E33: I Made A Mistake

Jun 19, 2019 42m 52s 11 insights
Steven Bartlett shares lessons from a stolen tweet, advocating for thoughtful responses over emotional reactions. He emphasizes consistency for greatness, self-awareness via journaling, and the profound fulfillment found in living authentically and prioritizing one's true self.
Actionable Insights

1. Prioritize Being Your True Self

Make decisions for yourself, prioritize your dreams, and step outside your comfort zone to align with who you truly are, as this leads to profound fulfillment and avoids the number one regret of the dying.

2. Choose Response Over Reaction

When faced with triggers, pause and consider a thoughtful response aligned with your values and long-term goals, rather than an instant, emotionally-driven reaction that often leads to regret.

3. Practice Micro-Noting for Self-Awareness

Throughout the week, quickly jot down thoughts and experiences in a phone or diary, then review and analyze these notes at week’s end to understand yourself better, learn, and accelerate personal growth.

4. Cultivate Consistency for Greatness

Understand that greatness is ‘good repeated’; consistently apply effort to intrinsically meaningful causes, as this compounds success and accelerates learning through trial and error.

5. Find Fulfillment in the Process

To build discipline and consistency, ensure you genuinely enjoy the process of what you’re doing and believe in the long-term rewards and delayed gratification.

6. Don’t Be Emotionally Controlled by External Factors

Accept that you cannot control everything, such as others copying your work; release emotional attachment to these external events to maintain composure and peace.

7. Apologize Quickly After Reacting

If you do react poorly or lose your composure, apologize as fast as possible to the person involved and actively learn from the experience to prevent future similar reactions.

8. Focus on Personal Potential, Not External Comparisons

Define success by reaching your own potential and doing yourself justice, rather than comparing yourself against others’ achievements, status, or wealth, which are often unfulfilling extrinsic goals.

9. Set Self-Comparison Goals for Business

For business sustainability and true progress, set goals that measure improvement against your own past performance (e.g., ‘20% happier this year’) rather than external benchmarks or awards.

10. Seek Balance in Life

Actively work to find more balance by dedicating time to social interactions, nature, personal reflection, and meaningful relationships, especially if you tend to disproportionately sacrifice these for career success.

11. Detach from Invalid Complex Questions

Avoid seeking simple answers to inherently complex or invalid existential questions (e.g., ‘What’s the meaning of life?’), recognizing when a question may not have a simple, universal answer and detaching from the pressure to find one.