#178 You don’t have to master this today

ByLukas
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Performance gap: the frustrating gap between the way you know something should be done in an ideal world and the way you currently do it.

I know I should write daily blog posts in advance so I have a buffer in case something comes up and I don’t get to write. Yet here I am, writing this daily insight hours before the publication date.

I know what the perfect downward-facing dog pose in yoga looks like. Yet when I perform it myself, I am far off from that ideal pose.

I know all the ingredients that make up a solid, convincing speech. Yet when I write one myself, I am only able to incorporate a few of those ingredients.

Learning, then, is closing the gap between your intellectual understanding of an ideal product, action, or skill, and your current rendition of it.

Don’t be so hard on yourself for your current performance.

You can’t expect to turn intellectual understanding into mastery and internalized knowledge right away.

You don’t have to master this today.

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    You feel excitement. Happiness. Anger. Sadness.

    But you are not your excitement or happiness.

    Because if you allow yourself to cling to the emotions you desire, you’ll have not choice but to identify with undesirable ones, like anger and sadness, too.

    Thus, you feel excitement – until it fades.

    You feel happiness – until it fades.

    You feel anger – until it fades.

    You feel sadness – until it fades.

    No matter which emotion rises, feel it until it fades. You’re going to be fine either way.

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    #208 How to get out of your self-improvement prison

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    You feel bad because you don’t write.

    And when you write, you feel bad because you’re scared of the inevitable day you stop writing.

    That’s how you create a self-improvement prison.

    And that prison has only one way out.

    Intend to do what’s good for you.

    Then realize that even if you don’t live up to that standard all the time, you’re still worthy of self-love and self-trust.

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  • #438 Whatever happens

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    It rains – you keep breathing.

    The sun is out – you keep breathing.

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    You lose – you keep breathing.

    You feel good – you keep breathing.

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    #182 Uncertain future visions

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    I can say I want to run a marathon, write a book, or have a successful career – which doesn’t mean I’ll actually end up running a marathon, writing a book, or having a successful career.

    But if I’m serious about it, it does mean I’ll take daily steps towards that goal – daily actions that will change my identity.

    Can I live with the present-day implications of my uncertain future visions?

    If I don’t know yet if I’ll ever write the book – will these daily actions still be fulfilling to me?

    Will they make me happier?

    Will I be happy with the person I become by taking such daily actions?

    Do these daily actions contribute to a fulfilling emotional, mental, physical, and social life?

    If not, am I willing to make emotional, mental, physical, or social sacrifices?

    This is a choice everyone makes for themselves.

    But I don’t want to make my present day miserable for an uncertain vision of the future I don’t even know will happen.

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