These Two Body Parts Are Required to Succeed in Life

The longer you do something, the more experience you gain, and the more you realize that planning is only a very small part of the big picture.

It’s the most important one, to be sure, but it’s worthless if there is no action taken.

The above quote makes it clear why most people tend not to venture far after a certain point.

A baby learning to walk has no experience, and therefore, no fear.

The only plan is to get from point A to point B.

The moment they hit the floor is when they stop…but only to regroup and try again.

We are born with the first body part that I want to discuss:

a thick skin.

Yes, yes, “baby-smooth” is the phrase we all know and love.

I’m talking about the cognitive resilience.

We all learned to walk, talk, and do our business at the appropriate time and place by sheer force of will.

Ok, maybe that last one is a bit of a stretch…

I’m training my youngest in this final frontier in hopes of being diaper free for the first time in our family life.

In any case, if we were born with all the baggage we carry around with ourselves these days, we’d still be naked, dirty, and pooping ourselves silly.

Babies don’t GAF.

In fact, until the age of four, most people don’t really care what others think.

Once the social portion kicks in, that isn’t true again until old age for most.

To some extent, this needs to be modified in order to be a prismatic thinker.

We spend an inordinate amount of time in our heads wondering and creating narratives that keep us in a prison of our own making.

It usually spikes hard in puberty and young adulthood like that fruit punch you thought tasted funny at the Christmas party a few weeks ago.

Anyways, not caring so much about what others think and taking action despite getting repeatedly knocked down is easier said than done.

The beauty of getting hit in the face that first time is that you realize what you’re truly made of in the moments following.

If you’re reading this, chances are that you’re the type to fight back after that initial shock.

Which brings me to the second body part required for success…

So you can take the hits, but what about taking the shots?

In martial arts, the open secret is that everything is about leverage.

Styles like Karate and Tae Kwon Do start out with rigid punches and strikes.

Styles like Aikido and Jiu Jitsu start with limb manipulation.

Tai Chi starts with soft, circular motions.

In the end, every style incorporates the hard, the soft, and the flexible principles.

What am I getting at?

To effectively get your point across, you need to master your core.

In other words, you need a spine.

You might be the type of person who prefers to be in the background, but that doesn’t mean you’re the doormat.

You’re still human.

Eventually, you will get tired of people wiping their feet all over you.

So grow one if you don’t have one.

The best way to do this is to know yourself.

Discover what you belief and value in your life; what you simply couldn’t live without or would feel lost if you were deprived of it.

If you have nothing to fight for within, then you will be easily used from without.

Understanding who you are goes a long way towards identifying which idiots you will never allow to wreck your life.

You’ll save yourself a lot of stress and grief on the internet (especially given the changes in play with fact checking going the way of the dinosaur).

Pick your fights…or they will pick you.

You need a thick skin to endure the attacks on your person.

You need a strong spine to stand up for your values and beliefs.

Without these two things, you’ll surely fade into the background.

I’d say that most people have both of these to some degree, but it takes effort to take full advantage of the potential we all have in ourselves.

That’s why I’m building this idea of the prismatic thinker for myself.

It’s my take on what critical thinking should do for a person physically, mentally, and spiritually.

And it’s not something I came by easily.

It’s taken me a lifetime of tinkering and experimenting and experiencing to crystallize this concept.

To be honest, this article was more for myself than anything else because I know now just how far I have to go.

You need a reason to live and the means to fight for it.

Prismatic thinking is my take on how to figure out both and become the best version of yourself.

What do you think?

Do you have a system to maintain these two essential parts to become one?

Let me know your thoughts!

P. S.

I read the entire “Sword of Truth” series, and that last quote was the one that stood out to me despite it being in the very first book. Storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to teach, and it’s one that I want to hone in on more as I share my thoughts with you.