Supritha S

Think of what a help it would be for any kid to understand — not just to be told, but to really understand — that the reason they want to say mean things to another student is because they’re feeling temporarily angry towards them, and not because the other student necessarily deserves to have mean things said to them.

Approximately 2,700 years ago, the Greek poet Archilochus wrote that “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” Isaiah Berlin’s 1953 essay “The Fox and the Hedgehog” contrasts hedgehogs that “relate everything to a single, central vision” with foxes who “pursue many ends connected…if at all, only in some de facto way.” It’s... See more

The side-effects of this kind of basic respect appear in unexpected places, and depend on your own personal quirks and hangups. Work ethic improves because you’re willing to work through tough spots and ugly dilemmas. Social interactions improve because you’re willing to accept that you may be judged or misunderstood.

When you scan for faults in the world or in yourself, you always find plenty, and each can fuel endless rumination. You wind up adopting any number of grim beliefs in order to make the equation make sense:-I’m not doing enough-I can’t stop screwing up certain vital things-The world is mean and dangerous-There’s something wrong with my brain

Of course, change is certainly possible, but it is only sustainable within a fairly narrow window.

And precisely for that reason, I haven’t had trouble sticking to it. There are extra-challenging days, but because they aren’t the norm, I can always be ready to meet them. Excited even. The improvement has been very consistent. There’s no more bargaining, no dread, and no compromise. I can live here.

The third variation of productivity momentum that I like comes from the observation that projects that have already been built out are easier to work on than projects that haven’t.

The boot camp principle, inspired by military basic training programs, makes sense. Run new recruits through unrelenting challenges they are completely unprepared for, day after day, for a handful of weeks, and they come out strong and resilient.