Sunday, December 18, 2016

Zero-Sum Status

Status is Zero-Sum. If the goal is doing well, it can only be relative to something else. To someone else. That someone else may be our past selves. Internal competition. It requires a sense of progress. A story line. Accumulation of skills, assets, knowledge or some sense of being more. Kahneman talks of an Experiencing Self and a Remembering Self. E lives in the moment but is like a Gold Fish. R summarises our experiences into highs, lows and end points. R is a story teller, and new stories need to fit in to the cast of characters we already have. The heroes and villains we know. The scenery we understand. The world we are comfortable with. To let go of the need for status that raises us above others, those others have to be a part of this world. Part of our story. Common ingredients that allow us all to be interdependently well rather than do individually well.  

No point being a competitive Gold Fish

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