Happy Free Thoughts Thursday, people.

I posted a video today highlighting the 25 most important lessons I've learned during my 25 years here on Earth.

I worked hard on it and it's the video I'm most proud of so far. If you're subscribed here I think you'll find it valuable.

You can watch it here.

I'm going to leave you with 1 Thought From Me this week instead of the usual 3 Things I've Learned, 2 Questions For You and 1 Quote.

I hope you find it helpful.

1 Thought From Me:

"There are two ways to have the tallest building in the city:

1. Build yours higher than everyone else’s.
2. Try and knock everyone else’s down."

Which way would you choose?

#1 seems like the obvious answer, right? I agree.

But how does this actually play out in real life?

Let's change the wording to find out.

"There are two ways to become someone you're proud of:

1. Work on becoming the person you want to be.
2. Try and tear everyone else down."

In this case, which way do you choose?

#2 is significantly easier than #1—all you have to do is find one flaw in someone else and you immediately feel better about who you are. At least temporarily.

But every second spent judging someone else is a second not spent becoming the person you want to be.

And if you have values, every second spent judging someone else is a second spent actively working against becoming the person you want to be.

You're also reinforcing an exceptionally dangerous idea in your head that everyone around you is criticizing you.

If you're criticizing others then you can only assume everyone else is doing the same to you, right?

This may be painfully clear to you. Obviously, denouncing other people isn't good.

Once again, I agree. But I still thought it was worth mentioning—sometimes we all need a reminder.

What may be less clear is that a lot of people think they are choosing #1 on a daily basis when the truth is they are not.

For a long time that's what I was doing.

Here are a few examples of what that looked like:

1. I read tons of books but never applied the lessons.
2. I listened to dozens of episodes of How I Built This by Guy Raz but never built anything myself.
3. I watched countless "What I Eat in a Day" videos by fitness influencers but never prepped my own meals.

All the while, I felt like I was getting better. Like I was becoming the person I wanted to be.

But in reality, I was observing other people get better while I remained the same.

I was so focused on how other people found their success that I completely forgot to find my own.

Don't get me wrong, I think there's a time and a place for learning from others.

But all of that knowledge goes to waste if you don't apply it to your own life.

Judging other people is quite obviously a poor use of time and energy.

But sitting in the audience watching someone else live the life of their dreams is dangerous too, because you may very well feel like you're along for the ride but once it's over you'll find yourself in the exact same place you started.

Don't get so caught up in what everyone else is doing that you forget to do what's best for you.

You're fully capable of building the life you want to live.

You're fully capable of becoming the person you want to be.

And in order to do so... you have to focus on yourself.

Live your life to the fullest,

Chris

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