We continually fool ourselves

We continually fool ourselves. We confuse what is urgent with what is important. What is immediate versus what is miraculous. Our habits, even the good ones close us off from what we can be. Self-deception. Focus. Habit.

— from The Mind in the Cockpit · Sick Souls, Healthy Minds- How William James Can Save Your Life by John Kaag

In the book

Now the rough air — the lies this instrument tells, most of which I have believed in my time. The deepest fault is simply this: we continually fool ourselves. And we are devastatingly good at it — the best cons, the saying goes, are never discovered, so we have no idea how many times we have been conned, least of all by ourselves. — The Mind in the Cockpit

The machinery is neutral; it will just as faithfully run your worst patterns as your best. There is even a subtler danger: our habits, even the good ones, can quietly close us off from what we might yet become, for genius itself is little more than the faculty of perceiving the world in an unhabitual way. So hold even your good routines with an open hand. — Expanding Your Range (Growth/Change/Education/Learning/Habit)

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