What 'Alice in Wonderland' taught me

written by JOSH GESSNER | The Curious Competitor

If you've read 'Alice in Wonderland' you might've noticed this...

The Red Queen Effect:

"Faster! Faster!"

The red queen screams as she pulls Alice's hand.

Gasping for air - Alice desperately keeps up.

Alice looks up, when she notices something curious:

The trees around them hadn't changed places at all...

She thought to tell the queen.

"Faster! Don't think!"

Eventually, the queen comes to a stop.

Alice looks around:

"I believe we’ve been under this tree the whole time! Everything’s just as it was!"

‘Of course it is,’ said the Queen, ‘In this world, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.

This scene gave birth to the Red Queen effect:

Staying in the same place - is falling behind.

We've seen this throughout evolution...

Natural selection weeds out those that fall behind.

This creates an evolutionary arms race:

All species try to outdo each other to survive.

I've experienced this in my life:

As a professional baseball player, It gets drilled into our heads:

"If you're not getting better, you're falling behind."

There's truth to this.

The talent pool is getting more competitive as the years go by.

Those who improve... Stay.

Those who don't... Get cut.

You might relate to this:

• Technology

• Business

• Relationships

In all areas, innovation is required to stay competitive.

Yet - most stay stagnant.

Running as hard as possible toward meaningless, unfulfilling pursuits.

Chasing the Red Queen.

What can we do about it?

I started to think about how the Red Queen is showing up in my life.

To gain an edge, we need to adapt.

And the best way... is to become a perpetual learner.

"The most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner." - Naval

In the modern age, hard work isn't enough.

You can work 80hrs/week and still fall behind.

By becoming a perpetual learner:

You figure out what you're uniquely suited to work on:

A pursuit that leverages your innate talents, obsessions, and skills.

One with asymmetric outcomes.

An actionable way to start:

Start with reading.

Charlie Munger claims Warren Buffet's sucess came from:

"sitting on his ass and reading all day".

The foundation of learning is reading.

Follow your passions and curiosities.

Become a learning engine. Be willing to change.

“It's not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”