- Have as much fucking fun as possible because what’s the point of living if you never have fun? Don’t wait to have fun; life is short enough.
- Investing in the stock market, i.e., index funds. If you invest 10% of your monthly wage, you’ll be a millionaire in 30–40 years.
- Getting in the best shape possible. Socrates said, “It is a disgrace for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” Why would you not want to look and feel your best?
- Going on daily walks, even just 30 minutes per day, is the most effective stress buster I know. Aristotle, Friedrich Nietzsche, and many other great minds included daily walks in their routines.
- Speaking to friends and family, and building and maintaining relationships. Even just texting one person per day goes a long way. Isolation kills, and no man is an island, so reach out to others.
- Having a side hustle. If you’ve got a consistent job, great, but there’s no harm in putting your effort into something on the side—it may even be writing. If you’re a success, great, but if you aren’t, you’ve got a job anyway to support you, and as you’re investing, you’ll eventually be rich anyway.
- Investing in yourself. I know this is cliche, but it’s true, the more you know, the more you can do, and the more you can do, the more opportunities you’ll have to succeed. Read good literature, take courses, etc. Once you have the know-how, remember to take action.
- Travel—You want to travel when you look and feel your best. You don’t want to travel when you’re old, fragile, and frail. It’s better to travel when health isn’t an obstacle.
- Quitting bad habits ie smoking, heavy drinking and watching porn. You can cause lots of damage to your brain and body if you never break these habits. Cut yourself free of them asap.
- Cut your credit cards in half and avoid lending except when buying a house with a mortgage. You do not want to pay the extortionate interest that credit cards charge; investing that spare capital is better.
- Walk along the beach and hike mountains. There’s nothing better than being one with nature.
- Petting a dog or cat, I find this very relaxing. A dog is a man’s best friend, whereas cats are, in my opinion, just as friendly and make great companions, although it depends on the dog/ cat you have.
- Enjoy good food, especially by trying foods from different cultures. If you’re a fussy eater, stop—you’re missing out on one of life’s greatest pleasures.
- Go skiing, it’s something I love to do; last time I went, I skied down a black run in Les Arcs, France, and must have fallen about 20 feet down the slope; it was terrifying at the time, but I’ve lived to see another day. Life’s boring without some near-death experiences (I’m joking), but skiing is an adventure, and life’s about adventures.
- Go to concerts. One of the greatest feelings is when you’re at a concert and singing the lyrics alongside thousands of others, thoroughly enjoying the moment. I’ve seen the Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, the Stone Roses, Foo Fighters, and many more. Definitely experience live music before you die.
- Finding the right spouse, although easier said than done, many people end up settling for someone they shouldn’t be with for convenience; the most potent reason to be with someone is simply loving their company. Another thing I’ve learned is that when you date someone, take them at face value; don’t expect them to change or be anything other than they already are. Sometimes, we build up people in our minds, and who we think they are usually turns out not to be true. Don’t see them as anything else other than what they are.
Tag: goals
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16 Things To Start Doing Early In Life
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We Gain Far More From Trial And Error Than From Reasoning Alone
“The knowledge we get by tinkering, via trial and error, experience, and the workings of time, in other words, contact with the earth, is vastly superior to that obtained through reasoning, something self-serving institutions have been very busy hiding from us.” – Nassim Taleb
How did you learn how to ride your bike?
Did you learn how to ride a bike by reading about it or through trial and error?
If you’re like me, then this is how it probably went.
You started riding your bike with stabilisers, and then, when you got confident in your ability, you’d attempt riding the bike without stabilisers.
Maybe your father would help keep you stable while you kept your balance, but eventually you’d start riding the bike properly.
You probably had a few falls, which caused some minor cuts and grazes.
But the more you tried to ride the bike proficiently, the better you got.
Eventually, with enough practice, riding a bike becomes a breeze.
You see many facets of our lives mimic this same process.
For example:
Learning how to drive a car.
Learning how to read and write.
Becoming proficient at our jobs.
Learning how to invest.
Learning how to lose body fat and build muscle.Every skill you hope to improve requires trial and error.
Trial and error gives you the best wisdom of all.
Learned wisdom.
Whereas when you read books, you understand the theory of specific subjects.
It’s not until you apply that wisdom in real life that it becomes learned wisdom.
This is the most valuable wisdom, and it is also the most difficult to obtain.
Remember that reading should supplement action.
Action shouldn’t supplement reading.
Without action, we achieve nothing in this world.
Of course, sometimes, you need to know how to achieve a set task that requires some knowledge, such as getting in shape or investing.
