The abundance is slowly killing my drive

[Iwokeup]

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[hellolin]

Yo man,

I hear what you're saying. I lived in Japan for two years and learned to live a much simpler life, with a changed outlook, diet, fitness, and spirituality. It was wonderful. But when I came back to the States? Extremely difficult to maintain.

Abundance is its own drug. It's a powerful dream killer.

It's why diabetes is such an insidious disease: how bad can that extra donut really be? That Dr. Pepper? That pizza?

The problem is that over time that abundance of sugar overwhelms and 'burns out' the pancreas' ability to produce insulin (which helps to absorb sugars and turn it into energy and/or fat [=long term energy storage]) and it also makes the rest of the body less sensitive to insulin.This then leads to an overabundance of sugars in the body, which leads to the death of:

• The myocardium (heart muscles)
• Nerve endings (leading to very painful diabetic neuropathy)
• Poor vascular supply to the extremities, increasing the risk of gangrene (NSFW warning).
• Increases the risk of necrotizing fasciitis (have seen multiple cases. It's horrible. If you search, then you've been warned)
• early death
• blindness
• And so on....

The thing is, diabetes (the acquired kind) is a disease that's unique to societies with an overabundance (of cheap carbs).
.
.
.
.
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So what does that have to do with you?

You've just come back from a situation where things were stripped down and so you had to focus on what was really important. But now that you're back, the clarity is getting muddled.

What can YOU do about it?

I have THREE suggestions that may provide you with the motivation that you need.

You probably won't like what I have to say, but then nothing in life that's worthwhile is ever easy. Business, providing value (in whatever way possible), relationships, being a good human being.

I'm a former Marine. And as Marines are wont to proclaim:

Becoming a Marine was one of the toughest things that I ever did. But something that has provided me with decades of Confidence, Pride, and the knowledge that I CAN achieve whatever I set my mind to.

This is the Fastlane. We're focused on doing things that obey to the best possible way MJ's CENTS criteria. None of it's easy.

Alright! Enough talk. Okay, are you ready?

• Put yourself in a situation where you're uncomfortable.

Take a chance! Leave the nest. Find a job outside of LA (LA's not how the rest of the world works, man. ). Maybe leave California altogether. Move cross country. Maybe move to Vietnam or Thailand and start from there. If possible, set yourself up with six months of bills and rent paid on an apartment. You've got a hard deadline to get something together. Get WAAAY out of your comfort zone. You're NEVER going to grow, learn, and truly test yourself until you have some adversity to go up against.​

• Take some serious time to get to know yourself. Are you truly committed to providing value/service to others? Yes? No? Don't be afraid of the answer! I've counseled people for decades now (sheesh) and if there's one piece of advice that always proves valuable, it's this

​

It's really that simple. You are unique - no one else has your unique combination of talent, experiences (able to live in China for three months with family? I'll never have that), beliefs, and mindset. No one. So what's really important to you? If you don't know right now, that's just fine.

Start finding out by doing things (just get out there!).

Some things you'll like, some you'll hate, and some you'll love. Who cares what it is? Just get going. The information gleaned from these "tryouts" can take as long as it needs to, and it's going to be incredibly important information to you. For the rest of your life.
​

• Last but not least, BELIEVE in YOURSELF.

Seriously. When the chips are down, winners don't quit. They go "Get get their weight."​

Somehow I know a guy who was in the military and who was stationed overseas for a while knows exactly how I feel right now. I was in the navy and was stationed in Japan from 2006 to 2010, brother.

Thanks everyone for your advises, it wasn't my intention to spark an argument here between MJ and someone who barely just joined the forum, that was odd.

Now if you read my whole post, you would understand that my lack of motivation wasn't because I was blaming the society for it...matter of fact, it is the opposite, it was my change of society norms that makes me feel way too comfortable. I was in China for 3 month, in a rural area with my family, had back surgery and recovering, was learn to live in a different set of values and mindset since everything is in scarcity in relative to my life in the US before. Most of the news today in the US talks about how bad our society is, inequality in income and treatment of races and such, but now when I look at those issue and compare to what my family had told me what their life is about in China, I felt like life is extremely easy and comfortable even for a poor guy here at the US. Seriously we are the 1% of the world, regardless your race or economic classes, if you are living in the US.

It's hard to just get off my a$$ and "do something", when I just switched from a society that is dominated by rules of scarcity to a society that's dominated by abundance, if you look at our so called "first world problems" today in the US, most of them are caused by having too much of something (Too much choices, too much food, too much sex...etc), while it is completely the opposite in a third world country. I have known people who made millions in China and their quality of life is only comparable to those of a upper middle class citizen in the US, not because they can not afford to buy something, but believe it or not, what makes a first world country first world, is not the stuff that money can buy, it's the stuff that money can not buy but are a results of an ordered society working toward a collective goal. China is still experiencing rapid changes right now, while the standard of living is improving every year, the word "certainly" and "order" is still far from realities of life and people in China, either rich or poor, all live under those conditions.

