Quote Meditation #3

“Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game.” – Donald Trump

In book 4 of The Wealth of Nations Adam Smith talks about the attempt to increase wealth through the acquisition of more and more currency by any means possible. During his time this is how wealth was believed to be achieved, acquisition only. As he speaks about this he likens currency to pots and pans. This idea of money being like pots and pans has the potential to shift anybody’s views when it comes to money. Imagining your bank account to be full of pots and pans really takes away the emotional confusion money often brings. You only need as many pots and pans proportional to how much you cook. The amount of money you need should be directly proportional to the projects you have going plus living expenses. I think the phenomenon Adam Smith touched on is what Mr. Trump is talking about. He realizes the value in having a nearly endless supply of pots and pans but that’s all they are, tools. He’s less concerned about amassing tools than he is about using the tools he already has to win. He’s less concerned about his amount of pots and pans and more concerned about what those say about him as a person.

You can say what you want about Mr. Trump but one thing you can’t call him is stupid. The mental dexterity necessary to amass $10 billion is unhuman. Maybe even more dexterity than is required of a President (haha). It’s also worth noting that if he were in this for the pursuit of money he would have stopped accumulating a long time ago. The fact that he has kept going shows that he’s in it for “the game” and perhaps his mindset is one we should attempt to emulate. If you’re playing to win you’re going to be willing to take a lot more risks than those who are just playing for cash. We already know that risk is the key to self-improvement. The truth is that we really need very little money to live. Living frugally is worth winning your game of choice. That frugal living frees the rest of your energy to be expended on “the game.”

Often times it seems people are overly obsessed with money for the sake of money. They don’t really think about what money is or why it exists. They just want it because society has deemed it valuable. It seems like every rapper ever has put that quest for money at the top but fails to give any legitimate reason about why they want it other than the fact that others want it. Remember that money should be a tool or a measuring stick with which you can improve or measure your performance. When speaking, Warren Buffet sounds as though he accidentally amassed his wealth out of the pure desire to improve his own performance. Bill Gates wasn’t pursuing wealth when he created the Windows operating system, he just happened to stumble upon a cross-section of something that he enjoyed and a lot of people needed.

In showbiz there is a saying: “One for The Man, then one for the soul.” Michelangelo is a good example of this saying. He did work for The Man (Mr. Medici) before he could branch out and do his own work. That is what we much do. Step one, serve and escape the man. Then prepare your place at the table and prepare to play the game with Mr. Trump. Not for the money, but because you love the game.

A Simple Voting Change Solves Complex Problems

Very few ideas have had as profound an effect on me as that of the Single Transferable Vote, or STV. STV is a voting system that could allow the US to break out of the toxic cycle of two-party government and usher in a new era of accurate representation. Below is a video that explains how STV works.

There are so many benefits from such a simple idea that it continues to astound me. Under STV the voting constituency is more accurately represented. No longer are we subject to Democrats vs. Republicans all across the land. Can a Republican most accurately describe the political beleifs of both West Michiganders and West Texans? No, those two groups don’t have much in common. A West Michigander tends to be a further left leaning conservative than West Texans are. In an STV system representatives with more nuanced views can run without being squashed by powerhouse parties. Now the differences between West Texans and West Michiganders are represented in congress. The representative who is sent under STVis the most accurate portrayal of the real views of each place from Texas to Washington to Maine. Better representation leads to laws that more accurately portray what American’s want.

As I alluded to above, American’s have far more diverse political beliefs than two parties can accurately support. STV frees America from the shackles of a two party system. Do Democrats accurately represent the beliefs of both Angelenos and Massachusites? Again, no, those two groups have very little in common. The two party system that we currently have has many drawbacks: alternative views that make geographical areas different from one another are downplayed and unrepresented, it’s less competitive leading to apathy among the representatives, the only political choice constituents get is the choice given to them from the political parties, it leads to voter un-interest, and, finally, it leads to voting strategy.

In the current political climate people have to think about how others are going to vote then accommodate that into their vote. As a result people do not vote for who they really want. A great example of voting strategy is the Ralph Nader fiasco in 2000. Nader had similar views to Al Gore. As a result, many Nader supporters, believing Nader couldn’t win, voted for Gore. They did so because he was their next best choice and had a chance to win. Strategy should not have a place in voting because people do not vote for who they really desire. Whenever this problem arises it comes with a guaranteed skew in the result of political representation. Had voters used STV and been allowed to list Nader first, then Gore second, Gore would have beat Bush and been a more accurate representation of the constituency from 2000-04.

In an STV system Nader could have run and not garnered the hate of the Democratic Party because his voters second choice would have been Gore. With Gore as Nader supporter’s second choice their votes would have gone to him. Thus, we can see that inter-party political strategy also begins to decrease in importance. Currently the constituency only see candidates that are only ok’d by the two big political parties. In an STV system anybody can run without harming one another strategically. This difference allows for more parties to rise up and be embraced. When more parties rise up, there is a wider range of beliefs to vote for which leads to more accurate representation.

