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door-in-the-face technique
anchoring
reactance
Change is inherently painful.
Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles… This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering it's a feather bed.
Do not confuse a life of comfort and ease for the good life. The good life is one of pushing your boundaries, incrementally overcoming yourself, striving for greatness - whatever that means for you. The happiness that results from the absence of discomfort is the happiness of mediocrity. Live your life, not as if you were trying to hoard a precious treasure, but as if you were crafting your own autobiography with every decision - because you are.
Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.
Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test.
Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity.
So unless we take an active role in this programming, who we are and how closely we align with our ideals will be purely a consequence of chance.
The reason to act in accordance with your values, even when no one is watching, is that you are always being watched by the most important person: yourself.
You shape the garden of your mind by planting specific things from your environment, such as the books you read, experiences you have, and people you surround yourself with.
Daniel Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, lists seven problems with extrinsic, carrot-and-stick motivations: 1. They can extinguish intrinsic motivation. 2. They can diminish performance. 3. They can crush creativity. 4. They can crowd out good behavior. 5. They can encourage cheating, shortcuts, and unethical behavior. 6. They can become addictive. 7. They can foster short-term thinking.
Whether you are exercising, playing an instrument, or starting a business, you must be able to see and measure progress in order to stay motivated.
To compose our character is our duty, not to compose books, and to win, not battles and provinces, but order and tranquility in our conduct. Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately. All other things, ruling, hoarding, building, are only little appendages and props, at most.
behavioral
You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
What the superior man seeks, is in himself; what the ordinary man seeks, is in others.
People who subscribe to these philosophies don’t strive primarily to meet their deficiencies through the world, but live to fortify and master the vehicle through which they traverse it.
To those who have not achieved the external life of your dreams, do not allow the popular narrative to convince you that you are a failure.
