Quick snippets from my morning read on Saturday, 31st October 2020
Today’s morning snippet comes from a brilliant article by Srinivas Rao titled What We Should Have Learned in School But Never Did which is full of really insightful tidbits – it’s a long article, but you definitely should make the time to read it. I’ve shared a few things I found insightful below.
Our current model of education is outdated and ineffective. We live in a world where access to knowledge and information is ubiquitous. The value of memorizing information to regurgitate it, pass tests and get good grades has declined.
Managing Your Psychology
Managing our psychology is essential to navigating what one of my mentors referred to as a world of diminishing permanence. We have to deal with highs and lows. We have to avoid tying our self-worth to external events and circumstances.
True Confidence
What we should have learned in school is that how someone else perceives us should never be the determining factor in our self-worth. But for so many people it is. Rather than conclude that we’re incompatible with another person, we think something is wrong with us. And that keeps us trapped in a vicious cycle of low self- esteem and a lack of true confidence.
The Courage to be Disliked/Self Acceptance
There are few things more liberating in life than giving up the need to be liked by everyone. Not only is this impossible and out of your control. It’s exhausting.
Self-acceptance means having the courage to show up as a vulnerable, authentic, no-bullshit version of who you are. It means not hiding your quirks and rough edges behind masks. In fact, what you’ll likely find when you show up as the no-bullshit version of who you are is that the world seems lighter. People who don’t accept you don’t matter because their validation doesn’t determine your opinion of yourself.
Boundaries
Out of fear of rocking the boat or upsetting another person, people often have loose boundaries. They tolerate behaviors that they’re not ok with; let people walk all over them and end up resenting them.
Having loose boundaries more than anything indicates a lack of self-respect. Loose boundaries reduce our self-worth. With strong boundaries, we might piss some people off. But we’re also less likely to find ourselves in situations that are ultimately toxic to our well being.
The Toxic Social Program of Scarcity
Of all our socially programmed responses to life, the most toxic is scarcity. “When we believe there is not enough, that resources are scarce, then we accept that some will have what they need and some will not. We rationalize that someone is destined to put up with the short end of the stick,” says Lynne Twist in her book, The Soul of Money.
You can read the full article from Srinivas Rao on Medium using the link below:
Please take the time to read the article. These snippets are just the tip of the iceberg. It is wonderfully insightful and offers perspectives from numerous people about their learnings, regrets and growth beyond school.
And as always, if you enjoyed this, check out the rest of my daily snippets, curated daily, right here on The Red Notebook.
