner workings of the universe.
The screenshots are from the new Disney+ series “Wandavision.”
It made me laugh harder than I’ve laughed in a long time.
Instantly wanted to make this part of my show introduction, too.
