Daniel Kazandjian
Everything you’ve ever read is wrong. Some of it is useful. Nowhere is this more true than in the business of becoming a better person.
The personal development / productivity space is littered with conflicting advice of varying utility. It attracts the intellectually promiscuous. Most readers are commitment-phobic concept sluts that endlessly dabble with frameworks and tools, hoping to someday reach a moment of certainty when they’ll finally take action.
You already know this: 99% of self-help is escapism.
The great lie beneath it all is that once you collect enough mental models, you can skip taking a leap of faith. You can build a bridge of concepts from your current self to your ideal self and slide across it. It’s a seductive idea, but it’s wrong and useless.
“All models are wrong but some are useful.” - George Box
Box’s quote is an antidote for uncertainty-driven escapism. By themselves, no amount of mental models will get you from here to there.
But here’s the secret: coupled with faith, some of them might spark you to leap. Still, some of them might keep you leaping after you’ve started.
Below is my shortlist of “good enough” practices and models for personal growth. This is a get-your-shit-together one-sheet*.* A safe, action-oriented place to return to when the marketing machine tempts you to read another book.
Let’s begin.
1. "First say who you would be, then do what you have to do" - Epictetus
Don't wait until you've figured out your life's purpose. It’s actually impossible to do so by waiting.
Instead use your instinct for admiration to orient your aims and get after them. Who inspires you? Clear enough is clear enough. Define your ideal self and go.
2. It's dangerous to go alone. Find a gang.
Find 3 people to meet with bi-weekly. Make promises to each other and practice keeping them. Train your integrity.