20 Most Powerful Paradoxes of Life

written by JOSH GESSNER | The Curious Competitor

20 Most Powerful Paradoxes of Life:

1. The Fear Paradox:

The thing you most fear, is what you most need to do.

These fears are often bottle-necks for your growth.

Run toward fear, rather than away from it.

2. The Effort Paradox:

The performances that look the most effortless, take the most effort.

Athletes, Musicians, Artists...

You have to put in more effort to make it look effortless.

3. The Productivity Paradox:

The more time you have, the less you get done.

Parkinson's law states that work will fill the time allocated to it.

Use Naval's Lion Framework: Sprint, Rest, Repeat.

4. The Reading Paradox:

You'll forget most of what you read, but it profoundly shapes how you think.

Follow the Lindy Effect:

The books that have been around the longest contain the most value.

5. The Growth Paradox:

Growth happens slower than you ever imagined... then suddenly.

The significant returns in life come from compound interest.

6. The Hate Paradox:

The traits in others that you hate are traits that you hate in yourself.

“The characteristics in others that bother us are reflections of ourselves.” - Carl Jung

The Failure Paradox:

The more you fail, the more likely it is to succeed.

Edison failed 10,000 times before getting the lightbulb right.

Success comes from improvement, and improvement comes from failure.

7. The Fear of Failure Paradox:

The more afraid you are of failing, the more likely you will fail.

It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

8. The Advice Paradox:

The more advice you get, the less prepared you feel.

Most advice can suck...

Filter where you get your advice.

9. The Knowledge Paradox:

The more knowledge you accumulate, the more you realize you don't know.

Dumb people think they're smart.

Smart People think they're dumb.

The Dunning Kruger Effect.

10. The Focus Paradox:

The less opportunities you focus on, the better the outcome.

Narrow your focus, for the best results.

"The universe is rigged in a way that if you have one desire and focus on it , you will get it." - Naval

11. The Searching Paradox:

The more you search for something, the less likely you are to find it.

The Law of Reversed Effort states:

The harder you try with conscious will to do something, the less you'll succeed.

12. The Taleb Surgeon Paradox:

"If you're choosing between two surgeons of equal merit, choose the one who DOESN'T look the part, because they had to overcome more to get to where they are.” - Taleb

Looking the part is sometimes the worst indicator of competency.

13. The Urgency Paradox:

"Impatient with actions, patience with results." - Naval

Focus on your circle of influence, and take action daily.

Look up once in a while.

14. The Scarcity Paradox:

The more available something is, the less desirable it is.

Humans have a scarcity bias:

We assume that scarce resources are more valuable than the abundant.

15. The Vulnerability Paradox:

The more you put yourself out there, the more you think people will reject you.

In reality:

The more comfortable you are about not being great, the more people think you are.

16. The Approval Paradox:

The more you try to seek approval, the less likely you'll get it.

No one likes a try-hard.

17. The Behavior Change Paradox:

The more behaviors you try to change, the less they will stick.

If you try to change your life all at once, you'll quickly be pulled back into the same patterns as before.

Focus on small, daily changes.

18. The Relationship Paradox:

You can only be in a happy relationship if you're happy being alone.

You can't depend on your partner to make you happy...

You need to find that for yourself.

19. The Death Paradox:

There is no legacy.

There’s nothing to leave.

We’re all going to be gone.

Our children will be gone.

Recognizing this - allows us to truly live.