Guy Reams (00:01.155)
This is day 16, shut off the gremlin. When I was young, the movie gremlins came out and haunted an entire generation. I would say that and the poltergeist clown were the two that kept us up in our nightmares growing up. So I was always worried about gremlins crawling up out of the basement and chewing my ears off or some such other horrific moment. I tried to devise all sorts of strategies to get my mind to stop thinking about the possibilities of gremlins.
being somewhere in my house, just waiting for the right opportunity to catch me unaware. I did not have the internet as a child, so I could not research how to resolve this issue. I had never heard of meditation practices before. I took recommendations from friends, family, and a National Geographic magazine that had a special on dream psychology. Carl Jung taught me that gremlins were actually representing something that was really eating at me.
But try as I might, I could not figure out what that was. I tried thinking about something else, reading a book, doing something else for a while, hiding under the sheets and gripping my pillow tight, and maybe listening to the radio. The problem with that was that the only show I could tune into was Art Bell, and too often he would make it worse with talks of shadow people that were silently invading our planet from the spirit world.
I bring this up because I have the same problem today, just in a different context. I have these gremlins hiding inside my head that try to constantly tell me things that I should not be listening to. You are too fat to run. You are too old to start a company. You do not know what you are doing. You are an imposter. You are being stupid. No one does this. You are crazy. There are many of these gremlins and they sometimes seem like they have giant megaphones.
Today I was on a morning run. Yes, part of my new 365 commitment is to run every day for 365 days in a row. Now do not tell me that I should not do that by saying it is unhealthy. You need a rest day. I need consistency more than I need a rest day. One rest day turns into three rest days, which turns into three months of rest days. Anyway, on this morning run, I realized that this gremlin was in my head saying, this sucks. You cannot run this much.
Guy Reams (02:21.218)
You should stop now, you old lazy fat out of shape wannabe tech executive. Get back to the keyboard and stop pretending to be a runner. You cannot do this. Everyone is looking at this old dude run around the park and laughing. You can stop now, take a break, run over to that convenience store and buy some donuts. Gremlins are surprisingly talkative when you're doing something hard. This leads me to my point. It is not good enough to recognize that you have Gremlins.
or the possibility of gremlins. You have to name each gremlin, like what Chris Columbus did, the writer behind the original film. The worst gremlin was named Stripe. The comic and silly one was named Gizmo. Once you name the gremlin, it becomes less scary and not as intimidating. You now know what you are dealing with. When Stripe comes back into focus in your mind, you can start to call it out. All right, Stripe, you can just shut up now. I'm turning you off.
This cognitive trick of naming the gremlin, giving it a personality and then telling it to turn off is surprisingly powerful. This gives you control over this thing and helps you identify the source of these voices and negative thoughts in your mind. This cognitive trick of naming the gremlin, giving it a personality and then telling it to turn off is surprisingly powerful. This gives you control over this thing.
and helps you identify the source of these voices and negative thoughts in your mind. The truth is, we all have our own version of Stripe lurking in the shadows, waiting to sabotage our progress and keep us small. But just like in the movie, we also have our inner Gizmo, the gentle, wise voice that knows what's right and good for us. The question isn't whether these gremlins will show up. They always do. We're pushing ourselves to grow.
The is whether we'll let them multiply and take over or whether we'll shine a light on them, call them by name and watch them shrivel up in the brightness of our awareness. So the next time you hear that familiar voice tell me to quit, to play it safe, to stay comfortable. Just remember, you know exactly who's talking now and you have the power to turn them off.