Quite possibly the biggest advantage of STV is that it decreases the strategic value of attacking other candidates. Under STV the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th votes of the constituents have a lot of importance. Therefor, candidates can not risk losing those votes. Because candidates can’t lose those votes they can no longer attack other candidates. If they insult a person’s preferred first candidate they will most likely lose that persons second or third vote. A lack of attacking also works it’s way into debates. Debates now focus on a more constructive and positive dialogue that can better inform voters. Imagine watching a debate when political candidates do not try to break the character of one another. Imagine watching TV and only seeing positive political ads!

STV, while incredible, does have its drawback. In an STV system it takes longer to tally the total vote. With all the moving of votes it will take at least an extra 24 hours. However, isn’t better representation worth the wait?

The United States and Its Debt

Politicians, political pundits and economists all like to say that the United States federal debt could be paid off if taxes were raised slightly and spending was tightened slightly. The people above make it sound as if paying off the debt would be easy. However, this is not the case. A little simple math makes it abundantly clear that the debt will very, very, very costly to repay

Let us assume that The United States government makes debt a priority and runs a 100 billion dollar surplus that will be payed directly to the debt. $100,000,000,000 is not out of the realm of possibility, it has actually been done relatively recently. However, even if the United States re-payed 100 billion per year it would take 181.5 years to pay off the debt. In the last 60 years there has been a budget surplus of 100 billion, or more, 4 times, 1998-2001. To assume that the federal government has the discipline to run 181.5 years of a slight government surplus is ridiculous. Since 1940, 4 years of surplus is the longest yearly streak they have had. The new streak would have to be 45 times longer. It is laughable to expect a government to achieve this streak while there is no historical data that it can do so. The above was simple math. Hold onto your hats because it’s about to get more complicated.

The worst part about debt is the interest. The simple calculations above did not take interest payments into account, so let’s do that now. The US debt of approximately 18 trillion 150 billion, and always rising, dollars turned out to have interest payment of roughly 431 billion dollars in 2014. 431 billion dollars of the federal governments budget last year went to paying down debt interest. The higher this number the more difficult it will be for the government to reach surplus. Also, as you can see from this chart interest rates are sitting at historical lows. When the interest rate begins to rise the government will have to spend more and more on interest payments. With more money being allocated to the interest it will become increasingly difficult to reach a government surplus. The average interest rate on the chart linked above is 5.1%. If interest rates were to rise to 5.1% the interest payments on the current debt would more than double. At a historically average interest rate of 5.1% the government payments, just on interest, would be 909 billion dollars per year. That would make interest payments the second largest item in our budget, a mere 16 billion behind Medicare and Medicaid. The worst part about interest is that it provides no value. Medicare/Medicaid provide healthcare for the elderly and poor. Interest payments provide zero value to the American people, unless of course the interest is being payed to them. In fact, much of the interest payment goes to our competitors abroad.

The relatively simple math above proves the politicians wrong. It would be incredibly difficult to pay the debt down. Not only would it be difficult now, but it will get harder in the future as well. Rising interest rates will make it more difficult to reach a surplus. Without a surplus the debt can not be decreased. When the debt can not be decreased the interest continues to accumulate making it harder and harder to pay down the debt. When all these factors are taken into account it is clear that the federal government would have to run the most fiscally responsible system that it has in decades, while also doing so for years on end, to make progress on re-paying the debt. That is not an easy task.

*All numbers adjusted for inflation.

Sources:

1. http://www.usdebtclock.org

2. http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/ir/ir_expense.htm

3. http://www.davemanuel.com/history-of-deficits-and-surpluses-in-the-united-states.php

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_of_the_United_States#Interest_Paid

Quote Meditation 2

“You eat what you kill.”

“You eat what you kill.”

“You eat what you kill.”

“You eat what you kill.” In all of human history, even today, we have only ever eaten what we kill. For almost all of history, to provide, hunters would go out and bring home food for the tribe. They would hunt many different animals because they knew food was imperative for survival.

That long standing fact has hardly changed today. In the past men would kill animals to survive. Even back then hunters solved the most common problem: hunger. The people in his tribe were hungry so he went out and found food, filling the need and answering the problem. The tribe rewarded him for it. Historically the most respected man in the tribe was also the best hunter.

In the present we still kill problems. Solving the problems of humanity provides us with the money which we need to survive. People need light, so Thomas Edison created a new way to provide it, solving a huge problem. Still today those who are most respected in society are those who are best able to answer our problems.

Solving problems always has been, and probably always will be, the lifeblood of man.

In the past the most experienced hunters would go after big game. They knew that the big game could feed their tribe for days. A 200 pound deer could feed their tribe for a very long time. It takes skill and patience, that takes years to accumulate, to hunt down a big deer. The least experienced hunters would go after small game because they had not yet developed the skills to tackle the bigger game.

