This is patently false. If you start smoking cigarettes occasionally and start doing it more, you are becoming more of a smoker. The actions you take or don't take are the clearest input to the person you become. It's true that this is also the person you are, but that distinction seems meaningless if you're trying to become someone better (whatever better means to you).
On a more general note (and this is what you are saying), you can both prioritize the things you need to do to progress and the time you need for enjoying yourself and your current life. These things are only mutually exclusive if you're pushing past your personal limits and there's a lot of inputs to that equation and whether that's worth it to each individual.
So my next question is: why such a strong aversion to people improving themselves? There is no problem with being competitive. However competitive you want to be, be. Do it for yourself. Don't know the author of the post, but people who are hyper competitive usually aren't telling others to also be hyper competitive (unless it's a Gary V or someone similar). From my experience, they're usually just doing their own thing.
Why do you sense this as a strong aversion to people improving themselves, and not a strong aversion to people trying to guilt people into seeing only one mindset to self improvement?
Instead of being the person not aware of their moods and carrying resentment over the smallest slights so they end up bitching about it to everyone. If one never chooses, or "vote", for the positive/uplifting inter/action, then they are "voting" to keep being the person who always has something to complain about.
Similarly, the smoking example, choose to be someone who cares about their health or the person who could not care less. Better is defined by the user. But either way, it will certainly build, or describe, the type of person they are choosing or "voting" to be.
Though, its really just stating the obvious. The more you do or don't something the more those actions become you. The "votes" on those actions don't have to be overt. It's like they were trying to find a novel way to restate the self-help quote: "Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny." (-attributed to the usual suspects)
Why should I waste my day taking to you when I could be working and being more productive?
Eventually all your relationships, friends family etc are tied down to how much money you will be making with that time as it could be better spent working, making money .
So sure every choice is a vote for an improved you. No one would question such an obvious statement. But the way this is framed, is that every decision should be a productive one, which will net you more income.
So stop wasting your time and be more productive or your self worth is delimiting. Aka productivity porn.
What I failed to get across is that, if we read the subjective points with complete neutrality then the only thing really being stated is: what ever your purpose for doing something is the person you continue to become. Which, yea..
However, at its core it can be an actionable, and practical, statement that can simply be a reminder to be intentional in our actions. Advice completely devoid of the subjective judgment of that intent. But the energy needed to clean up the message to that point is not everyone's cup of tea.
I don't know about 'patently false': it's literally true. The things you do reflect who you are when you do them, the person you are becoming is a hypothetical who does not exist. For example, I am the one splitting hairs in this comment, not the future me who wants to be named world's biggest pedant.
What your example points out is someone who is doing more of something over time. A smoker who smokes more is a trend, not an action.
Here's an example: if you choose not a rob a bank 10,000 times, that's 10,000 votes for not being a bank robber. Then if you choose to rob a bank just one time, you're suddenly a bank robber. 10,000 to 1, the number of votes doesn't actually matter.
That's a silly example, but what it means is that your identity isn't always the result of a bunch of small decisions. Often there's just one "vote", and that is the decision you make, the action you take.
One objection to this may be "but being a bank robber isn't who you are, it's just something you did." If so, I wonder how to square that with the example of becoming more of a smoker by smoking more cigarettes? Can I vote not to be a smoker, even if I smoke a lot of cigarettes? Or to be less of a smoker by smoking more cigarettes? That doesn't make sense to me.
Anyway, hope this clarifies my objection: "actions are votes about who you will become" is a metaphorical explanation, not a literal one, so that comment way upthread is not patently false in my opinion, even if it's arguable.
I'd say there definitely is if you do everything in life that way. You seem to be assuming it's possible to be meaningful competitive without it affecting how you interact with other people. But competitive-minded people often make it abundantly clear to those around them how much they're "winning" and even make it a point of pride that others aren't doing so well. So yes, there definitely can be problems with being competitive. But our competitive instinct can be positive motivating force - we've all pushed ourselves that little harder knowing the reward will be a higher spot on the results table. How to combine that with not being an asshole about it seems to be the challenge.
They are the clearest input to the person you *are*. I agree with the OP you replied to.
What if this is not true without exception?
> From my experience, they're usually just doing their own thing.
The "just" seems off - actions can affect the state of the system we all live in, and sometimes these effects are negative.
crab bucket mentality
It's fine to be competitive or trying to improve. But it seems to me that people reading this type of self-improvement articles are wasting their time (ironic if they want to be more productive).
Do, or do not. There is no try.
This is a meaningful distinction, even if it is a nuanced one. There's a profound difference between focusing on who you want to be tomorrow versus who you want to be today.
One mindset takes you out of the present and is an act of self denial. The other embraces the present and affirms positive self identity.
Being present has better connotations. Sometimes being present means stopping and assessing your life. It means engaging with your life in more holistic manner. It can mean planning, reflection, and listening to yourself.
I feel like many people code switch between being recklessly impulsive and intellectually abstract, while never actually living in the now.
These two avoidant behaviors are at the root most people's miseries.
You shouldn't have to fight yourself to do what is best for your future, or suppress your intellect to enjoy the present.
I remember realizing this really early on because of how I played real-time strategy games like Red Alert. Hear me out...
My usual routine was to grind collecting resources and building up the "perfect" army. This part was never really fun for me. It was most of the playtime.
Then I'd take my amassed troops and wipe the map. This part was fun but lasted only a few minutes. It also meant my experience didn't feel very original after a few games.
After that, I tried to be a bit more free with my play-style. Played using riskier strategies, tried different approaches, etc. I can't say every attempt worked out or every time was more fun. But I'd like to think I had a fuller game experience.
