Happy Free Thoughts Thursday, people.

Today I'm sharing a lesson that changed my outlook on life.

There have been a lot of those to be fair.

Here's one of them.

1 Thought From Me:

"If I tried, I could do that too. I just don't want to."

I used to say that to myself all the time.

It made me feel better about myself for not trying as hard as other people.

Thinking I could do something but didn't because I chose not to made me feel comfortable with my lack of effort.

But there was something missing: deep down I desperately wanted to do the very things I was avoiding.

I was just afraid.

What if I try and fail?

I told myself I could do everything other people were doing but I just didn't want to because I was afraid of trying and finding out I couldn't.

It's the classic example of overcompensating for insecurity with (false) confidence.

And that wasn't even the worst part.

Not only would I make excuses so I felt more comfortable with my own lack of effort, but I would also criticize others when they tried something and failed.

Other peoples' failures allowed me to feel better about not having my own life together and also to convince myself of how much better I would have done if I had tried that thing.

This way of thinking lasted through high school and ended when I got to college.

What caused it to end? Something simple.

I started trying.

Once I did, I realized two things:

1. Trying to achieve something was, in fact, hard (something I knew deep down but tried to convince myself wasn't true).
2. Even though it was hard, I could do it if I put in enough effort (something I didn't know deep down but tried to convince myself was true).

These realizations provided me with a newfound respect for the people I had spent my life criticizing. The people who were out there trying to improve their lives and make the world a better place.

Once I truly understood how difficult it was to put yourself out there and risk failure in the real world I was much less likely to judge others for doing so, especially when they did fail.

They also provided me with a newfound confidence in my own abilities. I began to learn that when I work hard I can do things I previously thought I was incapable of doing.

That confidence made me want to cheer other people on and support them in their journeys because I no longer had to tear them down in order to feel better about myself.

It's easy to sit back and tell ourselves how much better we'd be than other people if only we were to try.

Or nowadays, how much better the world would be if only everyone listened to us.

But before we go putting ourselves on a pedestal propped up by our fictitious convictions driven by a desire to mask our insecurities, let's first make an effort to actually get our lives together.

"Set your life in perfect order before you criticize the world."—Jordan Peterson

Instead of judging other people and setting off on a quest to change the world...

Let's start putting forth effort in our own lives.

Once we do, I bet we'll find there isn't as much to criticize as we used to think.

Live your life to the fullest,

Chris

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