However, knowledge is only about 10% of the battle, and behaviour is 90%.
If you want to get in shape or learn how to invest to make the most of your money, I recommend reading the top three books in that genre and getting to work immediately.
As a rule of thumb, don’t read more than three books about an area of your life you’d like to improve before taking action, because by reading any more than that, you’re avoiding the most important part: taking action and doing the work.
Reading the top 3 books in a specific genre should help you understand the first principles of any subject.
Throw away all the self-improvement books and instead improve your life. It’s much more practical than improving “self”.
Nassim Taleb has coined the term intellectual yet idiot ( IYI) for certain people who are all theory and reasoning yet have never done anything concrete and worthwhile in the real world.
In stark contrast, some people, such as Richard Branson, are not intellectual but are successful, practical people who know how to deal with the world as it is, rather than through complex reasoning formulated from an Ivy League university.
Our job is to avoid becoming IYI’s, and instead to deal with the world on an earthly level.
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Having The Same Daily Routine Kills Your Soul
Nassim Taleb said:
“If you know, in the morning, what your day looks like with any precision, you are a little bit dead—the more precision, the more dead you are.”
What I believe Nassim is saying here is that we need spontaneity in our lives.
Going through the motions and doing the same things daily can feel like Groundhog Day.
We all have jobs, and the majority of our days will be very similar.
At least for a fixed number of hours.
For example, if you go to work from 9-5 and you do the exact same things every night. Over time, your life will feel boring and stale.
How I’m implementing this advice is to:
1. Go on holiday spontaneously.
2. In my free time after work, I do something random, e.g., go to the beach, watch a film at the cinema, go for a long walk in nature, or even read and write in a coffee shop or meet up with friends. For example, I’m thinking about climbing a mountain soon. I don’t know when, but when I’ve got the time, I’ll just go and do it.How do I know Nassim Taleb’s advice is correct?
I’ve put it into action.
Recently, I randomly went to the beach at night after work and enjoyed the spontaneity of doing so.
Last month, I went on a last-minute trip to Rome. Nothing was strictly planned. I flanuered my way through the city, stumbling upon the major attractions such as the Colleseum, Vatican, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, etc.
I also talked to people from all over the world, including Italians, Canadians, and Germans, and I had a great time doing so.
In life, we seek adventure.
And spontaneity can be the catalyst for adventure.
Some of the best times I’ve had were the result of spontaneous action.
I urge you to give some time every day to spontaneity and randomness.
And you’ll notice that sometimes beautiful things come from that randomness.
We aren’t robots, so we shouldn’t live life like one.
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“What Can You Do For Me” Is The Currency Of This World
Everyone you meet has your best interests at heart.
Wrong!
Not everyone does.
Usually, only a few people do.
Close family and friends.
However, many people will try to gain power over you, especially if they perceive you as a threat.
Especially if you show too much of your talent, maintain humility.
Suppose you provide nothing to benefit them. The currency of life is “ what can you do for me?”.
You’ll get lost in oblivion if you have nothing to offer the world.
That’s why you must show your worth when you get a chance at a vocation or any opportunity.
Especially when employed.
Help your manager, help your colleagues.
Provide as much value to them as you can, so you would be a massive miss if you weren’t there.
This makes you a linchpin.
And not easily replaceable.
We all need to be linchpins.
A linchpin is “a person or thing vital to an enterprise or organisation.”
If we’re not linchpins, we can be easily replaced.
And we don’t want to be disposable.
So the key thing to remember is:
The lazy and ignorant get swallowed up, and the linchpins thrive.
And that’s why the improvement journey, the journey to mastery, never ends.
Because there isn’t a finish line saying when you’ve reached your potential.
Your potential is always a moving target with no end.
And that’s why we need to find joy on the journey to self-mastery.
Remember this heuristic:
The people who are the best at what they do are rewarded the most handsomely in society since time immemorial.
Alexander the Great was one of the greatest rulers ever, conquering the known world at only 30 years old.
Lionel Messi has become the greatest footballer ever, and he will be immortalised in history books.
The point is that the people who are the best at what they do are rewarded the most.
But mostly, the game is its own reward.
Because they’ve come as close as possible to their potential.
What would your life be like if you were the best at what you do?
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How To Be Happy (Delay Instant Gratification)
Sit on the couch, eating Cheetos and watching friends.
Joking.
That sounds completely lame.
And boring.
Well, then what should we strive towards?
Something worthwhile.
And most of the time worthwhile pursuits take work and effort.
And the ability to delay instant gratification.
Have you heard of the marshmallow test?
