What you are great at almost always develops to compensate for what you are terrible at
We are all born with primary & secondary cognitive functions
These heavily influence what you gravitate towards and become good at
It is your operating system for processing reality which comes naturally to you
We tend to gravitate toward what we are good at, and avoid what we are bad at
This then causes lopsided development and disharmony
Our strengths develop to great heights
Our weaknesses atrophy and become more of a limiter as the gap widens
I’ll share some personal examples to clearly illustrate the point
My strengths in soccer were always speed, power, and shooting
Those attributes/strengths developed to a very high level over the years
But this development was due to ignorance and resorting to my default cognitive functions
When i’d play poorly or just proactively choose to get better
I’d always work on speed, power, and shooting
Unknown to me then, this was overcompensating for the opposite attributes lacking
I was developing the emotion/body side of the equation, but neglecting the logic
My positioning, strategy, and understanding of the game was nearly non existent
Strength, speed, and shooting developed to elite levels to overcompensate for this
The inverse is true for the opposite player profile
Who develops their positioning, strategies, and understanding of the game and becomes elite at that
Overcompensates in that area to make up for lack of speed, power, and skill
Putting numbers to this, let’s say shooting was 84/100 and speed was 88/100
…but the opposite, which was positioning and strategy was 24/100
If I developed my positioning and strategy to go from 24/100 to 50/100
That would show up as a night and day difference in the results I produce
If I go from 84 to 87 shooting
Almost no measurable difference will be seen….maybe a chance at 1 extra goal over the entire season
Let’s view this through the lens of creative work
I’d resort to my cognitive strengths
Investing everything into bettering my content, ideas, concepts
Let’s say that was 83/100
But my articulation was 25/100
….and my distribution was 12/100
If I go from 82 to 85 content, it’s not much of a difference in overall performance
The content will be 3.66% better
However if I increase articulation to 50/100
That’s a DOUBLING of the effectiveness of the content
and if I increase distribution from 12/100 to 62/100
That’s a SIX TIMES increase
Leading to a night & day difference in outcomes
It’s the difference between making a incredible full-time income and making nothing from sharing content
Now let’s look at a broad sense of this and how it plays out
Talented people underestimate their ability & value
Untalented people overestimate their ability & value
The talented gradually cultivate their skills over their lifetime, it’s playing to their primary cognitive functions
It FEELS effortless, it feels normal
They don’t feel like they ‘paid a price’ to get it. They don’t have a intense contrast of sacrifice made and energy exerted
The untalented quickly obtains the minimum viable level of skill
This provides a high contrast and they can FEEL the price to pay
Giving them the perception of value from this contrast and energy exertion
Making content or products they FEEL and exert a lot of effort to do it
They ‘pay a price’ and FEEL that
This is why the untalented so easily can charge for their work & put themselves out there – they overestimate themselves for this reason
This is why the talented so easily under charge or never charge and never put themselves out there – they underestimate themselves
BOTH require integration of the opposite to get the best results and serve others at the highest level
The talented will need to understand their value
Develop distribution systems and put their stuff out there
The untalented will need to understand their value
Invest back into their development and skills to be better with what they put out there
I could give endless examples of how this plays out, and how i’ve seen it
In dating i’d keep doubling down on my strengths and did not acknowledge my weaknesses
I’d keep doubling down on charisma and looks but was missing the opposite side of the equation
…and it was that which resulted in attracting but not retaining
Meanwhile the INVERSE is someone who was great at retaining but had no attraction, essentially the ‘friend zone’
Knowing these inverses also shows it’s not really a matter of superior & inferior
Pretty much everyone’s strengths are the overcompensation for their weaknesses
The highest levels of development is integration of both
📜 “When the two become one, you will say to the mountain move and it will move” – Jesus, Gospel of Thomas
It is not that our strengths are inadequate, rather it is our weaknesses which prevent us from realizing results
Remember earlier with the numbers,
We demonstrated how integrating the weaknesses (articulation & distribution) was the night and day difference that changed everything
This is another misconception we unconsciously make in our interpretation of reality
When not getting results you have nothing
Leading you to feel like you need EVERYTHING
In reality you are only missing SOMETHING
When your car won’t start does that mean everything about the car is broken?
