Go with the flow. The path of least resistance. Let gravity do your work for you. Etc.
This is one of the hidden secrets of getting something done or making a change.
The best way to reliably get what you want is to put yourself in the reference class where getting what you want is the median outcome.
https://twitter.com/spakhm/status/1525533954698354692?s=21&t=vh9QgRZU9XN6Ui–Wccwbw
This demonstrably works. It has worked in my life. The single biggest change that I made can be attributed to the simple fact that I stayed close to people who had made the transformation that I sought. You know what I’m talking about — the change that started over 3 decades ago and continues to manifest even now.
Here’s something to do (speaking to you random internet people who might accidentally come across this post someday). When you’re out on the street, watch pairs of people.
More often than not, they dress alike.
More often than not, you will see two fat people together. Or two fit people together. You will rarely see a fit person with a fat person.
Just watch. It’s not universal but it happens far more frequently than you would initially guess. I have joked about this with my wife as we have been out on the street.
If you are fat and want to be fit, go stick yourself in a group of fit people. Do what they do, get what they get. You will feel weird, but they won’t. When they see you are serious, they will help you, encourage you. Soon you will start to be fit, like them. you are joining their church, after all. Why wouldn’t they welcome you?
“Do what I did and you will get what I got.”
On Twitter I have deliberately put myself into a tiny, tiny circle of people who have mindsets I admire. Already I can see how I have change my approach to life.
Specific example: practicing good reply game, as promoted by @visakanv. I have found myself in conversations (real world, e.g., in business) where I am irritated at the other person’s perverse, obstinate idiocy. I wake up and start practicing good reply game and . . . magically the conversation flows, we get results, and the other person isn’t the utter fool I previously thought him/her to be. There are some genuinely good ideas there, as often as not. I would have missed all that.
You can surround yourself with people you know in real life (that’s the best) or lurk on the internet. Or books by long-dead authors are good. Too.
But people, in the flesh, are best as a peer group.
This reminds me. Now that my surgery is fully healed it’s time to go be a gym rat again and woke up some of that gym energy and pick up on that bro science.
Also, for the first time in my life I am actively seeking business partners. Up to now I didn’t feel worthy. I felt judged. I felt less than. Now I am deliberately assembling the people around me for optimal mindset. It’s easier to be cheerful when you’re with cheerful people rather than mopey people.
Tools I’m using:
- I’m testing the idea of sending everyone a copy of Linchpin and seeing how they respond. Do they even read it? If they read it, what’s the reaction?
- I may try an intro to 75hard.com — just tell them to look at it and see what they do. What’s the feedback? Do they give it a shot?
Mostly I am probing, looking for people with an irresistible, existential yearning in their souls. Something that’s driving them forward to greatness—however they define greatness. Couple that to an ancient morality, a deep keel that makes them unsinkable in any storm. They know what’s right. They can’t help but love the voyage.