Hangry for Perspective

During the summer of my first year of law school, I went backpacking in Europe with a good buddy. One afternoon we had just gotten to Rome and we didn’t have a place to stay.

Of course, this was a little while ago, neither of us had a cell phone, so we were walking from hostel to hostel in search of a room.

I remember being very focused.

And I’m pretty sure my buddy remembers me being very grumpy.

At some point, after we had checked out a couple places, my buddy said, “Let’s stop and eat something,” and I said, “No. Let’s just get there.” He persisted, and I eventually agreed.

We stopped and ate. It was tasty, I was laughing. And joking. And having the great time I had come to Rome for.

It was funny just how much it affected my outlook.

In the book Transcend, Scott Barry Kaufman talks about food insecurity, which tends to produce certain negative behaviours. Not just in humans, but across birds, insects, and other animals.

A hungry creature prioritizes food, and deprioritizes other things. And it gets focused (read: grumpy and hangry) in the process. This isn’t a bug - it’s a feature. They’re more likely to get food and survive.

I just want to highlight this: when they’re hungry, their perspective on life changes. Everything is interpreted through that lens.

But look, this isn’t about food. I have found that the analogy matches as we move to other aspects of life.

The point comes back to what we were talking about last week - the hull and the sail of the boat - the deficiency needs and the growth needs.

One of the deficiency needs I struggled with last week was self-esteem. I was deficient in that need. It is a fundamental need, just like hunger.

And it starts to change your perspective.

If you were to patch the hull of your ship first, some of the things you think are important now might not be important with this new perspective.

What hole below the waterline have you been doing your best to ignore?

Join us this week as we discuss this and more.

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