Coffee With Scott Adams — Knowledge Archive May 24, 2026
Scott Adams Philosophy Archive
Search ideas
Episodes Episode #3004 Segments
MainContent Cognitive Reframing

Back to episode — Episode 3004 CWSA 10/30/25

Context —

simultaneous sip. And it happens now. If you’re wondering why I’m using two hands for my cup, it’s because my hands are semi-paralyzed at the moment thanks to something that’s going on with my body. I told the local subscribers before I got on here, I went to the emergency room yesterday on my doctor’s orders because of the growing paralysis in my hands. And the emergency room sent me home withou…

← Previous segment →

ever is happening with my paralysis. But the later might help with that if I ever get it scheduled. So that’s the update.

I’d like to start with a reframe to change your life. As you know, the reframes in my book *Reframe Your Brain* change people’s lives with one sentence. Although each person is different, so the sentence that changes your life will be different than the one that changes somebody else’s. But maybe today’s your day. Let’s see.

Here’s a usual frame. People tell you that you should compete against yourself. Have you ever heard that? They’ll say, you know, no, no, no. You’re not competing against other people. You’re just trying to do better than you did. Have you ever heard that advice? Very common advice. Bad advice.

Here’s some better advice. I’m going to reframe it. Instead of competing with yourself and trying to improve over time, which sounds like a good idea, you can do better. Compete against other people. You’ll do better if you compete against other people. But here’s the trick. Even if they’re unaware that you’re competing with them, so you don’t have to

Context —

tell them you’re competing with them. Could be a coworker, could be a classmate or something, but you just tell yourself, “Okay, I’m going to beat that one. That one I’m going to beat.” And then you’ve got a target. You’ve got something specific. And you’re far more likely to accomplish something specific than something generic. Like everybody knows that, right? So if you say, “I’m going to beat…

Next segment → →