It is the same today. The most experienced men tackle humanities biggest problems and they are adequately rewarded for it. The least experienced men practice on smaller problems, dreaming about the day when they might be able to bring home a big kill for their tribe.

So when you work, remember that humanity will never be able to get anything that really matters for doing nothing. Those who can afford to live big do solve big problems. They provide value to humanity. They solve problems allowing humanity to live at a higher level, just like the ancient hunters used to do for their tribe. “You eat what you kill.”

“You eat what you kill.”

Quote Meditation 1

“Risk is the key to all self-improvement.”

“Risk is the key to all self-improvement.”

“Risk is the key to all self-improvement.”

“Risk is the key to all self-improvement.” For humans to grow we need to improve. To improve we have to risk. We have to put ourselves on the line. We have to put ourselves in situations that can hurt our ego. We have to place ourselves in situations where we are vulnerable.

To hit personal record in the weight room one has to put themselves under more physical stress than they have been under before. They risk dropping the weight, or injury, which never satisfies.

To engage with attractive women a man has to put himself in situations where he will be judged. He risks having his masculinity rejected. While that rejection hurts what he learns from it can be used to improve himself.

To reach for a promotion one has to work aggressively in situations everyone in the office is too scared to work at. That person risks not succeeding. By doing that work and succeeding they have a better chance of promotion. However, if they do not succeed they can look back on their experience and learn from that, which will help them succeed at the job next time. As you can see, they are closer to the promotion even if they do not succeed.

To start a business one has to put their name, their money and their dreams on the line. They risk rejection of their business and themselves. If their business does not succeed at least they learned from that experience and can use that information for the rest of their lives.

For a musical artist to become listened to they have to release their music to be heard and judged. They risk the rejection of what they have put so much time and emotion into.

The most basic form of risk, is risk among friends. To be truly accepted one must be their real selves. They can not pretend to like things they do not just so they can have friends. That is a recipe for unhappiness, they would not be doing anything that makes them happy. By being their real self they might face the harsh rejection of the social world but they might also succeed in being truly accepted.

One thing that is true about all these instances is that it is always better to not succeed than not try at all. If the man is rejected by the beautiful woman he uses the experience with the next beautiful woman. If the person does not succeed at starting their business they take the experience with them to the next opportunity. If the musical artist does not succeed he can take some criticism and use that to write music more true to himself.

If a person dedicates themselves to learning from the situations where they were not successful they come out so much further ahead than those who do not risk at all. Next time they can change their strategy and do even better. In every situation the people who risk, and learn, come out ahead of those who did not. We have to ingrain this ability to risk into our being as quickly as possible. “Risk is the key to all self-improvement.”

“Risk is the key to all self-improvement.”

“Risk is the key to all self-improvement.”

“Risk is the key to all self-improvement.”

My Life in the Forest

My life began unlike many others. It began seventy feet in the air. Many think that life seventy feet in the air with no ground would be scary, especially as a child, especially with no floor. At first I clung to my father for dear life and he held on to me. As I grew the winds blew my father around but he always protected me. It was an incredible childhood, good neighbors and good friends. My father continued to grow up to eighty feet. I was blessed to have such a stunning example to follow. It’s not often that folks reach their full potential.

Then the time came for me to let go of my fathers support. He came to me and said, “Son, you have grown strong and have the potential to do amazing things. I want you to know that life up here at seventy feet is hard to achieve. I, also, want you to know that life on the ground is seductive, but if you can break out of that lifestyle the sky is your limit.” Terrified of what lie below, I looked down as I always had, but this time with more trepidation. I looked up at my father one more time. He smiled at me and said, “Be great son. I love you.” Then I let go.

It seems like I fell forever. I waited to hit a point where I could start to achieve a life like my fathers, but it felt like I was falling for an eternity. Finally, I softly landed on the ground. Right away I was very surprised. There was movement everywhere, bodies rustling up against one another, everyone was in a hurry to do something, except grow towards the sky. I rolled down among the movement to reach the ground I needed. Finally, I had found it. All was right with the world. I could finally grow tall and strong like my father. I dug deep and prepared for my ascension the following season.

I had buried deep and survived the cold. When the season for my work finally arrived I was rejected. Where was the light? Had I dug so deep amongst the rustling bodies that the light had been snuffed out? I had failed already. My spirits plummeted as I searched for an answer. I began to ask around. What had I done wrong? When I finally came across an old body who was like myself I asked him: “Where is the light? I need it to grow” The old body replied, “Boy, the Needles and the Leaves don’t want you to succeed. For if you succeeded you would force them to change. For they would have to move against their will if you grew tall and wide. They hold back those with large potential lest they achieve it. Look at the trees above you, they put the ground beings to shame. The ground beings don’t want more beings who put them to shame. I have often wondered if they do it naturally or consciously but I fear we will never know.” Then I realized what my father had meant. All around me the body’s sitting on the ground were rushing to do nothing. Many of the beings on the ground could not grow to the awesome heights those around them could. Life on the ground meant that they didn’t have grow if nobody else did. That is the way they liked it. My father was right, this was seductive. I could live and not grow while living from the works of the tall ones, like my father above. At this moment I realized that I would have to fight to grow to the level I wanted.

