Victory passes.
So does defeat.
Exhaustion passes.
So does excitement.
And because it all passes, the highest peaks and lowest lows are probably not your most reliable guides to make life decisions.
Take a step back.
Wait until the emotions pass and you see clearly again.
Then you can make choices that stand the test of time.
There used to be a time when you didn’t have words for your feelings. You just felt them.
You didn’t have words to say that your parents are your parents. You just knew it.
You didn’t have words for the sounds other humans made. Like singing birds, a buzzing bumblebee, or a rolling thunder, it was all just vibrating air.
What was your experience of reality like before words started categorizing, abstracting and limiting what you could see, hear, touch and feel?
Without sadness, how do I know I’m happy?
Without happiness, how do I know I’m sad?
Without anger, how do I know I’m grateful?
Without gratitude, how do I know I’m angry?
Without pain, how do I know what pleasure feels like?
Without pleasure, how do I know I’m in pain?
Without bad moments, how can I appreciate the good ones?
Without good moments, what gets me through the bad ones?
Contrast.
Who is the person who has already done (or is already doing) what you want to do?
What does their life look like?
Where are they?
What do they say, think feel?
What do they focus on?
Who did they have to become?
What would life be like if YOU have already done (or are already doing) what you want to do?
It’s hard to achieve change if you’re stuck in your current identity (where you haven’t achieved that change yet).
Using your imagination to reverse the causal arrow can help you get out of that rut.
First imagine what it feels like to have already achieved (or to be already doing) something.
Then choose your present actions according to that feeling and identity.
Let every action you take help you become more of who you want to be.
If you doubt you can come back to a good habit after you miss a day, let me put your mind at ease: you can.
Just like you can come back after a week, a month, a year, or a decade.
All that counts is today.
And you can do this today.
Nobody says you must write for the rest of your life – but you could.
Nobody says you must do one job forever – but you could.
Nobody says you must live in one place forever – but you could.
You could. But you don’t have to. Unless you want to. Then you should.
If the storm ChatGPT is causing shows us one thing, it’s how unoriginal most of our thoughts are.
AI builds on a massive library of what others have learned before.
(Individual) humans build on a much smaller library of what others have learned before.
If we merely do what others have done before, in some fields, AI has caught up to us already.
What happens we build on what others have learned before, and combine it with what we learn ourselves (in other words, practice and skill building)?
Now we’re talking about innovation: we’re doing things that haven’t been done before.
And even then, one day, AI will possibly also innovate and do things that haven’t been done before.
Sheer “processing power” is not a game we can win.
The true question here:
If raw intelligence and “brain processing power” isn’t what makes us truly, uniquely human, then what is?
