#334 Writing isn’t hard
Writing isn’t hard. Writing every day is – until it isn’t anymore.
That’s when writing becomes hard.
Build the habit, then you get a shot at building the skill.
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#154 When results have become irrelevant
ByLukasWhen technology and AI outpace us and we can’t be the best, smartest, fastest, strongest on the planet anymore – will we still care about our economic output?
When results have become irrelevant, what are the things I will still want to do?
Maybe we’ll rediscover value in our actions themselves and the pleasure and pain they make us feel – happy, sad, useful, worthless, brimming with purpose, overflowing with self-hatred…?
Will I still write just because I enjoy writing, even if AI could write a better-researched, more insightful book than I ever could?
Will I still learn a language just because learning a language makes me feel good, even if I could use an instant translation device to talk to anyone in the world?
Will I still spend my days in an office cubicle if that’s a painful prospect?
An era of soul-searching is coming.
#159 What unintentional living looks like
ByLukasUnintentional living and identity building look like this:
- Actions are inspired by pain and pleasure.
- Repeated pain and pleasure lead to repeated actions.
- Repeated actions lead to habits.
- Habits shape your identity.
“Life made me who I am, and I can’t do anything about it.”
Intentional living and identity building look like this:
- Who do I want to be? What’s my desired identity?
- Which habits that would turn me into that person do I not have in place right now?
- Which repeated actions that would build that habit am I not currently taking?
- Which reactions to pain and pleasure triggers in my life can I change? Which pain and pleasure triggers can I ban out of my life completely?
“While the past has shaped me, the way I choose to live my life today, tomorrow, and every day after, will determine who I am.”
You’re living anyway. Your actions are votes for an identity anyway. So you might as well do it intentionally.
#471 Back to the baseline we always go
ByLukasYou’ll struggle with hardship, until you get used to it.
You revel in good fortune, until you get used to it.
Habituation is how we make it through the hard times.
And habituation is how we stay ambitious when we go through prosperous times.
Back to the baseline we always go.
#411 The meaning is in the moment
ByLukasThe meaning of your life is not in the goals you crave.
It’s not in the results you chase.
Nor is it in the habits you create.The meaning is in what you do in this very moment.
And the next moment.
And the one after that.The meaning is in your collection of actions. In your collection of decisions. In your collection of present moments. Wherever they take you.
#15 Being intentional about the questions you ask yourself
ByLukasWhat you focus on right now, in the present moment, strongly affects your state. Focus on problems, you start worrying. Focus on a pleasant prospect, you start dreaming.
To manage state by directing focus, you must be intentional about the type of questions you ask to evaluate your experiences in life because whatever questions you ask yourself (and you DO ask yourself evaluating questions all the time, consciously or subconsciously), your brain is constantly coming up with answers for these questions.
The answers can be accurate or not; that doesn’t matter to your brain. It’ll justify and find answers, reasons, and connections for anything you ask… and through those answers, give meaning to anything that happens to you (and interpret it as painful or pleasurable).
How to be intentional about the questions you ask yourself:
- Eliminate limiting, “endless loop questions” that contain self-defeating presuppositions (like “Why does this always happen to me? Why am I always late? Why do I always give up? Why do I always hurt the people around me?). They’re dangerous because they force your mind to come up with answers: fake or real reasons that justify and perpetuate unhealthy behavior.
- Ask yourself empowering questions that challenge your mind to come up with empowering solutions, justifications, reasons:
- Empowering presuppositions: Why do I always arrive in time? Why do I always stick to the goals I set for myself? Why am I always kind to myself and others around me?
- Questions like “How can I be as helpful as possible? How can I make sure this is going to be a fulfilling, amazing day?”
- Questions like “What would the version of me I want to be do or say in this situation?”
#250 Dismissal vs Indifference
ByLukasI don’t care much for indifference.
But dismissal… that’s something else.
The more I dismiss something, the more curious I get.
Does it contradict my values?
Am I afraid?
Or am I pushing away something I secretly want?
I don’t know what it is about dismissal, my friend.
But I do know that the stronger the feelings, the more interesting it gets.