What is the best version of myself doing right now?

Where Physics and Productivity Collide

We compete with each other: friends, neighbors, coworkers, people on the Internet we don’t even know. We compete with ourselves too, always striving to be better Now than Then, always fearing that we’re not and never will be.

The problems with the above are obvious. Keeping up with the Jones’ and living in the past are not great ways to lead authentic, fulfilling lives.

There are benefits to competition of course. By striving to be better, regardless of the measuring stick, we challenge ourselves. Sometimes these struggles reveal our true selves, little insights that would otherwise be unseen. Competition can be fun too.

But still the problems remain.

Quantum physics gives us one way to gain the benefits and avoid the problems. Rather than compete with each other or ourselves, we can compete with parallel versions of ourselves.

By competing with imagined versions of ourselves in parallel universes, we leave irrational feelings and regret at the door.

Asking what is the best version of myself doing right now? is a great way to decide which action to take next.

(This concept originally appeared in my book, How to be a Long Term Person in a Short Term World, available on Amazon. Actually, as I write this, the book is free too.)