LifeHacks
posted in General |A hack is a clever mod someone makes. Usually it’s a hack to a device or program; I can “hack” WordPress to bring it together with another set of PHP Scripts. But there’s another way to use hacks: LifeHacks, or using the hack mentality (changing something to work better for you) on how you run your life.
Most of the entries on that LifeHacks page seem to revolve around a mechanism for keeping notes for yourself or some others; using a blog for sysadmin reports, using a wiki for keeping your memory in line. I’ve used both of these techniques, and I really like using the wiki for keeping the memory together. But this one is very interesting too:
You don’t exist.
You just think you do.
We’re nothing but the stories we tell ourselves. We know in our hearts what kind of people we are, what we’re capable of, because we’ve told ourselves what kind of people we are. You’re a carefully-rehearsed list of weaknesses and strengths you’ve told yourself you have.
(Self-confidence, for example, is a particularly nebulous quality you can easily talk yourself out of having.)
You owe no allegiance to that self-image if it harms you. If you don’t like the story your life has become — tell yourself a better one.
from BloodLetters
I like this because … everyone wants to believe that they’re the hero of the story. (Hey now, don’t be argumentative). But a story can change dramatically depending on the voice you use and the way you frame the incidences. Look at the story of Beowulf, and then the tale John Gardner told of Grendel.
So make your tale a heroic fantasy; don’t suffer like MacBeth or King Lear and be the tragic hero.
