The Two Wolves, Tolerating Uncertainty, & More

I recently came across an old Native American story that I love:

I can't stop thinking about this story. We all have the two wolves inside of us. If you choose to feed the Dark Wolf, you'll be filled with anger, fear, hate, jealousy, and envy. If you instead choose to feed the Light Wolf, you'll be filled with hope, kindness, joy, love, and optimism.

Which wolf will you feed? Remember: The choice is yours. So, choose wisely.

To lead is to have the courage to question the consensus. To carve your own path. To create by your own design. Remember that.

This story, often referred to as Three Men Make a Tiger, offers an important life lesson that repetition can create the illusion of reality.

The Illusory Truth Effect says that consistent, repeated exposures to a statement will increase the likelihood that we believe it to be true, even if it's false. In other words, if you're told something over and over again, it will take in your mind as a truth.

There are a variety of implications of this idea, but I'm most interested in how it relates to a few areas of life:

The real wisdom here is not to ignore the voices of the crowd—after all, sometimes, if three people say there's a tiger in the market, there may actually be a tiger in the market. The real wisdom is to pause before you default into believing them.

Cultivate an independent mindset. Question the assumptions you've been told about the mountains you should climb. Question the stories you tell yourself. Pause and question whether the tiger is real.

Confession: Over the last few years, I slowly lost my joy for reading books. The biggest reason was that most of my reading became highly structured, part of a disciplined research process for my own book. I got away from the free-flowing, natural reading that had previously been so energy-creating in my life.

I want to change that, so I'm committing to 30 minutes of free-reading as part of my morning routine. Free-reading just means that I'll have ~5-10 different books on my desk and I'll just pick up whatever calls me on a given day. No plan, no forcing myself to finish, no specific aim. Truly free.

Structurally, it'll be the first thing I do when I get to my desk at 5am, as I think it's easier to build a new habit when you do it first thing in the morning.

It's very easy to show up with energy when something is working. When it's clicking. When the result feels predictable. It's very hard to show up with energy when the rewards are uncertain.

Those who can tolerate the most uncertainty are the ones who will eventually win. Remember that.