Your guide to a healthier perspective of life
“A man is what he thinks about all day long.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Protect your thoughts. If you let negativity seep in, you will become a negative person. Be conscious of your thoughts and if they are what you do NOT want to become, change your way of thinking.
Equality of outcome is not possible, nor should it be desired. We should be striving for equality of opportunity. Everyone should be afforded the same opportunity and then they can choose whether they want to take those opportunities or not. Opportunity will never equal outcome because other factors still play a large part in determining the result. You can affect the result through hardworking, working efficiently, working creatively, working collaboratively, etc. You can get better at networking or delegating. You can get better at doing. And you can always run into good luck or bad luck.
People should be compensated based on their production, results, and merit, but that’s not always going to happen. Because unlike playing sports where you have the same objective and many ways to track results with tangible numbers, we can’t always quantify the value of a team member. And then there is the human, team morale, and leadership aspect to consider too. How can you quantify what that is worth?
We should always strive to be better – for ourselves, our family, friends, co-workers/team, company, city, state, nation, and world. We should strive for a more equal playing field and never stop striving for it. But the best way to start change is to start with yourself. Control what you can control, try to influence what/who you can influence, and realize that nothing is perfect.
Seneca, like many other stoic philosophers, had it right when it came to their attitude towards mindset, beliefs, and feelings. Basically, we control how happy or unhappy we are with our thoughts. When something happens, we can convince ourselves that we are lucky or unlucky, that something is happening to us instead of for us, or that it’s a failure versus an opportunity to learn.
We are what we tell ourselves and we become what we consistently think. Think positively and you will become a more positive person. Think negatively and you’ll become more like Eeyore from Winnie-the-Pooh. For those who are unfamiliar with this character, this is how Wikipedia describes him: “He is generally characterized as a pessimistic, gloomy, depressed, anhedonic, old grey stuffed donkey who is a friend of the title character, Winnie-the-Pooh.”
Now, if you were picking who you wanted to hang out with for a day, would you pick the person who is chronically pessimistic and gloomy? Of course not! And guess who is the only person you hang out with 24 hours a day? (Hint: it’s yourself)…why would you choose to be anything, but happy?
Do not let the opinions of others (or, more accurately, what you think their opinions MIGHT BE), stop you from dreaming big and being true to yourself. We are all “weird” in one way or another. We’re all unique.
Stop trying to be like everyone else. The average American is overweight, in debt, and doesn’t like their job (life?)…why would you strive to be more like that?
Be true to yourself. Dream big, but more importantly, go after those dreams everyday. People may say that what’s you’re aiming for isn’t possible. But those people either don’t understand the dream, don’t understand the effort you’re willing to put in to make it happen, or don’t want you to succeed because it will make them feel worse about themselves. They’ll eventually come around when you start achieving success, and if they don’t, don’t worry about it. You can only control yourself – your thoughts/beliefs, actions/inactions, attitude, etc.
Be aware of confirmation bias in order to minimize it. If you deeply want something to be true, you’re more likely to stretch truths to aid your argument. You’re looking for reasons to be right about something and are more likely to ignore facts that don’t match the narrative you have in your head. Don’t do this. Try to keep an open mind. Try to listen to other’s ideas and truly understand them before taking a stance on the subject. And when you do form your own opinion, don’t cling so tightly to it so that you cannot fathom changing your mind (even when new information presents itself).