Most people go about changing their lives in the completely wrong way. They create resolutions because everyone else does – we create superficial meaning out of status games.
I've quit 10x more goals than I've achieved. But the fact that people try to change their lives and utterly fail almost every time holds true.
This isn't something you read and forget. This is something you bookmark, take notes on, and set aside time to think about.
Making progress through discipline and willpower. This is what most people focus on. You hype yourself up, stay disciplined for weeks, then go back to your old ways.
Transforming your identity so behavior naturally follows. The bodybuilder doesn't grind to eat healthy—they can't see themselves living any other way.
"If you want a specific outcome in life, you must have the lifestyle that creates that outcome long before you reach it.
— The Fundamental TruthWhen you truly change yourself, all of your habits that don't move the needle toward your goal become disgusting.
Because you have a deep and profound awareness of what kind of life those actions compound into.
You are okay with your current standards because you are not fully aware of what they are or what they lead to.
"Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.
— Alfred AdlerOn an unconscious level, you pursue goals that can harm you, but you justify your actions in a way that is socially acceptable.
If you can't stop procrastinating: You may think you "lack discipline," but you're actually protecting yourself from judgment that comes from finishing and sharing your work.
If you won't quit your dead-end job: You're pursuing the goal of safety, predictability, and an excuse to not look like a failure.
Real change requires changing your goals—your point of view, the lens through which you perceive reality.
If you have accepted an idea and are firmly convinced it is true, it has the same power over you as the hypnotist's words have over the hypnotized subject.
— Maxwell MaltzOnce you fulfill your physical survival needs, you start to survive on the conceptual or ideological level.
You may not try to protect your body, but you absolutely protect and reproduce your mind.
When your body feels threatened, you go into fight or flight.
When your identity feels threatened, the same thing happens.
For most people reading this, you hover between stages 4 and 8—a huge gap.
Those closer to 8 are reading to learn or pass time. Those closer to 4 are really looking for a change. You feel like you are meant for more.
The good thing is, it doesn't matter what stage you're in, because moving through any of them follows a pattern.
The only real test of intelligence is if you get what you want out of life.
— Naval Ravikant