No, it’s SOMETHING that is broken, not everything
To go from level 12 to 40 is FAST & SIMPLE
It’s pretty much adding that ‘something’ you are missing
Levels 80+ are when things get complex & advanced
Everything before level 80 is DIRECT & SIMPLE
Who does not workout, and starts working out changes something
But that something changes everything
Going from 0 to 1 is a 100% change in outcome
From no results to some results
From no exercise to some exercise
When we are at nothing it can FEEL like we need everything
In reality by doing something instead of NOTHING that is what changes EVERYTHING
Doing SOMETHING for distribution strategy instead of nothing yields a 100% change in outcome
EVERYTHING is not needed to change everything
Diminishing Returns on XP
In the gym your first year lifting, practically every week your lifts go up
Year 5 however, even a 5-10 pound increase over an entire year is considered good
Year 1 – my bench went from 225-315
Year 2 – from 315-335
Year 3 – from 335-345
Just like the shooting example from earlier
Going from 82 to 85 shooting will likely take 1-2 YEARS
However going from 24 to 50 positioning will only take a few WEEKS
This is why integration of the weakness provides a quantum leap in outcomes
The XP table from RuneScape reveals this (other video games also follow the same XP model)
XP stands for “experience points”,
When you do an activity you get ‘experience’ giving ‘experience points’ which level up the skill
The better you get, the more difficult it becomes to get better in a particular skill
Just like going from 225-300 on bench can happen in a year
But 315-335 takes another year
Then 335-345 takes another year
You can get to level 70 in a few weeks/months
Level 1-70 = 737,627 total experience points gained in that skill
Level 76 = 1,336,443 total experience points gained in that skill
It’s DOUBLE
To go from Level 1 to 70 takes as long as going from 70 to 76
Let’s say getting writing to 82/100 took 5 years
Getting to 85 will take 2 YEARS
The difference between 82 and 85 writing is not noticeable
To go from 12 to 48 distribution will take 4-12 WEEKS
and that will show a MASSIVE difference in results
If writing income was $2000/month it would go to $8000/month
FOUR TIMES BETTER results in 4-12 weeks
vs
3.66% better results in 2 YEARS
(We are using simple math to illustrate the point, taking into consideration compounding it could potentially be even more)
This is NOT saying to stop developing your strengths, but to be aware of the overcompensation and neglect of the opposite
Wrestling with the opposite polarity that acts like a rubber band holding one back
Making the biggest obstacle yourself instead of the objective
📜 “When the two become one, you will say to the mountain move and it will move”
One does NOT need to mean exactly at the same skill level
It does need to be a 1:1 ratio to see a quantum leap in results
Level 90 and Level 90
Rather becoming ONE in direction they point to, on the same page, instead of divided and weakening each other
Going from negative hindrance -> to neutral -> complementary strength
Distribution of content can go to 60/100 and it will then be complimenting instead of hindering 82/100 writing/content creation
Complimentary vs Compensatory
This exists universally, a large part of the reason people require stimulants is to COMPENSATE and power through a poorly designed system
The system is inefficient and ineffective
The disharmony of the system design requires abnormal force to achieve miniscule results
Thus people gravitate towards supplements to help overpower and compensate for this
Bullseye
We all start at different points around the perimeter and are moving toward the bullseye
One needs to slow down, the other needs to speed up
One needs retention, the other needs attraction
One needs to lose weight, the other needs to gain weight
BOTH the overweight person & underweight person experience similar symptoms of joint point and organ issues as a result of the disharmony
They need opposites, one needs to gain weight, the other needs to lose weight
They also need some similarities – exercise, eating better foods, hydration, etc
The further from the bullseye, the worse our satisfaction and results
The closer to the bullseye the better our satisfaction and results
If you’ve spent 5 years getting to 82/100 in your strength
We can view that as going along either the X or Y axis
However this is lopsided on the Y axis
The opposite weakness has been neglected and is 12/100
