Human Nature

Uncle Mike once told me that if they ask "why?", I should tell'em that it's human nature. The more you learn about yourself and people in general, the more you recognize the nature and nurture that makes you unique and the nature, needs, goals and aspirations that you make you similar to others.

Call it selfishness, survival instincts or being smart, but Human Nature 101 tells us that all of us are looking out for ourselves and the best way to get what we want is aligning what we want with what the people that can help us want. Why does your neighbour play his music so loud right into the night? Why is it so hard to get people to invest in your great business idea? Why would your friends rather watch the English Premier League instead of supporting the local clubs? Why aren't we helping the less privileged among us? Why are our politicians so corrupt?

The answer, human nature. We want what makes us feel good, what we get rewarded for, what would help us mitigate potential losses, and what would lead to future gain. We avoid what we don't enjoy, what we get punished for, what pricks our conscience, and what takes away something we value. The key to getting what we want then is to make it easy and appealing to do the things we both want and to make it hard and unappealing to do the things we want them to avoid.

It works in business and also in our personal social settings. Online shopping and mobile payments make it easier for us to shop, laws are put in place (and when enforced) make corruption less appealing, we confront our neighbours when play their music too loud and we create elaborate business plans in order to make investors see the potential opportunities and risks in our ideas.

In a broader social setting, we need to align what we want for our society with human nature. Some people get a sense of satisfaction from sacrificing their time and resources to help others; how can we help them help our society? When volunteering, these people do not expect any financial incentive in return as long as no third party is profiting financially from their help. When working professionally in service fields, these people go the extra mile to take care of their customers.

There are others among us that would sacrifice their time and financial resources for a chance at fame and astronomical financial gain; how can we help them help our society? What technology hubs, research laboratories and workshops do we need to invest in so our engineering minded entrepreneurs can have a short at solving our problems and padding their bank accounts? Which tools do you need in these hubs and how much should you charge per use so you get your return on your investment?

Some of us want to be seen as nice, some only respect force, some would rather spend money to save time and some spend time to get money. We are all different and we ourselves are different people from day to day. As you understand yourself and the people you deal with, you realize what drives you in specific situations, you realize what you are good at and start seeing how you can help those around you get what they want (when it's in line with what you want).

This is true whether what you want is financial returns, a satisfaction that you fulfilled your role as a friend/family or at times, a clear conscience.