Arthur C. Brooks says treat your flaws like puzzles to solve, not failures to hide. Working through imperfections brings satisfaction and meaning. An entrepreneurial mindset toward your own growth, he argues, is what makes life worth living.
Reframing your imperfections and others not as failings, but as puzzles. Puzzle that you can solve that's utterly solvable. And when you do, you're going to be better off and that's going to make you happier. I'm going to get better grades. I'm going to have a better relationship. All the imperfections of yours are interesting puzzles to solve. Now, the idea of puzzles to solve without just getting a cookie at the end, the satisfaction that comes from being better. This is the most exciting thing. How boring not to have areas of improvement in life. How boring. What a horrible way to live. That leads to this idea that I've arrived. It doesn't live up to expectations. The goal in life is progress, making more progress and more progress. And when you find something that's an area of imperfection in your life, don't lie about it. Say, yeah, man, that's why I'm alive. That's what it means to be an entrepreneur. That's the kind of progress that I want to make. And that is a big part of the meaning of life because meaning has purpose at its core, goals and direction at its core. Your imperfection is the source of your excitement in life. And that's a great thing.
