The blue pill/red pill scene in the cult Matrix film is one of the most famous movie scenes of all time. In it, Morpheus, a freedom fighter, shows Neo, a programmer looking for the true nature of the world, two pills: a blue pill and a red pill.
If he takes the blue pill, he goes back to the life he’s had so far and forgets everything about the events that had brought him to this moment. If he takes the red pill, the true nature of the world reveals itself to Neo and changes his life completely.
Neo takes the red pill and embarks on a journey of transformation. On this journey, he will acquire new abilities and skills, expand his consciousness and learn a few hard-to-swallow truths.
Unlike Neo, our stories are still being written and we ask ourselves the same question.
Am I living in the Matrix?
Which pill should I choose: the red pill or the blue pill?
Take the red pill of self-growth
Lifelong learners such as yourself have chosen the red pill. You have embarked on an amazing journey: to learn new skills, nurture your innate abilities, and grow into the best version of yourself.
The downside? Self-growth is often accompanied by growing pains. Learning new things is difficult, you must overcome many challenges and struggles.
You must first work on your mind: shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. The You either have it or you don’t belief is wrong. Psychologist Carole S. Dweck proved it’s a myth.
She found that people with a fixed mindset think they can’t do anything to improve and they can’t change. They blame their lack of success on the world and are prone to depression.
According to Dweck’s expandable theory of intelligence, the mind is a muscle and must be exercised constantly in various and different ways to keep it in great shape.
People with a growth mindset believe intelligence and abilities are malleable. Their set of skills and abilities can change and grow through dedicated activities: practice, improving through failures, and working through setbacks. They believe they can transition into new roles and can build and develop new abilities.
Almost every area of human endeavour can be dramatically influenced by how you think about your talents and abilities. Fixed-mindset individuals dread failure because it is a negative statement of their basic abilities. Growth mindset individuals don’t mind or fear failure as much because they realize their performance can be improved and learning comes from failure.
What are the top 3 rules for personal growth?
Taking the red pill means facing your fears
The most painful challenge you face when you take the red pill is fear of change.
Once you have committed yourself to a particular goal, your life needs to change to achieve it. And nobody likes change because you don’t know where it might take you.
The solution? Have faith in yourself. No one knows how much you can achieve, not even you.
The first person you need to believe in is yourself
Be aware of your inner voice and don’t allow it to deter you from your goal.
If your inner voice makes you doubt yourself, here is a way to push back:
Negative inner voice: “Are you sure you can do it? Maybe you don’t have the talent.”
Positive inner voice: “I’m not sure I can do it now, but I think I can learn to with time and effort.”
Negative inner voice: “What if you fail—you’ll be a failure”
Positive inner voice: “Most successful people had failures along the way.”
Learn more about the negative impact of What if statements.
Take the red pill and know yourself
When you take the red pill, you not only begin to understand more about the world, life and others; you want to understand more about yourself.
What decisions did you make in the past that you regret today? Would you like to know why you made those decisions? These are questions that we all asked ourselves once or twice in our lifetime and it’s worth pursuing an answer.
Every world-changer has a Neo inside taking the pill and waking up to reality.
Because only by opening our eyes to what is the truth, can we challenge it, change it and choose a better future. Learning never stops!
