A short YouTube monologue by Katie McManus arguing that pursuing an idealized “best self” breeds shame and repeated failure, and proposing instead the practical mindset of the “favorite self”: the version of you you’re excited to be in the moment. She gives personal anecdotes (math learning, to‑do lists, reduced executive dysfunction) and ends with a call-to-action to listen to the rest of the episode via the link in her bio.
Chapters
Whenever I think of my best self, I don't feel good. My best self doesn't inspire me. It makes me feel shame about not being good enough. And so when we try to live our lives to a standard based on someone who doesn't exist, guess what happens? We fail. And we fail again. And we fail again until it just becomes like this cesspool of shame that we're constantly letting run our lives. To which I say no. Sharon, if you want me to respond to your email, don't give me a scary subject line. At least put an emoji in it. Come on. Instead of turning to our best self, let's turn to something more enjoyable. Something that we have easier access to, and that is our favorite self. Your favorite self is the version of you that you are excited to be in any moment. Your favorite self gets to show up to every aspect of your life, and there's no prerequisite to becoming your favorite self. When you look at your to do list from a point of what would I enjoy doing in this moment? It completely changes. If they related math to either money or knitting, I would have picked up math way quicker. I would have had less struggles. I would have found ways to learn that not only gave me a deeper understanding of the concepts, but also useful for the hobbies that I was really curious about. The cool thing about shifting into your favorite self is it can happen at any moment. This week I was looking at my Miles long to do list with massive projects I'm working on. Since I've shifted into this favorite self way of doing life, I have not struggled with executive dysfunction. The only reason I have not gotten things done since shifting into favorite self is because I just kind of run out of time. And if you want to listen to the rest of this episode, then go check my link in bio and tap on the Weenie Castle.