This happens all around us: People try to keep up with what others are doing. This race to be compliant to the larger expectation is also called “the arms race phenomenon” – people will race towards getting the arms (just like countries do) that everyone else has. The “arms” here could be that fancy college degree, palatial house, that attractive SUV, social media followers etc. You get the point.
When I behave a certain way just because everyone else seems to be doing it, I am participating in the “arms race”.
The best example of this is our education system. Knowing that IIT pass outs earn a higher starting salary, millions of students race towards availing expensive coaching. Same applies to getting into medicine and other seemingly lucrative career paths. Who benefits more – a few students who clear these hurdles or the expensive coaching institutions?
In his 2015 New Yorker article titled “College Calculus”, John Cassidy writes,
If almost everybody has a college degree, getting one doesn’t differentiate you from the pack. To get the job you want, you might have to go to a fancy (and expensive) college, or get a higher degree. Education turns into an arms race, which primarily benefits the arms manufacturers—in this case, colleges and universities.
Rolf Dobelli offers excellent suggestion in his book “The Art of the Good Life”
“Try to find a field of activity not beset by the arms race… Retreat every so often from the field of battle and observe it from the above. Don’t fall victim to the madness… You will only find a good life when people aren’t fighting over it.”
Key questions to ask yourself:
- In what activities of my life am I trying to do something just because everyone else seems to be doing it?
- What can I do to escape the arms race so that I can truly work in areas I am truly passionate about?
- If I am in the arms race, does it truly align with my ambitions, my values and my inherent skills as a person?
- If I am in the arms race, how can I leverage my strengths to be in the top 10% bracket in the race?
- What can I do to find a niche where I can differentiate myself uniquely? (How can I start an arms race
Escaping the arms race is not same as being lazy or less hard working. It is about choosing a different path, not a conventional one. It is about applying what you learn rapidly (even when you are in a full time course) rather than waiting for education to get over.
The real education is in doing the stuff and learn by doing.
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