Fix Yourself First

The world is a pretty messed up place. There are things that needs fixing everywhere.

So how do you decide what to work on first?

I don’t know. But I have had a thought: what if you work on yourself first? Would that be a good thing? Or just selfish behavior?

One way to look at it would be to consider what happened if everybody did this. What would happen if everybody started looking a bit more inwards?

In rich countries I think we’d be much better off.

We already live in abundance and our lives are generally not that hard. A lot of the time we are the ones making it hard: we eat, drink, and sit still to the detriment of our health. We work until we burn out from stress — all so we can buy things we don’t need. We numb our feelings of despair by turning to addictions like screen time, gambling, and shopping.

These are just the basic first steps. Eat well, train hard, sleep enough, budget your time and finances.

Higher up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs comes stuff like “Esteem” and “Self-actualisation”. These are harder to prescribe solutions for. But lack of these needs are also causing many issues in society.

Thinking about all this is confusing. My starting point was that I should consider working on myself first. But now I have listed a bunch of problems in our society. And it is so easy to divert attention towards society as a whole — to see it as this one big glob. But of course society is made up of individuals. I’m one of those individuals. And a question is: do I need more work on myself?

The answer is yes.

I say “society is suffering from a lack of esteem and self-actualisation”. But I’m struggling with that as well! I say ‘people’ should be better at budgeting their time and finances — so should I!

It feels selfish to want to work on yourself. I feel selfish for thinking that. I already have a lot.

But what is the alternative?

The alternative could very well be personal ruin. And so in the long term, working on myself first is the better investment. For myself — and for society as a whole.

Also note: I didn’t say never work on helping others. The goal is to work on yourself first.

When you start working on yourself and arrive at the higher levels of Maslow’s hierarchy, you may find that part of realizing your full potential very much involves being of service. But I think the way to get there is not to force change in the world by looking outwards. I think maybe looking inwards first is the correct step for many, myself included.