What would an 8-year-old version of you think of you now?

You get to become the kind of person your eight-year-old self would revere.

That’s the real flex: not impressing anyone else, but having that little version of you be proud of who you are today.

Warren Buffett has a test for this. He asks: would you rather be the world’s greatest lover, but have everyone think you’re the worst? Or be the world’s worst, but have everyone think you’re the greatest? He calls it the difference between an Inner Scorecard and an Outer Scorecard, whether you’re keeping score by your own standard, or by what the world thinks of you.

Your eight-year-old self is your Inner Scorecard. It doesn’t care what your LinkedIn says about you.

You can control what you think. You can control how you think. And therefore, over enough days, you can control who you become.

You may spend a lot of time in your own head. That’s fine, as long as it’s not egotistical. It should be a scientist’s relationship with your own mind. Always modifying. Always asking: how do I approach my own mind the way I approach my craft, so I’m sharper tomorrow than I was today?

You may not be able to control what happens to you. But you can control how you respond. And that response, repeated enough times, is what decides who you become.

Your mind has more leverage over your life than you’re using.

What would that eight-year-old think of you, right now, today?

Harsh

I share my learnings as a business builder, daily on my WhatsApp Community and LinkedIn, and weekly on this Sunday Email.