I went out and assembled the resources I needed for months; storing them away and living on little. Finally, I came to a time I could profit from my stores. I started to grow as quickly as I could. Knowing that others would come to see what I was doing and compete with me. Quickly, I became 5 feet tall and others began to try to take my soil and light, I defended my territory and took some more. I was now 15 feet tall and those on the ground no longer had any power over me. I had defeated them. However, as I grew I became painfully aware. There were no longer as many big trees as there were in my father’s time, when I was a child. They were disappearing. The old ones were dying and young ones were not rising to replace them. On one hand it was good for me because I didn’t have to compete against many and could rise quickly, but on the other hand, the forest, as a whole, began to suffer. Our ecosystem was starting to fail.

I didn’t have to wonder long where the big beings had gone. The seductive lifestyle on the ground made sure that trees like me, or my father, were a relic of a bygone era. I looked down and sighed at the squabbling masses of beings who refused to grow for themselves. They milled around the wreckage of the old and fallen. Their vines wrapping up the smaller trees bringing them to their knees. Their depth and mass smothering the bold and determined.

This is how life went in the forest for many years. The masses growing and growing. Until one day lightning struck the ground. I was so scared as the ground lit up in flames, animals scattering everywhere and dodging into the rivers and streams. Fire flew through the weak masses who had gathered on the ground becoming tinder for the flame. I watched as the fire, running uphill, consumed everything in it’s path. Many of my tall friends remaining were consumed by the flame. In it’s wake there were the ashes of my friends and all the grasses, needles, leaves, brush, and fallen trees that had once held us back. I sat there lonely for some time looking at the devastation and then marveled at how the rain washed the area clean.

6 months later

Life has started to emerge every where! It is more colorful than ever before. It is stronger and greener and taller. Everything about the new forest is what my father had instilled in me all those years ago. The ground life no longer existed but I remember it. For a moment I was jealous of the young trees growing quickly today. They had no ground cover to grow through, no terrible lifestyles to shake off, fewer bad influences to distract them from what mattered. Then I remember the fight it took me to get through the ground masses. I know that I learned the discipline to get through the hard times and that is something these kids won’t know. When the ground masses return will the young be ready? The ground masses will come back. They always do. That is the cycle of the forest.

American Society is Becoming Defined by The Average (Continued)

If you have not read part 1 please do so. You can find it on my blog published on Wednesday, January 21st

Two, it hardly detracts from the achievements of incredible people; it is just a temporary salve for individuals in societies wounded egos. Most of the time when these people get dragged down it has nothing to do with their achievements or commitments to their goals. When Tiger Woods was at his prime he decimated golf courses that would give other professionals fits. Tiger Woods today still makes money hand over fist so people can watch him play golf. Hardly anybody on the planet could become as good at golf as Tiger Woods was, or is now. Just because he had some relationship troubles doesn’t mean that we are anywhere close to what he has achieved. Arnold Schwarzenegger built what many believe is one of the most ideal body shapes of all time, then he learned to wreck the American box office while delivering one of the most famous lines in all of cinema, then he became a Governor of one of the largest states in the union, all after being born in Austria. A few relationship issues do not detract from the absolute insanity of achievement uttered in the prior sentence. Even though he got dragged through the mud Schwarzenegger has achieved more in one-third of his life than most of us will achieve in our entire lifetime. The truth is that these men have done absolutely incredible things with their lives. As an individual you can either try to tear them down by looking at their failures, making your ego feel better, or use their successes as examples for your own life.

The third problem this toxic belief causes is societal unhappiness and discontent. This witch-hunt non-sense shows that people are continuously comparing themselves with others. Because it is a societal movement it becomes abundantly clear that this comparison is happening on a massive level. This continuous comparison of yourself to others is only negative. Comparing yourself to others is a recipe for a toxic life. When you compare yourself to others you live in a way that is not true to yourself because you are not living up to your standards you are living up to theirs. Now, it is easy to let societies tell you what to believe, what your morals should be, because then it means you don’t have to think about the hard things. However, the recipe for a happy life requires you to figure out the hard things. To be happy humans have to find their place and live by their standards. I always say the hardest thing I’ve ever done is leaving the church. When I left I had to examine every one of my morals. I had to consciously discern whether I believed that moral because I was told to believe it or because I believed it for myself. Then the beliefs I was told to believe I had to create a new mental construct for. I am far happier now than I was then because I am living according to the way I see the world; not the way I am told to see the world. When you compare yourself to others you take on their standards in the same way a religious person lives according to the standards of their religion. The fact of the matter is for a lot of humans to be happy they have to live according to their own standards. Yes, there are a lot of societal zombies who can live according to the standards of others without a shred of unhappiness. Most people feel some kind of general unhappiness about it.

