As I’m writing posts for this newsletter, I often ask myself questions like “Isn’t this obvious?”, “I just heard this from someone else; this isn’t ‘mine,’” or “You as a reader have probably heard this a thousand times before.”
Yet, I always try to push through. We are living more or less “linear lives.” If you’re feeling very hungry, it’s probably similar to when I’m feeling very hungry. The same goes for joy, sadness, feeling loved, deceived, energized, etc. Regarding what we feel and experience, you won’t get extreme outliers, as with salaries, fortunes, or other non-linear domains.
A consequence is that most of what we experience has been experienced by others. That’s basically why it makes sense to give advice. Someone might experience what you’ve experienced. But it feels new when we experience things for the first time, although we might have heard it before. Experience is definitely the best teacher.
Advice is not universally good advice. You might tell me to do X in situation Y today, and it won’t make sense. But if in one year you tell me to do X, it might be just the thing I need to hear.
So although the essence of what I share with you here isn’t universally unique, it’s unique to me. And maybe right now is the right time for you to hear it.