Every Emotion Is a Story I Attached to It

Every emotion happens because of the story I put on it.

The LeetCode example

Take a LeetCode problem. If I think it's hard, it's because I've wrapped it in a story:

• the logic is hard to handle
• there's everything else to keep in place
• the huge test cases I have to pass

That story overwhelms me before I even start — so I don't even try.

But when I rewrite the story:

"Okay, this is a challenge — a big one. What's the first step I can take?" → "What's next?" → repeat...

...eventually I look up and realize I already solved it.

It applies to everything

After rethinking it, this works for everything else too. And it lines up with what I already wrote in Make It Exist First:

Everything eventually gets good if I take it slowly and keep improving the bad version.

The idea I want to keep telling myself

The first time will be hard and ugly. But repeat it enough, and it becomes easy and beautiful.

The trick

Strip the story until it sounds plain — "oh, it's just ___."

That makes it a plain, emotionless thing, and that's exactly what lets me take the first step toward getting good at it.