Morning, CEO!
You know that feeling when you’re just... 100% in your own way?
Like, you know exactly what you need to execute. But instead, you’re just... not. You’re spending that time feeling vaguely bad about yourself.
Yeah. That’s my default setting.
I’ve been trying to “start” flossing for six years. Meanwhile, Scott Adams (the Dilbert guy) has drawn like 11,000 comics.
His secret isn’t a mutant productivity gene. It’s a UI upgrade for reality called Reframing.
Let’s install it.
1. The Operating System Upgrade
“Reframe” is just a fancy word for changing the story you tell yourself.
I take my dog for a walk. He stops to sniff a bush.
Default Story: “This is my sacred workout time! You are ruining my heart rate! I am a failure!”
The Reframe: “This isn’t my walk. This is his Twitter. He is checking his pee-mail. Let the dog scroll.”
See? The situation is identical. The bush-sniffing continues. But I am no longer having a tiny internal meltdown.
My internal cynic immediately screamed: “This is just lying to yourself!”
But it’s not. It’s the difference between a Passive Reframe (delusion) and an Active Reframe (utility).
If I lose a client:
Passive (Bad): “Losing is winning! Yay!” (This is a lie).
Active (Good): “I just paid expensive tuition to the ‘Don’t Do That Again, You Absolute Donut’ University.”
One is a band-aid. The other turns failure into data.
Adams also suggests hacking your definition of “winning” by focusing on Systems over Goals.
He goes to the gym every day. But if he feels awful? He drives there, walks in, turns around, and leaves.
My Brain: “That’s cheating.”
His Brain: “I respected the system (show up). I failed the goal (get fit), but I won the system.”
And his brain gives him a dopamine hit for winning. It’s the greatest loophole I’ve ever heard.
2. Patching the Social Interface
As an Agency of One, you have to talk to humans. For me, this is a minefield of “Am I being weird?” (Spoiler: Yes).
We need to patch this.
First, let’s deal with the Ego.
My Ego is usually a giant, priceless, fragile Ming vase that I carry around, terrified it will get bumped.
The Reframe: “My Ego is not a vase. It is a potato.”
If you’re carrying a potato and you drop it? Whatever. It’s a potato.
How do you turn your Ego into a potato? By intentionally being embarrassing. (My palms are sweating just typing that, but let’s move on).
Second, people are programmed to say “yes.”
There’s a famous study where people cut in line for a copy machine.
“Can I cut?” → Mostly “No.”
“Can I cut... because I have to make copies?” → Almost all “Yes.”
“Because I have to make copies” is why everyone is at the copy machine. It’s a non-reason.
But people heard the word “because” and their brains shut off. We are all just barely functioning robots. This calms me down immensely.
Third, the “Main Character” Reframe.
My Brain: “Everyone saw my typo in that email. They are in a group chat mocking me right now.”
The Reframe: “You are not the Main Character in their movie. You are a blurry extra.”
They are 100% obsessed with their own movie. They didn’t even see your typo.
This is the most freeing thought in human history.
3. The Reality Distortion Field
This is the final boss level.
You will encounter irrational clients. You will encounter people who disagree with you.
Adams says: Stop trying to use logic.
The Reframe: “We aren’t watching the same movie. We are looking at the same screen, but watching two different movies.”
People filter reality based on their Tribe and their Money. You cannot “logic” someone out of their Tribe. That’s not how human hardware works.
This saves... so much time. I could have not been in that 3-hour Facebook argument in 2011.
And finally, the biggest reframe of all: The Simulation Hypothesis.
I know. It sounds nuts. But ask yourself: Is it useful?
If life is a simulation, then the annoying stuff—the server crash, the lost contract, the difficult project—isn’t “bad luck.”
It’s a level.
The Game Designer specifically put this obstacle in your path to see how you’d handle it.
Suddenly, your startup struggle isn’t a tragedy. It’s a puzzle.
You Hold the Pen
“Reframe” isn’t magic. It’s just a tool.
It’s the realization that the story I’m telling myself is just that... a story. And I’m the one holding the pen.
“Don’t find yourself. Author yourself.”
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go author myself a sandwich. And maybe... maybe I’ll finally floss.
(Probably not. But I’ll reframe my non-flossing as... a strategic rest for my gums. Yeah. That’s it.)
Links:
https://dilbert.com
https://www.amazon.com/Reframe-Your-Brain-Interface-Happiness/dp/B0CGVYQX72
