In our last +1, we talked about wisdom from my mom and Thomas Carlyle.
Here’s the quick recap:
Mom: “God gave you gifts. You must give them to the world!!!”
Tom: “The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder; a waif, a nothing, a no-man. Have a purpose in life, and having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you.”
Now, we ended that +1 with a challenge to go out and make our moms and communities and selves proud. Today I’d like to talk more about making ourselves proud.
That’s actually a central idea from Eric Maisel’s work. Eric is a therapist who happens to be one of the world’s leading creativity coaches. He’s also extraordinarily prolific himself. In a book called Rethinking Depression he talks about existential philosophy and the power of creating meaning in our lives.
He tells us that we need to have an “existential ideal” with certain principles that guide our behavior. Here’s how he puts it: “It sounds like the following: You weigh your actions against a vision you have of the person you would like to be, the person it would make you proudest to be; you take action; you learn from your experience to what extent you guessed right; and you make use of what you’ve learned as you weigh your next decision.”
One of the super-practical tools to make that existential ideal a reality?
Ask yourself this question: “How can I make myself proud?”
Moment to moment to moment.
Think of that ideal version of yourself—the person you would most like to be.
Then ask again: “How can I make myself proud?”
That’s Today’s +1.
How will you make yourself proud today?
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