> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bramadams.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Ego-San on the Sting of Defeat - URL: https://www.bramadams.dev/202302241944/ - Published: 2023-02-25T02:36:30.000Z - Updated: 2023-02-25T02:36:30.000Z - Description: Facing cognitive dissonance due to the failure of a goal requires choosing between delusion, metamorphosis, or quitting. - Author: Bram Adams - Tags: blue-lock, anime, game-theory To give up your dream for the pursuit of it forms **cognitive dissonance on multiple layers**. 1. The initial goal, *G*, was not achieved, so the mind has to contend with **absolute failure**. The system (other people, the planet, whatever) has rejected you from attaining the goal you set, despite your best efforts. 2. Any future time spent on the dream becomes a **sunk cost fallacy** (I got this good, so I can't stop now, right?). As a fallacy, it only continues to get worse. **Confirmation bias** (which can be avoided with a simple strategy that is discussed below[\[1\]](#fn1)) also prevents you from seeing other routes, locking your routine into the literal definition of insanity: “*doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.*”[\[2\]](#fn2) 3. The self you've cultivated and the strategy you have chosen have failed to materialize, and you realize **you can't** become the person you needed to be to attain your ultimate goal due to a combination of values/self-belief/etc. In order to break the cognitive dissonance that is born from this paradox, the goal-failer faces a crossroads: 1. Option one is to **delude** themselves into thinking that they never wanted the goal to begin with (sour grapes). This is a **poor long term strategy** due to the investment spent in fulfilling the goal with limited resources (financial, time, etc). **Delusion** is chosen carefully as a word here. It is delusion because you know the truth. **You know** you have failed to do what you set out to do. As a defense mechanism, **you pivot to protect the visage of self you've put effort into.** 2. Option two is to **transform into the person that can attain your dream**. Much like how [Barou realized there was no satisfaction to his goal of becoming the world's best striker by playing the way he always has](https://youtu.be/aZ58rLqLDbU?ref=bramadams.dev), **he was forced to** evolve into a new person through the despair. The impossible combination of his ego, his skill, and the reality of the other players on the pitch **broke him at his base** and a new person was formed. **This metamorphosis is a new person, with a new hypothesis and a new set of values, with the same goal.** The Bayseian updating part of the mind takes in the new data and reformats the core assumption.[\[3\]](#fn3) 1. This new person as a willful organism has their goal in the front of their mind and can **only be stopped by the laws of the universe (physics, genetics, etc.)**. In the long term, this strategy also succeeds at removing cognitive dissonance, but importantly, **does not involve delusion**. The goal-failer **accepts their failure into their hearts** and realizes to become the success they envision, the only route forward is to sacrifice the version of themselves that prevent attainment of their goal. 3. Quit. Self explanatory. ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-1.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-1-1.png) ego-san on defeat 1.png ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-2.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-2-1.png) ego-san on defeat 2.png ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-3.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-3-1.png) ego-san on defeat 3.png ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-4.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-4-1.png) ego-san on defeat 4.png ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-5.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-5-1.png) ego-san on defeat 5.png ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-6.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-6-1.png) ego-san on defeat 6.png ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-7.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-7-1.png) ego-san on defeat 7.png ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-8.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-8-1.png) ego-san on defeat 8.png ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-9.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-9-1.png) ego-san on defeat 9.png ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-10.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-10-1.png) ego-san on defeat 10.png ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-11.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-11-1.png) ego-san on defeat 11.png ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-12.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-12-1.png) ego-san on defeat 12.png ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-13.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-13-1.png) ego-san on defeat 13.png ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-14.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-14-1.png) ego-san on defeat 14.png **bramadams.dev is a reader-supported [published Zettelkasten](https://www.bramadams.dev/about/). Both free and paid subscriptions are available. If you want to support my work, the best way is by taking out a paid subscription.** ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-15.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-15-1.png) ego-san on defeat 15.png ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-16.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-16-1.png) ego-san on defeat 16.png ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-17.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-17-1.png) ego-san on defeat 17.png ![https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-18.png](https://storage.ghost.io/c/0c/cc/0ccc9a8d-054a-4056-b11e-e1bfbbb66387/content/images/2023/02/ego-san-on-defeat-18-1.png) ego-san on defeat 18.png --- 1. [202301082259](https://bram-adams.ghost.io/202301082259?ref=bramadams.dev) 2. [at least post 1800](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insanity?ref=bramadams.dev) 3. [202301120217](https://bram-adams.ghost.io/202301120217?ref=bramadams.dev)