The Secret to Self-Improvement
- Eddie
- Jul 17, 2019
- 2 min read
“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” – Lao Tzu
Today I wanted to let you in on the secret of self-improvement industry. After this post, you will never need to read another self-improvement article or book.
Ready?
Self-improvement boils down to disciplining yourself. Discipline in the sense of gaining control of yourself, not the corporal discipline of self-flagellation (ala the middle ages).
There are two types of discipline: discipline of the mind and discipline of action. These two are interdependent. If you are able to discipline your mind, as Lao Tzu points out, you will eventually have more discipline over your actions. The reverse is true as well – if you have discipline in your actions it will eventually discipline your thoughts. It is “faking it’ until you “make it”.
Consider, if I wanted to have more friends, I may start trying to be more polite to people – hold open doors, buy gifts on their birthday, ask after their family, and so one. The action of being polite necessitates me to think about how to do it. Over time, the more I do it, the more I think about it, the more I change. Eventually it becomes a part of me. The dark side to this paradigm is the realization how easy it is to fall into bad habits if you do not discipline your mind or your actions.
Where the self-improvement industry disagrees are the ways in which you discipline yourself. Is it better to write in your journal daily? To exercise daily? Meditate? Pray? Mingle with strangers? Listen to people? Buy this book?
The truth is that everyone who has written a book wants you to buy that book for their take on the answers. Otherwise, we believe that each of the approaches work. We believe that the journey a person takes is as unique as they are, so what may work for one person may not work for another.
So now that you know, what will you do?
The journey continues…
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