OUR OWN IMMORTALITY

If you notice that you're more skilled and successful than others around

you, your brain will release a hormone called serotonin. When you have

serotonin in your blood, you feel confident and in control of your life.

But the instant you mind notices someone who threatens your status in

society and makes you look incompetent, your brain restricts serotonin.

You start doubting yourself and feel a low sense of self‐worth.  

Now that you are connected to billions of people online, it doesn't take

long for your brain to notice ways in which you compare unfavorably to

other people.

You think you're a good guitar player? There are dozens of exceptional

guitar players on YouTube that will make you look completely

incompetent...You're proud of graduating from that local college with a

business degree? Your friend just posted a photo on Facebook of him

graduating from Harvard with an MBA.

When you're exposed to so many people that are better than you, and the

gap between you and someone else is huge, you're more inclined to lose

hope, stop taking action, and let your life slip into chaos.

The best way to prevent this from happening is to stop comparing

yourself to who someone else is today and start comparing yourself to

who you were yesterday.

I like to see every day that I've lived as a different version of myself (like a

separate person living out each day), isolate who I was yesterday and ask

myself: "Was I the best possible version of myself yesterday?

The amount you can improve on yesterday will be limited by how truthful

you are willing to be today.

Until you face the truth, any improvement you make on who you were

yesterday will be meaningless. Instead of moving forward, you'll just be

moving sideways. To make forward progress you need to acknowledge

what truth you're avoiding and what uncomfortable conversations you

need to have with yourself and others.

Author Tim Ferriss once said, "A person's success in life can usually be

measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is

willing to have.

“If your life is not what it could be, try telling the truth. If you cling

desperately to an ideology, or wallow in nihilism, try telling the truth. If

you feel weak and rejected, and desperate, and confused, try telling the

truth. In Paradise, everyone speaks the truth. That is what makes it

Paradise.