“Today is the tomorrow you were eagerly waiting for yesterday.”
“My life will start when I break into a big company.”
“My life will start when I get promoted to a senior role — Then people will finally respect me.”
“My life will start when I become a senior executive — I’ll have true power then!”
Recycled Emotions
How many times have we all heard those statements in our heads? Our inner voice tells us to find the next rung and grab onto it. Until then, everything is meaningless. Until then, we are underdogs. Until then, we are pitiful, wrapped in self-pity. Until then, we err on the side of hope.
And then the cycle repeats. The same feelings are recycled and re-felt in our minds. Same emotions, same old fights with oneself on why we haven’t achieved that success yet. We set our standards high enough to feel self-pity. And we continue to drown.
Until our inner voice convinces us we are above others, we are special, the universe made us for a purpose we haven’t found yet.
In the book The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness, subtle wisdom is distilled about living a life of purpose and clarity.
One of the ideas that sticks out the most is his take on desire. Naval says,
“Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.”
It’s so easy to get caught up in the chase for the next big thing, believing that fulfilment lies just around the corner. But does it?
Naval urges us to rethink this mindset, suggesting that life isn’t a series of destinations but a journey.
“When you live according to a script, you are stuck. But when you embrace life as it unfolds, you are free.”
Then we ask ourselves, “Want to feel proud and confident?” Yet, we rarely sit down to answer that question definitively. Somehow, we start to assume defying the status quo is the answer.
There are many other flavours of such feelings: burning your time insulting hedonism, critiquing cynicism, and hating people who don’t supposedly match your standards.
All of these are distractions, Naval would argue, from what really matters — finding peace within.
Power Play
All of this fills us with self-esteem and pride. And then the inner voice claims victory. Finally, we feel we are on the right track. But it’s like a bloated stomach, one washroom trip away from fizzling out.
What in the world should we pursue to boost our confidence and feel in control? There is no definitive answer.
So many of us indiscriminately believe we will be respected when we reach the next level.
People will bow down to us then. No one will question our decisions, and they will heed our dominance.
Power. That’s the word. Power over others’ conscience, power over others’ decisions. Presuming superiority over others around, feeling like a king.
But what’s the next level we are all in pursuit of? It’s all hypothetical.
The next level relative to what? Next level relative to who? Next level in what? Such questions remain unanswered, untethered, and unresolved.
Naval speaks to this pursuit of power and status with clarity.
“A rational person can find peace by cultivating indifference to things outside of their control.”
The chase for power over others is an illusion, a fleeting feeling that slips away as soon as it’s grasped. Real power, he suggests, lies in mastering oneself — our emotions, desires, and reactions.
Growth in Disguise
I was thinking the other day, how did we become so eager in a world full of comfort?
Over 100 years ago, people would give up anything for a comfortable lunch with a beach view. They could be humble enough and grateful enough for a one-bedroom house.
But slowly, desperation and greed started to creep up. Maybe disguised as growth, these feelings kept people going, pushing them to evolve. Massively impacting how the next generation’s brain will be wired.
Crazy? Well, that’s life these days. Powerful people lead you to believe you have to follow what they are doing.
Influencers are telling you to quit the rat race, sleep therapists telling you how to sleep, tech companies writing new algorithms to keep your attention 24/7, and bodybuilders telling you how to work out. The list goes on and on.
With so much opinionated advice floating in front of you, you are left with nothing but to choose to put yourself down. Why?
The simple answer is — success metrics keep changing, so you tell yourself you aren’t successful yet.
You repent and critique your past frequently to feel like you are growing. But the future will return to you in the form of a new past in which you are destined to live.
And in this whirlwind of opinions and shifting success metrics, Naval offers a grounding truth:
“Time is the most precious resource we have. We must use it wisely.”
Cliched? Well, we waste so much of it worrying about the future or regretting the past, all the while neglecting the present moment — the only time we truly have. Remember someone once said
“Today is the tomorrow you were eagerly waiting for yesterday.”
He says, “A busy mind accelerates time,” urging us to slow down, simplify, and focus on what truly matters.
So now what? All that wisdom in this post is going to stay with you, but the same old recycled feelings until the day comes when you realize you didn’t live — you were just busy being the researcher no one needed.
Naval would say that in the end,
“The only true measure of success is how close you come to living the life you really want.”
So why not start now?
