Here’s your 3 insights in under 3 minutes.
🌀 The harder you try, the harder it gets
It’s 2am and you can’t sleep.
So you try to fall asleep more.
And now you’re wide awake. (aka me last night)
A French pharmacist wrote about this in 1922 unpacking the sleep example we all know too well:
"If on the contrary he tries to force himself to sleep by his will, the more efforts he makes, the more restless he becomes."
— Émile Coué, Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion
This is the law of reversed effort which comes down to the difference between will and imagination.
You have a will (what you’re telling yourself to do) and an imagination (the story running in your head). When those two conflict, the imagination always wins.
Lay a plank on the ground and anyone can walk across it. But put that same plank across the top of two skyscrapers and you’ll wobble off.
Want to get to sleep or finish a project? “Trying” harder isn’t the path.
🔁 (Do→) Be → Do → Have
I’ve written a lot about Be → Do → Have. And now I have more context.
Who you’re being, drives what you do. What you do, then determines what you have.
Most people run it backwards, have → do → be. Wait until they have the money or title, then they’ll do the thing, and then they’ll finally be the person.
But lately I think there’s a critical first step in front of the whole sequence.
A small do. One action, taken before feeling ready, and the way of being shows up after instead of before.
I’m actively still working on this. But I caught myself this week in research/planning mode on a couple of projects and mistaking it for progress.
This tweet is a great reminder:
🦋 Build the garden
I was moved by this quote:
“If you spend your time chasing butterflies, they will run away. But if you spend your time creating a beautiful garden, then the butterflies will come to you. However, if they don't come, at least you have yourself a beautiful garden."
Chasing butterflies (or waterfalls) is chasing the flashy outcome. The validation, number, or mimetic desire.
But building the garden is doing the work you’d want to do anyway.
Best part is the garden is worth it either way. Maybe that attracts butterflies. Maybe it leads to something else completely that a younger version of you couldn’t imagine.
Notice where your butterflies are right now. In your stomach usually means that’s where the momentum is. Take the action anyway and that's how they end up in the garden.
Todo bien,
Mitchell
Ps. We dem boys
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