“When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.”
Lao Tzu
Today I’d like to focus on a negative habit that creates insecurity within, erodes self-esteem and can make you feel quite unhappy with your own life.
It’s something that has sprung up as we have moved a part of our lives on to the internet and social media.
And that habit is to compare yourself and your life to other people’s highlight reels.
What do I mean by that?
“Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
Albert Einstein
“Think simple” as my old master used to say – meaning reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest terms, getting back to first principles.”
Frank Lloyd Wright
The daily work we do – in school, at work or in a business – can easily become overwhelming, ineffective and suck the energy and joy out of what you are doing.
So how can you work in a lighter, simpler way that helps you to get more of what truly matters done in less time and with less stress?
One of the most powerful habits that I’ve picked up in the past 10+ years is to stop being pessimistic and to think in a more optimistic and constructive way instead.
It makes life feel lighter and not so burdensome.
It opens up new paths towards where you want to go and it helps you to more easily overcome setbacks (and often get something good out of them).
You’ll feel less worried and sorry for yourself and more motivated to keep taking action.
So the benefits of optimism are great.
But how do you adopt this habit?
One of the most destructive daily habits I carried with me for a long time and I think is a very common one for many people was the thought habit of catastrophizing.
What is catastrophizing?
This is when you build up a nightmare scenario of how everything could go totally wrong in some situation and imagine a big catastrophe in your mind.
You may have a presentation tomorrow and your mind starts to pull up a scenario where you have left your notes at home, you make a fool of yourself, you are embarrassed in front the whole company and your boss yells at you for 20 minutes after the meeting.