Like the XP table above 12-48 would take a few weeks
82-84 would take 1.25 years
These concepts will be further expanded on in upcoming articles, particularly the bullseye
The main focus here in bringing attention to the quantum leap effect of simply switching a weakness from negatively impacting you to being a complementary strength
This has a MASSIVE effect
Not only does this decrease resistance
It also increases flow of your power
When you remove the resistance of the weakness you also remove the wasted energy your strength was compensating for
They are intertwined in their effects on each other
There reaches a point where people in their journey are forced to ‘face the music’ when the gap between your strength and weakness is too strong you’ll notice a devastating pattern
Understand this compensatory law and opposites law, and you will see it everywhere
What is most rare and truly special are the ones who are BOTH
Typically you’ll see opposites
His marketing is incredible, his distribution systems are incredible
But it’s (unconsciously) because he had to compensate on the surface level for lacking substance of product
The package was mediocre so the packaging had to overcompensate
He likely gravitated toward his cognitive strength of logical systems, distribution, etc
It was not malicious intent which did this
Assume ignorance before malevolence
That we can call the more logical type, gravitating toward strategy, systems, distribution, analytics, packaging
The inverse is the more creative type
Their package is great, but their packaging is ineffective
Their distribution has no logic to it, their systems are non existent
Thus gravitating toward and doubling down on the strength of making the product/the substance to overcompensate
BOTH require development of their opposite for a quantum leap in their results AND TO TRULY SERVE OTHERS BETTER
The one with a great package but poor packaging needs the opposite so people actually see his work and benefit from it
The one with great packaging but a poor package needs the opposite so people actually benefit to a more impactful degree from his works
It is these conflicts, distortions, and lack of equilibrium which cause most frustrations in oneself and other selves
Your ‘weakness’ does not need to be as excellent as your strengths to start seeing massive differences in your outcomes
It simply needs to develop from a negative hindrance to a complimentary strength
wait wait wait….
Like a muscle it was the tension from overcompensating for our weakness that developed our strengths to such a high level
Does that mean integrating our opposite/weaknesses would remove the tension and stop the growth?
This my friends is the great transition we make in our development
When you PROACTIVELY CHOOSE to keep growing, you choose your catalysts – the challenges you select to continue growing
Before this it was a matter of being self-challenged and wrestling with ones own weakness that forced the tension to grow REACTIVELY
You need not worry, the game is designed in such a way you WILL keep growing
….by your own will or not by your own will
If you choose to stop growing once you start seeing results, gradually like muscle attributes will atrophy
“use it or lose it”
Results will slip and some sort of negative catalyst will again appear REACTIVELY as a result of the disharmonious tension of the gap in polarities
If you choose to PROACTIVELY create your own catalyst and challenges then you will keep growing by YOUR OWN WILL
Either way you will grow
Either being self-challenged or self-challenged
huh?
Self-Challenged meaning you pick your challenges for yourself or they will come to you
Self-Challenged also meaning your challenge is yourself
So no, equilibrium does not stop growth
What stops growth is when the self stops growth, doing better only when a catalyst of something negative forces it
When you choose your challenges then you go on your own terms, if not challenges come to you
Struggle being your best
Struggle being your worst
Tension, growth, and evolution will always be there
It is not that are strengths are inadequate, rather our weaknesses obstruct our realization of results
📜 “When the two become one, you will say to the mountain move and it will move”
There are probably 10 articles which can stem from these concepts
I wanted to get them out there in a clear and simple way to start
The nuances within the various aspects of the what we can call ‘Bullseye XP’ perspectives will be coming soon
Thank you for reading
Cheers,
– Yous
