The Art of Never Losing

Position.

Winning is a verb that requires an opponent. Not losing is a verb that requires only the world. The two are not opposites. They are not even related, except that confused people treat them as if they were.

Most of what people call ambition is a poorly examined preference for the first verb. Most of what people call discipline is a poorly examined preference for the second. Pick one. Stop pretending you can do both at once.

I prefer the second. I will not defend the preference. I will defend the consequences.

The first consequence is that you stop reading the news. The news is a list of other people's outcomes, scored against your own life by a process you did not consent to. Read history instead. History is also other people's outcomes, but the people are dead, and the comparison cannot hurt you.