Differentiating Your Goals and Skills - the Mimetic Theory
Hey everyone! Hope you’re having a fantastic weekend.
Recently I came across an interesting theory called the Mimetic Theory. It’s a theory developed by a scholar named Rene Girard.
The theory speculates that we form our identities by looking towards others. We know what we desire only after seeing what others desire.
For example, you might have asked your parents for your favourite sports team’s jersey when you were a kid. Girard argues you only wanted it just because you saw other people (e.g. your friends or siblings) wanted it too.
Since we are cultural learners, our tendency to imitate others is innate. We can’t help but copy others automatically without even realising that’s what we’re doing.
Imitation can be either good or bad. Imitating the best people can be the fastest way to improve your skills.
On the other hand, imitating the wrong people leads to envy and zero-sum games where nobody benefits. This is the core of Girard’s Mimetic Theory.
So who are the wrong people to copy? It’s your Neighbours - those who want the same scarce object as you. Suppose your goal was to get a promotion at work. Your colleagues want the promotion too. But only one person can get it. Now, because everyone wants the same scarce object, it becomes a competition where you win, or you lose. This competition – Mimetic Conflict – transforms your goal from getting the promotion to dragging others down so they won’t get the promotion, which could result in nobody getting the promotion.
We fight not because we’re so different, but because we’re so alike.
Differentiating Your Goals and Skill-sets
How can we avoid Mimetic conflicts?
We have to differentiate our goals and skill-sets.
Our school system teaches us to follow the rules and be the same as others. They tell us that’s how you become successful. Maybe you can climb up the corporate ladder that way.
But at what expense? You have to go through countless Mimetic conflicts with others. Moreover, there’s no guarantee you’re going to make it to the top.
Instead of following the train tracks laid by others, you should pursue your weird obsessions.
Patrick Collison, CEO of Stripe, suggests a heuristic:
“Do your friends at school think your path is a bit strange? If not, maybe it’s too normal.”
No matter how weird your obsessions are, there is always going to be a group of people who share the same obsession as you. The Internet helps you connect with those people and forge your own path.
Thanks for reading! I hope you have a great weekend.
Shu
P.S. When I started my newsletter a month ago, my goal was to get 10 subscribers by the end of March. But we’ve already got 10 people! So, thank you so much everyone. I’m so grateful.
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Personal Update
Just out of curiosity, I hired a freelancer to draw me and my girlfriend. And I got this, which is fine? But my face is definitely creepy…
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