“A Jedi requires the deepest commitment and the most serious mind.” - Yoda

That is complete horse shit.

I lived my life with the expectation that the above movie quote has some valid life application.

As a result, I applied “seriousness” to my religion, my work, my family and my relationships only to realize, much later, I’ve been wrong my whole life.

Authority figures and other powerful people who greatly benefit from your support, seem to want you to believe in “absolute seriousness” because as a consequence, you turn over what areas of your life under your control, over to them.

You can be the hero who sacrifices himself to let them get away and boy did they get away with it for a long time.

Until one day you realize that a belief that you never consider questioning is the reason why you need to pull so much weight in your life.

Because of the mis-use (i.e. serious relationship, serious about my goals, take work very seriously, take you seriously), we mistake seriousness for sincerity.

I did, at least, for as long as I can recall.

Seriousness is not sincerity.

Seriousness is paying undue importance to something, at the cost of everything else.

Sincerity is a focus that has enthusiasm and giving your best without excessively worrying about the outcome.

When I learned the distinction, a call for my “serious attention” has become a signal for me that the person asking for my support will likely use several dirty tricks to switch me over to their side.

In other words, whenever someone wants me to be serious, it is likely a form of manipulation.

The extreme horrible kind.

The kind that creates suicide bombers.

I have then learned to be sincere instead of serious.

Seriousness does not provide you with better output anyway.

Whenever I find myself comparing the results of my playful effort and maximum effort I found out that whatever boost I get from grunting and suffering is only about 4-10%.

Derek Sivers wrote about a similar experience while cycling.

I previously lost a lot of sleep over small problems when the solution often requires sleeping over it or giving it more time.

There’s a lot of applications from work to martial arts but what you need to remember is to never take it seriously.

Be sincere, be playful and alive if your goal is to accomplish.

Seriousness allows you to mimic the dead, unmoving and unyielding.

Practice kindness on yourself and only apply a gentle focus, just enough to direct you to where you want to go.

So take the time to regularly check with yourself if you are serious or sincere and whether you’re applying a playful effort of maximum effort.


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