How To Not Lose Yourself While Finding Your Own Path

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‘… if you’re uncomfortable with something, it’s because it isn’t right. Discomfort is the human response to a questionable or bad situation, whether that’s working long hours with no end in sight, exaggerating your business numbers to impress investors, or selling intimate user data to advertisers. If you get into the habit of suppessing all discomfort, you’re going to lose yourself, your manners, and your morals.’– jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson

Discomfort is a message. If you want to know what is going on in your life, you must pay attention to what you are feeling. Do not ignore your feelings.

Do not pretend that things are alright. Because things don’t get better by themselves. If you want things to change, you must, according to Ray Dalio, know ‘how reality works.’ Know what you want. Know what you do not want. Know what you can do. And know what you cannot do.

Do not say no to everything. And do not say yes to everything. Just focus on what makes sense to you. If something is good, do more of it. If you do not feel good about something, don’t do it.

Say ‘no’ to what is not relevant to you. Because, according to Jason and David, ‘When you say no to one thing, it’s a choice that breeds choices. When you say yes to one thing, you’ve spent that choice.’

The question is, ‘What are you saying no to?’ And what are you saying yes to?

Why You Should Never Copy Other People

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Growth comes from doing the work. It does not come from copying other people.

When you copy others, you are not creating your own life. You are just repeating what is already out there.

When you copy other people, you are not adding value to your life; you are stealing from your own growth; you are reducing yourself. Because growth happens when you actually do the work, not when you copy other people.

When you copy other people, you are a follower, not a leader. You are not an innovator. You are not living your life. You are living other people’s dreams.

Copying other people is not good for you. According to Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, ‘copying does more harm to the copier than to the copied. When someone copies you, they are copying a moment in time. They don’t know the thinking that went into getting you to that moment in time, and they won’t know the thinking that’ll help you have a million more moments in time. They’re stuck with what you left behind.’

That is why you should NEVER copy other people. Because copying is not learning. Learning is doing the work, not copying the work.

The question is, ‘Do you have the courage to face yourself?’