i distinctly remember a day when i was about 9 (?) years old, walking with someone while holding my bike. it was a sunny day, probably in july, and right as we were crossing under a small bridge, some words flew out of my mouth, barely even directed by me. i cringely went something along the lines of
”you know i’m going to do something cool one day, like something big. i’m going to be something big, something admirable. i don’t know what though. but something. definitely rich, and definitely not like most other people”
and funnily enough, every time i have brought up this short story to a very successful friend, they’ve had one just like it to tell me back.
to some degree, maybe this shit is innate. you’re either born with it or you’re not. conformed in your soul from the minute you see the sun, or not.
do you have one?
It takes a psychopathic and sociopathic level of dedication to make it out of this system, you cant just want it enough to try when its convenient, if you want to be immense, top 0.0001% you have to push yourself to places that are not human
The sheer intensity of self command, the willingness to become indifferent to distraction, social approval, temporary discomfort and the endless invitations to dilute your own potential, delay gratification, cut costs, focus explicitly on a tiny number of variables for a fixed period of time, to not even entertain the possibility it can be any other way, you have to want it more than anyone else with an obsession that borders on madness, you're adapting whilst they're resting, dude is chilling with his girlfriend cuddling, you are in the trenches scheming more upward mobility, whilst they're complaining your hunting for edges and scanning relentlessly for your next advantage
You have to become extraordinarily selective about what receives access to your mind, your time, your energy and your future. Most people are not defeated by one catastrophic event, they are slowly yet surely disassembled by a thousand small concessions, weak friendships, poor financial decisions, fragmented attention, cheap pleasures, emotional volatility and years spent negotiating with standards they already know they must uphold daily relentlessly
Treat life as an integrated system, protect biology, sharpen judgement, accumulating capital, building competence and refuse to allow temporary emotional states to govern permanent decisions
Even when you're winning you have to be violently honest about where you are slacking and where you are losing momentum, even 30 minutes a day over a year is 182.5 hours, or about 4.5 full time work weeks, you must push harder and you must enjoy the process of knowing you are willing to go further than the next man,I can take more pain than you I can forget my emotions quicker and more repeatedly than you can, my decisions are more objective than yours are, I will outlast you in spirit and action
There is something almost frightening about the individual who can sustain intelligent effort for years without requiring the world to continually reassure him that victory is coming
He is not merely working harder, he is becoming increasingly difficult to interrupt, corrupt, discourage or disorganise repeatedly to turn his spirit, mind and soul into one organised system of task decimation for a broader task of fuliflling the committment he made to himself many nights ago
If you really want to make it you have to live and breathe finance. There’s no shortcut, or alternative.
Every second of your waking day should be mostly dedicated to learning about assets or thinking about markets.
phone on DND + 2x 6 hours work sessions + armodafinil + bromantane + a tower of books + zero netflix + writing daily + staring at yourself in the mirror + living above your means + acting like you already have everything + nicotine + weekly sprints + espressos + daily walks + eames lounge chair + an inferiority complex
= every single fucking goal demolished + everything you've ever dreamed of + your highschool crush drooling over you + infinite knowledge + FULFILLMENT.
In the Utopia mouse experiment, they put mice in a “utopia” with unlimited food and no predators
>Young male mice spent all their time grooming, uninterested in reproducing
>Female mice lost maternal instinct and some harmed their own kids
>birth rates went to zero
Uhhhh
read more books. never goon. go to museums. work with intensity. abuse unfair advantages. use stimulants intelligently. walk more. bromantane + vilon preworkout. zero polyester. lawyer on retainer. epitalon in the morning. double espressos. read more books, again. fail early. learn from mistakes. pen on paper. huge fucking speakers. principled thinking. big windows. top floor. buy bitcoin.
The ugly truth about why .5% of men make it and most live sh!t lives...
Is that you can't work or motivate yourself to success.
You have to create a metaphoric gun to your head with a very real mental bullet. An outcome that is up there with death.
Let me explain:
You won't see growth in your life... personal or in income... from motivation. You can't willpower it either.
You will see it when you've endured enough pain that you have truly had enough and refuse to stay as you are.
Most men only stop drinking when it makes their life unbearable.
Most men only choose to take big risks and become successful when they reach a breaking point from the work they are stuck in.
I for example NEVER wanted to be an entrepreneur growing up. It wasn't till I was 22, broke and stuck and hating my job, that I literally couldn't live any longer in my current situation. I didn't want to build a business. I had to. My life was unbearable due to where coasting had gotten me.
Only when "at any cost, I can't live like this anymore" becomes your motivation will you see huge growth.
The way to achieve this is by removing what numbs you. The things that stop you from looking in the mirror and going "what the fucking fuck."
The cheap dopamine, cheap thrills, booze/pot/junk that leave you foggy and unclear. The things that let you feel okay, despite your life being very much "not okay" if you actually look it in the eye.
Most men never do this. They never look at the things they CHOOSE accept about themselves. Poor health. Poor habits. Awful results in everything.
They just open a beer, load up a video game, scroll social media and bury it. This is because looking at how ugly you are is hard. The best way to ensure you stay metaphorically fat and disgusting is simply to not look in the mirror.
You have to look at who you truly are and feel such disgust that you will no longer tolerate staying where you are.
Without this you will only get temporary bursts. You will only make do on willpower, which is finite.
Something close to a gun to your head must be created in your mind. You must vehemently reject who and what you are to the point that it keeps you up at night.
Then you'll simply make whatever you want happen.
This is why most men never unlock their potential till they hit rock bottom. Most, despite WANTING success, are always in a numb state of "mostly" comfortable. The years then pass, they get old, nothing changes.
Whatever it takes to trigger this. Do it.
The answer isn't a self help book. It isn't researching and admiring other role models. It isn't envisioning a better life and mapping out daily steps to get there.
It's unbridled-unholy-rage as a result of where your life choices have gotten you.
This won't sustain you forever....But shit damn...It will guaranteed get you over the initial hurtle and to the point where "love of the game" will carry you.
Like I said before, it usually comes down to removing everything that is distracting and numbing you so that you are forced to look at yourself for who you truly are.