My research this morning (on how to live better) led me to some interesting advice. “Pretend you are being filmed by a documentary film crew.”
This advice assumes that people would behave “better” if they know their behavior was being recorded and would one day be viewed by other people. I’m not sure about this one. I mean, I’ve seen documentaries about people, (have you seen Crum?)and I am not convinced sure that they acted any differently or tried any harder in life. Perhaps it depends upon how much one values the opinions and esteem of other people?
During my research, I also ran across some advice from the Stoic philosopher Seneca; he advised, to reduce one’s need for approval by wearing clothing that would prompt insult or at least cause others to look down on you. Enduring the disapproval and or ridicule of others would strengthen one’s ability to weather criticism. Sort of building up immunity.
These ideas are both aimed at self improvement. And, I suppose they both have merit. But, they do seem at odds with one another. Expose yourself to the the scrutiny of others so that you behave better (in order to avoid ridicule) – vs – expose yourself to ridicule on purpose in order to blunt your concern for other people’s opinions of you. I tend to agree with both of them, and this created a bit of cognitive dissonance that drove me to reconcile these two seemingly juxtaposed ideas.
So, I blended them together so they both can work for me. Go ahead and imagine that you are being filmed by a documentary film crew at all times. But, the only person who is going to watch the movie is you and your descendants. The only critic is you and your descendants. Is your behavior meeting with your own approval?
I think the film crew idea is a way of activating our awareness of behaving and paying attention to what we are actually doing with our time and ourselves.
Should we be driven by the approval of others? Perhaps it is unavoidable given the social construct we live in. But, ultimately we must judge ourselves against the values we hold, and perhaps any tool that works to spur us to act in ways that we ourselves admire is worth trying. So, I think I’ll try out the “pretend you are being filmed in a documentary” trick out.
Ben Wagner (232)
Member The365Commitment
