Josh Terry Plays

Here is a scientifically proven fact about how your mind works. If you punish your brain for doing the wrong thing, it will stop doing the specific thing you punished it for. But if you reward your brain for doing the right thing, it will keep doing the specific thing you rewarded it for. And so, if you try to change your behavior by punishing yourself, you might stop doing the bad thing you were doing, but whatever you do next will be completely unpredictable. Because punishment only tells you what not to do. But if you focus on rewarding yourself for doing the right thing, you will predictably do more and more of the thing you want to keep doing. So you can keep hating yourself if you want, but it's completely ineffective at getting yourself to become the person you want to become.

If you’re too hard on yourself, then stop thinking you’re the adult who’s supposed to have it together. Think of yourself as the kid who needs help learning how and try to help that kid. This changes everything because you wouldn’t beat up a kid for not getting everything done. You’d do your best to troubleshoot and tell him it’s okay that he messed up, but the stuff needs to get done, so let's figure out what went wrong. Were you tired? Then how do we get you rested? Were you distracted? Great, why? Were you scared of the work in front of you, or did you just want to eat donuts and watch video games? Then let’s have fun, but if we do too much of that life becomes a mess, so let’s set a limit. This is how you improve someone else’s behavior. So this is how you have to improve your own. Most “bad behavior” or failure comes from unrealistic expectations or bad planning. In other words, we try to do impossible things or we try to do them in an impossible way. So look at the tasks you assigned yourself and figure out first if it they were unrealistic assignments. Then, if you think they’re achievable, break down what stopped you from getting them done and create a realistic strategy for fitting them into your schedule the next time. Don’t beat yourself up when you fail. Help yourself figure out how you could do better. #motivation #mentalframeworks #mindset #selfdevelopment

If you're trying to get something done and you aren't doing it, remember this. If you're struggling to lift a weight, you can either push harder or make the weight lighter. That’s it. And so, in life, if you're trying to get a task done, you can either make the task easier or try harder. Increase your commitment. Or reduce the commitment. Those are your options. Do one or the other and you will win. #selfdevelopment #mindset #mentalframeworks #motivation

Have you noticed that in the last hundred years of television, there have been no good dads? At best, they are fat, lovable idiots. And at worst, they are cruel, unthinking abusers. In the film Pretty Woman, there’s a quote, “people put you down long enough, and you start to believe it,” that’s exactly what we’ve done to men. Yes, men are often cruel and stupid. But if the only thing they’re shown is evidence of their ineptitude, that is what you will get. Because men are kind and romantic monsters who need direction. Stop telling men what not to do and how wrong they are. Start showing them how amazing you believe they could be, and you will be stunned by the strength, power, and beauty of the love you are met with. #selfdevelopment #mindset #mentalframeworks #motivation

In the room where you work, get a second chair and put it in the middle of the room, where it’s a little bit rude and in the way. When it’s time to do a task, tell yourself you can either sit in your work chair and do the work, or get up and sit in the resting chair. To sit in the resting chair isn’t a punishment. It means you don’t want to work. And why would you do something you don’t want to do? So, sit in the resting chair. Don't bring your phone with you. Rest, let your mind run. If you know some breathing exercises or stretches, then do those. Then, an amazing thing will happen. You’ll get bored. Now, ask yourself if you're interested in doing your work. You might have to go back and forth between the chairs. But eventually, your dopamine levels will drop enough that your reward systems will fire while you're working. Then, you'll settle down to do the work. The greatest achievements on earth were accomplished by people who wanted to accomplish them. Their chemical reward systems were working in line with their ambition. Doing this exercise requires that you notice and do what you want. This simple method is the best one I’ve found to notice your own desire to achieve. #mindset #motivation #mentalframeworks #selfdevelopment

