Bigger Than You Thought

"Your identity is a self-constructed mental prison. Define yourself as loosely and ambiguously as possible. You will feel less defensive towards the world and be willing to change when necessary." - Mark Manson

Your perception of yourself is holding you back.

You’re not the type of person who…

You contain multitudes. 

By rigidly defining yourself, you maintain stagnancy for fear of growing in directions you can't control.

You see through the lenses of your perception, but not the lenses themselves.

To allow space and manoeuvrability in your definition of yourself empowers feeling over logic.

Next to nobody is special. A handful in a world of over 8 billion, maybe.

There’s no pressure to be world-beating. Not unless you choose that burden. If you do, it’s one of the quickest ways to achieve avoidance you can imagine.

You can be brilliant, respected and – dare we say it – even happy. All without the Damaclean sword of perfectionism hanging over every word, tune and action.

Your first song won’t rival Adele’s. 

Your first book won’t hold a candle to Orwell. 

Let’s face it, your first clay pot is going to be… shite.

And that’s okay. In fact, it’s great. Because it’s real. 

Anything real is incomparable to some idealised thought that solely exists in your mind.

***

Your hero never started as your hero.

By distilling your inspirations into rarer stratospheres, you make it impossible to breathe the oxygen of your ambition.

Typically good enough is good enough.

Most people don’t even try. Even fewer try their best.

The bar for progress is just an inch off the ground.

Don’t let the fear of being mediocre stop you from doing the thing.

Procrastination often stems from the friction generated between who you tell yourself you are and who you know you could be.

The narrower the identity you assign yourself, the more everything outside of that definition threatens you.

So, redefine yourself. In the most ambiguous way possible.

Your potential is endlessly broader than you care to realise.

How broad? Let’s find out.