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Is It Good to Focus on Being a Good Person?

Exploring the old adage, “Focus on What You Can Control” in changing the world for the better.

There’s something that’s been bugging the shit out of me, which is funny because that’s precisely what I’m about to say you shouldn’t do — worry about things you can’t control.

I’m going to argue the opposite: that you should focus on what you can control.

In order to talk about that, I have to step into unfamiliar territory. It’s somewhere I promised myself I would never go in my writing: politics. Why? Because politics, by definition, is outside my area of focus: the individual. Politics, what little I understand about it anyway, is how individuals interact and manage their public affairs.

I’m not particularly interested in that. I’m far more interested in how an individual acts internally. How we, as individuals, can become the best version of ourselves. And I think that is actually also the best way to influence the political sphere — to focus on ourselves. If we’re all focused on being the best people we can be, that will undoubtedly make a better country and a better world, no?

Some might argue that focusing on yourself, that simply trying to be a good person isn’t good enough. That focusing on yourself is…