Decisive, determining, or deciding factors often define outcomes, whether in nature or human endeavor. The “Turbo Button,” a feature from early IBM-compatible computers of the 1990s, provides an apt metaphor for a cognitive shift — an intentional acceleration of mental performance. I recall activating it during my earliest experiments in problem-solving, outsmarting a friend in a Tetris high-score duel. That, in essence, was my first “hack.”
Analogously, when observing predators such as cheetahs or lions, we find a refined model of decision-making and strategy:
Selection: They identify a single, viable target from among many.
Isolation: They detach this target from the herd.
Focus: They maintain absolute concentration, excluding distractions.
Evaluation: They make a realistic decision — to hunt or to hold — based on experience and circumstance.
Execution: They commit, accelerating into a decisive final sprint.
This last act — the sprint — is the true determining factor. A fractional misstep can mean starvation. Both predator and prey operate in heightened states of instinctual intelligence — “Turbo Mode,” if you will. One acts, the other counters; survival is the shared algorithm.
My own reflections extend this analogy to creativity and cognition. Writing, problem-solving, and invention all demand a switch into this intensified mental state — a modern form of “Edward de Bono Mode.”
In my writing — often monological, stream-of-consciousness, and self-analytical — I pursue that same focus: the hunt for meaning. Perhaps that is the ultimate hack — learning when to accelerate.
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