29th December 2024
There is one piece of wisdom I would share with a younger self:
Pay close attention to the stories you tell yourself, because stories create your reality.
The Narrative Fallacy is the tendency to craft a story around data, events, and inputs.
Basically, our brains like to “make sense” of the random chaos around us, so the stories provide that structure—they provide a sense of calm.
Therefore, the original stories are often the ones that gets preserved and deeply entrenched:
New information is massaged to fit that story, or rejected if it doesn’t.
Your thoughts, behaviors, and actions all slowly start to fall in line with that story—to create confirmatory data to support it and avoid the conflicting information that might feel jarring.
The quality of those internal stories has a real, tangible impact on your interaction with the external world:
》If you tell yourself that you aren’t capable of something, you won’t try.
》If you tell yourself that you aren’t worthy of something, you won’t reach for it.
》If you tell yourself that you are a static entity, you won’t attempt to grow.
Become aware of your original stories—shine a light on them—as their ripples extend to every corner of your life.
It’s not the sheer difficulty of achieving something that stops you—it’s the ease of continuing to tell yourself the story that you can’t.
The stories you tell yourself can either hold you back or push you forward – There is no in between.
What are the original stories you’ve been telling yourself?
Place them under pressure:
》Why do you believe those stories to be true?
》Is there real evidence to support them?
》Are the stories self-limiting or self-empowering?
》What counter-evidence have you ignored?
》What if the story is incorrect? How might you change your actions?
To illustrate this, consider the story I told myself as a child: ‘I’m not that smart.’
Every average grade further confirmed that original story. When an opportunity to study hard for a test would arise, I would shy away from it, not wanting to put myself in a position to be disappointed.
I would also shy away from making friends.
I was too preoccupied with what will the other guy think mentality.
At each moment, I told myself this was “just the way I am” and moved on.
Original and completely baseless stories with powerful ripples…
Then I met a mentor, who challenged my stories & got me out of my shell and put me on the right path.
As the new year approaches, question the stories you have been telling yourself.
Remember that the only thing keeping you from getting what you want is the story you keep telling yourself about why you can’t have it.
Your life becomes the story you tell yourself, change the story you tell, change your life.
Tell yourself stories of success,of achievements, of positivity.
Change your story, achieve your true potential & stay blessed forever.