Reframe Your Brain: The User Interface for Happiness and Success by Scott Adams

Author:Scott Adams [Adams, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scott Adams, Inc.
Published: 2023-08-17T07:00:00+00:00

Bad Days

Everyone has bad days, except me. I only have days that are suited for one kind of purpose versus another. If everything goes well in my day, I feel happy and satisfied. But if everything goes wrong in my day, I can use that energy to handle the ugly tasks I had been putting off, and that usually works out well.

For example, if you are having a bad day anyway, you might as well fire that employee you didn’t want to deal with before. Your day won’t get worse.

Is there some kind of risk you have been wanting to take on but couldn’t quite pull the trigger? Skydiving? SCUBA lessons? Quit your job? Whatever it is, it will seem less risky on a bad day.

Have you been wanting to increase your workouts but couldn’t muster the energy? Try increasing your exercise routine on an otherwise bad day. Your negative energy will turn into muscles.

Usual Frame: There are good days and bad.

Reframe: All days are useful in different ways.

I’m exaggerating about never having a bad day, but I think you get the idea.

Ending Your Life (Don’t)

Sixties superstar Janice Joplin famously sang, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” That blew my mind the first time I heard it. How could freedom be such a sad and lonely thing? But the longer you live, the more you know it’s true.

Usual Frame: Freedom is the ability to do what you want.

Reframe: Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.

Divorces and job losses and tragedies of all kinds can give you a sense of losing almost everything. But gaining your freedom in the deal is not a bad consolation prize. If you have a decent talent stack and good health, some extra freedom might be exactly what you need to have a fully realized life. I got through two divorces using this reframe so I can tell you from experience that it helps a lot.

If you have a limited talent stack, you won’t be able to take advantage of freedom right away, but at least you will have the freedom to develop the skills you need to thrive later. So do that. That’s always the right play.

The best time to use the freedom reframe is when you are extra sad and broken, and life has kicked you in the head. If you start thinking dark thoughts about ending your life, the fastest way back is to remind yourself you have nothing to lose, which means you are free. Free to talk to a stranger. Free to ask for a raise. Free to join a club without shyness, free to make a long-overdue phone call, free to take a scary adventure, change your fashion, shave your head, learn an instrument, get a tattoo, or sample a new religion. Go nuts. Have some fun. Put yourself out there and get shot down. Laugh. Try it again. You’re free.

Here are a few more reframes you might find useful if you are fighting off the feeling that you might want to end it all.

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