patience

Yesterday‘s post described the short and simple daily practice required to become the best version of yourself using a personal constitution.

I really wish I knew this stuff all the way back in 2012 when I started playing around with the idea. Unfortunately, I didn’t. And so, this fascinating personal development concept brought me very little joy for many years.

This post is written to prevent you from making the same mistakes. 

First off, it’s crucial to recite a personal constitution passionately every morning. For many years, I just had my constitution written down and tried to remember it in the right moments to guide my behavior. 

In retrospect, it’s pretty obvious that this wouldn’t work. I was still far from the best version of myself, but somehow expected that version of me to just magically start acting like my ideal self. 

Simply defining the best version of yourself is not enough. The way this ideal version of you will act must be thoroughly embedded into your head through emotionally charged repetition. 

The next thing I eventually learned is to keep things as simple as possible. Looking back at the first version of my constitution is pretty funny. It was simply far too long and complicated to be of any real use. 

Several iterations later, I arrived at a version that is much shorter, uses simpler wording and is much more explicit about the tangible actions that my ideal self will take on a regular basis. 

The final piece of the constitution puzzle is patience. Too many times I got a flash of inspiration to capitalize on this interesting idea, tried to implement it, didn’t see immediate results, and quit. 

Rewiring your brain takes months. This is just a fact of life. Adding emotion to your daily constitution recital can accelerate the process, but it still takes a long time. 

So, there you have it: consistent practice, emotional engagement, simplification, and patience. Employ these principles to your personal constitution and you have a real shot at becoming your ideal self 🙂

See you tomorrow for the wrap-up of this week’s topic!