Dan Buettner ruined my dreams…

His feedback of it nearly broke me. 

“As you know, in my view trying to get people to change their behavior is an exercise in futility: people almost always revert to their set point.  Changing environment is what lasts.” 

For a guy trying to write a book focused trying to get people to change their minds and behavior, to have it called “an exercise in futility” was hard to hear.

But you know what, he’s not wrong…

While I would argue that people can and do change their set point and do not “almost always” revert, his broader point was true.

“Changing environment is what lasts.”

So then the question became, what do I do now?

Do I abandon Mental Fitness LLC and focus on changing structures, policies, and environment’s? 

Or maybe that was the wrong question…

Maybe it wasn’t an “either or” approach. Maybe, I could do both…

I am incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished and will continue to achieve through Mental Fitness. We’re teaching it in schools, training therapists across the US, and working to establish our approach has an evidence based therapy.

Still, the mission is to reach as many people as possible and to help them achieve their full potential. And while the approaches we’re taking are a powerful way to get there, perhaps there’s another approach as well.

After a couple years hiatus, over the next 5 years, I plan to make that book a reality. In the meantime, I have some work to do to get there.

For a decade, I read everything I could on self-improvement. Now, it’s time for political science.

If I’m going to advocate for UBI and environmental changes to better humanity, I better know everything I can to make that point effectively.

Dan Buettner didn’t break me. He challenged me.