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Hi friend,

Betrayal cuts the deepest when it comes from someone you trust.

And what is worse than being betrayed by someone else?

Being betrayed by yourself.

That is what micro negotiations are. They feel small. They feel harmless.

Hitting snooze.
Skipping the walk.
Ordering takeout instead of cooking.
Leaving the to do list blank for tomorrow.
Pretending good enough is good enough.

But these are not neutral decisions.

Every single time you are training yourself.

You are teaching your brain that it is okay to give in. That it is okay to let your standards slide. That it is okay to betray the version of you that you said you wanted to become.

And here is the part that stings.

How pathetic is it that you are willing to let your future self die because it just feels too hard right now?

Too hard to study.
Too hard to clock the extra hours.
Too hard to cook your meals instead of ordering food delivery.
Too hard to go for a silly little walk after dinner instead of scrolling.
Too hard to sit down, plan your week, and block your workouts into the calendar.

Is it really too hard… or are you just betraying yourself under the disguise of comfort?

If someone else lied to you, manipulated you, and broke their word again and again, you would cut them out of your life.

Yet we tolerate it from ourselves every single day.

When you betray yourself, you chip away at your own trust.

And if you cannot trust yourself, who else can you really trust?

This is where the cracks form.

Not in the big moments, but in the daily minutiae.

When things get hard, most people negotiate down.

They lower the bar. They shrink the standard.

They start telling themselves that being realistic is wisdom, when in reality it is cowardice.

What if instead, you negotiated up?

What if, when things got tough, you raised the standard?

What if you went bigger, not smaller?

Dream rambunctious.

Dare to set goals that make people uncomfortable.

Have the audacity to be ambitious.

Because here is the truth.

It is only extraordinary until you do it.

Someone else already has.

Why not you?

This is a question I ask my clients every single week.

What do you want to be true in 90 days that is not true right now?

Ninety days is close enough to feel real but long enough to completely transform your life.

So I will ask you.

If you kept every single promise to yourself for the next 90 days, who would you become?

Would that version of you even recognize the one who kept negotiating everything away?

Be radically honest with yourself.

Where are you playing it safe?

Where are you negotiating your potential down to match the comfort of the people around you?

Where are you pretending that good enough is enough?

Call it what it is.

Betrayal.

Because this is not just about you.

When you betray yourself, you are robbing other people of what you could have given them.

Maybe you gave up on becoming a doctor because it was too hard.

That could have been lives saved.

Maybe you gave up on writing because it was too hard.

That could have been words that made someone feel seen and less alone.

Maybe you gave up on creating because it was too hard.

That could have been the thing that gave someone hope.

Self betrayal does not just cost you.

It costs others too.

Here is the good news.

Just like betrayal compounds, so does integrity.

Every time you keep a promise to yourself, no matter how small, you are depositing into the bank of trust and identity.

Every walk taken.
Every workout completed.
Every meal cooked.
Every plan followed through.

That is proof.

Proof you are someone who can be trusted.

Proof you are someone who does not break their word.

And that proof stacks.

So let me leave you with this.

What would happen if you stopped betraying yourself?

What if, for 90 days, you became impossible to negotiate with when it came to your standards?

What if you actually lived the life your future self is begging you for?

Because the real tragedy is not that the goal is too big.

The tragedy is when you betray yourself so many times that the future version of you never even has the chance to exist.

Do not let them die before they are born.

If you like'd this, you can do a deep dive into my previous articles here.

Until next time,

Much Love,

Calvin

P.S - these are my favorite productivity drink. Wild Citrus is goated.

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