Most people think they're stuck because of circumstance. They're not. They're stuck because of six choices they keep making without realizing they're choices.
1. Treating beliefs as facts.
"I'm not a morning person." "I'm bad at math." "I can't focus." These feel like descriptions of reality. They're not. They're rules you wrote and forgot you could rewrite. Beliefs aren't truths — they're tools. The wrong ones keep you exactly where you are.
2. Blaming the phone.
The phone isn't the cause of your distraction. It's the cope. Underneath every compulsive check is a feeling you don't want to sit with — boredom, anxiety, loneliness, uncertainty. Block the app and the feeling stays. Look at the feeling and the app loses its grip.
3. Waiting to feel ready.
Motivation doesn't precede action. It follows it. The people you think of as disciplined didn't wake up wanting to do the work — they did the work and the wanting showed up later. Waiting to feel ready is the most expensive form of procrastination there is.
4. Making to-do lists instead of schedules.
A to-do list is a wish. A calendar is a commitment. If it doesn't have a time on it, it isn't going to happen, and you already know which items have been migrating from list to list for months.
5. Calling discomfort a problem.
Discomfort is the price of every outcome worth having. Trying to eliminate it is trying to eliminate the work itself. The skill isn't avoiding discomfort. It's staying with it for ten more minutes than you used to.
6. Believing willpower runs out.
Carol Dweck's research found that ego depletion only shows up in people who believe willpower is finite. The belief creates the limit. Drop the belief and the limit goes with it.
None of these are personality traits. They're all choices. Which means you can choose differently starting now.
I find most “ambitious” people deeply unambitious. There are two types of ambition:
The first is “goalmaxxing,” where you pick a goal (e.g. building a company, making money, being an athlete) and try to become the best possible at that thing. You sacrifice other desires to achieve maximum, one-dimensional success.
The second is “lifemaxxing,” where you set your desired constraints (e.g. where you want to live, how you want to spend your time) and goals and try to achieve all of your goals given the constraints.
When Silicon Valley says “ambition,” they mean the former. But I find it fundamentally unambitious to do anything but lifemax.
Those that don’t either are falling into mimetic desire and chasing what they think other people see as ambitious, or they are taking the easy way out no matter how hard their life seems to be.
You need to be lifemaxxing.
I have immense respect for people who have compounded good habits into a good life.
A fit body from years of working out and eating clean.
A sharp mind from years of reading books and being curious.
A beautiful soul from years of loving openly and being honest.
A big bank account from years of creating value and making sound decisions.
Schopenhauer was right when he said every man mistakes the limits of his own mind for the limits of the world. Read one book outside your field this month. Watch what happens.
If I were to summarize the ideas of David Deutsch, it would be to take new knowledge very seriously because it’s the most powerful force in the universe and the source of all true change.
Being in shape is far more a spiritual statement than a physical one.
The subcommunication Is that
"I triumphed over weakness and I have triumphed over the world, I have mastery of myself, I respect myself ultimately"
Being out of shape is embarrassing if you're over 20
Every man eventually discovers that competence is the only real stabilizer of self-esteem; no amount of praise, affirmation, or philosophical comfort can replace the confidence that comes from knowing you can produce results even when conditions are hostile.
@ShashiTharoor sir, a whole generation of new authors seek inspiration from you.
We students of NIT Raipur want to invite you for a Speaker Session but cannot find any appropriate channel.
Kindly share your team's contact so that we can get a chance to have you once with us.
@Nawazuddin_S sir, a whole generation of new actors seek inspiration from you.
We students of NIT Raipur want to invite you for a Speaker Session but cannot find any appropriate channel.
Kindly share your team's contact so that we can get a chance to have you once with us.