“Via Negativa” and MAGIC
I'll probably finish reading WE SHOULD ALL BE MILLIONAIRES by Rachel Rodgers, the success book written specifically for black women (for the record: for all practical purposes, THINK AND GROW RICH was written by and for white men, but the principles work across the board). Anyway, my attitude is that life, and success therein, is more complex than we can actually wrap our conscious minds, but books such as these can describe a piece of the framework. If you get four points of a dynamic sphere, you can describe the rest of the sphere. So what we're really doing is educating the part of yourself that CAN grasp the whole…and that is the unconscious mind. The conscious mind is like a teacup, the unconscious more like the ocean.
About once a week, someone asks how I correct for "survivor bias", that favorite phrase of people who won't perform the experiment themselves. It’s a lot like saying that karate schools don't make people stronger and more confident and capable…its that only strong, confident and capable people ever stick with it. I can understand that perspective, and if you stay in your head you can defend that position so that no one, and nothing, can ever know enough more than you to crack your ego. You're already as smart and strong as you can possibly be, right? You are perfectly happy figuring life out by yourself, re-inventing the wheel every day.
OK. I can't help someone who won't try something new. All I can do is wish them luck.
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But…how DID I adjust for survivor bias? I thought that a useful question.
Experimentation. Simply put, I started testing the notions, starting with TAGR and goal setting. And saw that when I did, I ALWAYS won, because I either got my goal, or learned something about myself and the task at hand.
Observation. Was there something different about my reaction to failure? Yes. I interpreted it as learning, as the mentors I read encouraged me to do. And I saw that people who didn't got beat the #%% up by life, and interpreted failure as "I cannot." Let's look at writing, something I understand pretty well. People who succeeded averaged about 30 submitted stories before publishing (that was what I saw at the time. I don't know if that has changed.). Failures, on the other hand, seemed to submit five or ten stories, and then conclude they couldn't do it. They became angry and depressed. So the notion of "keep positive beliefs" and "maintain gratitude as an antidote for fear" started making more sense.
Via Negativa. A latin term meaning "by way of negation" I turned the principles around and asked if I saw people who succeeded who violated the principles. SOME of them, yes. But I could draw certain conclusions that lead to my own MAGIC formula, and ask "can anyone succeed if they DON'T do these things? Can I find someone?" Well…
Yeah. A little. But the cases were rare enough, and weak enough, that I felt comfortable insisting that students avoid having a "zero" in any category. Via Negativa can appeal to intellectual types who are averse to physical experimentation, so lets try it in connection with MAGIC. I would ask that you accept a postulate: any action makes a change, whether large or small. So it is reasonable to ask which direction the "needle" goes if you do or don't do something.
M.A.G.I.C. equals Mentor/Map, Action, Gratitude, Intention, and Character (or Core personality)
Mentor or Map. When you are traveling, are you LESS likely to reach your destination if you have directions from someone who has been there? If you have a Map others have used to reach Disneyland, or whereever?
2. Action. Are you LESS likely to get fit, strengthen a relationship, or improve job skills if you take effective action? And how can you figure out which actions are effective? Go back to step #1.
3. Gratitude. Are you LESS likely to escape suffering, embrace joy, and be of service if you control your emotions? If you are careful to find positive reasons to have faith in your future every day? This is almost cheating. Once you learn how to "turn on" your emotions, you can give yourself success EVERY DAY, because the core of success is moving away from pain toward pleasure, by whatever route or vehicle you choose.
4. Intention. Are you LESS likely to reach a destination if you have no goal? If you don't know where you are going? Are you more likely to get somewhere you want to be if you travel randomly? There will be some people who sort of "zen" their way from success to success. Its true. But, so long as you interpret failure as a learning opportunity and constantly adjust…what HARM is there is having a goal? And refining it frequently? It can't have "zero" effect, so…what do you think it would be?
5. Character. Your Core being. Do you think artists are more successful (remember: the core success is JOY. Money is just a means to escape suffering so that you can explore means of fulfillment). I clearly remember a writer in his 50's whose business card read "freelance hack and literary mechanic". He was dead of alcoholism in a year. My opinion: he was indeed a "hack." He was NOT expressing himself in his work. He was trapped on a treadmill of writing crap he didn't believe in, just to stay afloat. Used alcohol to help him forget how he earned his money.
It doesn't work.
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If you won't experiment, if observation doesn't tell you that there is no HARM in these patterns, and real potential for increasing efficiency and effectiveness (the "useful" in the Three Gates), and if Via Negativa doesn't appeal to your logic..I suggest you have developed an investment in believing you are trapped, helpless. That no one who ever started where you are has outperformed you by learning.
"Luck" is often mentioned. But as said, the MAGIC formula, followed with an intensity of 5-7 on a scale of 0-9, CREATES luck. This is a bold statement. I didn't expect that when I formulated it, just noticed that when I had a clear map to my destination created by people who have "been there", took MASSIVE daily action, flooded myself with GRATITUDE every day, constantly worked to clarify my goals, and worked EVERY DAY on asking and answering the question: "who am I?" in a way designed to align my goals with values, beliefs and identity…that the universe seemed to say "I was messing with you, but I can see you won't quit." That suddenly other people, perhaps pulled by your positive energy, begin to offer you resources. You can form "Masterminds" to access knowledge and resources outside your immediate grasp.
One way I tried to explain "luck" to Jason is that when you CONSTANTLY improve your skills, and CONSTANTLY expand your social circle and communication capacity (especially marketing and sales) those two circles eventually overlap, and where that happens you get "lucky."
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My greatest disappointment with success has been realizing that before I was at my current level (problems and all) if I talked about success people would mock me saying "so…if you know so much, why aren't you more successful?" But then after I got the awards and bestseller list stuff and became more comfortable financially, those same people say "you were just lucky. You cheated somehow."
THE. SAME. PEOPLE. Is this totally true? No. But it sure SEEMS to be true. I could be wrong of course, but I think the safe conclusion is that there are people afraid to move beyond their current bubble, and they will use ANYTHING to avoid trying things that might call their world view into question.
Including, of course, "survivor bias." If you want to know: experiment, observe, or try Via Negativa. If you want to try my approach, start with the hourly breathing, and add the Morning Ritual. If they work for you, try the Lifewriting "Machine" or the MAGIC formula. If they DON'T work, I hope you'll find a teacher whose approach DOES work for you.
I'm not dogmatic about my approach. If you go to a martial arts school that has produced champions, and you aren't happy with the teaching, try modeling the teacher more carefully. Or, try another school altogether. Not every art is for every student, but if you can't make it work, while others can, the problem isn't the art. Might be the fit.
I hope you find something that "fits" for 2025. The world needs leaders. And leaders have to master the territory they are trying to lead people through. And if those goals, that mastery covers "health, love, money, and time to enjoy them…" you will find damned few people who aren't interested in how you did it. But if they are afraid…you'll hear the same excuses I have. Be compassionate.
Namaste
Steve
