The Primal Blueprint (45 page)

Meanwhile, the historic traffic fatality rates in France, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, and Scandinavia—per capita and per vehicle miles driven—are significantly lower than those of the United States. Interestingly, some progressive traffic engineers, in the U.S. and abroad, are popularizing the concept of “shared space” as a tool to reduce accident rates. The concept relies on human instincts, such as eye contact, in favor of traditional traffic signals and signs (e.g., the removal of bike lane striping on a roadway may actually make cycling safer by increasing driver vigilance). This seemingly counterintuitive concept speaks to the power of nurturing our natural instincts to navigate potentially hazardous situations effectively when we are not pacified by excessive safety measures.

Bart Knaggs, close friend and business manager of Lance Armstrong, was once asked what qualities set Lance apart from the competition. While many have read about Armstrong’s superhuman cardiovascular system or superior killer instinct, Knaggs chose something more esoteric to highlight, calling attention to Lance’s hypervigilance and risk-management skills in the context of the incredible complexity and strategic nature of Tour de France racing. On the bike, Lance’s hypervigilance enables him to identify those competitors around him who zone out, even for a moment, and to attack (increase pace to break away from the pack, usually in the mountains) at the exact right times for success (over the course of Lance’s seven Tour victories, the total time of these attacks amounted to mere minutes out of hundreds of hours of total competition time). Furthermore, Lance and his teammates’ ability to constantly assess risk and manage it moment to moment prevent his competitors from turning the tables on him in a similar fashion.

One of Lance’s most dramatic Tour moments came on a dangerous descent in 2003. Lance’s chief rival crashed heavily and broke his hip. Lance, riding a few seconds behind, averted the crash site by swerving off the road, cutting across a steep hayfield, dismounting to jump over a ditch, and remounting beyond the crash site to carry on! Years later, Tour de France chronicler Martin Dugard wrote in an account of how a rider had
suffered an improbable solo accident while wearing the yellow leader’s jersey for the first time: “Funny how some guys always find a way to crash and others [namely Armstrong] always find a way to win.”

As we strive to “find a way to win” in the game of life, we must respect the importance of holding that steering wheel and resisting the urge to flick the switch to autopilot. We must also be willing to take personal responsibility for our actions instead of defaulting to speed-dialing a personal injury attorney whenever we come to misfortune. If you were to get hit by a motorist running a red light, it would most certainly be his fault, but you may fare better on the road if you remember to fasten your seat belt and look for oncoming traffic before hitting the gas when your light turns green. Every time I encounter a dicey driving situation, I realize something upon further reflection when things calm down: whenever I mumble “asshole” to someone who has just cut me off, I should really be saying it to myself, too—for being in a rush, being too aggressive or impatient, or diverting my focus from the road momentarily. Maybe the motorists who incur my wrath deserve a little choice feedback, but I can find something I bring to the table most every time.

I can’t remember if an errant throw or overly aggressive defensive play was involved in my Ultimate accident, as I prefer to focus on the fact that I hurled myself through the air irresponsibly and then tried to come back into action too quickly afterward. When I take responsibility for my actions, my misfortune becomes a growth experience—an appealing alternative to feeling like a victim or placing any importance on the notion of bad luck.

This theme also works in a discussion about dietary habits. You can blame lousy food options in airports, your distressing family medical history, or the limitations of your budget, but in each case you may be better served to accept some personal accountability. Take the extra time to pack healthy snacks for your travel. View your family history as a catalyst to cultivate hypervigilance and risk-management skills instead of as a curse. Take a deeper look at your lifestyle priorities, make some compromises, and stretch your food budget a bit to choose the very best of everything. In this way you can turn negatives into positives and create excellent leverage to be the best you can be, regardless of “bad luck” or other figments of your imagination that are vying for your attention. As my wife, Carrie, says, “They’re all choices you can make whenever you want.”

“Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.”
—
Gertrude Stein
American author and French art patron (1874-1946)”

Perhaps no other
Primal Blueprint
behavior has been as fundamental to the success of the human race as a devoted reliance on complex thought—working the brain just like a muscle. Hunter-gatherers all around the world developed language, tools, and superior hunting methods independently. Combined with optimum dietary choices (including high levels of healthy fat and protein), humans experienced a rapid increase in human brain size over just a few thousand generations (it should be noted that brain size has actually declined steadily in our recent history, something experts theorize was exacerbated by the dietary changes caused by the advent of agriculture and grain-based diets).

As discussed in the Avoid Stupid Mistakes section, we are experiencing some unfortunate regression in the simple, powerful
Primal Blueprint
behavior of using your brain. While the modern world features plenty of complex thought and a constant and rapid progression in human innovation—technological and otherwise—our overstimulated lifestyles compromise our ability to use our brains with maximum effectiveness. Even Albert Einstein was reputed to have once said, “I don’t know my phone number because I can look it up easily in the phone book.”

