15/08/2024
August 14, 2024
A curious story: the grandma and the ham (take back control of your life):
Have you ever heard the story of the grandma and the ham?
A decade ago, I heard it at a business seminar.
It's one of the most impactful stories I've ever heard.
And I'm not exaggerating when I say it changed the trajectory of my entire life.
If you've never heard it, it goes a little something like this:
One day, a mother was teaching her daughter to cook ham using the family recipe passed down for generations.
1) Fill a pot with hot water
2) Cut the ends of the ham
3) Boil the ham for 30 minutes
For the next 20 years, the daughter cooked ham following the family recipe.
Until one day, she married an honorable man and they had a daughter of their own.
5 years later, it was time for the daughter to learn the family recipe.
But when they got to step 2, the little girl was puzzled.
"Why do we cut the ends off the ham, mommy?"
"Because that's how your grandmother taught me," the mom replied.
"But why did she cut the ends of the ham?," asked the little girl.
"Hmmm, I'm not sure, why don't you call and ask her?"
Ring, Ring
"Grandma, why do we cut the ends off the ham?"
"Well dear, it's because it was the only way to fit it into the small pot we had."
Do you see the point?
The mother spent 20 years cutting the ends off the ham because she was blindly following a set of rules.
Never questioning if there was a good reason for doing so.
This might sound trivial when talking about tasty dinner recipes.
But it's far from trivial when applied to life-defining core beliefs like politics, career choices, and where to live.
For example, when I was young, a family member told me that all rich people were evil.
It wasn't until I met a kind, compassionate wealthy business owner that I realized this wasn't true.
Before that, I assumed, without question, that all rich people generated wealth through acts of corruption.
If this core belief had never been replaced, I would not have become a business owner myself or acquired any meaningful level of wealth.
Unfortunately, we all grow up being influenced by messages, advice, and a culture we never chose.
They play a key role in shaping our destiny and personality - for better or for worse.
We grow up, never being taught to question the beliefs we were unfairly indoctrinated to believe as children.
Then one day, we wake up miserable, with crippling debt, working jobs we never actually wanted, all because of beliefs we never took the time to question.
It's insanity!
Insanity!
This makes the pursuit of truth the most life defining skill you can possibly learn.
As Carl Jung famously said:
"People don't have ideas. Ideas have people."
Ideas determine what you think, how you act, and the success you're able to achieve.
Being possessed by terrible ideas will leave you hateful, miserable, and with no control over the direction of your own life.
It's not your fault you were raised to believe garbage.
But it is your responsibility to take out the mental trash and start thinking for yourself.
Most creators I know look up to Dan Koe, Alex Hormozi, and Naval Ravikant.
All three of them are original thinkers.
They scrutinize everything they learn by running it through a truth filter.
Only the most useful and powerful ideas survive to shape their destiny.
Don't wait any longer to scrutinize the mind viruses polluting your mind.
Apply my truth filter protocol:
1) Sit in silence for 15 minutes
2) Become aware of your unconscious thought patterns and assumptions
3) Put each one to scrutiny with a pen and paper
4) Search for evidence of truth
5) Forget beliefs that aren't serving you
It's never too late to take back control.
The trajectory of your entire life is at stake.
The future belongs to independent thinkers.
-Taylin
