The simulation

Fear rules the world, right? So how do we figure out what we really want, when fear leaves the building? This thought exercise from an old Tim Urban post is pretty effective:

If someone gave you a perfect simulation of today’s world to play in and told you that it’s all fake with no actual consequences—with the only rules being that you can’t break the law or harm anyone, and you still have to make sure to support your and your family’s basic needs—what would you do?

My guess is that most people would do all kinds of things they’d love to do in their real life but wouldn’t dare to try, and that by behaving that way, they’d end up quickly getting a life going in the simulation that’s both far more successful and much truer to themselves than the real life they’re currently living.

That’s the life irrational fears block us from.

What would you do in the simulation? Make a list of those things, and name it: “My life, if I didn’t let fear control it.”