I could never become a…
What a horrendous self-infliction, and more times than not, a mere illusion.
Let me cut right to the chase. This is not yet another “you too can live your dreams” exposé as much as it is a heightening of your awareness to the fact that we are masters at cognitive illusion, a false belief that we more or less intuitively accept as true. In that light, it’s easy to fall to the “I’ll never become” scenario seeing yourself as no more than an imperfect being when it comes to any kind of life-changing challenge. I think Voltaire kind of nailed what’s behind this human failing. He states:
“The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe.”
The Problem
Your imaginative proclivities are in place. You have no problem reimagining you – sorry for the plug. But strapped along side that is your master of cognitive illusion persona which immediately challenges (much less shuts down) any thoughts on the nature of what you’re truly capable of. You feel as though someone’s right in your face telling you to get real, or reminding you to wake up and smell the roses, and you’re buying it. For no apparent, factual-based reason self-doubt now reigns supreme. Consequently, as Voltaire so eloquently reminded us, you choose to believe something about your capabilities that’s far from being written in stone. You forgo taking any kind of action, and the illusion triumphs.
The Solution
Here are two modes of thought to consider to get beyond your false beliefs, your “illusion” of personal imperfection in terms of recreating yourself.
Becoming whatever it is you’ve imagined for yourself is not a decision-based endeavor; it’s an action-based undertaking. I once again come back to a statement made by author Seth Godin. “You don’t make art after you become an artist. You become an artist by ceaselessly making art.” That’s exactly the point. The decision to test the illusion that you can’t be where you want to be is just the prequel, not the answer. Just start doing it. How could you possibly know how you would fair in this undertaking without experiencing it?
Secondly, how you learn something about yourself centers on trying ideas, and much more importantly hearing reactions to them. Strive to start interacting with people already vested in your vision. How else could you truly know about it and what you think about it without some type of interaction? This is how you dispel illusions – organization, involvement, and interaction. This is not going to happen in your living room having a light-blub moment.
Some Thoughts
What comes to mind is something I read in Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking Fast and Slow that I feel is analogous to this presentation. He speaks of System One and System Two thinking.
Briefly, System One thinking moves amazingly fast, pulling from our experiences and vast storage of memories. System Two thinking “is the slow process of forming judgments based on conscious thinking and critical examination of evidence.” This is what it’s going to take to recognize and put a stop to any false beliefs about yourself that you’re consciously (and sometimes unconsciously) dealing with. The problem, or shall I say challenge with this is it requires serious mental effort which we tend to see as costly in terms of time. I think it’s fair to say that in these times, we seem pressured to economize on our thinking. The only remark I can follow that with is, ironically; you might want to think about that.
