Are You Dumb?: Yes You are, But so is Everyone Else, #2

By Jay Lambert

In writing this book at the age of 78,  I ask myself, what are some of the lessons I've learned that could have made my life easier? The predominant thought that seems to bump like a helium balloon at the ceiling of my brain would have been the knowledge that almost everyone around me felt the same sense of inadequacy and lack of confidence as I did. The fact that you might question your capability when contrasted against others is normal. I like the quote from Einstein: "Everybody's a genius. But f you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

More than anything else is knowing that you and I are as smart as the "average" person. To this end, let me share some of my past experiences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Grumpy Grampa Publishing
• Release date: Aug 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201592813

Book preview

Introduction

ARE YOU DUMB?

In writing this book at the age of 78,  I ask myself, what are some of the lessons I’ve learned that would have made my life easier? More than anything would have been the knowledge that almost everyone around me felt the same sense of inadequacy and lack of confidence. The fact that you might question your capability when contrasted against those around you is normal. I like the quote from Einstein: Everybody’s a genius. But f you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

More than anything else is to know that you and I are as smart as the average person. To this end, let me share some of the experiences from my past.

1Water In Your Ignition

My dependable, comfortable Toyota Tercel station wagon needed a wash.

After cleaning the exterior, I raised the hood, and just as I had done many times before, I used the high-pressure wand to blast the goo out of the engine compartment. To make sure I didn’t have trouble starting a wet engine, I cleverly left it running, knowing the heat would keep everything dry. How could I go wrong!

Wash completed; I lowered the hood, got in the car, and put it in gear. As expected, my Toyota smoothly moved out of the stall. Once again, I had gotten away with splashing copious amounts of water in a place you wouldn’t want to get wet.

Leaving the carwash, I pulled up to the edge of the road, waiting for a chance to move into traffic. When an opening occurred, I hit the gas—and the engine stopped. No problem. I started it easily; however, when I put it in gear, it stopped immediately. Starting it a third time, I could rev the engine, but when I put it into drive, my motor stopped momentarily and then ran backward.

I wasn’t as bright as I thought. Water had gotten into the electrical system. For those of you who have never made this mistake, you probably already knew that water in your engine’s electrical system makes it function strangely.

Reflecting on my monumental misconception, I thought, what a perfect analogy for the people who, while possessing the ability to excel, instead struggle because they don’t see themselves as capable. It is as if they have water in the ignition of an otherwise fully functioning mind. These people idle well and even move slowly when in gear. In neutral, they can rev their mental motors making loud and impressive sounds, but they are more likely to stop, stall, or run backward when under pressure.  A lot of these people, if they can get their car moving, keep driving, hoping that their vehicle will run smoothly over time—but it never does.

Unfortunately, with people, what makes their sense of inadequacy worse is they keep restarting and stopping as they struggle to keep their lives moving, all the while hoping time will get the water out. This approach seldom works.

This car analogy differs for you and me because it isn’t water in our electrical system—it’s a corrosion-of-attitude where we feel we are not capable or intelligent enough for the task. Our water is a misplaced belief we are not up to moving beyond mediocre.

This book is about making a few adjustments to get the water out of our ignition. It’s the move from the "fixed mindset" where we believe we can never be more than we are to the "growth mindset" where we understand we can take advantage of the challenges in life and become something more.

The trick is to keep the focus on what we want to create.  The power comes from focusing on the creation rather than on ourselves.

Habit is our business ally. We can compare habit to our involuntary muscle systems. For example, if we had to tell our hearts to beat consciously, then we’d be wasting a lot of our conscious thought on making sure our hearts kept us alive. Fortunately, it’s an involuntary action. We don’t have to do that. In one sense, it is an unbreakable habit that works for us and serves as our ally. Thus, our conscious mind is free to focus on other activities. It is the same with many other actions that start as voluntary but become habits if repeated enough.

The challenge of change is difficult, but we also know that we will revolutionize our lives if we can bring about these innovations. Our power to make changes is in the present, and it is through focusing on the present that we will move out of the dark abyss of ignorance.

Altering Habits

Change and attitude control each other. If you attempt a change of habit while holding onto the same attitude, altering your behavior will be impossible. However, if you first change your attitude, then shifting that habit becomes much easier.

Attitude

Changing a habit is like shifting a river channel. Day after day, year after year, millions of gallons of water/habit carve through that same channel. Water is the habit, and it’s natural for it to continue in this same direction.

Think of it this way. The river channel is the attitude that controls our conduct. If you can alter the riverbed (attitude), the water (habit) can’t help but flow in a different direction. These small course alterations affect both our lives and the lives of those around us.Applying the analogy to human change only differs when it takes for that metaphorical river to realign itself.

This river relationship represents those rigid patterns of conduct and addictions we all have. Changing attitude is hard, but it is impossible to change a habit without first altering our attitude. This flow of habit is directed by our mental riverbed, which has no predisposition to alter its path. Just wishing that this river of behavior will gurgle off in a different direction will not inspire any desired deviation.

However, there is a method for achieving our attitude transformation more efficiently. This idea is one of