Comparison is the root of so much suffering in our lives.
And social media is the root of so much comparison in our lives.
Those who are aware of this—and take actions to mitigate it—know the secret to suffocating and starving the roots of suffering from their lives.
P.s. I also published 28 Timeless Morrie Schwartz Quotes from Tuesdays With Morrie today.
Whenever possible, rather than stopping your forward momentum altogether, try slowing down instead.
One of the worst strategies for finishing a marathon is to sprint-stop-sprint-stop-sprint-stop the whole way.
When you feel yourself getting winded—adjust your pace; shorten your stride; give yourself more time to breathe.
And at all costs: delay the urge to stop.
While rest might seem like the most energy efficient decision in the moment, as physics demonstrates, keeping your body in motion is actually the most energy efficient option long-term.
So that we’re clear, I’m not advocating you never stop working.
I am advocating that you commit to a working pace that you can sustain rather than one that you have to constantly start-stop.
For example: rather than read 100 pages sporadically every month or two—commit to 10 pages per day. And if 10 pages becomes too much, don’t stop altogether. Drop it to 5 pages per day. And if that’s still too much, drop it to one page. And if that’s too much—you’re playing yourself.
Keeping the momentum alive in your daily tasks is key to efficient and effective forward movement in your life.
Starting a stopped body is much harder than keeping a body in motion.
Keep your body in motion even when (especially when) your mind wants to stop.
…What a beautiful mindset for getting things done long-term.
Committing to something for months/years/life can be intimidating.
But committing to today?
No problem.
Just for today: read, write, draw, exercise, meditate, etc.
And simply repeat this mindset again when you wake—tomorrow.
Gratitude is usually about appreciating all that we have.
What if, to take gratitude further, we appreciated all that we didn’t have, too?
Things like:
This exercise will 100x your gratitude list at least.
Note: Don’t just gloss over breathing like it’s a non-step. Breathing is fundamental to managing our physiology. And if we can take some quality time to breathe deeply and consciously, it will help us calm our state which, in turn, will only help us perform better.
Before you commit to a serious relationship, check how this person:
Of course everything is great when everything is great.
To really get to know the person you’re talking to, see how everything is when things get challenged.
Because life is challenging more often than it’s not and the last thing you want is to be stuck solving problems with somebody who acts the opposite of how they do when everything is great.
“Deciding to stop eating sweets and to start eating vegetables are separate psychological functions. The first takes self-control. The second takes self-discipline. You can easily succeed at one and fail at the other. They aren’t the same process!”
Dr. Julia-Marie O’Brien
Self-discipline says “Go,” even when you don’t want to—to do what you know you have to.
Self-control says “No,” even when you might want to say “Yes”—to stop you from doing something you know you shouldn’t.
In the same way self-discipline is built by breaking down seemingly large tasks into manageable chunks (to make “going” easier)—self-control is built by preemptively mitigating temptations before they turn into uncontrollably large ones (to make saying “No” easier).
If improving self-discipline follows a big to small format:
Then improving self-control might follow a small to big format:
While these two words might seem interchangeable, this key difference in these psychological processes should be understood if we hope to improve upon them.