Is Resistance Futile?Resistance is Futile

From the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, Captain Jean-Luc Picard faces his greatest challenge yet: the Borg. Its massive, cube-shaped ship has already destroyed Earth’s defenses, leaving only the Enterprise standing. Every attempt to fight back has failed.

The Borg transmits its final message as it prepares to consume everyone on Earth. “We are the Borg. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.”

Picard orders, “Beam me aboard the Borg vessel!”

He arrives inside the dimly lit ship and is surrounded by assimilated drones. They quickly lock him down with their mechanical arms. He grimaces with pain as the assimilation process begins. He thinks, “Is resistance truly futile?”

In the face of overwhelming opposition, resistance can backfire. Instead of overcoming their problems, people lose energy, give up, and worst of all—start to resemble what they fight. They are “assimilated.”

Why You Lose

You may have heard that if you fight or resist bad elements in life, you can end up “becoming one” with that bad element. The theory is you become what you resist. Is this true?

Let’s say you REALLY hate being in debt. Every Sunday night, you sit at your computer screen to see which of your bills you can afford to pay. You see your income is lower than your bills, and getting worse. You think, “How did I let this happen?”

You stress over every bill, criticize yourself for taking out your loans and watch your credit scores go down. But then you do it again and take out another debt to cover the payments. The more you resist debt, the deeper you sink.

Five More Examples

  1. You resist all bad behavior in your group without success, so you start behaving badly yourself.
  2. You fight being tired and end up being completely exhausted.
  3. You resist your fears so much that you live in terror.
  4. You resist an angry business partner’s plans until you give up and agree with whatever he wants.
  5. You resist getting sick with so much intensity, you end up in the hospital.

Fortunately, Resistance Is Not Futileis resistance is futile

“It is true that people believe this law: ‘That which you resist you become.’ However, there’s another little clause that belongs on the bottom of it: ‘if you lose.’”

“That which you resist you become, if you lose.” — L. Ron Hubbard

So how can you win against the things you resist?

Five Ways to Win

Instead of letting resistance consume you, use one or more of these methods until you succeed. Use all five, if necessary.

#1 Go up the Emotional Tone Scale

Stop being so serious about the problem you are resisting. Lighten up and say, “So what?” and smile.

Make the people involved with the problems feel happier. Find cheerful people to help you. Pull everyone up the Tone Scale.

#2 Increase Your Courage

Stop resisting the facts and face them. Accept the problem as it is.

Move into the problem. Do not avoid it or run from it. Carefully observe it.

Give the problem your complete attention. Focus on it in present time. Dive right in!

#3 Use More Intelligence

Educate yourself. Look for solutions. Change your strategies.

For example, instead of worrying about your debt, you focus on your income. You improve the quality of your work. You get more done. You create a new income source. You then pay off all of your debts as your highest priority.

#4 Apply More Force and Effort

Schedule in more of your time. Hold a stronger position. Increase your speed.

Use more self control. Be strong and decisive. Stand your ground

(Be careful not to resist something to prove you are right, to get revenge or to protect your ego, as that hurts you.)

#5 Control It, Influence It or Ignore It

Break down the problem into small pieces and sort them into three categories.

a. Things you can control. Increase your control of these parts.
b. Things you can influence. Use a little more time and pressure on these.
c. Things you can’t control. Stop trying to control these things.

As you improve your control skills, find more pieces of the problem you can influence and then control.

Five WIN Examples

  1. Instead of just resisting bad behavior in others, you educate them and motivate them to use good behavior with your enthusiasm.
  2. Instead of just resisting being tired, you increase your knowledge about sleep and then test methods until you take control of your sleep.
  3. Instead of fighting your fears, you learn to face and conquer them.
  4. Instead of resisting your partner’s plans, you discuss and find small parts you can both agree on. You meet more often. You make your friendship much stronger. You both win.
  5. Instead of just resisting illness, you find and use the best ways to be healthy. You eat well, sleep well and exercise. You then feel younger and healthier.

How Captain Picard Wins480 F 194080021 Qqc5gJLp4uNQpSStlbPdbQdeYUXt7PHN

Even though Picard is trapped within the Borg, he continues to fight back. He studies their systems, searching for a weakness.

Then, he tricks the Borg into sending a hidden message to the Enterprise crew. They follow his plan and break the Borg’s control over him. Picard then turns the Borg’s power against itself and forces it to give up.

Picard watches the Borg leave from the bridge of his ship. “Resistance,” he says with a small smile, “was not futile after all.”

Action Steps

  1. Pick a problem in your life that you resist and cannot solve.
  2. Go through the five solutions. Pick the ones you can use to win.
  3. Write down a plan to win.
  4. Persist with orderly progress until you finally win.
  5. Repeat with another problem until you solve them all!

Learn more solutions by reading “The Problems of Work.”

Related Articles
“The Emotional Tone Scale”
“The Fear Problem”
“Two Elements of Success”
“The Power of Holding a Position”
“Control Circles”