Failure of Purpose
Here is an excerpt from a Joe Polish email –
“In the 1970s, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health built the perfect mouse habitat.
Unlimited food. Unlimited space. No predators. No scarcity of any kind.
And the colony completely fell apart.
The males stopped competing. The females stopped nurturing. Play disappeared. Society collapsed.
He called it Universe 25. And his warning was simple: abundance without challenge doesn’t produce flourishing.
It produces collapse.
Peter Diamandis has spent decades at the frontier of exponential technology. Steven Kotler is the world’s leading researcher on flow and peak performance. They sat down at a recent Genius Network meeting to talk about their new book, “We Are as Gods,” and what it actually means that we now have godlike capabilities.
And somewhere in the middle of that conversation, the question got uncomfortable.
If AI removes friction… robotics handles labor… and abundance is no longer a question of resources…
What happens to us?
Because the same thing that makes the future extraordinary is the same thing that could hollow it out.
Too much delivered. Not enough earned.
Peter says we’re already watching the first fork happen. Not between rich and poor. Between consumers and creators.”
When we can get almost anything with little effort, bad things will happen to us. I am a firm believer that the effort, challenge, “failures” and struggle are necessary for us to be mentally and physically healthy and strong long term.
What do you think?
Larry Janesky,
I am Chase Meierdiercks. A 14 year old who reads your writing every day and has read it for about a year. I find your messages and stories to be inspirational and enlightening.
These messages I read every day before school help me determine the person I want to be that day. They have gotten me through the toughest of days, the ones that put you down low, and they have also helped me take a different point of view on a bad day, and they still do.
I write this letter to thank you above all for these inspirational E-mails that I get everyday and help me be a better human being which I think is very valuable nowadays. This world is full of hate and I think people everywhere in the world need to see these. I couldn’t thank you enough for doing this.
Today I am thankful for ThinkDaily.com and Larry Janesky!
Often times when things seem like they aren’t going well, someone will say or do something to “snap” me back to reality. When that happens, it’s like my vision is physically clearer and my mind is refreshed. I find it strange, but it really is your mind and soul connecting to overcome the challenge that you are going through. To me, it’s sort of a supe power! The mind and body are amazing when working as a team.
“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones”
– Proverbs 17:22
I would agree that the connection between mind and body is extremely profound!
We become what we think about — healing and being healthy!
I am inspired every day by these words that you bring and I appreciate the time and effort you put into doing this. I am utilizing a tool to help me look at my life and the patterns in it and it came up with this which sounds like something you would say: The energy you’re putting into personal endeavors isn’t pulling away from your business success—it’s actually the foundation for it. A CEO who’s living a full, integrated life, who has genuine joy and pursuits outside of work, who’s emotionally available? That person leads differently. Clients feel it. Teams feel it.