Actualization via Iteration

Notes on personal growth, self actualization, and the cyclical iterations I go through to get there.

To become human
is to become visible
while carrying
what is hidden
as a gift to others.

—David Whyte

The thing is, you probably have all the information you need already, you just can't bring yourself to sit down and listen to it, so you just keep chain-smoking podcasts and youtube videos, never really thinking, knowing deep down that the answers you seek are in the silence you're avoiding

Without a long-term purpose, devoid of challenge, life ceases to feel meaningful to us; we cannot find happiness if we exclusively seek pleasure and avoid pain.

Tal Ben-Shahar • Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment

I still have no long term purpose.

An imperfect solution that exists outperforms a perfect one that doesn't.

Facebook wasn't the first social network - it was just the one that kept iterating and showing up.

The Wright brothers weren't the most educated aviation pioneers, but they were the ones who got a plane off the ground.

What you build matters more than what you could have built.

As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.”— Harrington Emerson

Direction.

“You can get real in-depth and intellectual with all that stuff, but when it comes down to it—doing anything, and not having a purpose behind it, and then feeling like you don’t have any other option except to continue: it’s terrible. At least for me, it turns into—well, what’s the point?”

Johann Hari • Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions

This. Daily. So many nights frustrated and dismal.