It's funny how the mind works.

I meant to go to the gym today; Mondays are gym days with a village friend of mine. The weather sucked —crazy wind, tons of snow flying around. "Ugh, nah I do noooot want to go outside, even for 2x the very small trip from the house into a car and from the parking lot to the gym."

So my mind had successfully negotiated me out of going. Like a total lazybones, total addict (#853488)

And I responded no, it really isn't. It'd be good for me to go so fuck it, let's go. In the twenty minutes I was rumbling around to get my stuff, my mind—so hostile to going just a few short moments ago—had completely shifted. Alright, we doing this!

Then, my friend never showed; he hadn't checked his phone again, and so assumed that I had just bailed... which I sort of had.

Having packed my gym gear, sitting around waiting for something that ultimately didn't happen (my fault), I was once more annoyed (double-whammy, my fault). I was exactly in the spot I had projected all day, no better or worse off than what I had envisioned, but now I was mad. How is it that we reset our expectations like that, and, when let down by reality or circumstances, we get angry?!

Not at all unrelated, today was inauguration day. Yes, Ross will be freed! Yes, SBR coming up! Yes, markets are closed so bitcoin will be the asset to pump! ( you see where this is going, huh...)

None of those things happened (yet? the prediction markets still have some hopes). And so I was annoyed. Again, I'm not any worse off than I was, say, yesterday: BTC is about the same, and Ross is still in prison.

My mind had reset, and now my baseline threshold had lifted up greatly. Ask me a couple of months or years ago that bitcoin is on the political agenda and it's six figures, and of course I'm celebrating. Reality once we're here and hitting new all-time highs? mje, boring—wtf, Orange Man...do your thing!

I see the same behavior in my chess (#853488) —surprise, surprise. Little over a year ago I was thrilled to hit four digits on chess.com. When I rose above 1300 I felt vertigo, at 1400 I was ecstatic. I passed 1500 for the second time this last week (#853488), and it just feels natural, like I belong here. Boring, even. Expectations reset; hedonic treadmill kicked in.

Completely unpredictable, then, that when I fell down to 1450 today, I was annoyed and frustrated with myself!

so instead, here I am, at home, annoyed, and doing my core exercises, stretches (#853488) and #100pushups (#855544) —well, 110 since you fuckers bid up the BTC/USD price to 109k this morning. Jeez, thanks.

Funny how the mind works. But a very good lesson to always set expectations and goals to inputs and not outcomes. Outcomes I have no control over, ultimately (hashtag God, universe, fate, other people); my the inputs are mine to administer.

Good reminder.