THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF PROGRESS

Noeses is here again and we are still on The Revelations of Progress. In our last post we promised to touch on the topic dubbed; The First Principles of Progress. Noeses refers to these principles as the mindset of progress. Let's go!

The things best to know are first principles and causes, but these things are perhaps the most difficult for men to grasp, for they are farthest removed from senses….

                                                                                                  Aristotle

I believe that Aristotle, one of the greatest ancient Greek philosophers, has already answered the question that’s probably on your mind right now; why first principles? First principles is the basis from which everything is known. All knowledge is best acquired from first principles. Even though first principles thinking might prove to be very time consuming, I’m tempted to say that it’s the only way to obtain a deeper understanding of a given subject or to arrive at new and original ideas. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla made a statement that, “ The normal way we conduct our lives is we reason by analogy, we are doing this because it’s like something else that was done, it is like what other people are doing.[with first principles] you boil things down to the most fundamental truths….. and then you reason up from there.” Do you remember when you had to learn high school differentiation from first principles? It is virtually impossible to master a subject without learning the first principles.

I made many attempts to skip this post but I had to write this for the benefit of my cherished readers. In this post, the goal is simple; to equip you with the fundamental truths of progress. It’s meant to help you open yourself up to experience true progress in your life. These principles are as follows:

You Have the Potential to Grow

Everyone has ability. Everyone has something special that they are capable of doing. For as long as one has ability, one has potential. You haven’t even used an inch of the stuff that you have brought into this universe. No matter how highly achieved you are, there is more room for you to think better, talk better and do better. You haven’t considered all the possible ways there are to do that thing that you are doing right now; you haven’t solved all the problems of the world; the experiences you have are just a fraction of the experiences there is; you haven’t discovered all there is about yourself so how can you say that you have reached your limits? Bill Gates makes it a point to read about fifty books (nonfiction- explains something about how the world works) every year. Why would the world’s richest man spend so much time flipping through pages? I believe the message is clear; there is more room. Be happy where you are but never consider that place as the last frontier. You are an infinite field of unfolding possibilities. There are no limits wheresoever to what you can do. It’s true that everyone has ability but not everyone has motivation and attitude. It’s my hope that this little revelation gives you the motivation and the attitude to grow.

There is an Excellent Way to do Everything

There is no best way to do anything. Did I just say that? Yes!There is a best way to do something relative to another thing; but there is no one best way. Whatever you are doing can be done better no matter how excellent you think it is. Are you a student? Are you a speaker? Are you lecturer? Are you a political leader? There is an excellent way to learn as student, as a speaker there is an excellent way to inform, an excellent way to convince, an excellent way to elicit action and an excellent way to inspire, as a lecturer there is way to capture students attention during the entire period of the lecture, and as a political leader there is a way to appeal to the populace to rally behind you. It is not rocket science that President John F. Kennedy is considered one of the greatest presidents America ever had. He had the most striking presence. He was skilled in the art of seduction; he knew how to speak to convince and to inspire. Tiger Woods showed and continues to show a high level of perfection as a Golfer. Serena Williams adds a touch of excellence to Lawn Tennis. It’s not a mistake that most Americans loved Barack Obama and it’s not a mistake that Donald Trump is leading the polls. The question is what are they doing right? Ask yourself the right questions, learn and apply the right principles, develop strategies and BE EXCELLENT!!!

 You Don’t Grow by Chance

One very important first principle to hold is the idea that we don’t grow by chance. We progress by making the conscious effort to take calculated steps. If you want to win you need to prepare to win and if you want to grow you need to prepare to grow. Preparation and expectancy is always very crucial. Yes! Your luck may shine but I believe that majority of the work is done strategically. Sometimes, it might seem as though some people came out of nowhere to be at the top. That’s not really the case because just like Tony Robbins said, “if you look at someone that’s really successful and you are like wow…they are so amazing…they are such a genius; you got to dig underneath and you got to remember something,” people are rewarded in public for what they’ve practiced for years in private”

You Have the Desire to Grow

I believe that almost every human on the surface of this earth has the subtle desire to grow. Take a little time to think about where your heart is; what makes you happy? What do you desire to be good at? If you know exactly what you desire to do, that’s great. If you don’t know, it doesn’t mean you don’t have the desire. Chances are that you were thinking about only what other people want for you; you were thinking about what the systems offers or what almost everyone considers as worthy. Maybe what you really want is out of this world; maybe you have been told that what you want is not worthy enough; may be after you say what you truly want someone will tell you, ‘put all jokes aside’. Let me tell you something:

What you desire doesn’t have to be in line with what other people desire; it doesn’t necessarily even need to be in existence; it doesn’t necessary have to be the norm. Who said you have to fit in. Enjoy and persist in your uniqueness. Allow yourself to want what you really want. No one will kill you for doing that. You see, you can watch the world as it passes by or you can make it stop for you. What do you choose?

I believe everyone has the desire to grow. If you think you don’t have it, don’t worry because Noeses is about to help you ignite that desire very soon in subsequent posts in this series.

Think on these first principles to prepare yourself for the next set of posts. In our next post we shall start a sub series titled; Write Your Own Praises and History will Remember You.  Like I said the first principles is the mindset of progress. Clothe yourself with this mindset so we can make progress. What do you think about these principles? Feel free to leave a comment. Cheers!!

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