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→ I’ve been pondering change for quite some time
I think most of us have at one point or other. As we should.
I think Change is one of the most important things to ponder. It has been for me. In this episode, I speak to how I think one changes themselves. Or rather, how I at this point in time think I change myself. Because that’s what these riffs are, photographs of some thoughts I have at the moment.
→ Macro patience, micro speed
As stated in the episode, this has been a mantra of mine. Being patient in the long run, without forgetting to do the work today. When I’ve spoken to friends and family about this, I’ve experienced it not resonating. Partly because I have a hard time explaining it, and partly because a lot of us have a hard time wrapping our heads around dichotomies and contradicting thoughts.
Applied, I think this principle can be your superpower. Try to wrap your head around it. I have written some posts about it, found under resources, as well as Gary himself has spoken quite a lot about it. Links further down.
→ Doing Gentle with an Edge
Doing gentle is the definition of easier said than done. But practice makes better, and I’ve seen an abundance of well being in people who’ve practiced. My dear friend Helena Roth published a book titled Doing Gentle with an Edge that in many ways is a training camp to become better at doing gentle to yourself.
AND. You always have the option of the edge where you have the capacity. To challenge, do push and do more. Both parts essential in change as you need both gas and brake in all instances.
→ Defaults
This is what most people will bring up when speaking about change. James Clear has famously spoken about it in Atomic Habits (I haven’t read it, but it’s supposedly great. I found reading his blog to be sufficient to get the idea.)
If you want to run in the morning, make it easier on yourself by putting out exercise clothes the night before to remind yourself that you made the decision. Don’t have a cabinet full with candy if you want to eat less sugar. And so on.
What I’ve found really useful is to come up with principles. Those principles I’ve done my best to integrate in to my identity and hence followed. If I decide that I’m the kind of person who doesn’t have a cabinet full of candy, it makes no sense to buy a lot of candy to store in a cabinet.
I’ve written a bunch on the topic of not making 1000 decisions when one will do, I’ll link the texts further down.
→ The connection to change
Changing a behaviour or a habit really can only be done by substitution. If you want to change something about yourself, you’ll have to substitute it some way or another. in doing that, I’ve found these ideas and thoughts to be helpful. I hope you do too.