Listen To This Cartoon Monkey

Summary

The web content encourages perseverance and self-improvement in personal endeavors, emphasizing the importance of daily practice and self-comparison over time.

Abstract

The article, titled "Listen To This Cartoon Monkey," shares wisdom from the animated series Bojack Horseman, highlighting that while daily efforts in new ventures like writing can be challenging, they lead to gradual improvement. It stresses the significance of consistent action and the importance of comparing oneself only to one's past self to maintain motivation and measure progress. The text argues that true desire for a goal can be identified only by fully committing to it and that achieving success is possible for those who are honest about their ambitions and persist through daily efforts. The article concludes by reinforcing the message that daily dedication is crucial for success and that this commitment is the challenging yet rewarding part of the journey.

Opinions

It is crucial to embrace the daily grind and understand that the difficulty lies in maintaining this routine, not in the individual tasks themselves.
Comparing oneself to others can steal joy, so it is more productive to measure progress against one's own past performance.
The pursuit of a goal requires honest self-assessment and a willingness to fully engage with the process to determine true desire and commitment.
Success is att

It Gets Easier

“It gets easier. Every day, it gets a little easier. But you gotta do it every day — that’s the hard part. But it does get easier.” — Cartoon Monkey from Bojack Horseman

If you’re setting out on something new — like writing on Medium, you need to recognize that it will feel like you can’t do it, and maybe you’re just not the sort of person who does this anyway. Rejections pile up, and being ignored is almost worse.

You just gotta do it every day. Set out to express yourself a little better each day.

Publish and move on. This is a long race, and you won’t survive if you keep thinking about the finish line.

Only Compare To Yourself Yesterday

We all know it. Comparison is the thief of joy. Didn’t Teddy Roosevelt say that? Or Einstein? Or Dumbledore?

Well, we are comparison beings, I hate to tell you. That’s the only way to make sense of the world, after all. What is a tall man if not compared to a short man? What is fresh if not compared to rotten? Successful to unsuccessful?

We can take that ability and use it for good. Only compare to the person you were yesterday. 2 good reasons:

You are the best possible control group. No one else has your exact gifts and challenges.

It is manageable to do a little better than you did yesterday. It is not manageable to become the most successful blogger on the planet today.

That’s all you can do is a little better today. It gets easier, but you have to do a little better today.

If You Want It, You Can Have It

You can only find out if you truly want something if you dive all the way in.

If it turns out that you truly want to become a writer, and you are willing to do what it takes, you can have it. I truly believe that.

Those who sit on the face, hedge bets, linger in resentment, and never truly decide are the ones who never get what they want. Because they were not honest with themselves, and so never knew how to ask the world.

You gotta do it every day — that’s the hard part.

Originally published at https://www.taylorforeman.com on July 30, 2020.