User Power
Value/Post Ratio
150%
- Jul 3, 2018
- 1,428
- 2,140
SPONSORED: GiganticWebsites.com: We Build Sites with THOUSANDS of Unique and Genuinely Useful Articles
30% to 50% Fastlane-exclusive discounts on WordPress-powered websites with everything included: WordPress setup, design, keyword research, article creation and article publishing. Click HERE to claim.Join over 90,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.
Free registration at the forum removes this block.There are many paths to life, and many ways to live it. I don't know you personally or what your personality is, but I'll use statistics and assume you are within 2 standard deviations of the average person in terms of motivation, intelligence, ambition, etc. but you can correct me if I'm wrong.
You can make your own path, but be aware this may not make you the happiest.
First off, be wary of the cognitive biases such as the Dunning-Kruger effect or the Optimism bias and the "I'm special" bias. Note that I will use a stereotype bias in order to make it easier for me to give you advice, as I don't know you personally.
What makes an average human being happy?
Here are some 8 Life Forces that are inherent in each and any one of us:
Some people will favor one of these life forces over the other. And they also depend on the current situation of your environment. Most people in the 1st world have most of these life forces taken care of.
- Survival, enjoyment of life, life extension
- Enjoyment of food and beverages
- Freedom from fear, pain, and danger
- Sexual companionship
- Comfortable living conditions
- To be superior, winning, keeping up with the Joneses
- Care and protection of loved ones
- Social approval
The most important thing is to establish your motivation. What really makes you happy and why? Without having a motivation there is no point in making yourself unhappy over not achieving a goal you have no motivation for. (e.g. I want to get rich because I want social approval but I'm unhappy because I'm not rich yet. It may be easier on yourself to just to get a job that society approves first.) Now, knowing that you are on this forum I can assume one of your motivations or goals is to become rich, and to live a life of financial freedom. That is why I'm here. But I only got his motivation after I started a family. If I did not have something to motivate me, I would not pursue this goal.
Anyways, there are many paths to wealth but here are five paths (there are countless more):
1. "How to Get Rich" by Felix Dennis method. This path requires a special personality (be willing to sacrifice any and all personal relationships on your path to get rich). Not my particular style but it may work for some.
2. "Seek wealth, not money or status" by Naval. This is more spiritual and may not get you rich quickly per say, but you may be more satisfied with your life pursuing this method. To be truly wealthy depends on your definition of wealth.
3. Stay monogamous to one cash flowing business, and stay in it for the long term. This can be considered a somewhat "medium-fast" lane approach, but starting a small business and slowly growing that business for 10-20 years can make you wealthy in the long term.
4. Tim Ferris life/location arbitrage method. Basically, earn a 1st world wage owning an online business while living in a 3rd world country so that your money goes farther. Some people I've observed will get tired of this life and switch to another method. Others can stay in this life forever.
5. Sell shovels to growing trends methods. Find an industry that is growing and people are making lots of money in (currently that may be Amazon FBA/shopify/cryptocurrency) and sell a product or service to those people in that industry. The key is to identify what trends are going on and brainstorm ways to help these people, choose it and execute.
The theme common to all of this is having equity in something - basically, having ownership. If you don't own it, you will never have time on your side, and will spend the rest of your life renting/working to survive. "If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die."
So in summary:
1. Understand statistics
2. Understand our cognitive biases
3. Understand the Life Force 8
4. Establish your Why
5. Understand 5 different paths to wealth (or create your own)
6. Have equity or ownership in something
And throwing this one in:
7. Never stop learning and have a growth mindset
I'm not the poster, but I do do a lot of statistics.Are you able to recommend a good resource for studying statistics please (above penultimate paragraph, point 1). Just so happens I am reading a textbook on Economics for Business. As I read this book, I come across a huge number of graphs and analytical data which I simply don't understand. I need to know how to read these effectively.
Thank you in advance.
awwww you deleted it? I was loving it - refreshed the page quickly and poof!Just edited my previous post - perhaps I focused too much on the principles of general life philosophy and not on what you really asked. If I am honest I dont know exactly what advice you need - if you were my son, you may have different questions on different days on different topics, so this is an ambiguous question you posed. Plus, as the above poster said, I dont know you so it is hard to give advice.
One overall and general observation I can share with you without reservation is learn as much as your mental faculties allow you and never stop growing. Then apply that knowledge, measure and validate it.
Best of luck.
The most important things I could teach my son would be the things that go against mainstream advice.
Some things that come to mind:
Happiness is the target of losers who want to coast through life.
Impatience is a virtue. So is arrogance.
It's better to be clever than smart.
Social "sciences" are unscientific nonsense. The opinions of academics are largely worthless, and their knowledge always lags behind those in the trenches.
When you need something important done, micromanage the shit out of it. Micromanaging has a bad reputation because most are simply too dumb to do it well.
Reality is malleable and you can bend it to your will.
Weak men cannot be good men. And they can never be trusted.
Never put anything in writing that can be used against you in court or socially. Assume everything will become public at the worst possible time.
Dignity, pride and similar concepts are opiate for the masses. So are morality and ethics.
Threats are a sign of weakness. People who want to hurt you don't want you to see them coming.
I'm not the poster, but I do do a lot of statistics.
PBS has a YouTube channel where they post entire college courses online, and they're fun and interesting:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxQaBpKfDRk
Full course: Statistics - YouTube
Also this book is very good: Amazon.com: Naked Statistics, Stripping the dread from Data: Charles Wheelan, Jonathan Davis: Books
I agree 1000000% with his sentiments. Understanding statistics was one of the smartest things I've ever done.
How most people think: "my uncle tried this medication and said it works! therefore it will work!"
How Statisticians and Scientists think: "let's look at the tests of this medication on 1000 people, compare it to placebo, them make a determination"
That's just one thing. Statistics allows youth get the 'big picture' of life.
Hey sorry about that, if you would like a copy of the notes on my life philosophy - which the previous post was based on -please let me know.awwww you deleted it? I was loving it - refreshed the page quickly and poof!
Sent you a messageHey sorry about that, if you would like a copy of the notes on my life philosophy - which the previous post was based on -please let me know.
Happy to share it with you
bb13
Join Fastlane Insiders.