What do I know for sure?
Beware the Certainties
Certainties
Nothing, not one thing, hurts us more—or causes us to hurt others more—than our certainties. Maria Popova
Maria Popova is the editor, poet, author, and one-woman creator of the Marginalian—a monthly digest of poetry, art, essays in a “search for truth, beauty, meaning, and creative vitality.”
https://www.themarginalian.org
What are the truths I’m certain of? What do I know for sure?
The Iceberg Diagram: A Tool
In Systems Thinking there’s a tool for getting beneath the surface to look at how our beliefs cause us to act in certain ways creating our patterns of behavior.
In the photo above, we see the iceberg, but what we don’t see is what’s happening below the water.
What’s going on Beneath the Water?
What’s happening? (Patterns of Behavior)
What determines how you act? (Beliefs)
Structure (What influences beliefs & actions)
Structure is the building you’re in, where the doors are determine how you enter and exit. Your beliefs determine how you act—your patterns of behavior. To get to the structure, you have to ask, “What would explain my patterns of behavior?”
Only by changing the structure can we hope to change our beliefs and our patterns.
Substack, for example:
Substack is a structure.
How does Substack’s structure influence our thinking? Substack keeps track of, publishes, and rewards your subscription data, creating a system that promotes competition.
Let’s face it, a literary space with a rivalry structure is going to produce a scarcity mentality among it’s writers. The structure itself determines my patterns of behavior.
Let me know in the COMMENTS what you are CERTAIN of today. And, thank you for subscribing to Get Gutsy. This is my chance to connect with you and to hear your thoughts.
Remember, there’s no expiration on dreams,
Trish
I’m certain I have a book: https://woodhallpress.com/paper-bags
"Let’s face it, a literary space with a rivalry structure is going to produce a scarcity mentality among it’s writers." I quibble a bit with this. All writers who have ever aspired to publish in the public sphere have faced competition. Substack is a profit-making enterprise, like almost all literary outlets — and even the ones that are not-for-profit can't accept every submission they get, at least not once they're more than a month or two old. I suspect you are as weary as I am of all the Substack writers who tout their amazing stats and wish to tell us how we, too, can acquire Ten Zillion Paying Subscribers in Two Months (using their system). But refusing to adopt a scarcity mentality is our job.
I like the iceberg diagram tool
On or off Substack, a scarcity mentality is a scarily easy mentality to fall into, at least for me. It seems we're bombarded with advertisements and other media constantly telling us we're going to miss out or 'all will be gone' if we don't act fast or whatever we have isn't good enough. I'd like to turn all of it off.