Work With the Real World, Not the Perfect World
Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations , Lifehacker’s weekly dive into the pool of stoic wisdom and how you can use its waters to meditate and improve your life. I am replacing Patrick Allan, and since this is the Week of Evil, I take a break from the ancient Stoics and consult with the Renaissance philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli.
At Lifehacker Now wicked week , which means that we are studying is not quite decent methods to deal with the shit. We like to think we’re shedding light on these tactics as a way to help you do the opposite, but if you’re really mean, this week might not be of any use to you. You decide.
One who neglects what is done for the sake of what needs to be done will lead to destruction rather than conservation.
Niccolo Machiavelli, Prince
What does it mean
In Prince, Machiavelli promotes a ruthlessly pragmatic approach to wielding and maintaining power, defending seemingly immoral behavior because it contributes to the greater good of the nation – if you agree that what is good for the prince is good for the nation. The above passage, placed in the middle of the book, forms the basis of all of the most famous lessons of Machiavelli.
Take his most famous phrase: “It is better to be afraid than to love.” Why would anyone want to be feared? In an ideal world, love will be enough and everyone will treat each other well out of the kindness of heart. But in the real world, people exploit others if they don’t fear any negative consequences. Fear is the main deterrent to most antisocial actions, from murder to bad manners.
More generally, Machiavelli says, while it’s nice to think that you can be completely selfless, you will simply be exploited by those who are not selfless, and you will be ruined. As does everyone who relies on you. He argues that if you want to have a good life and take care of others, you have to stand up for yourself. Sometimes you have to become ruthless.
What to take from there
Scholars completely disagree on whether Machiavelli was completely serious, ridiculed the monarchy, sabotaged it, or even tried to inflame discord among the oppressed by exposing the immoral behavior of their rulers. But his advice still sounds like a defense of realism over idealism. If you want to succeed in the real world, you must pay attention to the world as it is, not as you would like it to be.
Let’s say you are looking for a job. You may wish all jobs to be referred to the best candidate and trust your resume to prove your worth. But in the real world, a hiring manager might not even read your resume unless someone puts in a good word for you. You may get angry and scream about unfairness, or you may find a friend of a friend to guide you in an interview. What do you think is more likely to get you a job?
This is not to say that cries of injustice never work. The rights of most workers became law only after unions and activists began to fight for them. They did not expect their bosses to give up these rights and offer these rights out of the goodness of their hearts; they banded together and refused to work until their employers could not afford not to fulfill their demands and politicians could not afford not to support them.
Accepting the crappy world you live in can be tiring and demoralizing. But recklessly expecting things to work the way you want them to just because they have to work is even more tedious. Because most things in the world don’t work as they should, and you have enough time on this earth just to change some of them. All you can do is find a balance that allows you to move forward without losing hope that the world can be a better place.