Reshaping Your Character
A practice of selecting an intellectual trait (e.g., humility) and focusing on it for a month, noticing negative behaviors and consciously reshaping one's character.
THE IDEA
Reshaping Your Character
Choose an intellectual trait, such as perseverance, empathy, independence, courage, or humility. Focus on cultivating it for an entire month.
If you choose humility, notice when you admit that you are wrong and when you refuse to do so despite the evidence. Watch for defensiveness when someone points out a mistake or corrects your work, and for moments when arrogance prevents you from learning. Work on changing those reactions as you practice the trait you want to develop.
When to use it
A manager wants to become more humble to improve team feedback.
A student aims to develop perseverance for difficult subjects.
Someone trying to break a habit of defensiveness in relationships.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Cultivating Humility
For one month, focus on humility. Notice when you refuse to admit mistakes, become defensive, or let arrogance prevent learning. Actively squash negative thoughts and admit errors.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
What intellectual trait do you struggle with most, and how can you focus on it for a month?
When was the last time you refused to admit a mistake? How could you have handled it differently?
How does arrogance prevent you from learning?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Thinking in Systems and Mental Models Think Like a Super Thinker (Dawson, Marcus P)