If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
My first thought was to change one of my physical qualities: to clear up my vision to 20/20, to sing like Ella Fitzgerald or Fiona Apple, or to run like Kara Goucher. Those potential qualities are lovely but wouldn’t pay off as much (unless I landed a recording contract or running sponsorship). Changing my devotion to the “shoulds” would pay off so much more. The “shoulds” involve social pressures and doing things for extrinsic motivation and the approval of others rather than for intrinsic rewards.
I don’t like that the question almost implies that the “one thing” has to be a wishful thing or a thing that you could never change about yourself. To fight the “shoulds,” I’ll focus on being calmer and on living my life with intentions rather than trying to hold myself to an overly rigid plan.
