In 1933, a woman named Frau, who was frustrated and frustrated, sent a letter to the psychologist Carl Jung, asking “how to live.”
(She didn't have Instagram influencers shouting inspirational platitudes at her, I guess)
Jung replied:
“Your questions are unanswerable, because you want to know how to live. One lives as much as possible.
… if you do with conviction the next and most useful thing, you are always doing something meaningful and destined with fate.”
He shared the key to life.
He is part of recovery communities like Alcoholics Anonymous.
It was even the title of a song in it YesDisney's Frozen 2Yes.
“Next thing right.”
Looking back on this story made me think about how much my thoughts on success and progress have changed over the years.
“Success” redefined
I've been doing this Nerd Fitness stuff for 15+ years.
Millions of people visit the site every year, over 50,000 customers have purchased items through NF, and our coaches have served 15,000+ customers 1-on-1.
In that time, I have somewhat changed my perspective on “success” and “living well.”
I used to think that the only path to success required militant discipline following a specific plan. I never missed a workout, and I was incredibly proud of this.
It didn't occur to me just how much Yessimple simple lifeYes I lived, where I had 100% control over my time.
(Apologies to all the parents and carers who read my 25-year perspective!).
Now I'm 40, and I see the types of people we are really help with Nerd Fitness, I have changed my perspective on success and “staying well” significantly.
Success doesn't happen when we learn how to do everything perfectly, but rather when we get better at staying away even when things go wrong.
In other words, success is learning to be consistently inconsistent. Learning to be good enough for a long time.
And that means, when life seems chaotic, narrowing our focus down to “the next right thing.”
Do the next thing right
A Yesrecent newsletterYes Author Oliver Burkeman spoke about how he has chosen to maintain some sanity in a horrible world.
It led me to these sentences from the author Eckert Tolle:
“What you call your “life” should be called your “life situation”. It is psychological time: past and future.
…forget about your life situation for a while and take care of your life.
Find the “narrow gate that leads to life. ” It is called the Now.
Keep your life down to this point. Your life situation may be full of problems – most life situations are – but find out if you have any problems at this time. Not tomorrow or in ten minutes, but now.
Do you have a problem? now?
When we refer to what has already happened, and we find out about the things that may happen or must happen in the future…
It's easy to feel out of control and overwhelmed.
Which brings us back to that cliché solution: “the next right thing.”
It's a cliché only because it's true.
We can move inward, and narrow our focus to something that is still within our control. In some cases, yes there is a problem right now. And we can only focus on that one thing.
But in many other situations, we often worry about all the possible problems, or the problems beyond our control, which keep us from taking action on the things that we can control.
Burkeman continues:
As for telling myself I just had to do the next thing… you can always just do the next thing, then the next thing, whether you like it or not .
It's a little strange, really, to refer to any of these techniques as “narrowing your view”, as if they involved somehow voluntarily limiting yourself.
In reality, you are just consciously recognizing how limited you have always been.
We all know how easy it is for us Yestoo complicated thingsYes.
And when the world feels like a dumpster fire, it can help to move into that next decision, the smallest goal, and just do the next thing right.
It could include a workout or a walk, focusing on the next meal, calling our therapist, or Yesfinally saying noYes to promise
If “now” is the only time, then “next right” is the only thing we can really do.
I'm going to do the next right thing for me: take a walk.
-Steve
PS: Maria Popova has Yesgood write up about “the next right thing”Yes how it relates to her life as a writer that inspired this piece.
PS: Nerd Fitness is hiring a few remote, part-time people (primarily with flexible nights and weekends) to take scheduled calls from potential clients who are interested in the coach 1- on-1 of us. YesClick here to learn moreYes.
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