Mental model - the DNA that determines your life's destiny

What is a mental model? Simply put, it is the "color" through which each of us sees the world. Mental models are like filters unique to each person, making each of us see the world differently. There are a thousand Hamlets for a thousand readers, this is the truth.

Everyone’s experience, family, growing environment, genes, and collective subconscious all affect the filter. It is these factors that determine what each person’s filter is like.

Even if each of us sees the same world, through the filter of mental models, we see a different world.

Give an example. A city planner encounters a red light while driving. The world the driver sees at this time is that he has to stop at the red light and wait for the green light to pass. What urban planners see may be whether the location of the traffic light on this road section is reasonable, and whether the timing of the traffic light switching is reasonable.

Also, when a group of people see the same thing, some people have positive thoughts, and some people have negative thoughts. And sometimes such differences will lead to two people having completely unequal life achievements, as different as clouds and mud. The difference can be imagined.

What you are thinking right now may be that you want to change your mental model. So, can mental models be changed? Let me put it off first. Before I conclude, let me talk about how difficult it is to change your mental model.

Mental models are actually a bit fatalistic. Our mental models seem to be predestined. If we are not aware of our mental models, we may never change our mental models throughout our lives.

There are innate factors and acquired factors in the formation of people's mental models.

Innate factors such as genes and collective subconsciousness (genes and collective subconsciousness will not be discussed in depth here, I will write about it when I have the opportunity). Innate factors are innate and cannot be changed.

Acquired factors such as growth environment and experience. But even such acquired factors are difficult for us to control.

Because we are completely unaware of the formation process of acquired factors and have no control over it.

Just think about this question, will anyone be aware of the concept of mental models after birth? No. Acquired factors are the sum of all experiences a person has had since birth, and we cannot control these factors.

So each of us seems to have a predetermined filter that cannot be changed.

Now it’s time to talk about the conclusion. Can mental models be changed?

The answer is: yes.

Let’s give an example to illustrate, about my own example.

Before I was 26 years old, I was doing very poorly. I won’t describe how bad I was. At that time, I attributed the reason why I did so poorly to the fact that no one was guiding me and I didn’t meet a noble person. I felt that I had to be mentored by a noble person to succeed. At that time, my focus was on pleasing others, and I drank and played in my spare time. I also think I am motivated, and the subtext in my heart is that as long as someone is willing to guide me, I will definitely work hard. I am a motivated person.

Thinking about it now, the idea at that time was really ridiculous.

Later I came into contact with the program "Luo Ji Thinking" and was attracted by the charm of knowledge. I thought about how this guy Luo Pang is so eloquent and knows so much. I was infected by Luo Pang's knowledge. .

I started reading books and watching the Luo Ji Thinking program, which I could hear. I no longer drink and have fun all day long, and my whole person has changed.

I began to feel that success can be achieved through hard work, and I gradually found the direction and goal of my efforts. Now my life is better than before. My mental model has been upgraded, and I have become more humble and more objective when looking at everything (no one can be absolutely objective, it can only be said to be close to objective). The more I interact with people now, the more I feel the importance of mental models.

Only when you understand yourself well enough can you see the outline of your mental model and change your mental model.

Speaking of this, another question arises: How to understand yourself and see the outline of your own mental model?

Please allow me to give you another clue. Before that, it is necessary to give you a more vivid understanding of the importance of mental models.

Mental models are like the operating system of a mobile phone, and the thoughts, skills, and habits we acquire are like apps. The operating system determines how many apps you can install and to what extent the apps you install can be upgraded. These directly determine the performance ceiling of this mobile phone.

I have written in other articles that habits can change personality and thus change people's destiny. Only with thoughts can you have habits, and with habits can you have skills, which can change your life.

Speaking of this, we can first draw a conclusion: mental model is like the DNA of life's destiny, it determines what your destiny is.

I don’t think I need to elaborate on how important DNA is.

Then the conclusion is here: knowledge-can change your life and destiny DNA.

The answer is actually in the example I gave about myself. I changed myself through learning. Knowledge - what a powerful force it is.

Here I will not explain in detail the principle and mechanism of how knowledge changes mental models. In fact, I can't do it either.

I only know one thing. The knowledge I come into contact with is changing me little by little. I don’t know when I started to change my mental model, and I don’t know what specific knowledge made me change. I can only generally say it is knowledge (the type of knowledge must be diverse enough, as a single type of knowledge can sometimes be harmful).

I spend almost all my spare time studying. Use fragmented time to listen, and use the whole evening to read.

I have always felt that knowing yourself is important, and facts have proven that it is the most important knowledge, bar none.

If you begin to realize the importance of mental models, you can also change your mental models. It is completely late to change it now.

Everything that happened in the past has become an established fact. We cannot change it, but we can change the present and the future.

Some people say that the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, followed by now. What do you think?