Shane Parrish

You don't negotiate.

You create positive inertia around the desired behaviors that you want, and then you just stick to the plan.

So to borrow a phrase from a friend of mine, James Clear, never miss twice.

Yep.

And so I think, you know, the second time you miss is the start of a pattern.

The first time, I mean, life happens, right?

Again, it's not about being perfect.

If you hold yourself to this perfect standard, you're always going to be perpetually dissatisfied with yourself.

You're never going to be happy.

It's not about that at all.

I mean, rules is a catchy phrase and rules is the great way to think about, but they're more like principles.

And there's a saying that a friend of mine has, which is the young man knows the rules.

The old man knows the exceptions, right?

And I think that that is never more resonant than it is in these moments, right?

Like it's not about holding yourself to this impossible standard.

It's about adjusting to life and positioning yourself where you can adjust to life.

Yeah.

There's an element of common sense here, right?

If your rule is I don't need dessert, but you're at your wedding and your partner or spouse is like feeding you cake and you say, hey, I don't need dessert.

Well, you know, I don't think that's the situation where you want to apply that.