As a student, I usually enjoyed school, but only because I was good at “playing the game” of school.
As an adult, I’m struck by how much more fun it is to learn.
For a curious person, right now is the best time ever to be alive. You can learn whatever you want. It’s incredible.
Reading is like fresh food for the mind. The consumption fills you with wisdom.
Writing is like exercise for the mind. The effort leads to stronger ideas.
Meditation is like fasting for the mind. The practice clears your mental digestive tract.
A strategy for thinking clearly:
Rather than trying to be right, assume you are wrong and try to be less wrong.
Trying to be right has a tendency to devolve into protecting your beliefs.
Trying to be less wrong has a tendency to prompt more questions and intellectual humility.
Some people need more focus. Others need to broaden their perspective.
Some people need to try harder. Others need to stress less.
Some people need to care more. Others need to let it go.
The secret is you are both people. The key is to know which one you are in this moment.
You know yourself mostly by your thoughts.
Everyone else in the world knows you only by your actions.
Remember this when you feel misunderstood. You have to do or say something for others to know how you feel.