Have you ever been told you’re being irrational?
Gnarl. Growl. Roar. Pout. Stomp. Pound fists. On Table. Pound Head. Against Wall.
You take a deep breath. Inside your head, your brain is frantically yelling, “Ignore! Ignore! Ignore!” with flashing red lights and screechy alarms sirening, a la Spaceballs abandon ship scene. (Best movie ever, by the way.)
It hurts when they tell you that your dreams are irrational.
As a matter of fact, it hurts so much that it makes you want to unleash your inner Donkey Kong and start heaving gigantic barrels all over the place. As a matter of fact, it hurts SO much that after you heave a few good barrels, you’ll be tempted to go dead lift some oversized rocks to get your mind off things. As a matter of fact, it hurts SO, SO much, that after you do all of that, you’ll probably be even more angry, because not only is your ego wounded, but now your toe is, too, because you definitely dropped that rock right on your foot.
Yet, no matter how angry you get, you still bite your tongue. You wish they’d bite theirs.
You remind yourself that they’re probably just looking out for you. They care about you. They don’t want to see you make a mistake. Or, fill-in-the-blank with the plethora of reasons you can use to try and validate their less-than-supportive remarks, so you can keep sane & and carry on.
And that’s effective for, oh….approximately 4.7 seconds.
But then suddenly it hits you.
Oh, god.
What if they’re …… right?
Being Rational Isn’t All That It’s Made Out To Be
What does it really mean to be “rational,” anyway? Some common adjectives might include, “practical,” pragmatic,” “down-to-earth,” “grounded,” or “balanced.” On the surface, these might seem like good things to be, and in some cases, they probably are. The people that are encouraging you to be more rational certainly think so. And ancient Chinese philosophers would probably agree, with that whole yin and yang jazz. And quite possibly Oprah, for no other reason than she just seems like that kinda gal.
And with all due respect to all of those wonderful folks, when it comes to living life on your own terms, THEY’RE WRONG.
Here’s the deal:
First and foremost, when you want something, it’s not going to just fall into your lap, unless you happen to be wearing a lucky kilt, and even then your chances are probably slim. When you want something, YOU GO GET IT. There is nothing practical or grounded about chasing after one’s dreams–that’s why not a whole lot of people actually do it.
By their very nature, dreams are dreams because they don’t currently exist in your reality. And if that’s the case, then I’m fairly certain that a bunch of docile hoping from afar while knitting under the moonlight in an attempt to “find balance” won’t accomplish the task of turning something that doesn’t currently exist into something that actually DOES.
Most risk-takers aren’t usually “practical” or “grounded” or “balanced”–those that are ferverently sprinting after their goals are anything BUT those things, and reasonably so. Therefore, you should probably consider being called “irrational” a step in the right direction.
The second thing I’d like to point out is that there’s no hard and fast definition of what constitutes rationality in the first place. The concept of rationality is a man-made cultural construct, by which everything that is considered “rational” isn’t inherently so, but is such as the result of the unspoken, collective agreement to make it so, formed over many, many years.
Essentially, what fits inside the lines of “rational” is largely arbitrary, and entirely cultural.
For example:
The Canadians think it’s rational to put a limit on the number of pennies you can use in a business transaction. Apparently, 25 is the limit.
In Denmark, the Danes think it’s rational to fine anyone wearing a mask in public.
In Finland, the Finns think it’s rational to require taxi drivers to play a copyright fee to play music in their cars.
And in The United States, Arizona thinks it’s rational to stop all those that they “reasonably suspect” to be undocumented–not racial profiling at ALLLL.
So, the concept of what’s rational and what’s irrational varies from place to place, culture to culture, people to people, and person to person. There are many who might agree that taxi drivers should pay a fee, or that it’s possible to actually reasonably suspect someone off the street for being undocumented with a reason that isn’t related to racism.
So ultimately, getting back to your life, the point is that if the generally accepted definition of rationality isn’t something that’s set in stone, then it should follow that YOUR definition of what seems rational or irrational is what must really count. But the trick is that you’ve got to MAKE it count.
What Matters is Whether Or Not You’re Logical
That said, while the concept of rationality is something that’s negotiable, I do think that on the other hand, there is something to be said about being logical, which isn’t always the same as being rational. On the surface, the two words are used interchangeably, and from a semantic perspective, they are practically the same. And that’s fine, Webster, that’s fine. But from a kick-ass-and-take-names-slash-I’m-going-to-rule-the-world perspective–the viewpoint that needs the most attention if you intend on doing big things–there’s a big, giant, gap-a-roo between being rational and being logical. And it’s important to recognize the difference.
***It should be duly noted that the term “gap-a-roo” is a perfectly acceptable phrase that does not diminish credibility in the least when attempting to be persuasive and make a point. It should also be noted that I was dead serious about Spaceballs earlier.***
Moving on…..
Logicality is determined by a more objective analysis of what actually makes sense, versus what seems like it makes sense (rationality). Logicality is having the ability to remove the cultural lens and look at the world that is, versus the one we’ve been taught it is. Logicality is being able to disseminate fact from opinion, and base decisions on the former. (Different from being “grounded” in a rational sense, which is a subjective opinion determined by where you stand RELATIVE to the rest of the world, rather than simply where you stand–an important distinction that we neglect to make, often only weighing our goals and subsequent success against that of others, and not by their own merit.) Ultimately, logical is justifiable by reason; rational is justifiable by reason which is taught.
To give an example, logicality is the Tim Ferriss concept of relative income (measuring not just how much money you make, but also how much time you have) versus the universal standard of success being absolute income (simply just how much money you make).
In sum, it’s more important that risk-takers, dream-chasers, adventure-seekers, life-livers and entrepreneurs alike pay more attention to whether the decisions they’re making are logical, not rational, because logicality will help you move leaps and bounds forward, while playing by the rules of rationality will only hold you back.
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