How many types of snow do you know? I can only think of firn, powder, and slush. Their properties? I only have a vague idea. A weak ability to differentiate. A lack of expertise. How many types of snow does a ski technician at the Four Hills Tournament know? Or a mountain guide on the Matterhorn? Or how much better can a professional golfer read the weather conditions affecting their tee shot than an amateur golfer?
The motivation for high levels of competence in the Four Hills Tournament and among professional golfers is undoubtedly "achieving victory through peak performance." On the Matterhorn, the ability to differentiate helps you survive. This leads us to the question:
What actually helps us survive in our everyday lives?
What distinctions provide orientation in a world that is constantly increasing in speed and complexity? The answer: the ability to read the weather in high mountains corresponds to the ability to differentiate mentally in our modern world. What is meant by the quality of distinctions can be wonderfully illustrated by the examples of "condemning," "judging," and "evaluating."
Rate...
"Evaluating"means determining the value of something. This usually requires intensive reflection, learning, or research. A heart surgeon hopefully has a high level of discernment in his field thanks to his training and experience. This enables him to competently and accurately assess the health of a heart. Anyone who wants to determine the true value of something needs the necessary expertise to do so.
Assess...
"Judging" means making a decision based on two distinctions: black or white, good or evil, "I know" or "I don't know," "I like" or "I don't like." We see how this works every day with "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" on social media. It should be clear that this is more about sensitivities than about the desire to determine the value of something. Thinking is exhausting. And quick judgments immediately calm the brain.
Condemn...
Unfortunately,"judging"is by far the most common bad habit. It involves looking for reasons to reproach others. Why? To elevate oneself above others through prejudice (prejudice based on preconceived notions). Whether it's politicians and wealthy people being dragged down at the regulars' table, the boss's circle labeling employees as incompetent across the board, or the masses badmouthing refugees: the pattern is always the same. By devaluing others, we hope to increase our own self-worth. But the effect is shorter than a high, and the drug must be replenished at regular intervals. What do we get out of it? On the one hand, the advantage of quick peace of mind, but on the other, weak orientation, which makes us manipulable.
Have you ever been truly in love?
Another example? In every human connection, no matter how shallow or deep, there are things that divide and things that unite. Have you ever been truly in love? Head over heels, with butterflies fluttering wildly in your stomach? Do you notice what connects you to the other person or what divides you? Surely the things that connect you. A few months later, things may look very different. Often, the focus is then on what separates us. Mature people know that there are always things that connect and separate us in relationships. What changes is our awareness and what we focus on. Smart people learn to see what connects and separates us and then concentrate on what connects us. That's the Champions League.
Perhaps you can sense it now: when we learn to evaluate things in a differentiated way by making wise distinctions, we trigger developmental leaps in ourselves and others. Thinking is a great instrument of freedom when it enables us to extract the wisest things from the world, even if it seems too strenuous at first glance. And that is clever. Very clever.
Grundl's reasons: The European Union
Would you like to learn more about the power of distinctions? More about what connects people and what divides them? And what role the state of mind plays in this? Using the example of the European Union, I explain in my new video "The European Union – Connecting and Dividing"that the initial energy is usually followed by the discovery of critical factors. And that, in addition to what connects us, the focus often suddenly shifts to what divides us.
