Operation Achieve Anything: Day One-Hundred-Seventy-Six, Dateline 6-25-2018
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“It’s choice - not chance - that determines your destiny.”
Good morning crickets. Welcome to day number one-hundred-seventy-six of Operation Achieve Anything. I’m getting a late start today because I woke up to find that my job wants me to switch departments which meant that I had to fill out even more new hire documents. Though it’s annoying that I don’t get paid for all of this extracurricular work, I am excited about the potential change of pace along with the potential that switching tasks is a sign that I’ll be employed for at least a couple more months.
At least that’s what I’m hoping this means and not that I’m being swapped out for doing bad. You never know with this company because at least the current department that I’m working for is terrible when it comes to feedback. I’m also hoping that this new department isn’t filled with as many contradicting rules because the only thing that I disliked about the last task was how often the feedback left me confused. Either way, I’m just excited to still have a job.
With that, it’s now time to get to discussing the assignments I’m here to report on. For yesterday’s task, I was supposed to fake it until I make it as a good person. First off, I consider this odd because it seems to be assuming that we are all evil by default or at least all of us who bought this book, but the book did save itself by pointing out in the last sentence that even the good can do better.
Aside from that, as I’ve pointed out many times while answering similar assignments, I take issue with the "fake it until you make it" concept because, for one, it goes against the other catch-all advice to always simply be yourself. This book, as well as almost every other person who use bumper sticker logic when giving advice like to bounce back and forth between these contradicting prescriptions. How can I fake being genuine?
I also don’t like this advice because even if it is meant for good, the whole idea of faking it at all can lead to the loss of the true self. I know this because I’ve worn many masks in my life as I attempted to make my way through my issues with social anxiety, where after decades of playing a heightened version of me, I got so lost that I started to lose my grasp on who I actually was and even now, I still feel like a shell of a man that I used to be and am not sure if I’m just faking that I’m fine with the new lonely situation I’m now in.
So, I’ll opt to just be as good as I can be with as little fakery as I can manage. As for today’s assignment, I’m just supposed to be more actively aware of my choices in that no one succeeds thanks to chance. Though this lesson was slightly new thanks to this chance vs. choice angle, the overall message and task were the same with the point being to focus on choosing positive actions even if it means harder work because it will make it easier to get people to jump onboard your projects and actively play along.
As always, I’ll delve into this more when I check in with tomorrow’s update. Until then, it’s now time for me to wrap this thing up so that I can see what’s going on with my work. With that, I’ll give you my normal sign off of, good day and good luck to you and all of your projects.
Talk to you soon.
Sincerely,
The Wicker Breaker
P.S. Below are links to my novel, which I plan to promote as part of Operation Achieve Anything, as well as a link to where you can buy the book that is providing the structure to this project in case you would like to purchase it in order to play along.
