6 ideas in 3-2-1: Part 3
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This is a republishing of The Steady Fella Newsletter. Every week readers use the timeless insights on passion, productivity, philosophy, and happiness from this newsletter to build towards the life they want.
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This week's newsletter is going to be the third "6 ideas in 3-2-1". That's 3 one-liners, 2 short ideas, and 1 longer concept.
"One day" is a precursor to "what if"
When you keep saying "one day" to your dreams, it turns into "what if I tried doing that ___" later in life.
Don’t trick yourself into not doing the things you want to do
The brain is magical when faced with something challenging. When you want to do something it can come up with hundreds of reasons why you shouldn't.
We have a bandaid mentality
Oftentimes we address issues by addressing the symptoms and not solving the problem.
Unapologetically be yourself
Being yourself is one of the hardest things to do. We face so many pressures and expectations, and hold so many fears that it feels like we're circles being forced into square holes.
So I keep two things in mind:
Taking care of your health now is important because there is no pill for everything
For the last few years, I've been optimizing my health because I know poor health catches up to you.
I know I don't have to worry about heart disease, diabetes, and lifestyle cancers in my 20's, but I know in my 50's I'd regret it if I wasn't healthy. I know that as far as medicine has come with chronic disease, it's mostly treatments. So these common diseases become something in life you just have to prevent.
We're all victims of Dogma
Dogma is a set of principles or rules created by society and authorities. For example, going to college after high school is part of dogma.
It's important to note though that dogma isn't inherently good or bad. It's simply a guiding force.
I say we're victims of dogma because we're brought into this world and put on pre-set paths, all the while not being encouraged to question the foundation of it all. Because of this, it becomes easy to feel unhappy and unfulfilled.
I do two things to overcome dogma:
First-principle thinking:
It's when you question everything you do to make sure it's what you actually want. Like a kid, you play the why game until you find the root reasoning behind your decisions.
For example, when Elon Musk uses the first principle thinking he sees that his decisions are authentically his. Everything he does is to improve the future well-being of the human species. Dogma didn't set him on that path.
Accurately assess your fears:
Dogmas' most powerful weapon is misplaced fear. Misplaced fear is being afraid of something that poses no real risk to your life. For example, we're more afraid of public speaking than texting and driving on the highway.
We fall victim to this when we choose comfort over achieving a dream. Like choosing not to start a YouTube channel because of fear. There's nothing to be afraid of. So accurately assessing your fears becomes vital when pursuing fulfillment.
Desire is suffering - Buddha
Buddhism says that suffering arises from attachment to desires. The reason is that these attachments are temporary, so loss is inevitable. And since we often convince ourselves that attainting our desires will make us happy, we suffer because it's temporary happiness.
What portion of your happiness is dependant on external validation or how much others value what you're doing?