Stop bothering, mate!

Seeking advancement is in the nature of man. We try to outdo people around us all the time, since that is the natural way we progress as individuals, as society; though the latter may not really be a part of our calculations. Whom do we choose to outdo then? Obviously the ones who are doing better than us, for the others we must already have outdone to reach the position which we have.

Now, let us assume that a hierarchy exists among people, which is not too much of an assumption really, simply because at any point of time, one person has to be doing better among any two people. For our purpose, we will take the level of competency a person possesses as a determinant to who is doing better, since competency is a fairly comprehensive parameter in itself.

Like any other person, you would be a part of some hierarchy or the other and therefore, you must occupy some position in it. Let us say that you are at the 6th position, i.e., you are the 6th most competent person. The immediate objective for you then would be to outdo the person who is at the 5th position in the hierarchy, since that is the only plausible way to move up - by displacing the person adjacent to you first and then the others further up in the hierarchy. To outdo this person, say M, you need to exceed the level of competency that he currently possesses. To do that, you have to try and match your competence to that of M’s current level first. M, however, has a similar motivation to elevate his level of competency and bring himself to displace the person in the 4th position, say N. So, he too works towards improving his competence to N’s current level at least. Apparently, the only way you can now outdo M is by increasing your competency level at a rate faster than him. Possible, surely?

Imagine that competency was a straight line starting from zero and ending at infinity. Your competency level is currently at, say, some point X, and M’s is at, say, some point Y. Here, Y is ahead of X. In your efforts to improve your competence, you move from point X to point Y. But in the mean time, M’s efforts have taken his competency level to some point Z from Y, where Z is ahead of Y. You still lag behind M. You try again and take yourself to point Z. However, during this time, M has again moved to a new point W, where W is ahead of Z. Extending this argument, it becomes clear that your position on the linear straight line will always be behind M’s. The same logic goes for M. M will continue to be behind N. And if that’s the case, the hierarchy will always be maintained.

In effect, however hard you try, you are always going to stay at the same position in the hierarchy, just where you had originally been. And if relative position is all that matters, then why even bother trying? Just chill and stay afloat.

Now, find me that silly person who wrote the 4th standard Moral Science lesson – “Try, try, again”.

(This article has been inspired from the Zeno’s Paradox.)