Abundance in itself is not bad news, under the abundance here in the US, finding a job and doing your job is much easier, which makes building a business much easier. @Iwokeup, I am going to put myself in an uncomfortable situation again (As when I first joined the navy when I was in high school), but that's until my back heals. I had my herniated disc thought out my last 2 years of college, was juggling though full time school and an internship, while driving 70 miles in-between them a couple times a week. Thank god the GI bill paid for all my education, and I had earned enough money from my internship to cover for my vacation this summer, so my life isn't exactly in a bad shape right now. But reading TFM made me realize that I haven't fully unitize my talents yet. No to be honest, I am not sure if I have the mental capacity to run a business just yet, but I am as heck sure that just getting a degree and find a job is not enough to secure a good living in life. So I was reading a lot books while I was recovering in China, already learn a lot things that's so different from what I was taught in school and I am really thankful for that. MJ is right, school only prepares us to become a consumer, it doesn't teach a jack about being a producer and how to make value for others in a massive scale. My family is all middle class college degree workers, so since I was born I was told to raise my intrinsic value in order to be successful in life. Matter of fact, I got in touch with the word "scale" for the first time when I was trying to learn Amazon web services by myself outside of school. I am so glad I didn't spend a cent of my money to finish my degree, it wasn't useless but it is certainly not going to do what it promised in the beginning.

MJ I hope the Chinese version of your TMF comes out soon, I spread the word on your book to my friends while I was in China, one of them is my best friend and already had a couple businesses ventures, and when I told them the concepts in your book, she was still shocked that how much she didn't know about running a business. Information flow is a lot tighter in China, I have no doubt that the translation will be a bit off compare to what you originally trying to say in the English version of the book. TMF is as politically incorrect as it is in the US, in a country where political correctness is protected by law, it will only get worse.

 

[hellolin]

You need to get out of that beautiful comfy L.A zone you're in. My biggest change was getting uncomfortable and hustling 16-18 hours a day, moving away from home...forcing myself to do something which will make a huge impact in the future. Hope you recover well...change your zone and it will change your mentality and work ethics in the entrepreneurial world, I promise you.

I have always planned to move to Phoenix or Dallas area after college, since I didn't really like the liberal politics sense here in Cali (Makes it very hard to build a business thus job market/pay sucks big time here, a lose/lose situation for everyone). it was derailed by my back surgery and recovery curve. Once I get my PT done with my back and I can walk around without a back brace, I am planning to do just that.

 

[mtb_fanatic]

Take 75% of your income and divert it to an account the sole purpose of which is to use to fund a business/real estate, etc.

Live on 25%. Boom, you're back into scarcity mode and need to force yourself to try something different if you want to eat.

On a less extreme vein, spend ONLY the money that is required for living. No 'wants' at all. All that 'want' money goes towards funding your business. If you want to have nice things, you need to create a business to get those things.

Or maybe you just to want it bad enough and are happy with your lot in life. No problems there.

Could not agree more. Ive been wanting to buy stuff but im rewiring my mind to be a producer instead of a consumer. Take your resources here and use it to your advantage.

 

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[townhaus]

If you are able to, I'd also suggest following Iwokeup's advice.

• Put yourself in a situation where you're uncomfortable.

Take a chance! Leave the nest. Find a job outside of LA (LA's not how the rest of the world works, man. ). Maybe leave California altogether. Move cross country. Maybe move to Vietnam or Thailand and start from there. If possible, set yourself up with six months of bills and rent paid on an apartment. You've got a hard deadline to get something together. Get WAAAY out of your comfort zone. You're NEVER going to grow, learn, and truly test yourself until you have some adversity to go up against.

Perhaps moving somewhere like Thailand might suit you. I'm in Thailand (Bangkok) at the moment, and it seems to have a good balance of low cost yet availability of western standard comforts.

You might find that today, in the US, you think that it is the 'abundance' that is slowly killing your drive. While tomorrow in X, you find yourself still struggling since some other factor Y is killing your drive instead.

See if your 'abundance' theory is correct, and moving to a place with less abundance cures the problem.

To me, your theory sounds pretty abstract. I believe you are overthinking things and actually just rationalizing your lack of action.

If those damn drive killers are to be found you wherever you go (abundance or no abundance), it might just be you making up excuses.

 

[Ubermensch]

I had a whole reply thought out, then I scrapped it and decided to freestyle this...

I have the exact problem that you have, perhaps just to a different degree.

Let's characterize your mental state as (-). I would characterize mine as (+), and (+) times ten.

Let me explain.

My parents both worked slow lane jobs. My mother was a university mathematics professor. My father worked a slow lane job in a factory, and worked the graveyard shift.

