On Strictly Living outside of your mind
Naval Ravikant says that a major source of depression is inward-looking behaviour and I cannot agree more. The more we look inwards and attach every happening with something being wrong with ourself, the more depressed we get.
We are constantly in debate with ourselves about ourselves and thus judging, passing comments and comparing ourselves to others. We are constantly finding flaws in ourselves and are always in the unending ruthless process of "Self-improvement."
This creates one of the most bitter relationship on this planet. Where the trainer and the trainee are both one and the same person. Where the trainer is an MMA coach while trainee is a kid who has no idea what is going on. He is made to go through harsh training in a small room with an incandescent bulb hanging from the ceiling. He is made to fight without guidance and every session ends with verbal abuse day in and day out. The kid want to know where he is making mistakes, how can he improve and eventually move away from this coach. But he has no clue because he had no training and thus every fight is random move and guesses. If he somehow makes a wins, that is considered a luck and if he loses, which he usually does, then a barrage of verbal abuse is unleashed.
As compared to this, I believe outward looking mindset would be much better. It is where one keeps on making outwardly progress without obsessing too much on the inwards. This approach is not about becoming a jerk but with many accolades. It is rather about focusing on the actions rather than thinking, rethinking and thinking again.
It is about picking one thing in the list of to-dos and just focusing on it for a specific time period and then accepting the output and moving forward. It is about taking actions based on the first decision and not digging for the 'real intentions' behind your acts. It is about stopping to search for "what is the purpose of this?" or "why do I want to do this ?" and just doing something because it needs to be done. It is also to stop guessing other people's intentions and to accept that you are often unsure of your own, let alone theirs. Otherwise, your own decisions become difficult and your future actions unstable, because you would have to justify yourself by your own impossibly harsh standard. Which is impossible as that standard is not made for humans, but for some ideal being.
Most importantly, the outward-looking mindset is to accept the life for what it is and then to do pracical work towards an envisioned future rather than persistently running from the present because it does not align with your fantasies.