Self-improvement isn’t about changing who you are, it’s about changing your wording. When you clean up the language, you clean up the mess. Your brain isn't a lighthouse of universal truth but a confused foreign exchange student. Feeling better is a matter of proofreading your internal narrator. Stop labeling your identity, start describing your state: "I’m lazy" becomes "I'm avoiding it because the task feels scary". Do you need therapy or a dictionary? Treat your inner dialogue like malfunctioning software: if your GPS got you lost five times in a row, would you continue taking its advice? Your inner monologue isn't you but a propaganda machine run by a committee of childhood wounds and cultural expectations. What would a different version of you say right now? We challenge news sources, politicians, but not the voice in our head. Don’t believe everything you think. Do you struggle to find the answer or to ask precise enough questions? Are you paralyzed by indecision or do you struggle defining what you want? You do not require a breakthrough, you need clarity.
Eric BarkerTime is zero-sum so prioritization is mandatory. An hour spent on one thing necessarily means not spending an hour on the entire universe of alternative things. Every minute is a choice and every choice is a trade-off. There isn’t enough time for more than two big things in your life. Prioritizing means intelligently determining which precious few things we will actually do. Your priority is identifying one or two high-value tasks. Many important things aren’t as important as the most important thing. Acknowledge the many things that also deserve attention and explain why you’re intentionally letting those fires burn: because the top priorities are even more important.
Jason CohenYou can’t force motivation, you can’t make someone passionate. Good parenting relies upon building intrinsic motivation instead of relying on fear or force. The seeds that you water are the seeds that grow. The people you surround yourself with shape you by their own motivations and interests. Making concrete progress is one of the core ingredients to intrinsic motivation. Most passions grow slowly. Urging people to find their passion may lead them to put all their eggs in one basket but then to drop that basket when it becomes difficult to carry. People need breadth to see all of the available paths as exploration sets the stage.
Steve Magness