With their combined $80,000 salary, they supported me and my younger brother, my only other biological brother. They decided to turn me into the "model" of success, and they made this decision early. My mom taught me at home, and by age eight, I knew more mathematics than most college kids.

I started my freshman year of college at 13. I dropped out at 16, much to the chagrin of my parents. They didn't really like that. They didn't really like the fact that I gave them the finger.

Excuse me. Here I am, pontificating about mathematics, and I can't even get my numbers right.

I gave both of my parents, both fingers. Both fingers up - and in their faces - to their definition of success, an 18 year old kid with a PHD in mathematics... for what. For what? Why do differential equations? I didn't love them.

I loved money, the feeling of making it on my own. I figured out how to do it early, with early businesses, and I never let go. By time I found Gordon Gekko, the notion of being a self-made man was already well-ingrained in my mind.

And as I fought with my parents at age 15.. . 16... and 17...

With the more money I made, the more I realized that they were WRONG.

And I was right.

So, I decided to shove it in their face. I got a BMW. I flashed rubber band knots of cash in their faces, which is when they told me that I would have to continue schooling or lose their financial support forever.

Which bet do you think I took?

Do you think I bet on the minds of the slow lane parents who raised a super-freak genius who saw through their bullshit early?

Or do you think I bet on the super-freak genius.

(And I say genius respectfully, in the Robert Greene sense of the word, in that there does exist a high point of human potential... and that high point is obtainable by anyone and everyone who puts in the hours, the work, the blood and the sweat.)

You know what that did? It forced me to become a man. When a mother bird pushes its birdies out of the nest, it does so to make them fly - or die. Humans can get so lazy that they grow ostrich-like mindsets in the place where their mind's wings should have grown.

The fact is, no one ever has - or ever will be - born and exist the way you have, do and ever will. Out of billions of humans, you are completely unique. You were lucky enough to not be born in a war torn, anything goes type of jungle in Africa... or the South Side of Chicago. Don't you want to see what happens when you bring all of your special powers to fruition?

Only when you fully set your will simultaneously against the sky and the ground will you fly. Flying means defying gravity, gravity defined as that which holds you down, real life forces which must be refuted, defied, and thrust against!

I feel like I have a spiritual obligation to the @ChasingPaper types, who derive motivation from a motherfcker who literally tasted the basement of hell, and almost stayed there forever. You learn LE$$ON$ in the basement of hell, mind-warping lessons.

It's like Kanye said. Money isn't everything. Not having it is.

No abundance mind-set in this brain. If I could replicate my neurons and somehow put them in a syringe, and you injected some Uber-Thinking into your temple... you'd feel and know the pain of being broke. You would feel this pain in your memories, in all of the mental images and mental movies that constantly attempt to play in your mind (like unpoppable thought bubbles <<==
@Mattie, quick quiz. Which Em song is that from? Hint: Southpaw). You would remember your younger years, crying over situations which could obviously be fixed with money. Times from your child hood, teenage years and adult hood, you would see all of those moments, and you would also know the reverse feeling.

You would know the feeling of conquest. You would know the difference between the feeling of self-made wealth and inherited wealth. Deep in your soul, you know you do not deserve the luxuries in which you so glutinously bask. Like a child brandishing and playing with daddies gun, it could end up killing you. Wasted hours is a wasted day. Some wasted days are a wasted week. Your time is your life. Do you want to spend all of it on life support, neither fully dying nor fully living? Surely, that is what fate had in mind when she spared you from being brought up in bad or terrible circumstances.

It's not about abundance.

It's about being able to look yourself in the mirror.

Deep in my soul, I feel the triumph of knowing that I played for the long-term game. I see my older millennial friends right now, and they have crappy jobs that they hate. They hate their lives. I feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for them, especially because I'm winning so hard. It's the same feeling I have looking at fat people. I can't help I look good and they didn't put in the hundreds of days required to be in really good shape.

 

[Mattie]

You would feel this pain in your memories, in all of the mental images and mental movies that constantly attempt to play in your mind (like unpoppable thought bubbles <<==

Think we're on the same page Ubermensch. How they can get us in trouble.

 

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[DeletedUser396]

I had a whole reply thought out, then I scrapped it and decided to freestyle this...

I have the exact problem that you have, perhaps just to a different degree.

Let's characterize your mental state as (-). I would characterize mine as (+), and (+) times ten.

Let me explain.

My parents both worked slow lane jobs. My mother was a university mathematics professor. My father worked a slow lane job in a factory, and worked the graveyard shift.

With their combined $80,000 salary, they supported me and my younger brother, my only other biological brother. They decided to turn me into the "model" of success, and they made this decision early. My mom taught me at home, and by age eight, I knew more mathematics than most college kids.

