Why We Should Make Our Life Our Argument

I’ve spent the last ten years consuming all kinds of self-help books, whether basic How-to books or more profound Philosophical ideas.

They all have one thing in common; based on thoughts and not action. There is no accountability in reading. Often ideas replace newer ideas, and we’re left muddled as to which ones are the best ones to adopt.

When I’ve blogged on my new learnings, posted the headlines on social media or given a talk about my new ideas, it doesn’t mean that I’ve automatically altered my behaviour.

True, I get more precise on the idea and become readier to new behaviour. However, change doesn’t happen overnight, as many people expect. Instead, ideas need time to marinate and force action.

I once talked about ‘how to live a creative life’ and was rightly challenged by a woman in the crowd. “So why hadn’t I quit being a businessman and lived purely as a writer,” she asked.

I mumbled something to the effect that I still had to provide for my family. Perhaps a valid reason, but that didn’t mean her right question didn’t haunt me.

People get inspired by books, speakers and teachers, but are genuinely motivated by doers. It’s how we live by the ideas that we preach that make people sit up and take notice.

Doing what we believe in becomes a true testament to our life’s ideology.

Our lives clearly show us and the rest of the world what we’ve learned and have put into action. If we’re not consistent in taking daily steps towards what we argue for, we should shut up.

Epictetus, the stoic philosopher, famously said, “Don’t explain your Philosophy, Embody it.”

Mother Teresa is well-known as the Catholic nun who devoted her life to caring for the destitute and dying in the slums of Calcutta, India. However, she didn’t speak in front of thousands or write a book about how important it was to help the poor. Instead, she went about doing her humanitarian work in a quiet and unassuming manner, dedicating every minute of her life to that cause, winning a Nobel peace prize in 1979 for her efforts.

Ernest Hemingway’s life was a testament to how he thought life was to be lived. Whether we agree with him or not, he lived a fast, active life pursuing his passions — writing, fishing, hunting and drinking with his buddies. Though famous for his macho, hard-drinking adventurous lifestyle, his writing and its effect on the literary world are not understated.

Not everyone who lives by his ideals needs to be famous. I recall my law professor in college who was not only an excellent teacher but a great mentor to many of us young adults facing our most challenging years ahead. He made the most boring topics enjoyable. He was always available whether our struggles were with studying, at home or with fellow students. His life’s work was to help young people enter the real world.

Dr Albert Schweitzer was well-known as a music composer, and yet he received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work. He went to medical school late in life and established the Albert Schweitzer Hospital is in Africa.

His famous quote — “I decided to make my life my argument” — remains pinned on the wall facing my writing desk in an interview.

However, before deciding to make our life our argument, we must first discover our true identity — who we are, what we want, and how we want to live. Or what are the values that we want to live by?

“To change your behaviour for good, you need to start believing new things about yourself.” — James Clear.

For example, the identity that I want to live by for the rest of my life includes: being healthy, peaceful(no anxiety), enjoying personal growth, writing out my thoughts and as Tolstoy put it, ‘to serve the force that sent me into the world.”

Before proving my argument to the world, I must prove it to myself.

Over the past seven years, my daily rituals, including rising early — the cornerstone habit — meditating, reading, writing, and of course exercise- have shaped my internal identity.

As long as I keep doing these consistently, I grow in self-awareness. And all this internal growth will sooner or later spill to the outside world. Then, I’d be able to give back in a more meaningful way and help others in their journeys of self-discovery through a book, podcast or teaching course.

I know many will still call me out for being a hypocrite who doesn’t always practice what he preaches, but I’m in this for the long haul. So I will gradually make my life my argument.

Mother Theresa had some difficult moments before the totality of her life became her argument. Hemingway is still being called a drunkard and a hypocrite for taking his own life. Though many people don’t know, the electric-shock therapy, which was meant to relieve his depression, put him in such a suicidal state.

Also, Schweitzer was heavily criticised for setting up the hospital in Gabon as a vanity project where white men from Europe went out to save people in Africa. However, at the end of his life, his missionary work was exemplary and there for all to see. It was not a one-off.

At the end of the day, we live for ourselves and not for other people. What we do and how we live will ultimately become our life’s argument. What is spoken about us when we are dead is often more telling than when we are alive.

What’s your life’s argument?