I’m trying to be better.
To say it’s a work in progress would be an understatement.
Self-improvement, like personal finance, has been hijacked and turned into a billion dollar industry, but at its core, it’s still the same: be better today than yesterday.
For me, my need for improvement is not motivational or even accomplishments – it’s attitude, particularly frustration. When I’m frustrated, everyone knows it. Sometimes this frustration is tangible – someone is not understanding something; someone didn’t do something I find easy and therefore expect to be done – but there are times it’s also more abstract – just a gnawing feeling inside. Not unlike sadness.
This is not the best way to behave when you have a four-year-old, for whom everything is fleeting and life is a series of lily pads, hopping from one to the next.
I don’t do it intentionally. I’m not trying to be a dick. I just have a very strict way in which I think things should go and I get frustrated when that doesn’t happen.
But I’m trying to be better. It takes practice and active thought. Once I stop thinking about it and trying is when I revert.
So, today I vow to be better than yesterday. And tomorrow will be better than today. And one day, it’ll be instinctual.
Or, you know, everyone can just do what they’re supposed to do and we cut out the middleman. Either way.
Here’s what I wrote this week:
- The 20 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 1996 [Medium]
Christopher Pierznik’s eight books are available in paperback and Kindle. His work has appeared on XXL, Cuepoint, Business Insider, The Cauldron, Medium, and many more. Subscribe to his monthly reading review newsletter or follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
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