101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think summary

To many, routine can be the direct opposite of a happy and adventurous life.

If you do a bit of research, you’ll find that the most successful people you know had a daily routine that guided them into a steady and familiar rhythm. It’s this rhythm that put them into a state of flow, that point where a creative seems to work effortlessly and endlessly.

Believe it or not, you really don’t want to be happy.

You’ve subconsciously created a baseline above which you become uncomfortable and slide back into an acceptable state of happiness.

We’re all creative beings.

We thrive when we attain a sublime state of expression, whatever form we choose. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors still found the time to paint images on rocks and caves despite the rugged lives they lived.

How do you automate acquired skills to the point where they become as easy as breathing?

Well, here’s your three-step path to genius!

Remember what you learned about using your thoughts to control the way you feel? You can do the same to improve your self-esteem.

Think of it as your ability to manage your own affairs. Consciously and intentionally work and evaluate your skills and you’ll notice how your confidence grows over time.

We’re advised to follow our hearts, but what if we let our heads steer the ship?

The trick isn’t to pick one over the other but to understand where one starts and the other ends. Passion may ignite a desire but will ebb as you make progress.

In a famous essay, French Enlightenment philosopher Denis Diderot described how being gifted a new scarlet dressing gown made him unhappy and drove him into debt.

His older possessions became boring overnight. He raced to replace them to match the novelty of his new dressing gown. If you’ve ever bought a dress and instantly thought about the shoes that go with it, you get the point.

So far, we’ve covered a couple ideas that hopefully will change your thinking.

Here’s an encore: there are three more ideas to go. This time, they’ll be super short.

Avoid judging people. This is especially important when it comes to younger people who’re still trying to find their way in the world. Our natural tendency is to suppress our feelings when we’re judged. But this can often lead to stress and anxiety that pop up later in life.

Finally, learn how to use the power of negative thinking to evaluate and improve your life. While you can’t control what the world gives you, you can choose how to play the hand you’re dealt. Instead of resisting negative thoughts, use these scenarios to contemplate how you’ll deal with them. Manage your fear and let it become a motivator.

Changing your perspective will also change the way you approach every hurdle in your life.