If you haven’t it was a study where several children were asked if they wanted 1 marshmallow now or if they waited they would get an additional marshmallow to eat later.
The kids who managed to delay instant gratification and wait for 2 marshmallows later had much better results in life when the studies were followed up.
The lesson is this:
If we want to be happy in our lives we must delay instant gratification.
Instead of indulging in cheap sex, delay instant gratification and pursue a worthwhile partner.
Instead of sitting and eating the Cheetos on the couch watching friends, delay instant gratification and focus on healthy eating and working out several times per week.
Instead of settling for your dead end job delay instant gratification and pursue your life’s purpose on the side.
Giving up on your life’s purpose is falling victim to instant gratification.
It’s giving up who you can be for who you are.
Instead, you need to give up what you are for what you can be.
In regards to what makes us happy, we all have different purposes in life.
So we all need to get in touch with our intuition.
And direct our lives to the one purpose only we can fulfil.
Having a purpose in one’s life is the most important thing to be happy.
I would say it’s about 60% of your happiness quota.
The extra 40% comes from:
Being healthy.
Having hobbies.
Having a good family life and relationships.
No financial worries.
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10 Things You Should Do Before You Die
- Make a list of all the places you want to travel to and visit them as soon as possible. That way, you’ll have no regrets about not visiting them on your deathbed.
- Regularly show your friends and family how much they mean to you, even if it’s just a “ thank you.” If the worst happens, they’ll always know how you felt about them.
- Follow your life’s purpose. Are you a writer, a doctor, a YouTuber, an engineer? Pursue whatever you think you are destined for in this life; that way, you’ll have know-what-ifs on your deathbed.
- Be wise with your money so that you don’t leave your spouse and loved ones in financial trouble should you pass away. Get life insurance and have a nest egg saved up for the worst-case scenario.
- Avoid unpleasant people and circumstances, life’s too short to deal with bullshit, like Alexander The Great cut The Gordian Knott you need to cut ties with people and circumstances that negatively effect your life.
- Live for the now. The present moment is all there is and all there ever will be. Make sure you make the most of it; if you do, the world is your oyster.
- Go skiing, I’m biased, but it’s one of the activities I love the most in the world.
- Get in the best physical shape you can. Socrates said, “It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”
- Don’t live in the past. Sometimes, in my life, I’ve been so fixated on my past that I failed to live in the present. And because I’ve been fixated on the past, I’ve completely wasted time in the present. Thinking about the past is unhelpful; apart from happy memories and lessons you’ve learned, don’t get too fixated on it.
- Live your life on your terms; don’t let anyone tell you how you’re meant to live. Know what you want from life, and go and get it—one action at a time.
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What Is The Best Way To Stay Healthy ( 13 Tips)
- Clean your butt, I know you can’t see it but clean it, it’s the hygienic thing to do.
- Sleep 7–9 hours per night.
- Eat 80–90% of your diet from whole foods, such as fruits and vegetables, lean meats, and grains.
- To reduce stress levels, do meditation or belly breathing exercises, and identify the things in your life that are causing you stress so you can remove them and make your life as stress-free as possible.
- Work out with weights at least three times per week. I follow the push, pull, and leg split training program.
- Eat enough protein and fat. Aim for at least 30% protein and 25% fat in your diet. Protein is required to build and maintain muscle and soft tissue health, whereas fat is essential for good hair, nails, and hormone functions.
- Limit alcohol to only a couple of drinks a week, and no, that doesn’t mean a couple of bottles of vodka.
- Don’t smoke at all. Everyone knows how bad smoking is.
- Hydrate—aim to drink at least 3- 4 litres of water per day. Being hydrated is essential for every physiological process in your body to function correctly.
- Have good air quality in your home, open your windows several times daily, even if that means only opening them a crack.
- Don’t drink caffeine after 11 A.m. Caffeine has a half-life of 6 hours. This means that it takes your body 6 hours to process only half the caffeine you’ve consumed. If you have no more caffeine after 11 AM, then when you go to sleep at an average of 11 p.m., the majority of the caffeine will be out of your system and It wil have a minimal impact on sleep.
- Wash your hands, as per germ theory. Washing your hands ( and body) is essential to avoid bacterial diseases and infections. WASH YOUR BUTT.
- Go on two daily 30-minute walks. In this Brave New World, we sit way too much. Getting out to walk is vital for our cardiovascular and back health. I get such a stiff back from sitting for too long.
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You’re In Control If You Want To Be
It’s easy to blame the world when things don’t go as planned in our lives.
It’s easy to blame others.