Nothing good comes out of the pursuit and relishing of other people’s failures. All that comes of it is wasteful. Instead, use your time to do productive things like read my other posts or, even better, challenge yourself.

American Society is Becoming Defined By the Average

If you watch society closely you can see a cancer growing. As the years go on more and more public figures are getting taken through the mud. Now people are actively searching for figures to dismantle. On one hand, people don’t want to have their trust taken advantage of so it is best to know whom they’re dealing with. However, The more likely option is that the greatness of public figures hurts our egos because they have achieved what we have not or cannot. Their discipline and commitment to a goal puts us to shame. So when they have trouble in their lives we take that instance to destroy them so the average individual can feel better about their own lack of discipline and commitment to a goal.

You can always tell what is really important to a person by where they spend their money. It is the same for society. As a society boatloads of money are going to news outlets having an exclusive that brings massive shame to a person. So we can assume it is massively important that these people get taken through the mud. As detailed above there are two possible options for why we want this so much. The second one is much more likely. We revel in seeing a person dragged through the mud because it means that they must not have been that great in the first place. We like to see people brought back down to our level. However, this is a toxic belief for many reasons.

First, and most importantly, it encourages apathy. This apathy will create generations who no longer want to produce above the mean production. Under the mental framework society is working towards overproduction means ostricization. If a person can produce in the 95^th percentile they are now in a place where they could become vilified. After all, we have seen it happen to countless other individuals. How long will it take for people to pair success with public shaming? Pavlov would probably say, not long. This quest for apathy, and to produce at the mean will devolve society further. If nobody wants to produce at a higher level who will lead us into a bright future? Only those who love to lead and produce so much that the public shaming does not cause them more pain than the pleasure they derive from their work. Those individuals are exceedingly rare and even those individuals will disappear. They will find somewhere they are valued. The people left will be those who are too scared to work above the mean even though the apathy will send them to their doom. You eat what you kill and if a society doesn’t solve it’s problems in a timely and quick manner nobody in that society will eat. The departing of the driven will leave society in a squabbling heap, which can only produce again after it has been turned to ashes and those who can produce rise up.

(reasons 2 and 3 are forthcoming)

Brain Plasticity and Discipline 1.1

The fact that brain plasticity drops dramatically around the 25 year mark has many interesting implications, especially for young people. It means that they have until 25 to ingrain the best habits into themselves. In American culture the young are often told that now is their time to party and have fun because “work life is unfulfilling and not very fun.” Cultural blurbs along these lines are echoed in terms like ‘YOLO.” There isn’t much pressure for the young to discipline themselves or create good habits because they “have plenty of time for that later.” Yes, people under 25 tend to be immature, which lends itself to having bad priorities. However, there is an incredible amount of opportunity if a young person can learn the right skill set early while re-enforcing the skills throughout their young life.

The target demographic for this article is those from 15-25. You are young and the habits you have now are being deeply ingrained in you. Instead of going out to party ingrain a productive habit into yourself. Learn skills like discipline, self-starting, speed reading and consistent self-education. These traits will keep your mind nimble and prepared for change. You have an incredible gift that our culture inspires you to not use effectively. Let’s look at myself as an example.

I am 23. This means I have two years to teach myself as many important skills and  discipline as possible. There are so many behaviors and habits that I want to ingrain into my being that I’m going to have to press for all I want. I want to learn good habits and I have little time to do so until it becomes much harder. Now, I could wait to learn these habits until they are necessary, and party it up while in college. Instead I have elected to ingrain habits in myself that will help me for life. I have developed a love for reading and a thirst for knowledge that can not be parched. Most importantly I have put myself in situations that are outside of my comfort zone on a consistent basis.

Having the ability to put yourself outside of your comfort zone is a hugely important skill. That is where you learn. Outside of your comfort zone you learn more than you could ever read. Now, over the last year I’ve figuratively fallen flat on my face outside of my comfort zone. It hurts, a lot, but I learned a ton and I am better for it. Even though I have not learned to step out as consistently as I would like, the times I have stepped out have taught me a lot. This skill is difficult for anyone to acquire because stepping out of the comfort zone requires a large amount of personal control. However, this is a skill that all successful people have. I will acquire this skill this year because I know to achieve the level of success I want I must be able to step out of my comfort zone.

So young readers, join me in an attempt to better prepare ourselves for our future. The disciplined live like others will not. So one day they can live like others can not.

Brain Plasticity and Discipline

Scientist say that brain plasticity dramatically drops around the 25 year mark. That science matches up with the old wives tale: “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” It is funnily ironic when science backs up old wives tales. This drop in plasticity means that patterns of behavior and discipline are much harder to learn after 25; and progressively harder from there on out. I think many older people would agree with the assertion that it is harder for them to change themselves, and their habits, as they get older.

When we are young our brain is very malleable and it becomes less and less so as we age. This makes us more rigid in a dynamic world where we must always be ready and able to change. When we are young our habits become ingrained in us; often from our parents and peers. This ingraining is easy to change while you are young because your brain is malleable and learning. However, it becomes increasingly difficult to change bad habits as you get older.

