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    #251 Opportunities in Disguise

    Opportunities often stare us in the face in our daily interactions, routines, and familiar environments – and that guise of the ordinary makes them invisible.

    After all, seeing the value in something that comes so easily to you is hard.

    So it takes an outsider to point it out.

    What skill are you taking for granted even though it’s really pretty cool?

    What comes naturally to you but is hard for others to do?

    Which problems can you solve effortlessly? If you solve them for others, how would that set them free?

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    #92 The true purpose of memory

    Memory isn’t an objective account of the past – and that’s not its purpose either.

    Memory stores the lessons we extract from life experience. And to do so, it modifies, adds, subtracts, highlights, and hides.

    Hot soup burns my tongue – next time, I’ll remember the pain, but not if it was tomato soup or chicken soup. And I’ll remember to wait a couple of minutes before having the first spoon.

    Experience lived. Irrelevant info deleted. Lesson learned. Memory created.

    My country gets invaded – and that causes so much pain, I won’t just deliver an objective account of what happened: I’ll make sure to tell everyone who the evil guys are too.

    Experience lived. Story modified. Lesson learned. Memory created.

    I eat the most delicious dessert at a Mexico City restaurant – that’s the memory I’m going to tell my friends about, not which glass of dessert wine I had with it.

    Experience lived. Dessert highlighted. Lesson learned. Memory created.

    You’re going to make memories anyway. Which lessons do you want to learn?

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    #94 Restoring Faith in the Malleable Mind

    It only takes one new habit to restore faith in the malleable mind.

    “I’ve never been good at languages. Until I learned my first foreign language. If I can do that… what else is possible?”

    “I’ve never been good at public speaking. Until I gave my first speech, and then my second, and then my twentieth. If I can do that… What else is possible?”

    I always give up on projects before I bring them to completion. Until I completed one project. Then another. Then another. If I can do that… What else is possible?

    If something I thought I could never do becomes possible, cracks start to appear in my limiting beliefs.

    It’s not just about the habits. It’s about the belief that you can change your habits, trust in your ability to complete projects and stick to your routine.

    And the only way to build that is through taking small daily actions that are votes for who you want to be (and what you want to achieve).

    Again: it only takes one new daily action to start restoring your belief in the malleable mind.

    Start with one. Then discover what else is possible.

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    #292 The obstacle course hidden beneath your goals

    If you think you know how to write a story but never do it, do you really know how to write a story?

    If you think you know how to do a yoga pose but never do it, do you really know how to do that yoga pose?

    If you think you know how to apologize for a mistake but never do it, do you really know how to apologize?

    If you know what you want to do but aren’t doing it, do you really know what you want?

    Because hidden beneath your goals and technical step-by-step instructions to accomplish them, there’s an obstacle course of personal context, personal beliefs, past experiences, and emotions.

    And these, you won’t discover in books or videos.

    These, you’ll encounter by doing.

    And these, you’ll conquer by doing.

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