But it’s most difficult to look in the mirror and blame ourselves.
But we are to blame.
Each one of us is where we are today because of the choices we made yesterday.
For example, I neglected to go out with my friends in my past relationship.
Which I felt bad about.
Good friendships started to wither.
And I almost didn’t realise it because I was so much under the spell of my ex-spouse.
And now the relationships ended.
I’m having to build those relationships up from scratch again.
I now need to make more of an effort.
By being in that relationship ( which was my choice).
I undone a lot of the good work I was doing towards being a better person.
For example I was getting into martial arts, I joined a running group, and I was in tip top shape.
And then I let myself get manipulated by an ex-spouse who ultimately didn’t have my best interests.
But I don’t blame her.
I don’t blame the world.
I blame myself.
They were all choices I made.
And now I can make better choices to get on the right track again.
One choice at a time.
The big lesson I learned the hard way is to never stop being you.
Especially in romantic relationships.
Because that’s the one place you should be unapologetically and authentically you.
Some people blame their lack of good health on lots of things, such as:
“ I’m just not a gym person”.
“ I like chocolate too much”.
“ I don’t enjoy working out”.
“ I’m too lazy”.When people make excuses for their lack of progress in improving their health, they are not really taking responsibility.
If they took ownership of their health, they’d realise.
“Well, I got myself unhealthy, but I can get myself fit again with consistent effort.”
“If I’m not as healthy as I want to be, it’s completely up to me to change it, I’m not big boned”.
“ I can change my situation at any moment”.
Taking ownership of our lives is extremely important because we are the only ones who can do anything about it.
When we blame others and the world, we’re saying we have no agency to improve our lives.
We’re not all destined for doom.
We all have free will.
And we can make our lives whatever we want them to be like.
As long as we do three things.
Take 100% ownership of our lives.
Take 100% responsibility for our actions.
And devote 100% of our energy to what we can control. And avoid what we can’t control.
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Life’s Short, Stay Present
Whether you or I like it or not, time will pass.
We can either use that time to complain.
Or we can make the most out of it.
You can either go to the gym, or you can be lazy and lie on the sofa.
You can either watch the news.
Or read a good book to improve your mindset and knowledge about life.
Right now, someone is making the most of life.
Of course, none of us know exactly who.
But why can’t that person be you?
Or take happiness.
Someone right now is the happiest person in the world.
There’s no reason why that person can’t be you, either.
Seneca said that time is the only commodity we can never get back.
And it certainly is true.
When I waste money, I get incredibly annoyed at myself.
Strangely enough, I get more annoyed when I waste money than when I waste time.
Which is ludicrous because time is much more valuable than money.
If time is going to pass anyway, how do we slow it down?
We can’t, but we can use time productively or unproductively.
I define wasted time as this.
Anything that takes you away from what you need to do to be the best version of yourself possible wastes time.
Pray on your own mortality.
It sounds morbid to do this, but it works.
Realise deeply that you could die at any moment (and eventually you will).
Now, come back to the real world, take what’s left of your life, and live it properly.
How do we make the most out of the time allotted to us?
We stay present in the moment.
We don’t get distracted.
We don’t do one thing while thinking of the million other things we need to do.
For example, do you ever get lost in your thoughts?
So much that someone needs to wake you up from your trance?
I know I’ve been there.
The mind is a fireball, and your ego (false sense of self) gets stronger with every thought.
If you’re not careful, your mind will eat you alive.
Look at all the people that have sadly committed suicide.
This is because of the ego.
The whirlwind of negative thoughts completely takes over the host.
And this is why it’s essential to detach from your thoughts and feelings.
There is no better sense of peace than being fully in the present moment and free from your mind.
When your mind takes over, you waste your life.
Because you’re not really living, you’re trapped in your mind.
But when you break free of the chains of the ego.
That’s where living really happens.
I know it isn’t easy to stay present, but you can do it.
I still struggle with it at times.
But the main thing is that you keep trying your best to be as present as possible.
Eventually, you’ll get it.
Your mind is a tool.
And you’re in control of it.
And most importantly, make sure you are living a life you truly want.
And not living one that:
Society wants.
Your friends want.
Your family want.
It needs to be you who chooses your life.
Life is so goddamn short as it is.
You need to use the time allocated to free yourself.
Not to be enslaved to someone else’s agenda.
And if you don’t know what life you want to live.
Then, read, read, read.
“The most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner “- Naval Ravikant
And remember.
Procrastination isn’t such a bad thing.
Procrastination is your body and mind telling you that you dislike doing something.
Listen to it.
