Book 195 - A Year of Magical Learning (3 of 5)

Reflection Title: The 1,001 Days in the Life of a Turkey!

Book – The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Part 3/5)

Book Description: What have the invention of the wheel, Pompeii, the Wall Street Crash, Harry Potter and the internet got in common? Why are all forecasters con-artists? What can Catherine the Great's lovers tell us about probability? And, why should you never run for a train or read a newspaper? This book is all about Black Swans: the random events that underlie our lives, from bestsellers to world disasters. Their impact is huge; they're impossible to predict; yet after they happen we always try to rationalize them. A rallying cry to ignore the 'experts', "The Black Swan" shows us how to stop trying to predict everything - and take advantage of uncertainty.

Reflection:

The Turkey Problem as described by the author Taleb –

“For the first 1,000 days of the Turkey’s life, the farmer is the good guy. In fact, he might be the best guy in the whole world because every time the turkey sees the farmer means he is about to get fed. Unfortunately for the turkey on the 1,001st day, the farmer has come to begin the Thanksgiving celebration preparations. The 1,001st day is the black swan event for the turkey because it completely changes how the first 1,000 days should be viewed.”

I was the 1,001st day turkey on March 15th 2020.

On March 14th, 2020, my wife and I were going about our life like we had planned. Ever since we became a couple back in college, we’ve been on an agreed path of the life we wanted to live. We followed the patterns that we were told we needed to follow for “success” in life. We went to school, worked hard to build a career, bought a house, traveled and saw the world, and now we were ready to grow our family.

After starting the family, we planned to raise our kids, grow our wealth, retire and play with our grandkids, travel some more, etc.

That’s how it works…right?

Well, on March 15th, 2020 the universe reminded my wife and I that life isn’t scripted. March 15th is the day that our daughter was born at 22 weeks and 6 days old weighing just 1 lb. and 1 oz. We then spent the next 39 days in a hospital watching her fight for her life as a pandemic raged around us. If you’ve followed along with this journey at all at this point, you know what happened on April 22cd, 2020.

On March 15th, 2020 I became the 1,001st day turkey. For my entire life, almost everything had gone to plan up until this point. Sure, there were a few speed bumps along the way, but I was able to get back in control of the wheel and get my life back “on course”. On this day, we had a terrible car crash but we weren’t sure if it was totaled or not officially. It took another 39 days to get the results when we indeed discovered on April 22cd, 2020 when Emilia passed away. It was confirmed, the car was totaled, and all our plans, hopes and dreams went to the junk yard with it.

On April 22cd, 2020 I was not so gently reminded that life isn’t predictable, and it never goes by a plan of your choosing. What we’ve done in the past has no correlation toward what the future will hold. Your life plan can be taken in an instant like it never even existed in the first place…because it didn’t.

While this whole experience burnt my life plan down to the ground, after a lot of searching I did find a question in the rubble. If this is how the universe plays the game, what can I do to make sure that I’m making the most of my life each and every day that I’m blessed enough to be alive on this thing we call Earth?

Finding and asking that question is what ultimately led me toward discovering the power of living a life of values and purpose. I decided that if I can’t control the future, and the past has no bearing on tomorrow, that I’m going to try to live each day doing the stuff that I love to do where I can feel fulfilled every night when my head hits the pillow. I will no longer live for the plans in the future, but for fulfillment in the here and now. That is what I’ve been doing ever since April 22cd, 2020.

While I know I can’t control the universe, for the first time in my life I feel like I’m at least in control of my own personal universe in the here and now. I will be a 1,001st day turkey again at some point in my life, but I can guarantee you that I will have enjoyed the crap out of the 1,000 days in the lead up and be able to rebuild immediately on the 1st day after the destruction.

Question: How are you living your 1,000 Days?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb