Did you read the article he got 'Bruce' from? He posted it in his post... http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/2005_Stuck_In_The_Middle_With_Bruce.html

To be honest I thought that article was even better. It has the same conclusions in a slightly different context, but much more elaborate. I think it's really interesting what Phaedrus and Rizzo say.

But what I'm chewing on most, is how to properly identify 'Bruce' - that part of us that thinks we will loose, and (mostly unconsciously) convinces us to make decisions that will bring us back to the 'safe zone' of loosing.

How can one know if one's afraid of success or failure? Analyze oneself? The problem is, as Rizzo somewhat pointed out, that it 'can always be Bruce'. But it's hard to confirm. Do you have some thoughts as to how to figure those things out? I suppose there's a lot of psychology involved. The problem with that is, that we are terribly biased concerning ourselves. We can't help but be. We can work on it, of course, but there'll always be a little bias.

After all, we are our own 'protagonist' in this 'game' some people call 'life'. We think with the mind we analyze. So the mind, some more or less unconscious part, has the possibility to manipulate itself, right? That's what Bruce is about. Our vision concerning ourselves is always influenced by our underlying values and convictions, by the way we see ourselves. We are in the middle of it all. A forest looks much different when you are in it, or some way away. In it, there are trees. Big trees. Trees towering above us. Trees left, right, in the front and in the back. It's terribly hard to get a good overview like that. We are the forest. We are in the forest.

We can climb on the trees to try and get a better view of things (like, sitting back and reflecting about it all) but we are still on top of that tree. Its height determines how we see the rest. Hmmm...

How can we best assess ourselves? Yeah, that is a good question.

Hey SZ,

> Did you read the article he got ‘Bruce’ from? He posted it in his post http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/2005_Stuck_In_The_Middle_With_Bruce.html

Yeah, that's a great post. A classic.

> But what I’m chewing on most, is how to properly identify ‘Bruce’ – that part of us that thinks we will loose, and (mostly unconsciously) convinces us to make decisions that will bring us back to the ‘safe zone’ of loosing.

It's hard to do, isn't it?

> How can one know if one’s afraid of success or failure? Analyze oneself?

I think it's fairly safe to assume that everyone is afraid of success and failure, unless either (1) they've explicitly worked on it and conquered it, or (2) have pretty much never been afraid of success or failure in everything, as evidenced by them accomplishing massive amounts.

Actually, I don't even know that (2) exists. But maybe. I'd just assume you've got some fear of success and fear of failure if you're smart and not achieving at extremely high levels.

> The problem is, as Rizzo somewhat pointed out, that it ‘can always be Bruce’. But it’s hard to confirm. Do you have some thoughts as to how to figure those things out?

It's a big, big topic. People have spent a lot of time working on it and not much figuring it out.

For me, I spend less time on trying to analyze what might be wrong, and more time focusing on how to make things right. So, rather than try to figure out what the exact reason my habits are off, I try to just get them right. It's not perfect, but it does the job enough.

> I suppose there’s a lot of psychology involved. The problem with that is, that we are terribly biased concerning ourselves. We can’t help but be. We can work on it, of course, but there’ll always be a little bias.

Ah, good point. Yeah, friends and mentors and smart third parties can give good advice too.

> After all, we are our own ‘protagonist’ in this ‘game’ some people call ‘life’. We think with the mind we analyze. So the mind, some more or less unconscious part, has the possibility to manipulate itself, right? That’s what Bruce is about. Our vision concerning ourselves is always influenced by our underlying values and convictions, by the way we see ourselves. We are in the middle of it all. A forest looks much different when you are in it, or some way away. In it, there are trees. Big trees. Trees towering above us. Trees left, right, in the front and in the back. It’s terribly hard to get a good overview like that. We are the forest. We are in the forest.

Interesting, yes. I see how you could see it that way.

> We can climb on the trees to try and get a better view of things (like, sitting back and reflecting about it all) but we are still on top of that tree. Its height determines how we see the rest. Hmmm… How can we best assess ourselves? Yeah, that is a good question.

Great comment, very thought provoking. Cheers.