I am not a self-improvement guru and I pitty people who get sucked in that world.
Why?
Because I was once a part of it. For a brief moment, I became the slave of cheap intellectual aphorisms and feel-good platitudes.
It took me a year to get sick of the dull, tasteless figures operating in that space. And most importantly, I simply started trusting myself.
"I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teaching my blood whispers to me." – Hermann Hesse"
Pretty much I realized that:
- Motivation is for losers
- Hard work > Working hard
- Habits should derive naturally from a life aligned with your vision
- Time > Money
- The people I admired weren't smarter/more able than me
- There's no self-improvement, there's self-DEVELOPMENT. You are simply discovering latent potential
Nonetheless, you CAN do certain stuff and improve your life. But don't listen to them. To no one's surprise, I am better AND I will give you the NO-BS approach. If you really want to improve your situation, stand out from the crowd and if you have the stomach for unpleasant, raw truths, keep reading:
1. Do the opposite
Look at what the masses are doing and do the opposite. This applies to small stuff, like wasting your time watching sports, AND to the big ones like getting into debt for a useless college deegre.
Doing the opposite is a helpful heuristic that has served me good for the last 5 years or so. Feel free to test this.
2. Insecurities are your wisest advisors
Instead of accepting your flaws, you use the chip on your shoulder to change.
Feeling fat/skinny/ugly? GO TO THE GYM YOU FUCKING LAZY SKINNY-FAT FUCK.
Feeling anxious around women? Go out and talk to a 1000 and get rejected. Ditch Tinder and go get your face smashed.
Feeling depressed? OUPS! You have not time to feel depressed because you are working towards your vision.
See?
3. Learn to sell
Everything is sales.
Either accept that or accept you won't reach your full potential.
Pick up 2-3 books (this, this and (only for the chapter about tonality) this) and go out and apply the principles until you know how to sell. 3 books are enough. No need to waste more time there.
If you don't like selling, I got bad news for you. It means you don't value yourself enough. You need to work on that (see #2). Sales will come in handy in EVERY DAMN situation. From making money to relationships to daily life.
LEARN FUCKING SALES!
4. Make money online
That's a no brainer. The majority of people spend the majority of their time online. Plus, it hasn't been easier
(and cheaper!) to set up a website/social media account. Make them greens babe.
5. Don't take advice from people who are not successful in the subject they're giving you advice at
And that includes myself as well.
I am a below average painter. Would you take advice from me about your latest drawing? No. Then why do you take money advice from broke people or relationship advice from sexless dudes?
You get the point.
6. Law of Action
The Law of Attraction works without the "attr". Take more risk, try and fail early and more in your 20s and 30s. Don't ponder, ACT.
The only Law the universes abides to is the Law of Action. If you work towards what you envision, guess what?! It may become a realiy. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAHHHHH
7. Talent exists
And the sooner you find yours, the better you'll be.
Everyone has heard the "it takes 10,000 hours to become a master". According to #1, this is false. If you have distinct talent, you'll see assymetrical results compared to your average Joe.
Not everyone can do everything. If you are 5 6' you can't be a professional basketball player. We all agree. But why is it so hard to accept that you don't have numerical talent or entrepreneurial spirit?
As a rule of thumb, you should surpass the competition by 5-7% every year until you reach the top.
8. Obsession is required
Again, #1. The masess believe obsession is bad and "you should do everything in moderation". Do the opposite.
Obession is subtle. It's the thought occupying your mind for 80% of your time. It consumes most of your cognitive power in the day and you fall asleep thinking about it. Sounds SUPER effective in my opinion. And it's the only to improve.
9. Women are the icing on the cake
Please, stop acting like a squid in front of beautiful women. Stop doing them favors, stop being polite even when they are a piece of shit, stop agreeing with every bullshit that comes out of their mouth.
You don't need to talk to her 8 hours a day and you don't need to respond to every emotional outburst they have (and they have A LOT). Do your thing FIRST and they will follow. Put yourself FIRST and they follow.
10. Networking is for losers
That was a big one. Everyone is blabbing about networking, going to events and exchanging numbers. You usually end up getting pitched by an already failed start-up company about an electronic spoon.
Think about it. You hope to meet someone valuable that is ABOVE, further ahead in life than you. Well, guess what? That guy ALSO wants to meet someone like that. What makes you think he'll be at your shitty $50 networking event?
In reality, you should network for very specific reasons. Like finding a cheaper way to manufacture your product...ooops! Did I reveal too much?
11. No one becomes rich from his/her wage
You need equity. A piece of the pie. Ideally, you need a percentage of a wealth generating asset, like a company.
You need something that makes you money while you're sleeping. You need to seperate your money and your time.
12. Cut toxic people out of your life
Most people THINK they're already doing that. Nope, shut up you're wrong. You are still hanging out with toxic, nobody-losers and you're wondering why your life still sucks.
Cut them off. If you don't feel energized (or satisfied for the introverts) after hanging out with them, you should kill... I mean leave them. That's true for steamy-sex-relationships. Just because he fucks you good doesn't mean he's good for you (yeah, only girls do that for some reason...)
Last, but not least: Don't follow the above blindly. Don't be a spinless fuck
Fuck me, fuck the government, fuck authority. Why am I better than you? Why I made you feel like I am a better and more successful than you? I am not special.
Sure, I am smarter and taller than you, but still...
I am joking (nope) obviously, but as I said, the moment I broke free of self-imposed intellectual entrapment was when I realized I was better than the majority of people telling me what to do.
Notice it is the * mindset *. There's no competition when you do your thing, so you are de facto the best.
- Thatredbeardguy