We often label those who are stuck in a dead end, doing nothing, as lazy and undisciplined, but perhaps it is deeper than that. We can now see that these older folks simply have more to overcome. The neural pathways are very deeply set by years of lazy behavior. To overcome these pathways and write new ones it takes a much greater amount of discipline. Discipline, which they never developed in the first place. So, it becomes clear that lazy habits beget more lazy habits while discipline begets more discipline. This holds true because our neural pathways make it so. A person who disciplines themselves re-enforces a neural pathway making it easier to do so the next time. The person who is lazy re-enforces the neural pathway that encourages laziness, making it harder to be disciplined next time. This theory can help us explicate the motivational saying: “The only thing standing between you and your goals is the bullshit excuse you keep telling yourself.” These bullshit excuses come from the re-enforced, lazy, neural pathways that are fighting change. So do not listen to these voices. They do not know best. Those bad neural pathways were made by the past you and the current you knows better.

From this science and old wives tale we can see that it is important to change your bad habits now. Why? Because it will be harder to change every second you wait. Every second you wait your brain is re-enforcing those bad habit neural pathways. As they get re-enforced they become more deeply embedded and harder to change. Let’s say that a person wants to begin a healthy lifestyle. Every second they spend waiting to start saying, “I’ll start tomorrow,” or, “do I actually need to do this?” their neural pathways becomes more deeply embedded in laziness. This re-enforcing of the neural pathways makes it harder for them to change. So, change now! Just change yourself already! If you do not do it now you are only making it harder for yourself. Screw New Years Resolutions! You do not need them because you change now! You change now because you know that it will be easier to change now than later.

GO CHANGE YOURSELF NOW!!!!!

A Potential Reason Divorce is so High – 1

In America people complain about the divorce rate without ever looking for an answer as to why it is. They just hope it will fix itself. One possible explanation is the increased social mobility of women. Increased social mobility in the form of work and wages has allowed female independence never before seen in all of history.

Increased social mobility of women has created an environment where either party can leave a relationship at any time. Prior to today women were dependent on either their father or the man who was courting them. At almost every point in her development a women had someone caring for her. A father would take care of the young lady then a man, who had been carefully vetted and often had known the family for years, would take out the daughter so he could display his ability to support and care for a woman through the form of a date. When the male had finished his display he would return the daughter to her father. Then after he had adequately displayed an ability to care for a woman many times he would request that the woman move in with him and they become mates through the form of marriage. This structure exists still today but no longer bears the same depth and intesity. Today the definition of “date” has changed. It has changed because men no longer have to show our ability to care. Women can care for themselves. It is hardly attractive for men to show our ability to care, unless it is far, far better than the average male, because that trait has lost most of it’s value. If everybody has the ability to do it then it is not a valuable skill. It’s like the value of copper decreasing because somebody found a large reserve. Even the definition if “marriage” has changed because the gender dynamic is no longer organized the way it has been for almost all of human history. We truly live in a brave new world regarding gender dynamics and each individual must try to carve out a place for themselves.

You can argue whether or not this is good or bad amongst yourselves. I only care how these changes effect a journey for a mate. The directly observable change is a destruction of relationship stability. The ability to get up and leave a relationship has never been higher. At the same time the cost of leaving is lower as well. One can leave a relationship with relatively little cost and greater certainty that they will be cared for than in the past.

In our modern sexual marketplace nobody can ever relax in a relationship because of this ability to leave. This extends into marriage as well, nobody can ever relax in a marriage because of the ability to leave. They could be divorced at any time and, once again, have to face the harsh realities of the sexual marketplace. The things listed above force people to act like they are single, always looking for a mate, even in a relationship. In today’s society individuals have to deal with the stress of being on the market and in a relationship at the same time. Just the stress of being in a relationship can sometimes be overwhelming. A man must maintain an air of masculinity and a woman must maintain an air of femininity, real or faked, more than ever before, in and out of relationships. The margin for error in the marketplaces, both the sexual and marriage, has never been smaller in human history.

I hope this changes in the future but it would take a change on a societal level that would require generations of people to change. This is something that does not happen quickly.

Feminine Women Reveal a Lack of Masculinity

Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich has had a huge impact on the way I think about riches and success. The chapter that continues to influence me the most is his chapter on “The Mystery of Sex Transmutation.” Mostly because no other book has material as forthright as Hill’s material written here. If the concept in this book was distributed today it would have a huge impact on the males of my generation. This chapter written about can be found here.

Napoleon claims that the purpose of the sex desire in men is good for three things. One, the perpetuation of mankind. Two, as a therapeutic agency and, three, as a way to transform mediocrity into genius through transmutation. Hill says this about transmutation: “Sex transmutation is simple and easily explained. It means the switching of the mind from thoughts of physical expression, to thoughts of some other nature” (Hill, 260). Hill believes that sexual expression is the greatest force moving humankind throughout history. He gives many examples of highly sexed men who dominate the history books.

