The Best Minute: Not giving up, avoiding extremes, and marriage

1 IDEA FROM ME

Improvement > hitting a goal.

We all know what it is like to set a goal, make strides toward that goal, realize you are not going to hit that goal, and then slowly give up entirely.

But hitting 50% of a goal is much better than giving up. In fact, at the beginning of your journey to hit the goal, you would have loved to be 50% ahead of where you are. So instead of quitting on a goal you won’t hit, just change the goal to encourage yourself to keep making progress.

Losing 30 pounds when your goal was 50 pounds is still progress
Running a 5K when your goal was 10 miles is still progress
Reading 10 books when your goal was 20 is still progress

Don’t give up if you realize the goal you set was too lofty. Simply change your goal and keep making progress.

2 QUOTES FROM OTHERS

I. Charlie Munger on clear thinking and avoiding extremes:

“I have what I call an ‘iron prescription’ that helps me keep sane when I drift toward preferring one intense ideology over another. I feel that I’m not entitled to have an opinion unless I can state the arguments against my position better than the people who are in opposition. I think that I’m qualified to speak only when I’ve reached that state…

“That is probably too tough for most people, although I hope it won’t ever become too tough for me… This business of not drifting into extreme ideology is very, very important in life. If you want to end up wise, heavy ideology is very likely to prevent that outcome.”

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Anne Lamott on good marriages and friendships:

“A good marriage is one in which each spouse secretly thinks he or she got the better deal, and this is true also of our friendships.”

1 INTERESTING FACT

You're pronouncing Dr. Seuss' name wrong.

Dr. Seuss, the popular children's book author who is known for his rhyming skills, was born with the name Theodor Seuss Geisel. Seuss is his mother's maiden name, and their family pronounces it as "soice" (rhyming with voice). Seuss' college friend Alexander Liang even wrote a poem about the common misconception.

Source: Best Life