Not clocks
We are not clocks; we are not fixed. What is remarkable about humans is our mutability and adaptability. We can make ourselves be what we want to be. The first step in that process is visualizing who we are, not what we aren't.
Making the statement to one's self that "I suck" over and over again acts as an anti-affirmation. It becomes the case that you know you suck because you have heard it so many time before - except that it turns out that you have mostly heard that from your own unhelpful head. You can replace "I suck" with "I can't talk to people" or "I can't exercise" or any of the other type statements we tell ourselves as a method of justifying why we "just are the way we are".
People go from being inactive to athletic, from not being able to speak in groups to giving concert-hall sized lectures, from not writing at all to writing novels, from never dancing to being masterful dancers; this happens all the time. It takes effort and time and commitment, but it is all do-able. However, it can only be done when one lets go the anti-statement ("I am not a writer") and puts forward the positive ("I am a writer"), because then you can start thinking from that perspective - "I am a writer... so I should write something..", "I am a fit person, so I should exercise", etc.
I know it is easier to listen to the "I can't, I suck" voice - that is because the requires less work. It's not like I don't hear that voice all the time. I am serious - I HEAR THAT ALL THE TIME. I just talk over that voice with what I want to believe and go from there. And when it seems impossible, I think of people like Helen Keller - which gives me perspective on what a real challenge looks like - all the stuff stopping me seems like so much dust, comparatively.
Making the statement to one's self that "I suck" over and over again acts as an anti-affirmation. It becomes the case that you know you suck because you have heard it so many time before - except that it turns out that you have mostly heard that from your own unhelpful head. You can replace "I suck" with "I can't talk to people" or "I can't exercise" or any of the other type statements we tell ourselves as a method of justifying why we "just are the way we are".
People go from being inactive to athletic, from not being able to speak in groups to giving concert-hall sized lectures, from not writing at all to writing novels, from never dancing to being masterful dancers; this happens all the time. It takes effort and time and commitment, but it is all do-able. However, it can only be done when one lets go the anti-statement ("I am not a writer") and puts forward the positive ("I am a writer"), because then you can start thinking from that perspective - "I am a writer... so I should write something..", "I am a fit person, so I should exercise", etc.
I know it is easier to listen to the "I can't, I suck" voice - that is because the requires less work. It's not like I don't hear that voice all the time. I am serious - I HEAR THAT ALL THE TIME. I just talk over that voice with what I want to believe and go from there. And when it seems impossible, I think of people like Helen Keller - which gives me perspective on what a real challenge looks like - all the stuff stopping me seems like so much dust, comparatively.