I started my freshman year of college at 13. I dropped out at 16, much to the chagrin of my parents. They didn't really like that. They didn't really like the fact that I gave them the finger.

Excuse me. Here I am, pontificating about mathematics, and I can't even get my numbers right.

I gave both of my parents, both fingers. Both fingers up - and in their faces - to their definition of success, an 18 year old kid with a PHD in mathematics... for what. For what? Why do differential equations? I didn't love them.

I loved money, the feeling of making it on my own. I figured out how to do it early, with early businesses, and I never let go. By time I found Gordon Gekko, the notion of being a self-made man was already well-ingrained in my mind.

And as I fought with my parents at age 15.. . 16... and 17...

With the more money I made, the more I realized that they were WRONG.

And I was right.

So, I decided to shove it in their face. I got a BMW. I flashed rubber band knots of cash in their faces, which is when they told me that I would have to continue schooling or lose their financial support forever.

Which bet do you think I took?

Do you think I bet on the minds of the slow lane parents who raised a super-freak genius who saw through their bullshit early?

Or do you think I bet on the super-freak genius.

(And I say genius respectfully, in the Robert Greene sense of the word, in that there does exist a high point of human potential... and that high point is obtainable by anyone and everyone who puts in the hours, the work, the blood and the sweat.)

You know what that did? It forced me to become a man. When a mother bird pushes its birdies out of the nest, it does so to make them fly - or die. Humans can get so lazy that they grow ostrich-like mindsets in the place where their mind's wings should have grown.

The fact is, no one ever has - or ever will be - born and exist the way you have, do and ever will. Out of billions of humans, you are completely unique. You were lucky enough to not be born in a war torn, anything goes type of jungle in Africa... or the South Side of Chicago. Don't you want to see what happens when you bring all of your special powers to fruition?

Only when you fully set your will simultaneously against the sky and the ground will you fly. Flying means defying gravity, gravity defined as that which holds you down, real life forces which must be refuted, defied, and thrust against!

I feel like I have a spiritual obligation to the @ChasingPaper types, who derive motivation from a motherfcker who literally tasted the basement of hell, and almost stayed there forever. You learn LE$$ON$ in the basement of hell, mind-warping lessons.

It's like Kanye said. Money isn't everything. Not having it is.

No abundance mind-set in this brain. If I could replicate my neurons and somehow put them in a syringe, and you injected some Uber-Thinking into your temple... you'd feel and know the pain of being broke. You would feel this pain in your memories, in all of the mental images and mental movies that constantly attempt to play in your mind (like unpoppable thought bubbles <<==
@Mattie, quick quiz. Which Em song is that from? Hint: Southpaw). You would remember your younger years, crying over situations which could obviously be fixed with money. Times from your child hood, teenage years and adult hood, you would see all of those moments, and you would also know the reverse feeling.

You would know the feeling of conquest. You would know the difference between the feeling of self-made wealth and inherited wealth. Deep in your soul, you know you do not deserve the luxuries in which you so glutinously bask. Like a child brandishing and playing with daddies gun, it could end up killing you. Wasted hours is a wasted day. Some wasted days are a wasted week. Your time is your life. Do you want to spend all of it on life support, neither fully dying nor fully living? Surely, that is what fate had in mind when she spared you from being brought up in bad or terrible circumstances.

It's not about abundance.

It's about being able to look yourself in the mirror.

Deep in my soul, I feel the triumph of knowing that I played for the long-term game. I see my older millennial friends right now, and they have crappy jobs that they hate. They hate their lives. I feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for them, especially because I'm winning so hard. It's the same feeling I have looking at fat people. I can't help I look good and they didn't put in the hundreds of days required to be in really good shape.

Beautiful.

 

[sija1]

No abundance mind-set in this brain. If I could replicate my neurons and somehow put them in a syringe, and you injected some Uber-Thinking into your temple... you'd feel and know the pain of being broke. You would feel this pain in your memories, in all of the mental images and mental movies that constantly attempt to play in your mind (like unpoppable thought bubbles <<==
@Mattie, quick quiz. Which Em song is that from? Hint: Southpaw). You would remember your younger years, crying over situations which could obviously be fixed with money. Times from your child hood, teenage years and adult hood, you would see all of those moments, and you would also know the reverse feeling.

Speechless

 

[CommonCents]

just sit around awhile longer and you'll be forced to regain motivation, not making a decision is making a decision. tick tock.....Or how about motivation to help your family in China?

here is one of the most motivational songs of all time.

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.

Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say.

-pink floyd, Time

 

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[Imgal]

It's not about abundance.

It's about being able to look yourself in the mirror.

