The Power of Adaptation: A Guide to Bottom-Up Growth That Lasts - Luca DellAnna

Partial Excerpts (antilibrary)

Copyright

March 2024 update

3. Three ways to adapt

Personal growth (personal development)

Each person has a unique personality composed of patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving. Let’s call these mental patterns

A person undergoes personal growth when they adopt a new mental pattern that is advantageous (for example, the habit of regularly practicing physical activity or learning how to sustain an interesting conversation) or when they quit an old mental pattern that is detrimental (for example, the habit of spending too much time on social media or the habit of being late at meetings).

we adopt a new pattern for good only when it gets rewarded, and we quit an old pattern for good only when we acknowledge that it was damaging us

It is up to us to draw the link between the outcome (reward or harm) and the mental pattern that leads us to it (positive or negative)

If we fail to make the association, we risk letting the harm damage us without the negative mental pattern leading to the harm. By preserving negative mental patterns, we put ourselves at risk of future harm.

If we were egoless, we would quit any mental pattern of ours that proves detrimental to us, and we would adopt any new pattern that proves to be beneficial. However, we are not egoless, so we try to preserve our personality. By doing this, we hold back our capacity to adapt ourselves and to become fitter to our environment.

Humans have a unique ability to adapt themselves; we call this "learning.”

An unfit person (someone who is poorly adapted to his environment) has the potential to adapt and become fit.3 If he keeps being unfit, it is likely because he did not do what the fit did: learn.

If one refuses to let go of the traits of his personality that prevent him from being fit in his environment, then he will remain unfit, and this will negatively impact his life

II. Personal Growth

A 4-step system

12. The first step: recognizing the need for change

Life doesn't care about your problems. The day you get over this is the day you'll grow. People want the world to change but don't want to change themselves. This is narcissism

The first step for personal growth is to acknowledge the need for change and for personal growth

Either you let go of those parts of you that are inadequate for the world you are living in, or the world will let go of you.

But I should not have to let go parts of myself” It is understandable that you want to hang on every single bit of who you are right now. Like everyone, you don’t want to be happy; you want to be happy on your terms. You are entitled to decide your terms for being happy. You are not entitled to the world accepting them

you should change some parts of yourself – in particular, those that are preventing you from fulfilling your potential

For example, being an introvert isn't necessarily something you should change; however, being able to present your ideas in public is definitely a skill you want to acquire.

The terms of your work

Similarly, it doesn't mean that you have to work the job that society wants you to work or that you have to work the best-remunerated job. Instead, it means that whatever job you might decide to pursue, you will not be able to decide all its terms

Adaptation is bottom up

Successful individuals and organizations do not decide how to adapt – they decide to adapt and then let adaptation happen