This incredible drive men have to express their sexual desire is the greatest gift that could ever be given to any offspring. This drive makes males more likely to reach a level they can facilitate the use of “creative imagination.” This creative imagination are what many people call the sixth sense geniuses have. Men throughout history have reached this incredible feat. While some men (mutants?),  like Nikola Tesla, have reached this level without the aid of women most men need the femininity to reveal their masculine short comings.

Often, ultra successful men reminisce about their past lovers and how those women revealed the inadequacy of their men when they broke up with them. The women revealed the weakness to these men. This un-masculine weakness holds them back. Now that the weakness is revealed by the rejection of their masculinity they were able to improve upon it. By improving upon their weak spots in their masculinity they were able to increase their odds of reaching creative imagination. The access to this creative imagination helped them achieve great things. While a man could figure this out without a woman, a woman will greatly increase the speed of the process.

For example, I had one high school relationship. For about a year I was not able to assess what the cause of our relationship struggle. My ego was still to greatly involved. About a year after I could look back and see the incredible lack of masculinity I had. Even today memories of our relationship run through my mind and I cringe at the lack. Upon realizing this shortcoming I knew I had to change. I did not date anybody for years as I worked on myself and integrated desirable traits into my personality. By being honest with myself and admitting that I was un-masculine, like the men of Think and Grow Rich did, I opened myself up for greater opportunities through fixing myself. That relationship was, without a doubt, the greatest learning experience of my life.

In modern day society men are told that they are, “great just the way you are.” If any man takes this mindset towards his masculinity he will cease to be masculine. There is no mindset that does more damage to men and women than this one. If a man wants a top tier feminine woman he must in the be top tier of masculinity and, vice versa, for women wanting men. No man is born into the top tier of masculinity.  Men must learn how to be in this top tier. To get to this top tier in a timely way sexual transmutation is absolutely essential. The expression of your sex into “thoughts of another nature” will allow progress at a much faster rate. Even though it will take a long time I urge every striving man to acquire this skill so he may achieve the most he possibly can.

Solitude vs. Loneliness

In today’s age we often hear about how technology has fragmented human relations and people feel more “alone” and “lonely” than ever before. I don’t I accept this paradigm. If anything the human race is more connected than it has ever been in history. I can talk to my cousin in Iowa from Dallas, Texas in five seconds. Also, technology only has as much utility as a person gives it. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter can only replace a social life if a person allows it to. Instead, I assert that people today are more alone then ever for a two reasons.

One, the reputation of being alone is increasingly negative and increasingly saturated into our culture, therefore on our minds more than ever. Those who are alone are painted as lame, ostracized, ridiculous. Of course underlying this argument is the idea that all people are more entertaining than you are yourself so you must depend on them for “lifeblood,” but we’ll deal with that later. Pop culture ridicules those who are alone on a consistent basis. In today’s day in age, when people are alone for any amount of time they panic and “must find somebody to converse with.” Watch people, it is interesting to observe those who are suddenly abandoned by a social acquaintance to fend for themselves in the social world. God forbid they are spotted alone, then they’ll be perceived as a low value human being, just like in popular literature. Upon realizing their “loneliness” they panic and approach the nearest person so they no longer have to be alone. People need to realize that being alone for a day is not a bad thing. Being alone for days at a time is a bad thing, but in today’s kindergarten world people are scared to be alone for any more than 5 seconds. With the increased amount of “loneliness awareness” in our society it is no wonder people are always alone. Maybe there is some self-fulfilling prophecy involved.

The second reason people are more lonely than ever before is because society no longer values solitude. To seek solitude means to be alone which, according to society, “logically” means solitude is terrible. Solitude is perceived as a terrible nightmare because it requires one to be alone. However, solitude is really being with oneself. By observing ourselves and our actions solitude is employed as a powerful tool. Taking time in solitude to meditate, think, pray, mentally prepare ones self, read and write is good. The constant pressure to “be with people” is suffocating the self-actualization that comes from solitude. There are many good things that come with being alone. To be alone without being lonely a person should approach being alone with a goal of solitude. I am hardly ever alone; I just seek solitude. If I approached being alone as society does I would be very lonely all the time, but because I search for solitude I am never lonely. I believe that as long as our society does not value solitude people will struggle being alone.

Creating Options

“A man without options becomes necessitous and this leads to a lack of confidence and a scarcity mentality. Necessitous men are never free.” – Rollo Tomassi

As I continue to read, study and live I continuously re-learn the immense power that comes from the creation of options. The greater amount of viable, exercisable options a person is able to create the more power they have. Lets go through some examples:

1. A girl I know got accepted at two colleges and both colleges offer her scholarship money. She realized she now had two viable options for her future. Instead of merely choosing one or the other she decided to play them against one another. She incited a bidding war between the two schools for her. Even if she knew which school she intended to go to from the very beginning she has nothing to lose from putting the schools in a bidding war. By creating viable options she created real power. She ended up accepting 3 times the amount she was originally offered.