Just re-read this epic post for the 9000th time and this has more and more impact each time I read it. It's truly the essence of what entrepreneurship and winning in life is all about... giving something of value to the world. If you can't look yourself in the mirror it's because you're not being true to yourself. It means you know you're falling short of what you could be.... and there's only so long people can keep avoiding their own gaze. At that point it either gets so darn uncomfortable that you either do something about it or sadly decide to live in a dark world with no mirrors or chance of ever catching your reflection in anything.

 

[Bouncing Soul]

No joke about coming back to the US from China. Even crummy LAX looks beautiful.

What do you want in your future? Family seems important to you. Do you want your own family? What example do you want to set for your own children?

 

[hellolin]

No joke about coming back to the US from China. Even crummy LAX looks beautiful.

What do you want in your future? Family seems important to you. Do you want your own family? What example do you want to set for your own children?

It's hard to tell that people who grow up in the US how good a life they are having and how easy it is to do things here, really from now on I will keep myself checked if I ever caught myself complaint about anything, especially the tendency to blame anything on the society. I don't know about the one in China right now but the one in the US has everything to offer as long as anyone is willing to work for it.

 

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[sija1]

It's hard to tell that people who grow up in the US how good a life they are having and how easy it is to do things here, really from now on I will keep myself checked if I ever caught myself complaint about anything, especially the tendency to blame anything on the society. I don't know about the one in China right now but the one in the US has everything to offer as long as anyone is willing to work for it.

If you have family in China or someone you really care about, you could look at things from different perspective. I don't know how the hell I didn't say this before, but last year there were floods and landslides in my native country, Bosnia (probably one of the most f up countries in the world - we have 3 presidents!!!). About half of the country was affected and a lot of people lost their homes. No one I know was affected, thankfully. But that made me thinking: "I have a chance for prosperity here in Canada, which most of them don't have. If anyone I care about was dealing with that, I would have not been able to help because I am throwing away all the opportunities I have." This realization made me go back to college and finish it all while having full time job (2 jobs actually). This was my course of action, since I believed it to be the best. I read TMF afterwards and those floods became one of the Whys.

So if you have anyone in China you care about, think how much you could do for them.

 

[Ubermensch]

It's hard to tell that people who grow up in the US how good a life they are having and how easy it is to do things here, really from now on I will keep myself checked if I ever caught myself complaint about anything, especially the tendency to blame anything on the society. I don't know about the one in China right now but the one in the US has everything to offer as long as anyone is willing to work for it.

So hilarious that your avatar is a trophy of, apparently, a Superbowl victory. Kind of very fitting for your OP sentiment. Metaphorically, and little bit sadly, it reflects the attitude of someone who finds great deal of satisfaction (a sense of what you call "abundance") in the efforts and production of others.

Just re-read this epic post for the 9000th time and this has more and more impact each time I read it. It's truly the essence of what entrepreneurship and winning in life is all about... giving something of value to the world. If you can't look yourself in the mirror it's because you're not being true to yourself. It means you know you're falling short of what you could be.... and there's only so long people can keep avoiding their own gaze. At that point it either gets so darn uncomfortable that you either do something about it or sadly decide to live in a dark world with no mirrors or chance of ever catching your reflection in anything.

Damn... 9,000?

Have you ever read the book Sin and Syntax (How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose) by Constance Hale?

I developed a habit lately.

Showing people... A small glimpse of my recent WIN$ and upcoming WIN$ and level of winning.

I started showing people the checks, because when I listen to $40,000 to $100,000, $100,000 another $100,000, $300,000, $500,000, $1,000,000...

I think of beauty and poetry, and rhythm and power.

@Mattie

Kings Never Die, am I right?

When I feel alone, when I feel like no one gets what it's like to go through the years of patience necessary to close B2B contracts on a high level, repeatedly.

It's a muafuckin' art, bro, and most people can't even fathom level of talent you have to have to orchestrate and do this on the daily.

Long sales cycles.

Huge payoffs.

Shorter sales cycles.

Bigger payoffs.

When I close my eyes, I see the 20 year old kid who looked a lot like @ChasingPaper right now. Hungry. Got that killer instinct. Wants something big for himself. An empire. Commas.

I see a superstar sales beast King Leonidas future leader type of skill. I see the decision to quit a sales job. Then another sales job. Chasing the paper.

It wasn't just "the paper" though. It was what the paper got you. Yes, the car... but something more...

Freedom.

Freedom.

Freedom from The Matrix. Freedom to go where I want, whenever I want, with whoever I want... preferably on my own jet. Freedom to pull seven figures in monthly (maybe eight, maybe more), and do it from anywhere in the world.

Empanadas, mojitos, and money. A life to honor The King, Tony Montana, may he rest in peace.

If not that, then first class. And the destination has to have sand and an ocean to surf waves worthy of Mattie 's prose.

I will never understand the type of person who chooses to work a job instead of pursuing the hustler's dream. Like a fighter, you train - day in and day out - like an unbeatable champion, learning new lessons with every day of training in real life, in the daily battles you face as a hustler.

