Don’t be scared of bad judgment.
It’s where all of your good judgment comes from.
Be scared of not exercising your judgment at all.
It’s where bad judgment remains unchanged.
I help busy people do inner work.
Don’t be scared of bad judgment.
It’s where all of your good judgment comes from.
Be scared of not exercising your judgment at all.
It’s where bad judgment remains unchanged.
In today’s media driven world, there’s a ton of pressure to grow personal media accounts.
Which isn’t surprising because if what everybody is talking about is their favorite influencers, viral content, and follower counts—then, of course that’s what’s going to be at the top of everybody’s minds.
But, never let vanity growth take priority over interpersonal growth.
Like, when you feel obligated to consume all of your favorite creators new content, to post x new items to your socials, and to get that big project done for more revenue—but haven’t done anything for yourself…
…That’s a problem.
Maybe not immediately because maybe you can pull it off.
But, long-term? It will be. Because an absence of personal growth indicates a presence of personal atrophy.
And personal atrophy can only be hidden behind creative marketing for so long.
Eventually, people see through the shiny packaging and absorb the raw content for what it is.
And if what it is is regressing, then it won’t be long before they move to a different place where there is growth.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to influence more people or make more money.
There is something wrong with prioritizing those things at the expense of your interpersonal needs.
And not just because, you know, mental health, but because interpersonal growth IS the means to any worthwhile/ meaningful vanity growth.
So, remember, when you only have time to do one or the other, doing something for yourself should always get the priority.
Even when vanity growth seems to be the only thing everybody else is concerned about.
**Especially when.
The more of these inner contradictions that you behold (whether you consciously realize them or not), the more uneasy and conflicted you will feel towards yourself. And the more in alignment your beliefs and actions are, the more at ease and at peace you will feel.
Honest living happens when what you do aligns with what you believe.
And the byproduct of honest living is inner peace.
What could possibly feel better than getting that new car?
Or that new phone?
Or those new shoes?
…The answer?
Whatever we decide we’re going to feel better about.
That’s the thing about feelings—they’re signals created by us as a result of what we tell ourselves about the world.
“I’m the type of person who always rocks the latest.” Versus: “I’m the type of person who knows how to rock whatever I have.”
Once we realize that our feelings are a byproduct of the stories we tell ourselves we can begin to move our pens differently—as the author of our story—and better influence the feelings that result.
Beware: in many cases, it’s when we’re attempting to be most useful to the world that we actually end up being the least useful to ourselves.
An outward focus on productivity and getting things done can easily turn into a toxic work ethic that leads us to disregard the things we most need to do for our own personal wellness.
This is classic workaholic-ism.
Now, beware: the remedy I’m going to offer, like most pills, might be hard to swallow.
What we need to become comfortable with and practice is the idea of uselessness.
That’s right—being more useless to the world.
Did that thought make you cringe a little?
It’s got a distinctly counter-culture sound to it that might make you feel uneasy when thinking about.
Which would only further prove my point.
Being useless to the world isn’t an attack on your self-worth. It’s the very means through which you get to be more useful to yourself.
…Time when you get to stop compromising, negotiating, accommodating, pleasing, bending-over-backwards for, and sucking up to others in order to get things done.
Being useless to the world is about total and complete surrender to outward obligations and a wholesome focus towards the calls of your spirit.
Not towards distraction, inaction, or suppression—but towards introspection, healing, and overflowing.
Because we can only ever be as useful to the world as we become useful. And if we’re only ever focused on being useful to others, we never have a chance to be useful to ourselves. And one of the only times we get to ever be most useful to ourselves is when we’re most useless to the world.
Swallow the pill.
You know what hurts more than doing that painful thing now?
Doing that painful thing later.
It’ll be the same painful thing, but add to it all of the painful thinking between now and then and stack it all on your shoulders?
Yeah, I don’t know who needs to hear this, but just do that painful thing now.
Your shoulders could do without all of that extra weight.