7 modern lies we accept without thinking
And 7 underrated ideas that actually work
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🏷️ Categories: Behavior, Decision making and biases
There are ideas we accept without thinking about them too much.
We repeat them because they sound good, because they fit with what we see everywhere, and because the world seems to have already decided that they’re true. However, many of the things we value most are not exactly the ones that best help us live.
Some, in fact, sabotage us.
Yesterday, while rereading some Jardín Mental articles, I noticed a pattern in certain common, unquestioned beliefs that run through the way we live. Overvalued ideas. Others undervalued. Science has been pointing this out for a while, but our way of living has barely moved since then.
Let’s talk about 7 ideas that seduce us more than they deserve, and their undervalued alternative that is worth much more than we think.
1. Being busy is overvalued
We have turned being busy into a sign of importance.
If you don’t stop, you must be doing something important.
If you’re exhausted by the end of the day, you made a lot of progress.
If your schedule is overflowing, you’re a high-value person and everyone needs you.
The funny thing is that being in motion is not the same as moving forward.
The hamster on the wheel doesn’t stop running, but at the end of the day it’s still in the exact same place. Constant busyness is more a sign of scatteredness than of performance. The big goal is not to have a full schedule, it’s to devote yourself 100% to the few real priorities.
Most important things don’t require speed.
They require more focus; with a couple of hours a day, the results are already enormous.
Being focused is undervalued
Doing one thing at a time seems like too little in a culture obsessed with doing too much, but science has shown that multitasking and the constant distraction of modern life completely destroy your productivity and your energy.
Multitasking prevents you from deciding which information is important and which is not.
It makes it harder to remember information, and it’s harder to relate and apply it.
It makes you tire faster and makes you more likely to make mistakes.
Most people spend the day very busy and very unfocused.
You don’t need to go faster, it’s enough to go one at a time, prioritizing what’s important.
Read more here: The myth of multitasking.
2. Avoiding criticism is overvalued
Being seen is scary, I admit it.
As soon as you share something of yours, whether it’s an idea, project, opinion, or a different way of doing things, you expose yourself to the possibility of being judged. This alone makes many brilliant people decide not to show themselves and keep everything they carry inside.
It’s safer, yes, but silence also has a price.
You can be criticized for creating something, or you can go unnoticed because you never dared to share it. There’s a bias called the “spotlight effect.” It’s the bias by which we overestimate how much others notice our mistakes and appearance. We mistakenly believe we’re being judged all the time, which generates social anxiety.
The good news is that this is a mental distortion. It’s not true.
Being different and sparking debate is undervalued
We believe we’re protecting ourselves by fitting into others’ expectations. In reality we’re rejecting ourselves. Out of fear of not fitting in, we gradually leave out exactly what made us unique and would have made us shine in the first place. There’s no way to live with your own voice without making someone uncomfortable.
The cost of avoiding all criticism is a life at the service of others.
Read more here: The art you’re hiding could change the world.
3. Total freedom is overvalued
Total freedom sounds beautiful until you have to organize your days.
Being able to do everything, with no schedules or limits, seems like a dream, but the reality is that this infinite breadth becomes a burden. When everything is possible, nothing has direction. Every decision is a negotiation with yourself. The result is simple: you end up exhausted and lost because it’s impossible for a creature of habit to live in chaos.
Routine is undervalued
The restrictions in your routine, if well chosen, are a form of relief.
Even though it goes against the fashion of the modern spontaneous life, routine is a form of relief. A clear framework that reduces decisions, that gives you a schedule and a clear space to channel your energy toward what you want to achieve. Routine is the stability needed to be able to plan a life and long-term purposes.
Read more here: Why I chose to live a boring life.
4. Motivation is overvalued
We love to think that the only thing separating us from our goals is “feeling like it.”
We believe that when energy arrives, we’ll be able to write the book, achieve that physical change, learn that language, or reach that goal. As if transformation depended on feeling inspired for a while.
This has been proven not to work.
Motivation is volatile, you won’t always have it, and you can’t depend on it.
The power of your environment is undervalued
What matters is the environment.
The way you organize your space, the distractions around you, how easy it is to start something or how hard it is for you to be distracted. All of this and many more factors decide what you can achieve. Much of our behavior does not come from conscious decisions, it’s a pure unconscious response to the environment.
Until you become aware of the weight of the environment, you will keep being its puppet.
Read more here: How to change habits (without willpower and without effort).
5. The news is overvalued
Current events have an effective way of seeming essential.
It arrives with urgency, always with life-or-death headlines, with the feeling that you must know it now or you’ll regret it. This is how we fill our minds with recent information that tomorrow will have been replaced by other information just as urgent and just as forgettable.
Watching the news is the easiest way to fill your mind with noise.
Reading classic books is undervalued
If a good book has survived ten, twenty, or fifty years, it’s usually because it contains something more valuable than a news story. Bad books disappear over the years, no one remembers them. Those that remain for decades or centuries usually do so because they keep saying something true no matter how much time passes.
This has been mathematically proven, it’s called the Lindy Effect.
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil’s Aeneid, and Plato’s Dialogues are examples of this. They are all books centuries old that continue to be essential reading, from which inspiration is still drawn.
Not everything new deserves to enter your head.
Not everything old has lost its strength.
If we are what we eat, take care of your mental diet, you are the content you consume.
Read more here: Why you should read the classics.
6. Winning is overvalued
We want results. It’s natural.
The problem begins when results matter more than the process that makes them possible. Then the temptation appears to speed up, to look for shortcuts, to appear before being. That’s why people want good grades without learning, numbers without building, victory without having yet become the person capable of achieving it.
The harsh reality is that this does not transform us, we remain just as stuck.
Improving is undervalued
Improving doesn’t shine as brightly as results, but it’s the only thing that, over time, generates results that don’t collapse at the first setback and that don’t leave us exposed. The best way to improve is through deliberate practice, the psychologically proven technique for mastering any skill.
If you want results, focus on the process, not on results.
Read more here: How to master any skill.
7. Intensity is overvalued
We’re seduced by the idea of changing everything in 24 hours.
We always try to achieve physical change in record time, to study as if it were a race against the clock, and to achieve everything soon. It’s related to this obsession with results I was talking about. However, pushing yourself to the limit again and again is not effective, in fact, it works against you.
The most important thing is not to do a lot today, it’s to come back tomorrow.
Consistency is undervalued
Progress rarely depends on a single extreme session.
No one achieves a physical change by training hard one day and not coming back for a month. It’s necessary to sustain habits for weeks, months, years. The most realistic way to achieve any goal is through small actions you can repeat every day.
Consistency isn’t appealing because motivation is overvalued, but it works.
Aim to be consistent, not intense.
Read more here: The old man who moved mountains: The power of consistency.
And now it’s time to apply it.
See you!
— Álvaro
P.S. I also offer 1:1 consulting to help you grow on Substack.
If you’re just starting out and don’t know how it works, or if you’ve been at it for a while but are stuck, this will help you. I’ll help you find your direction, position yourself as a leader in your niche, and build a system tailored to your needs for sustainable growth.
My credentials? Over 100,000 global readers in 2 years, 100% organic growth, with 300,000 monthly visits. All from scratch, writing all by myself in my spare time.
If you’re interested, email me at: jardinmental@proton.me
Wow! Es un tema demasiado interesante!
De hecho, estos mismos temas son los que intento hablar en mi Newsletter :)
Me encanta la idea de darme cuenta de todas las cosas que sobrevaloramoes e infravaloramos en nuestro día a día!