All I need to do for a burst of inspiration comes from the hustler's ambition in my blood. It's in my spit. People can heart it in my voice when I talk. They know I'm about this money. A lot of people doubted me. Now I close deals that net me more than they get in their jobs.

No one can stop me, and I can finally start feeling the power of success.

In the moments when life forced me to be real with me - life and death real - it led me to an inescapable conclusion. When I meditate, I see the meaning of this, and I see it in the following context.

Life resembles the eye of the storm. To have a truly proper perspective of the eye - and the entire storm itself - you must remove yourself from the clouds. You have to look at it in the entire context of the truth of the universe. When I meditate, I close my eyes, and I see ashes. I see my old world. I see my old beliefs.

I see my early years, when I thought life was about getting a college degree, not creating value for real people and real businesses. I see the guy I would've turned into. I murdered him. Killed him in my dreams.

I had to learn how to focus, too. I see the demons that used to torture me. I see the unpoppable thought bubbles, popped and poked open, 'cause I planned and plotted and packed everything I had into my current hustle. I see all the demons that used to distract me from money. I see them slayed.

I see a whirling vortex of dark clouds, so thick that they blacken the sky, and I see myself finding peace within the middle of it.

Up in the sky, above the clouds, I have a different perspective. I laugh at the storm. I laugh at life itself, because it is ridiculous. The ridiculousness of it, the randomness. Picasso couldn't have imagined anything more beautiful.

Above the storm, I see the moon, and the stars, and a dark and clear night. In my Dre's, I hear Eminem tellin' me that Kings never die... they just grow wings and they fly.

And somehow, thanks to my Borderline Idiot's Savant personality, all of this means that I need some serious big money. At the end of the day, it's a money game, and the player that wins is the one who makes the most money.

May the games begin.

 

[Imgal]

@Ubermensch Oh COME ON now.. I've just finished reading the previous post for the 9012th time (what can I say I don't get out much.... ) and you go thro another epic post on the pile. I am snapping up Sin and Syntax before even checking out the blurb. If I get to write half as passionately and powerfully as you it will pay itself back a million times.

Now ssh and don't write anything else till I've digested this one properly

 

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[AntEmpire]

It's hard to tell that people who grow up in the US how good a life they are having and how easy it is to do things here, really from now on I will keep myself checked if I ever caught myself complaint about anything, especially the tendency to blame anything on the society. I don't know about the one in China right now but the one in the US has everything to offer as long as anyone is willing to work for it.

Very true. I've never appreciated America more since being here in Japan. On the surface it's looks like a very modern and advanced society, but peel back the curtains and you'll find it still has a long way to go in things such as convenience, affordability, opportunity, and housing. Needless to say I can't wait to return home for good next summer. I'll take the abundance over the lack of choices here anyday.

 

[hellolin]

Very true. I've never appreciated America more since being here in Japan. On the surface it's looks like a very modern and advanced society, but peel back the curtains and you'll find it still has a long way to go in things such as convenience, affordability, opportunity, and housing. Needless to say I can't wait to return home for good next summer. I'll take the abundance over the lack of choices here any day.

Stayed in Japan for 3 years, never saw so many nice and polite people yet racism is very much legal in that country, social liberation wise it is still years behind. Freedom of choice is something that not many country choose to celebrate on, especially Asian cultures.

 

[CommonCents]

Every American should be shipped overseas in high school or college for a short period of time for study/work abroad, or at least strongly encouraged to do so. The special thing we have here goes unappreciated by most. Being away for awhile gives a new perspective. We'd be a much better country for it.

 

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[hellolin]

Every American should be shipped overseas in high school or college for a short period of time for study/work abroad, or at least strongly encouraged to do so. The special thing we have here goes unappreciated by most. Being away for awhile gives a new perspective. We'd be a much better country for it.

Agree, I have been watching business news lately, since the emerging markets of the third world countries are taking a hit, one theme the reporters keep repeating is to compare the capitalistic system that are set up in different countries, and one thing they all came out is that while US has its problems with our system, but compare to other countries, we have very good "fundamentals", this enables us to be able to afford to make mistakes (Such as 2007) and be able to fix it and come out somewhat the same. If you look around the world right now, it is really "the grass is only greener here", only the US came out as strong as it is right now after the 2007 recession, every other country is still lag behind. The economy is about to hit the exponential growth curve very soon again, retailers are gearing up for one of the biggest shopping seasons in years since data indicating a growing consumer confidence level, this in turn will make working class people's life better since upper middle class and middle class are ready to spend what they saved up during the tough times of the last couple years. It's no coincidence that many major retailers in my area are planning to hire 2-3000 temp workers for this holiday season, each!

