The ObservatoryExpectations and reality
The difference between the life you have and the life you wish for.
Questions to ask yourself
- 1How big is the gap between the life you have and the life you wish for?
- 2Where is the gap biggest?
- 3Which of your expectations are your own, and which have you taken over from others?
- 4What in what you already have would your younger self be impressed by?
- 5Do you want to close the gap by changing your life or your expectations, and where do you start?
In the app, you rate the area 0–10, answer the questions, and watch how your answers shift over time.
Getting started
Tool
The enough-meter
A recurring way to ask whether you have enough, before the mind has moved the goalposts
8 min · Rationality
Exercise
The comparison spiral
Four common comparison scenarios from the feed, a quick check on what they cost you, and a way to break the pattern before it takes your mood
9 min · Rationality
Self-assessment
What is enough for you?
Three scales on how quickly you get used to what you already have, plus a sorting that shows which measures of enough would actually hold
5 min · Rationality
Self-assessment
How harsh are your standards?
Five scales that separate high ambition (harmless) from self-critical perfectionism (costly), and show where the line falls for you.
4 min · Rationality
Article
The comparison that steals the joy
Why perfectionism and constant comparison wear you down, and what research says you can do instead.
3 min · Compassion
Exercise
Do it half well
Perfectionism promises that everything will fall into place if it is perfect. Test the opposite, on purpose, and see what actually happens.
12 min · Discipline
Exercise
Learning goals, not image goals
Goals about looking competent make you brittle. Goals about getting better make you persistent. Rewrite yours.
10 min · Rationality
Exercise
WOOP: wish meets reality
Four steps (wish, outcome, obstacle, plan) that set the dream against reality.
12 min · Rationality