Don’t force yourself to do things that you don’t want to.
Remember, life is short.
It’s too short to spend your time doing things you hate.
The ultimate cheat code to never do anything you dislike is the ability to say no to things that don’t interest you or that you could easily do without.
And remember, if you feel like you’re lost in life or that you are not where you’re meant to be yet, remember this quote:
“Life really does begin at forty. Up until then, you are just doing research.“ – Carl Jung
Decide what you want out of your life.
And go after it.
Yes, you might find out that this goal no longer interests you.
But that’s information.
A bad plan is a million times better than no plan.
If you make a bad decision, at least you will know what you don’t want in life.
But this method takes trial and error.
And most people aren’t willing to fail.
As a rule of thumb you need to be willing to fail to also be willing to succeed.
Because if you fail enough times, you’ll eventually succeed.
It’s really that simple.
And if you’re scared to fail.
Don’t be.
It’s a sign you’re progressing.
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How To Forget Someone You Love When They Leave You
- Delete their number, old pictures and text messages. If they want to contact you they will let you know.
- Become the best version of yourself, you’ll naturally attract better potential partners if you’re trying to improve yourself. No one wants to be in a relationship with a loser.
- Dont be needy, sometimes when you come out of a relationship, you feel downtrodden and because of this you may feel like getting straight back into another relationship is the answer. Its not. Be careful who you pick as your spouse. Be sure to go out with them because you want to not because you feel lacking emotionally.
- Feel whatever emotions you have deeply they will eventually pass.
- Engage in hobbies and activities you enjoy when you are engaged in hobbies you enjoy you wont feel sad or lonely because you’ll be enthralled in what you’re doing.
- Get out of the house, exercise or take a walk. Too often when we stay in the house and ponder things we ruminate and it makes us feel worse. Get outside and blow those cobwebs of the mind away.
- Spend time with friends and family, there’s no better feeling than having a good laugh with friends and family it will pull you out of your slump.
- Read. When we read we stop focusing on our thoughts and feelings and instead focus on the words on a page, reading helps me get in a trace sort of state, it’s saved me more times than I can remember. No matter what happens in my life I know I have good books to read. So I’ll be happy.
Be Happy They’re Gone
You had some good times.
You had some memories that will last forever.
They were just part of one chapter in your life.
And although you may have loved each other.
You didn’t love each other enough.
And that’s okay.
When my romantic relationships have ended in the past.
Especially when I’ve been the one getting dumped.
I’ve blamed myself.
Thoughts like these have came to mind:
Was it that thing I did or didn’t do that caused her to break up with me?
Why wasn’t I good enough?
Maybe I’ll just be single forever.
Where instead it’s more practical to:
Take what you can from the relationship experience, and if you feel you made mistakes, apply the lessons learned to future relationships.
Ensure you don’t blame yourself. If the relationship was going to work, it would have. And all relationships go through challenges. If your relationship ended at the first sign of challenges, then it was never the right relationship.
Make sure you carefully screen through future potential partners.
It’s very unlikely that the first person you date after breaking up with your ex will be the one.
You might meet your dream spouse on the first date of newly being single or the 100th.
It doesn’t really matter.
But what does matter is having no doubts about making someone your girlfriend.
Or boyfriend depending on your gender or sexual orientation.
Screening for the right partner is crucial.
You need to be very serious about screening your future potential partner.
Because if you don’t it could cause many issues in the future.
The most important thing to have with your spouse is not love.
Its compatibility.
If you’re not compatible with your spouse the relationship will eventually end.
For example, to be compatible with your spouse, you must have similar worldviews and values (if you’re religious, then sharing the same religion is vital).
Love Is A Choice
The key to lasting relationships is the shared commitment to making the decision to love one another unconditionally.
When love is conditional, i.e. based on whether you have x amount of money or x car or x size penis, it’s the worst love of all.
There’s a reason that many rich and famous athletes and celebrities choose to stay in a relationship with their high school sweethearts.
It’s because they know their spouse’s love is genuine and unconditional.
They loved each other when they were at their worst.
And now they love each other when they’re at their best.
As a rule of thumb: if you’re willing to love someone through the good times you need to be just as accepting and loving to them through the bad times ( which is often much more difficult).
The true test of one’s character is how they respond to challenges.
Do they rise to the occasion?
Or do they lose hope and give up?
We need to be the type of people who turns challenges into triumphs.
And this is the type of spouse we should look for as well.
Whatever happens in your life.
Try to respond to it like you chose life to happen that way.
It’s a much more helpful way of dealing with the world and people.
Complete acceptance.
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