Listen for every “I always” and “I never” you say about yourself. Most of them are old stories, not facts.

Sentences that begin with I always or I never sound like conclusions drawn from evidence. Usually they are summaries you wrote at twelve and never updated. One bad experience with a class or a sport hardens into a permanent trait, and then you stop testing it, which keeps the story intact.

Catch yourself saying one this week and finish it differently: not I always choke, but I choked twice in ninth grade. Then do the thing once and see what the evidence says now. You have changed more in two years than those sentences know.