Mind Shift summary

What can we learn about life from eating mushrooms?

McManus confronted this question while sitting backstage, waiting to give a television interview. The guest preceding him was a trusted leadership expert, who gave some pithy advice to young leaders. He described how in the past, foragers would have to make a judgment call as to which foods were nourishing and which were deadly. His advice was, “Never be the first to eat the mushrooms.” When it comes to foraging, as in business, let someone else take the risk and then you can safely follow.

Michelangelo, the great figure of the Renaissance, had many qualities – artistic brilliance, unrelenting vision, and supreme mastery of his craft. But there was one quality he didn't always have: balance. When sculpting David, Michelangelo became so consumed by passion for his work that all balance fell aside. For days he went without eating, sleeping, or stopping – chipping and chipping away at the marble with single-minded devotion. Such intense focus may have tipped his life out of equilibrium, but it also produced perhaps his greatest masterpiece.

What can you learn from this? The quest for balance can be misleading or at least incomplete. You’ve probably heard from all directions that allocating equal time to work and relationships, health, and ambition is key to living well. But this idea of balance can also restrain you from fully pursuing your greatest potential. Sacrificing too much at the altar of balance can leave life looking beige and bland, the jagged edges of your individuality rubbed smooth.

As you’ve just seen, the pursuit of balance can sometimes be misleading. Not everything deserves equal weight, and passionate people are rarely balanced. Nevertheless, there’s a common cultural understanding that there can be “too much of a good thing?” Is this broadly true? Perhaps there are some things which you can’t have too much of.

Kindness is one such example. Contrary to popular belief, you can’t be too kind. You can be too deferential or too polite – but never too kind. Real kindness flows from abundance, not lack. It heals and connects rather than harms. Small acts of dignity and respect ripple outward, uplifting others. Kindness is a quiet, gentle force rebelling against cynicism. One that makes the world more humane.

Deeply-held beliefs shape what you can achieve. When you cling to approval and conformity, you restrict your potential. Instead, you need to foster the courage and self-belief to step into the unknown. Guided by ambition focused on doing good, and aligned to a sense of purpose, you’ll open yourself up to tremendous growth.

You have more control over the cognitive frameworks defining your life than you realize. Disassembling self-limitations and constructing empowering beliefs instead allows you to become the fullest expression of yourself.