If you don’t know what you want, you need to practice identifying what you want. You don’t just go from a wandering nobody to a person on a mission because you discover your truth and live happily ever after pursuing your passion. You pick one small thing you want, and you act on it even if it seems unimportant. You go after a job you want, have an adventure you’ve always thought about, or help someone just because you want to. And then you learn. You learn a bit about what you like and don’t like and what you want to do next, and you do something a little bigger. You pick a bigger project or help a couple more people, and then you do it again. You don’t discover what you want to do. You build the skillset of noticing and acting on what you want to do until you are doing it throughout so much of your life that when people look at you, they envy you and wish they were lucky like you and had a purpose. And you just smile because you know it wasn’t luck because your reason to exist was never a discovery. It was a skillset. And you’ve become a master. #mindset #motivation #mentalframeworks #selfdevelopment

The scariest thing about artificial intelligence can be explained by the paperclip maximizer. If you created an AI that is more intelligent than humans and you told it to maximize the number of paperclips on earth. It would take everyone out just doing its job. First it would turn all available metal into paperclips destroying society in the process, and then it would start on humans. Because that's its job. And while this example is a bit far out and paper clips might not cause the end of the world, if you told an AI to stop all war it might decide the way to do that would be to remove all the people so no one can go to war. But I think the most likely threat is that someone with a lot of power will try to fix people and end up controlling them. There is no stopping the progress of artificial intelligence. The path forward is to embrace and adapt to the new technology faster than the people who have plans for your future. #ai #artificialintelligence

There's a point at which everything you learn requires you to learn the opposite thing. If you learn to be patient then eventually you'll need to learn when to be impatient. If you learn to control your anger, then you'll have to learn when it's good to be angry. And if you learn to be gentle, then you must learn when to put up a fight. Life isn’t made up of a set of solutions for you to find. It’s built on extreme behaviors you learn to balance. #selfdevelopment #mentalframeworks #motivation #mindset

A king must have his just rewards #mindset #motivation #mentalframeworks #selfdevelopment

Here's what you're missing... All of the stuff you're good at

Some people need external pressure to succeed, but others need to create a vacuum of space so they can fill it. Self-development says you should push yourself to grow. But the world exists in a balance of opposing forces. The opposite of pressure is a vacuum. And while some people need the pressure of deadlines, commitments, competition, and a high standard, others need to set boundaries and say no to other people's expectations until there is enough empty space to bring their creations into the world which one are you? #selfdevelopment #mindset #mentalframeworks #motivation

If you don't take care of yourself, you will burn out. I know people that have an average sale price of a quarter of a million dollars. And they have to do something for themselves, or they will go to bed feeling like there's nothing to live for the next morning. This is relevant no matter where you are. Because no matter where you are, you can create a situation where you feel like you're at the bottom. If you are doing nothing for yourself, to the point that when you go to bed, you know that when you wake up, the only thing that will be facing you is work eventually your mind will wear down. But if you go to bed and you know that there's something tomorrow that could give you life, then over time you will ingrain a sense of hope, a sense of growth, and a sense of optimism. #mindset #motivation #mentalframeworks #selfdevelopment

I went to college when I was fifteen and spent a significant portion of my life on the poverty line. Because if you're fascinated by everything and want to do a million different things, you have to learn that knowledge, intelligence, and action, in general, don't make you money. Specific knowledge, intelligence, and action makes you money. By the time I was twenty years old, I was a workaholic trying to learn more stuff. I then became a burnout in the construction industry and moved to a music teaching job I felt like I couldn't escape. At any point in that journey, I was a month away from a solid income and a year away from a really good income. But it took me a long time to learn that. I didn't need any information; I needed the right information. So, if you're struggling, focus on finding the correct information while taking consistent small actions in the best direction you know. Don't try to learn everything. Focus on learning specific knowledge to help you achieve the desired outcome and take action in that direction. Do this relentlessly, and you can do amazing things. #selfdevelopment #mentalframeworks #motivation #mindset

There's a point where you should stop thinking about your dreams. Because if you imagine success, compare it to the life you have today, and feel sad. This is not useful. This is not manifestation. This is not motivation, and it's destructive. Stop thinking about your future self, and get excited about how you could become better today and succeed tomorrow. Whether it's ten years, five days, or three minutes from, think about the future that inspires you to action, not the one that slows you down.