The fact that we are able to outsource brain function is not necessarily bad, but it does reveal that we are having trouble keeping up with today’s information overload. In the workplace, the mismanagement of information overload from personal digital assistants (BlackBerry, iPhone, etc.), instant chat, and the like can stifle creativity and innovation, not to mention our levels of energy, motivation, and health. Consequently, many of us operate in a reactive mode, constantly and often futilely trying to keep pace with the information with which we are bombarded. In Mark Bauerlein’s book
The Dumbest Generation
, he blames digital technology for compromising the intellectual development of young people. “When we were 17 years old, social life stopped at the front door. Now [via MySpace, Facebook, instant chat, texting, etc.] peer-to-peer contact…has no limitation in space or time,” observes Bauerlein. Hence, time to read, daydream, free-associate, or gain an adequate understanding of current events, history, and other mainstays of cultural sophistication goes by the wayside.

The fallout from this cultural shift is difficult to quantify, but the story of our pilot friend offers an intriguing perspective. During his ordeal in the Sierra, DeLeo exhibited magnificent brain use; if he had shown anything short of brilliant creativity, innovation, gross and fine motor skills, mind-body connection, risk management, and hypervigilance, he would not have survived. However, his performance must be placed in the context of the incredibly poor brain function he exhibited to get himself into that mess in the first place. Similarly, we collectively do an exemplary job at consumerism, multitasking, and leveraging technological innovations, but the development and refining of these skills comes at the extreme cost of an unhealthy, imbalanced lifestyle.

If we examine the true definition of
stress
as “stimulus,” it’s clear that we require a certain amount of daily stress to thrive, prosper, and be happy. “Evolutionary Fitness” advocate Art Devany, Ph.D. (
arthurdevany.com
) draws a compelling link between exercising our minds and our genetic nature as free, independent, adventurous human beings. “Modern life leaves our minds restless and under-utilitized because we are confined, inactive, and comfortable,” Devany argues. “We cannot be satisfied with more and more, because we are evolved for another lifeway in which material goods do not matter. The result is that we are deeply unsatisfied with modern life and don’t know why.” It seems like our genes don’t know what to make of all our “stuff.”

“Modern life leaves our minds restless and under-utilitized because we are confined, inactive, and comfortable, We cannot be satisfied with more and more, because we are evolved for another lifeway in which material goods do not matter.
—
Art Devany
,
Ph.D.
Evolutionary fitness advocate
arthurdevany.com
”

At first glance, few might agree that our minds are restless and underutilized. Many of us end our days running on fumes, feeling like our minds will explode if we send or receive any more e-mail. Our minds are indeed overstressed, yet technically underutilized, because we lack the balance that creative intellectual outlets, play, healthy diet, exercise, sleep, and other winning behaviors promote. Eight hours of brain power is probably a sensible limit to devote to your daily work efforts. However, engaging your mind with things that stimulate your creativity in other ways and that you have a passion for is critical to mental health and overall well-being.

As we collectively pursue overly stressful, imbalanced lifestyles, the façade of retiring to a life of leisure has become entrenched in our society. Granted, no one would argue with the benefits of having financial independence versus trying to make ends meet every month, but beyond our economic circumstances we must consider what is truly healthy for our minds. A life of true leisure and ease does not represent the highest expression of your talents and therefore is psychologically unhealthy.

Robert Frank’s book
Richistan—A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom
chronicles the challenges that trust-fund kids have navigating life with the unearned wealth that many experts argue is a disadvantage. Challenges with motivation, substance abuse, lack of connection or role modeling from busy/famous parents, and protecting or adding to their passive wealth are commonplace, thanks to the lack of perspective or compelling reason to apply themselves to the familiar challenges of obtaining an education and career through the competitive free market.

What if you won the lottery and had all the money you would ever need? How would your life change? I’m not talking about the observable change in your credit card balances or new toys in the driveway. I’m asking how you would spend your time. Would you really kick back on the beach in Maui for months on end? Would you cast aside your plain, average friends in favor of a new, exciting blue-blazered crowd from the country club? Or, when push came to shove, would you perhaps drift very close to what you are doing now—working with cherished colleagues, volunteering in school and community, and pursuing simple, inexpensive passions with family and friends?

Those who are content to punch the clock and skate along at bare minimum effort would be well served to look at what has happened to those who rest on their laurels throughout history. From failed ancient civilizations to today’s too-comfortable middle manager or cocky eleventh grader dragging his heels on SAT prep and college applications, those who fail to exercise their creativity, imagination, and awareness will likely suffer not only from the high drama of defeat, failure, or physical trauma but also from that “restless mind” syndrome discussed previously.

“A life of true leisure and ease does not represent the highest expression of your talents and therefore is psychologically unhealthy.”