The Mission, if you choose to accept it, is to Raise the Floor
If you are like every other human, once you find something new, you immediately think:
- How can I ride MORE?
- How can I get a BETTER bike?
- How can I go FASTER?
Our natural instinct is to raise the ceiling, to do better. To have MORE.
We try to do better than we have ever done. To assume we can perform at our best every day.
But the Path to Happiness is not in doing better.
At first, it’s about removing the easily avoidable losses.
Don’t try to ride your bike to drop weight.
Get rid of the one day a month where you eat three pizzas.
Raise the floor.
Don’t try to raise the ceiling until the floor and ceiling are super close. Take away something shitty, so you have space to put something good, like a bike ride.
- Step One: Find something you dislike abour your life. Eating M&Ms. Drinking too many (insert alcohol, Slurpies, Diet Coke, etc. HERE). Buying lottery tickets. Whatever.
- Step Two: Do it one less time in a month. Don’t get extreme. Just do it one less time. If you eat a whole pizza twice a month, eliminate one pizza. Don’t progress to two until you can hold the line at the previous improvement.
- Step Three: Don’t immediately fill the hole with something. Try to hold space.
- Mission Accomplished: Feel better, not by being better, but by being less shit. Stop blowing yourself up. (It’s harder than it sounds. 😉🚴)
Get Happier by feeling bad less often. Simple.
Homework: Replace one bad outcome a month with a bike ride.
Next Steps: 20th Chamber