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Test yourself out on the real world
Sunday, 6 May 2007
Each of us lives in two different places. The real world in which our bodies are firmly anchored, and a shadow-world of fantasies, rules-of-thumb and strategies that flows in the space between our ears. It's where these two worlds join that often dictate our success or failure.
Of course, success in the real world contains an element of luck. All sorts of events and circumstances that affect us are out of our control. We can't even dictate such basics as whether or not we'll be born, or have a choice in the inevitability of our death. Yet there are influences we can have. The choices we make will definitely have an impact on our outcomes.
The problem is that many people, given the opportunity, retreat into fantasy when they're allowed to. It's so much easier to believe you're smart, attractive and with the potential for success than to actually go out and prove it in reality. The real world is unforgiving of our mistakes, whereas the rules of the dream-world inside our heads are mostly under our own control.
All the time I meet people with predefined beliefs about themselves. They say things like:
- "I could be a great writer if only I had the time".
- "Women are attracted to me, but I can't be bothered with them".
- "I'm much smarter than average".
- "My moral values are more worthy than those of others".
- "I've never been any good at cooking".
- And so on.
These are the types of ideas it's easy to carry around your entire lifetime without bothering to ever test out whether they're true. Of course, you can't help but get the occasional piece of feedback from the outside world, but this can easily be interpreted to suit you.
Instead of being the average chump filled with fantasies, test your ideas and beliefs out on reality. Plunge yourself into the cold, hard world until you're up to your neck in it.
It's a harsh teacher, and you'll likely find you aren't as clever and wise and you believed. That's okay. Being humbled by the world is the first step to learning how it really works. Having your fantasies torn apart isn't much fun, but you'll emerge a stronger and wiser soul.
Test yourself and your ideas out on reality. Rather than framing the feedback to fit what you wish were true, instead be honest with yourself. If the truths you discover are harsh, this is still better than living in a fantasy world. Understand reality, and you have a far better chance of influencing it to achieve your own ends.
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