#384 Why you don’t need a how-to program

A memory is what we decide to remember from an experience – and what we decide to delete and forget.

Intuition is the instant hunch we get after we’ve repeatedly created memories from experiences; the moment we don’t need the conscious memory anymore.

A small (or unrepresentative) sample size leads to inaccurate intuition.

If I’m betrayed three times in my life and have created strong memories around that, my intuition whenever meeting anyone else may be that they’ll betray me too. Three bad experiences have shaped, and skewed, my relationship to billions of others.

How to develop accurate intuition?

The more memories we create, the bigger the “sample size” for our intuition to emerge from, and the smaller the weight of “outlier events” (like being betrayed).

The more deliberately we create these memories, the more deliberately we hone intuition.

Create more memories. And create them deliberately.

“If successful and unsuccessful people share the same goals, then the goal cannot be what differentiates the winners from the losers.”

https://jamesclear.com/goals-systems

It’s not about having goals. It’s about the follow-up questions goals raise.

“Will pursuing this goal be good for me? Physically, emotionally, mentally, and financially?”

“Is there any part of myself, my environment, and the people I care about that will suffer if I pursue this goal?”

“Who will I have become when I have achieved this goal?”

“Who do I need to be today to achieve this goal?”

“Which actions can I take today that bring me closer to achieving a goal?”

Repeated actions will overrule your thoughts. Repeated actions will change your identity. Better choose your goals and your actions intentionally.

What’s the one Tiny Trust Builder you can do for yourself; one little thing thing that makes you feel good about yourself, and because you feel good, you’re good to other around you too?

What’s that one small constraint YOU decide to put on your day that, when protected fiercely, makes everything else so much better?

And if you know it makes everything better and you aren’t protecting it fiercely yet – why not?

Could you start today?

Nobody says you have to be a workaholic to be ambitious.

Because ambition means nothing more than having a strong desire to succeed.

You can desire to succeed in getting a promotion, or writing a bestselling book.

Or you can desire to succeed in working only part-time, and spend the rest of the time with your family.

You’re free to decide for yourself what to be ambitious about.