Thinking Long Term
"In trying to improve myself, I'm always trying to find underlying principles that influence large swaths of my behavior."
I read this article today, quoted above, from a friend's tweet. I've been thinking about similar themes of late. He makes a good point regarding the "long term aggregate" as a lens to look at how our day to day decisions impact both how we ended up here and now and where we may be headed in the future. Neither deferred pleasure nor immediate satisfaction but rather daily actions that reflect and demonstrate our core values, most of the time. There's an authentic part of each of us that is never fooled or impressed by words or intentions, only what it observes repeatedly in our behavior. I believe much of our self-esteem is an unconscious tally of these actions.
The note I scribbled to myself last night, that made the article particularly relevant, was this:
Great goals and proclamations are lies and bullshit
It's what we do day to day
what we are doing right now
what we have done today before bed
that controls our destiny
that forges our reality
Not building castles in the frameworks
of possible futures
it's what we're doing now
Not proclaiming love for all family, friends or humanity
but what kindnesses we perform today
This is one of those underlying principles that influence us far more than we may be willing to realize: that we reveal and develop more of our authentic selves by what we actually do than what we think or say.
[February 5,2014]
Recently tripped across this metaphor of a compass, rather than a map. And the compass can be something like a statement of where we would like to be in two years, in alignment with our goals and values. And this may organize our day to day, with tasks toward these ends. With a map, these tasks would be hardcoded and top down. With a compass, the exact path doesn't need to be mapped, only the next steps until something crops up; the compass keeps us orientated around obstacles and directed towards opportunity. While simultaneously allowing immersion in the day, informed by this inner direction.
I read this article today, quoted above, from a friend's tweet. I've been thinking about similar themes of late. He makes a good point regarding the "long term aggregate" as a lens to look at how our day to day decisions impact both how we ended up here and now and where we may be headed in the future. Neither deferred pleasure nor immediate satisfaction but rather daily actions that reflect and demonstrate our core values, most of the time. There's an authentic part of each of us that is never fooled or impressed by words or intentions, only what it observes repeatedly in our behavior. I believe much of our self-esteem is an unconscious tally of these actions.
The note I scribbled to myself last night, that made the article particularly relevant, was this:
Great goals and proclamations are lies and bullshit
It's what we do day to day
what we are doing right now
what we have done today before bed
that controls our destiny
that forges our reality
Not building castles in the frameworks
of possible futures
it's what we're doing now
Not proclaiming love for all family, friends or humanity
but what kindnesses we perform today
This is one of those underlying principles that influence us far more than we may be willing to realize: that we reveal and develop more of our authentic selves by what we actually do than what we think or say.
[February 5,2014]
Recently tripped across this metaphor of a compass, rather than a map. And the compass can be something like a statement of where we would like to be in two years, in alignment with our goals and values. And this may organize our day to day, with tasks toward these ends. With a map, these tasks would be hardcoded and top down. With a compass, the exact path doesn't need to be mapped, only the next steps until something crops up; the compass keeps us orientated around obstacles and directed towards opportunity. While simultaneously allowing immersion in the day, informed by this inner direction.
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