Supritha S

My argument is this:If you design for default in your life, rather than accepting whatever is handed to you, then it will be easier to live a better life.

It forces you to recognize that you are free and have always been, but that you can’t escape responsibility for how you use that freedom, whether or not you choose to be aware of it.

I find this to be an empowering way to think about consistency and progress in nearly any area. It’s never my intention to make a mistake, but if I do, I have given myself permission to view my progress over a longer timeline than a single day or an individual event.

However, real military boot camps come with two additional factors that make them work: once you sign up, you can’t slack or quit without severe consequences. There’s no way forward but to suffer and adapt. Afterward, you’re kept from backsliding by peer pressure and institutional standards, for a few years. So they work really well.

We don’t, and it’s probably because we think we already know how to find happiness, which usually involves acquiring something we don’t have. More money, better security, more affection. In other words, we think happiness is created by making some kind of change in the material world. Putting something into our possession, eliminating a threat,... See more