This is a reminder to myself, that I’m not special.
I’m aware this isn’t the happiest start. But stick with me. I promise it has a positive message.
Does anybody truly know what they are doing?
We have pressure on us from family, friends, and societal expectations. Most people who love us want the best for us, and those lucky enough to have people around us like this can often benefit from the input of others. Especially when we make important decisions.
The most important pressure we have is pressure from ourselves. If we haven’t yet given in, we want to be better than ourselves from yesterday. This is how I define progress. Don’t compare to other people. There will always be someone doing better than you and someone doing worse than you. Doing both incite emotions that are unproductive. If we want to improve ourselves, reflect on ourselves, and don't judge others.
Think back to the oldest person you know. Not directly known, just in the entirety of history. So I always choose the Roman emperor Julius Caesar as an example. To be remembered now, what did he have to do? He ruled an entire empire! One of the greatest empires the world has ever seen. Read the first sentence again. I know I’m not special. And this helps put it all into perspective. If you have given in, I hope this can provide some hope.
The chances are nothing of what I do will be remembered. On the surface, this seems quite sad. But I have a different approach. If nothing I do will be remembered, why shouldn’t I do exactly what I want to do in my life, whenever I want to?
This takes time and an active effort on your part. Deeply consider the life you want to live. Assess everything that would be involved in this kind of life. Are the positives worth the negatives? What trade-offs would you have to make to have this life? In other words, what aspects of your life would benefit, but which would suffer too?
If you find yourself in a situation where you can’t work towards your ideal life, can you progress in small stages? Even slight changes in your life could contribute to a massive shift in your overall happiness. It won’t be easy, and there are good days and bad days. But paint yourself a long-term picture. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Understanding Yourself
One of the first things to understand what you want in life is understanding yourself. What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Can you improve any weaknesses to further enhance your strengths?
The MBTI personality test is the best way I’ve found to understand myself on a surface level. But to really understand yourself, journal and reflect. You can journal in any way that suits you. There are countless systems out there. So find one and try it. I love Tim Ferriss’ fear setting and the daily stoic journal.
When reflecting, focus on things that could be holding you back. Or stop you from understanding yourself. So I journal about my wins and my failures. That way I can figure out how to repeat my wins and learn from my failures. This way I can turn my failures into wins and increase my odds of success.
When we find ourselves in any situation where we struggle, I make Principles to detail how I dealt with it. So, if I ever find myself in the same situation, I have a plan for how to handle it. I’ll cover Principles in its own piece but look at Ray Dalio’s book and app for the best explanations.
Song of the Week
I love music. It controls my mood massively. My Spotify Wrapped every year has a lot of minutes spent listening to music. So I’m going to start sprinkling some of my favourite songs at the end of these pieces for anybody else who is musically inclined.
I Walk On Water by KALEO:
Soundcloud Classic Version -
YouTube Classic Version -
YouTube New Version -
Spotify -
Thanks for reading! Follow here on Substack for these posts to be sent directly to your inbox. I’m aware I know very little about life. But if one thing I write helps one person, then it’s worth it to me. Hope you have a great Sunday!