 

[Mattie]

Life resembles the eye of the storm. To have a truly proper perspective of the eye - and the entire storm itself - you must remove yourself from the clouds. You have to look at it in the entire context of the truth of the universe. When I meditate, I close my eyes, and I see ashes. I see my old world. I see my old beliefs.

I think you're right in quite a lot of points in your post. This one the biggest key for everyone to achieve. We're our own worst enemy.

 

[Walter Hay]

I didn't feel up to working today so I read this epic thread instead. My experience and that of my sons might add a little to the value that this thread contains.

From a very poor background I built a multi million dollar business from scratch. The business continued to prosper and I began exporting to Asia/Pacific countries, visiting many Asian countries countless times. Each time I returned home I wanted to kiss the ground, so I decided, when my sons reached early to mid teens, to take them with me on business trips.

They, unlike I, had grown up enjoying ease and comfort, so these trips were eye openers for them. We included a small amount of the tourist things like visiting Disneyland in Tokyo, but in free time we generally walked around the real parts of the cities we were visiting, not the tourist parts.

We got to see entrepreneurs fishing garbage out of rivers and canals (that were more like open sewers), and sorting out incredibly small pieces of recyclable material to resell. We visited the home of a Filipino friend who owned a business employing 6 or 7 people, and stepped over a bubbling black open sewer from the lane to his doorstep. Here was a successful businessman, considerably more well off than most in his city.

My sons were impressed!

As they reached the right age they began working for me in my business, and as you might guess, I gave them the toughest, dirtiest work in my manufacturing business. All this at a very low rate of pay. After I sold that business they went their own ways, one to create his own very successful business, the other to work in Academia.

I believe their success has been largely due to that fact that tempting as it might have been for a father brought up in poverty to lavish abundance on his sons, instead they were shown the harsh realities of life. I must confess that I gave them both a substantial financial head start once I was satisfied that they had thoughtfully approached their futures and had done "due diligence" in advance.

Walter

 

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[Ubermensch]

Just re-read this epic post for the 9000th time and this has more and more impact each time I read it. It's truly the essence of what entrepreneurship and winning in life is all about... giving something of value to the world. If you can't look yourself in the mirror it's because you're not being true to yourself. It means you know you're falling short of what you could be.... and there's only so long people can keep avoiding their own gaze. At that point it either gets so darn uncomfortable that you either do something about it or sadly decide to live in a dark world with no mirrors or chance of ever catching your reflection in anything.

Haha. Beautiful.

Beautiful.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

Don't look now, but we may have just teamed up to formulate a fantastic argument for Narcissism.

Beautiful.

Do you ever say that, as you look... gaze... stare in the mirror? In the morning, after a shower, before heading out, in the gym, whenever. Like, damn. Damn... you look good today. ****in' sexy. And on fire, baby! Can't nobody **** with this. Please. Now, let's get this money. Money over everything. That's the motto. Put the middle fingers in their faces if they wanna talk shit, and if they hate then let em' hate and watch the money pile up!!

You ever say that to yourself in the mirror? I do, and various renditions of such sociopath self-talk. I mean, that's crazy, right? Loving yourself, that self-created beauty, made real by making it through “unrealistic” situations, made real by making it so.

Beauty goes further than skin deep; a nice exterior reflects a sound interior. A lack of discipline, focus and determination directly and logically lead to an undesirable state, a fate which any honest person would regard as ugly.

The opposite mindset leads to SUCCESSEXINESS.

@MKHB Hey, bro. You like that one? $UCCE$$EXIN$$. I like that. I'ma rock with that one. Private flights, brother. Casa on the beach, brother. Watch me Dan Bilzerian squared-to-infinity the**** outta this game, brother. Watch me Pablio Emilio Escobar their KNEE$ INTO THE DIRT. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

@Andy Black

Although I often prattle on about the board game Go, I don't give Chess enough credit. Have you seen Pawn Sacrifice, the story about Bobby Fisher?

The madness behind the genius. You see how Fisher swaggers up to his opponent and roars I'm comin' for you!"? I can't help but feel that level of commitment to winning, even if it makes me crazy.

@Imgal

Now, where were we. Ah, yes. Mirrors. In Mastery, Robert Greene emphasizes the importance of mirror neurons, which enable primates and humans to learn in an immediate, natural and eventually mirrored fashion.

A good conversation resembles a mirror, in a way. In fact, The Art of Seduction (not to mention stacks of books on sales and tomes on psychology) discusses using mirroring to really engage someone. In that way, those involved feel as though they have stepped into an room full of mirrors, and it is just the two of you...