I wish I could say I adopted that latter philosophy in life ever since then, but I'd be lying. I do try to stay aware of it and nudge myself in the right direction. But it's also a lot easier to just stay in the comfort zone.
At least for me, it wasn't until I started making self-reflection part of my routine that I started seeing how stagnant I had become and doing something about it. And yes, as I type that, I'm aware that sentence screams "productivity porn." Like most things, I think there's a balance to be struck. Yes, grow, but also live while you grow.
I reckon if you tried this with a competitive human player, you will almost certainly lose.
And i would imagine life is the same - if you laid out a plan and grind to get rich to enjoy it at the end, you are making the assumption that the world doesn't change under you in the mean time.
For some people, this worked, but i think increasingly, the world is changing faster and faster, and any plan that someone might make is going to crumble in the face of the "enemy".
Being adjustable on the fly, and changing plans and goals, as well as balance, is the key imho.
- Enemy would scout your greedy boom
- Enemy would attack while you've committed to your economy instead of military or defenses
- You loseI think I really just wanted/needed was a pleasant building experience like simcity, but with a little action and a definite end within a finite amount of time. When it got too easy I would add more (computer) opponents.
Without being mindful, you'll just have another handful of chips instead of remembering you're trying to be not fat.
Without being mindful, you'll watch another Youtube video instead of doing something on your todo list.
Without being mindful, you'll jerk off instead of reading a book or interacting with another human being.
It's not that doing any of the above is inherently bad in isolation, it's that if you aren't mindful in the aggregate and just default to impulse, you'll find yourself drifting much farther from what you think you will eventually become than you otherwise realize.
We live in a world where distraction and dopamine hits are so accessible (sometimes even out of our control) vs even just 50 years ago, so we find ourselves needing to be more deliberate in our actions.
You can be mindful of who you are and what you want now.
A life of always suffering for tomorrow is arguably as bad as a life of mindless indulgence.
You can get to the end without ever enjoying it.
It is better to not want chips than always want chips and restrain yourself.
It is better to enjoy exercise than suffer through it.
And I suppose I agree with the posted article's title, that every action is an investment of energy into developing better selves, others, the surrounding environment as an interconnected living system.
I actually just had this realization when I was lifting weights.
Initially I just wanted to lose weight and I had this idea of where I’d be once I did. Then I got to my goal weight and that wasn’t it. Now if I stop lifting, exercising and eating healthily all of my progress will eventually be gone; it’s a life long process not just something to do for awhile until I reach some goal.
I think it’s something I should apply to my professional life as well but it can be scary to take your foot off of the gas. I’ve done it in the past for the wrong reasons and wound up regretting it.
I watched my grandfather decline dramatically over his last few years due to a lifelong neglect of his health and I've resolved myself to do everything in my power to try to avoid his fate.
After a decade of false starts, I really had to get to the point where I was doing it for me. Years ago would've been better, but today is better than next year. 60 pounds down in the last 9 months. Could've done more probably, but I really had to figure out a rhythm to it and learn to love it. Ironically, this time around is the first time I preserved enough to get to the point where I can recognize the positive effects. My mood is dramatically more positive after exercise, etc. I never believed I could get to that point.
I made a lot of ideals and goals when I was younger and didn’t know myself or the world, and it caused me to chase things that ultimately didn’t bring my happiness.
I’m much better now loving my harmless, wierd, silly bits, and working on improving the prickly bits that hurt others around me and myself, but I’m still learning what those all are and that’s ok. That’s growth.
Using the "Thinking fast and slow analogy" book analogy these are my geeky definitions:
Fast (automatic, unconscious) thinking is always a vote towards what you are and slow thinking is 50% vote for what you are and 50% on what you are becoming. What you are becoming is a combination of what you want and what your environment pushes you to. Abuse or hedonism makes you working towards places where you better not be. Forming a habit is moving an action from slow thinking mode to fast thinking mode.
For some context ... the blog itself was scoped to a very small portion of what I intend to write as time goes on (probably won't be submitting those to HN as I agree in hindsight that it doesn't match the preferred content for HN readers).
Someone else also commented "Are there any votes you cast that you’re not proud of? What kind of person do those votes tell you that you wish to become?" Yes, I'll be writing that and expanding beyond work scope because as a family oriented person (which doesn't come across in the post, nor did I intend it to), I'm glad to work at a place that advocates for a healthy work-life balance.
Burn out is a very real thing, and I 100% agree with the "Life needs to be built and enjoyed together, through your whole life." that's spot on!
:-)
What? That makes absolutely no sense.
It's a frank acknowledgement of the fact that nothing stays the same, including you. The decisions you make today affect your trajectory and where you'll be tomorrow, next week, next year, next decade, until death.
None of this assigns meaning, reason, or purpose to any of it.
Some people that have a larger gap here, likely could benefit from more mindful decision making.
But you probably need to temper your reaction. Surely you would expect someone to work on improving themselves. That's what education is. That's how people develop skills.
James Clear in Atomic Habits is definitely not just talking about productivity. He's talking about your health and fitness and your mental health too.
Also, why do you have become "someone else" to be a better version of yourself?
I hate this mindset of “I am constantly working towards becoming someone else”. When do we spend time as the person we are? When do we enjoy the fruits of our labor? I feel like some people who take this mindset see their lives as being two distinct phases… the building/growth phase where you grind and learn and work non stop, and then a later phase that comes after where you enjoy what you built.
I don’t think life works like that, and you will burn yourself out if you do it. Life needs to be built and enjoyed together, through your whole life.