A story is told by Isaiah Berlin and it's called the Hedgehog Concept. Berlin is said to have used his famous essay to divide the world into two; Hedgehogs and Foxes. In this essay, it's illustrated how much the Fox knows compared to the hedgehog and how many layers of traps he tries to set to catch the hedgehog. He is always lying in wait for the hedgehog but the hedgehog may not know a lot of things, he goes about his simple life of trying to care for his family while the Fox spends his day trying out complex strategies to grab him.
When he finally gets the chance he jumps to pounce on him, the hedgehog always wonders why he never seems to learn, as he shakes his head and withdraws into his shell, rolling into a ball, and becomes a sharp sphere wrapped with spikes. The hedgehog points his spikes in all directions to protect himself from the Fox. Often, the Fox retreats hoping to be back with a better strategy to win but no matter how many layers of strategy he comes up with, the hedgehog always wins.
The story had been told to emphasize and bring a closer look at how humans work on a different level. Some of us would run around with scattered ideas and actions that may not necessarily yield the desired results. Like the Fox, we see the world in all its complexity and keep drawing up different layers of strategies to use and win. And of course, there are most of us that like the hedgehog reduce all of the world's complexity into simple and basic forms. By doing this, we tend to eliminate what's not relevant to the goals on end.
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It's not far-fetched because we see ourselves doing this every single day. Every time a new idea comes up, we jump on the ship, hoping to make our big breaks from there. We never ever stop to think if we could work with what we have and shine, by breaking all of our complex thoughts, ideas, and strategies into basic concepts. These are little concepts that the world is run by.
For instance, there are small financial concepts that include, earning, saving, and investing. Nothing more, nothing less. If we can reduce the complexity of our financial goals into basic forms, we might be able to see clearly and utilize the resources we have at hand to make progress.
By acting more intentionally about those goals as the hedgehog does, we will be able to rise through several levels of growth and development. When we understand where our financial breakthrough or freedom motivation comes from, for instance, we can set our goals around them. This will be almost or entirely intentional because we have settled it down to basic forms.
We might see the next person running their own race to financial freedom by investing in bonds, and when we do, we think, okay, that will work for me too, and we jump right into it. We might probably have no idea why person A invests in bonds while person B invests in stocks. For each individual, their motivation is clear to them. One could be risk-averse or started investing late or wants a portfolio that offers at least a small level of security or lesser risk and the other could be directly opposite. Regardless of what their goals are, they are intentional, and they choose an investment portfolio that meets or will someday meet their goals.
To be able to stop yourself from constantly running around, pursuing many ends at the same time, and probably not getting the desired results, then you need to start thinking like a hedgehog. You need to start being intentional about your goals, acting on what motivates you, and winning on a bigger scale and levels. Good Luck!
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