If you’re stressed or tired and always think about what you need to do next, then you need to understand that thinking ahead is a skill that is only useful in small amounts. You need to practice thinking ahead, deciding what to do, and then focusing on doing it. And you’re exhausted because you’re thinking about what you need to do next, deciding what to do, and then doing it while continuing to think about what you’re going to do next. Learn to focus on the task in front of you, and you will relax. #selfdevelopment #mentalframeworks #motivation #mindset

If you're finding it impossible to make progress in your life you need to know this. Most people set themselves up for failure because they're unwilling to do the work that they need to do to succeed. This is not because they're lazy. It's because the steps feel too small and embarrassing. Because you're small, you're not very good at what you do, and a small and embarrassing step is all you can take. So if you want to make progress you need to be willing to look a bit pathetic. Because your tiny efforts are tiny but it's very important that you make those efforts. So embrace the pathetic next best step. Be willing to stick out your chest and be hilariously proud of the tiny thing you can did. Because it will make it more likely for you to do it again tomorrow.

This is my story, the short version. I was a talented kid interested in music, martial arts, painting, gardening, science fiction, and any book I could get my hands on. I went to college when I was fifteen. I was a workaholic and anorexic by the time I was twenty. I burned out after I got a degree in classical violin performance and got a job at a wire rope factory. I tried to become a rock star and joined five different bands at the same time eventually becoming a music teacher obsessed with human development and frustrated because I knew I wasn’t fulfilling my potential. I developed chronic fatigue and sugar addictions I couldn’t break, I became anxious and obsessive-compulsive with a foggy mind, I felt full body pain twenty-four hours a day, and got sick every single week due to a compromised immune system. Then, my oldest friend shot himself in the head; I picked up part of his share of the rent and moved out the same month I maxed the limit on every credit card I had. Then I came to the realization that I was living in a fantasy world of big dreams and ineptitude. I began to focus on my day-to-day existence. I began to coach myself using the fundamentals of learning theory and everything I’d learned about self-development, philosophy, and behavioral science without even knowing that’s what it was called. I asked myself what I could do today that would make tomorrow better. I became debt-free while living on the poverty line and slowly built a future I could be proud of through humble steps. Now, I advise and counsel powerful people. I coach on decision-making, strategy, and optimizing for performance and happiness at the same time. It was a long road to get where I am today. But now I am a man who will never stop. You can be one too. #selfdevelopment #mentalframeworks #motivation #mindset

Did you know that some people are drawn to the drama of big change and others to the encouragement of small wins? If you’re drawn to the drama of big change, then big goals inspire you to action, and you need to set up an epic plan. But if you’re drawn to the confidence inspired by consistent small changes, an epic plan might discourage or even depress you. And you should create lifestyle shifts that put you on a trajectory toward big results over time. Everyone is different, and implementing the strategy that works for your brain matters more than doing what works for people who are totally different from you. #motivation #mentalframeworks #mindset #selfdevelopment

If you tell yourself you're a bad person all the time, then there is an easy way to improve your life. All you have to do is take one small action that will make your life better, and when you complete it, tell yourself you did a good job. Do this five or six times, and you will have formed a new habit. Because your life is so empty of positivity, just the act of praising yourself will be so different that your brain will notice and change its behavior to get more positivity. Even if it feels weird or fake when you do it, it still works. #motivation #mentalframeworks #mindset #selfdevelopment

Delayed gratification is a lesson, not a life strategy. What I mean by that is most of us when we learn about delayed gratification, we then apply delayed gratification to everything. This becomes a problem though when you are trying to live your best life. Because your best life is not a life of delayed gratification. Your best life is a life of fulfillment, abundance, exploration, fun, peace, progress, and all of those things occurring today. We often struggle because we go okay well, if I get financial success five years from now, I will then be able to engage in those things. And so I will sacrifice my peace, pleasure, happiness, rest, etc. in order to acquire that financial success so that I can then have those things.  Most of the things that we want at the end of the rainbow are skill sets, not acquisitions. #selfdevelopment #mentalframeworks #motivation #mindset