2. A man worked at a normal desk job. Instead of allowing that job to be his sole source of income he created 2 side jobs that provided him with $10,000 a year respectively. Now that he had created an extra $20,000 per year he became less dependent on his original job. That independence is power. The company now had less control over him because he no longer depended on that company for his income, his survival. This is why companies hate it when their employees go moonlighting. The employee’s creation of options takes away the power the company has over him. The man has taken power for himself by the creation of options.

3. A male arrives on campus with the goal of getting many women. Instead of choosing to just go for one at a time he goes for many at once. Many say no to his advances but many also accept his advances. Now he is no longer dependent on one single woman to fulfill his needs. With many women caring for him at once no one woman has much power over him. At a certain point our young male decides to get a girl friend. Even when he does he maintains his relationships with other women so even his girlfriend doesn’t have power over his actions.

4. Don’t forget about the most important place to have options: financially. By paying off your debt you give yourself the power to live lives you never could while indebted. You can’t pick up and go around the world when you’re in debt. Debt ties you down and restricts your options. Savings does the opposite. The more capital you have the more options you have. Mark Cuban has much more capital than I do so he can afford to take on a wider range of investments (options) that I cannot. The options that he derives from his savings of capital give him power.

The creation of options puts you in the drivers seat in every facet of life. The sooner we learn to be creating options in every part, and at every time, of our lives the better off we will be. By creating options in our life we stop one individual thing from having too much power over us. It takes power away from the ‘fate’s that be’ and puts it in your own hands. When you have multiple options one event can not ruin what you have created. Say the working man above lost his job. He’s ends up alright because he still has 2 other jobs where he is making $10,000 a year with opportunity to grow. He can at the very least support himself. The college male looses one woman; he’s ok, he has many more. Don’t let yourself start to run low in options. If you only have one source of income at the very least begin investing in dividend stocks. By creating options in every facet of our life we take the power we need to live the life we want.

Confidence, freedom and power are derived from viable options and the ability to exercise them. – Rollo Tomassi

Dousing Yourself in Reality

Constantly, we as human beings are “medicating” our existence with various substances that change our state of mind. Escapism has become the norm in today’s society. At work people escape to fantasy football and online shopping. When they arrive home they escape into the world of Scandal or The Walking Dead. Then they go to sleep, wake up and drink coffee so they can operate like their mentally alive in a setting where they really are not. Then, if they are lucky enough to go home on a weekend night, they consume alcohol which has the potential to alter their state of mind so completely they don’t even have to exist in their current state anymore. All this escapism implies that people think something is wrong with reality. Well… what could possibly be wrong with reality? Maybe the fact that reality is hard, but, maybe more accurately, it is that reality does not have immediate reward in the now.

The common issue listed with all the items listed above is instant gratification. Let’s look at the definition of the Instant Gratification: The term “Instant Gratification” is often used to label the satisfactions gained by more impulsive behaviors: choosing now over tomorrow. What is bold is the most important part of this definition. By choosing to instant gratification we choose the now over tomorrow. By choosing now over tomorrow we take our potential future and we subjugate it to our childish whims in the now. Let’s take finances for example. Compound interest is magical and the sooner, and more, you start saving the more you will have in the future. By delaying gratification, and spending in the now, you give yourself greater spending power in the future. If you just can’t stay away from that new car you can barely afford you have subjugated your future to a childish whim. Another example would be almost anything in front of a television. Video games provide that feeling of accomplishment. However, when you stand up, you have accomplished nothing real. You have chosen to spend your precious time playing video games in an imaginary world instead of achieving something in reality. Like the finance your time matures on a compound basis. If you invest in yourself by putting in hard time when you are young you will reap the rewards when you are old. Success breeds success. It takes a lot of discipline to subjugate yourself to a study or career that will gratify you in 10 years when a video game can gratify you within the 30 seconds of turning on the system. So I encourage my readers to douse themselves in reality.

Don’t let yourself be sucked into the drugs, entertainment, internet surfing, excessive spending lifestyles. Ensure you have a lifestyle that keeps these distractions on the side. Every time you feel the urge to binge watch a season of How I Met Your Mother instead choose to do something in reality. Yes, it is incredibly difficult, to force yourself to be disciplined even when you don’t want to. However, the choice is a simple one, whenever you want to escape reality push yourself deeper into it. Instead of playing another hour of video games or watching a t.v. show choose to go out and try a new restaurant, get a job, get a car. Every step into reality, even the tiniest one like taking a walk, is better than a medicating away from reality. After a while you will get used to pushing yourself out your door to achieve something real. At first it is hard but it will get easier and have faith that the returns will come. So, readers, jump deep into reality with me and learn to swim in the deep end. Together we will reap the rewards years from now while our peers still languish in the world of gratification their weakness has created for them.