Some people go on social media and "like" photos for the beauty, or just because they may randomly "like" them (in many cases, I would prefer a dislike feature... haahaha). I do it myself. Intellectual, mental, who-you-really-are beauty, though... Beauty that goes further than skin deep, beauty that does not fade with age, and grows, matures, flourishes and blossoms. That, I think, reflects the true definition of beauty. True beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder. And they also so that beauty goes further than skin deep, both aphorisms suggesting something deeper, something spiritual, down to the finite aspects of one's character, in the truest and innermost self-contemplations, in which it is just him, the universe, his soul, and the truth. And just like Ayn Rand, I don't really care about people who betray their own souls, what they know to be true.

Anyway, there exists a silver lining in the black sky of narcissism, an allegedly dark and stormy place, a true Narcicissist, one who rightly finds himself/herself beautiful, appreciates not just their own beauty, but beauty everywhere. The hustler appreciates replicas, duplicates, and appreciates spiritual twins of itself, for "looking in the mirror" - literally, metaphorically, and figuratively - is often the best way to learn many things. The hustler likes and appreciates seeing the fundamental attributes and character - things so hard to cultivate inside yourself - you can see the beauty that goes beneath a thin layer of skin, you can read between the lines, you see the meanings behind the words. When you loo in the mirror, you can see, whether in your past, present or future - periods of limited financial means. Broke times, hungry times, times are rough times, nightmares endured for the sake of the dream, hell walked through, in order to get to heaven. You can see The Will to endure and work through the dirt-underneath-the-fingernails days, which - if stacked on top of each other, hour after 10,000th hour - lead to the manicured money-countin' fingertips. Underneath the skin, in the muscles, in the bones, in the blood, in the flesh, in the heart, in the mind of the creature lies that which truly identifies and distinguishes, that which creates ugliness or beauty.

Over and over again, day after day, you work, because in a world full of haters - of people who tiptoe through life only to arrive safely at death, who snigger derisively at those of us with real dreams (and enough courage to give what it takes to live them) - simply because they wake up every morning into a nightmare, into a life without a F*ckin' "f," lie of a life. HAHA. In many cases, a hustler could not stand a world without mirrors, especially since he often lives long periods of life without friends. Without friends who reflect what you do, without the mirror to tell you, to communicate with... that is truly a dark world, where you do not see yourself in the world, where you do not see what you want to see in the world (at the very least, for some motivation, inspiration and confirmation that hard work truly does pay off), where you do not see the light, the ability to rise, and the will to persevere.

The mirror tells you if you're looking right, if you're doing it right.

Lol. They call "Narcicissts" people obsessed with themselves, in love with themselves. They say they manipulate emotions, because “it's all about us.”

Well, maybe. And maybe the reflection does not show love, or does not automatically - simple by having and being a reflection - deserve love. Perhaps the reflection has to convince itself of its greatness, itself of its potential for glory, even out of the most wretched of circumstances. And then, maybe one does find love in the mirror. Maybe the one in the mirror had to the fight for the love - and against the hate - of its own reflection.

Ayn Rand once said that before you can say “I love you,” you must first be able to say: “I.”

You must define yourself, from the ground up, head to toe.

Listen to the mirror when it tells you to take every self-limiting belief and - in your mind's eye - focus, and nuke it to holy hell. Every negative thought gets merked. That version of you dies a bloody death, and a new you takes place. That is the metaphor for psychological and neurological evolution. The pre-frontal cortex takes over, and the amygdala takes a back seat.

@Ubermensch Oh COME ON now.. I've just finished reading the previous post for the 9012th time (what can I say I don't get out much.... ) and you go thro another epic post on the pile. I am snapping up Sin and Syntax before even checking out the blurb. If I get to write half as passionately and powerfully as you it will pay itself back a million times.

Now ssh and don't write anything else till I've digested this one properly

I'm would rather keep giving it to you, even if you're smiling so hard it hurts, even if it hurts... even when you "can't" handle anymore, especially when you shiver and tell me to stop.

Ah, well.

Maybe then.

For now, I leave you with Berton Braley:

Why Not?
by Berton Braley
Why shouldn't the soul of a mortal be proud?
Life goes, it is true, like a swift-flying cloud
But while it is going and ere he has died
A man may do many things worthy of pride

The high and the humble, the meek and the brave,
Are all of them destined in time for the grave,
But while they are living and drawing their breath
They may create something that lives after death.
The Builder may build and the Singer may sing,
The Painter may paint while his time's on the wing.
And when they are buried deep down in the grime
The things they have made will remain for all time.

Man conquers the mountains, the seas and the air,
And deserts turn gardens while under his care.
He does wondrous deeds in the scant space allowed;
Why shouldn't the soul of a mortal be proud?

Up out of the darkness we reach to the light
And slowly through ages we toil to the height.
The soul of a mortal is more than his clay;
The spirit of man can defy all decay!

So lift up your eyes to the Truth that is God's:
In spite of disaster, in face of all odds,
The spirit of Man is not wrapped in the shroud,
Why shouldn't the soul of a mortal be proud?