Thinking of yourself less

There is a profound difference between thinking less of yourself (not useful), and thinking of yourself less (better).

— Kevin Kelly

Thinking less of yourself means not believing in your ability to adapt to circumstances, find successful ways out of problems, and win at the overall game of life. This is not useful because it hinders your ability to achieve what you want. You can think highly of yourself without having to signal your self-esteem to the world and without developing arrogance. You can live a humble and productive existence with a high degree of generative drive that enables you to take action and accomplish things. This can be a liberating concept.

Thinking of yourself less means not constantly living a life centered around yourself. It means paying attention to the surroundings, and other people, focusing on servicing others instead of constantly placing your attention on your state of being in each moment as if it were the most important thing there is. If you continually think of yourself, you are more likely to feel a heightened sense of self-consciousness and magnification of possibly mundane situations. This can lead to embarrassment and an unclear mind.

You may have to experience a period of thinking of yourself a lot early in your life as you navigate the social world and decode its underlying mechanism. That is part of the process. Let go of that state of heightened unuseful self-consciousness as soon as possible for the more productive pursuit of serving others, and providing value to others. It doesn’t have to be a grand value. Keep your expectations low and do the work with a humble attitude and acceptance of the byproducts of your choices and actions.