The paradox of sports

The paradox of sports is this: you need to believe you have a 100% chance of winning in order to have a 50% chance of winning. If you don’t believe in your heart that you’re going to win – not that it’s automatic, but that you have the right combination of talent, practice and divine favor – then you have little chance of winning.

Here’s the kicker: on average you’ve already lost 50% of the time, but you have to believe winning is 100% the time, and you have to keep believing it over and over if you want to keep your 50% win-loss record.

How does this work? It’s because the other team believes they have a 100% chance of winning, and that belief increases their chance – it enhances their teamwork, helps them keep composure when things go badly, etc. So winning is really a combination of talent, practice, divine favor, and believing in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, you lose that particular advantage.

The paradox of life

The paradox of living your life is this: you need to believe you have a lot of control over your life in order to have some control. If you don’t believe you have a lot of control over your life – that outside forces mostly control your life – then you’ll stop trying.

Here’s the kicker: a lot of our lives is in fact controlled by outside forces, but you have to keep believing you have a lot of control if you want to have any control.

The paradox of free will

The paradox of free will is this: you need to believe free will exists in order to live. If you don’t believe that free will exists – allowing you to make decisions independent of causality or randomness – then you’ll have little ability to stay alive.

NEXT IN THIS SERIES: Free will and the nature of time