5 years ago I wrote a similar article which you can read here.
Now I’m 25! Yay! 🎉
It’s been a hell of a ride, so let’s get straight to it.
1. It Takes Everything To Win
If you’re a subscriber, then you probably read my post about setting a goal to make $50 million by 25.
I haven’t reached this goal.
And I said previously that the goal came to me in a dream.
At a very low point in my life when I was seeking direction.
The goal was so far outside the realm of possibility at the time for a broke college dropout.
But rather than ignore it, I took it as a quest to transform myself into the greatest person I could imagine.
Someone who could rise above my surroundings.
Rise above the poverty and illiteracy that’s part of growing up in a third-world country.
It was my attempt at fighting The Great Constriction.
Setting that goal years ago, I knew the odds of my success were very slim.
Yet it was the greatest vision of the future I could see.
I knew that to be the type of person who could even achieve this.
So much would have to change.
In AI, there’s a concept known as enabling goals.
It’s when an AI goes after things that will make accomplishing its main goal easier.
This is how for example, an innocent thing like an “AI that makes birthday cards“ can get out of hand.
Because to make birthday cards you need resources: paper, ink, a printer, and time.
So the AI starts trading cryptocurrencies to get money to buy unlimited amounts of these resources.
Obviously the main threat then becomes the humans who created it might try to stop it when they know its true capabilities.
So the AI gets rid of them.
And then of course the entire human race might object to the planet being a birthday card factory.
So why even keep us around?
But AI aside, for us regular folks, “enabling goals” is a very useful way to look at reality.
Enabling goals are great because even when you’re not directly going after the main goal.
There are things you need to have to even stand a chance of reaching it.
My enabling goals became:
Health: Can’t make money if you’re sick or dead. So I started exercising more, trained for a marathon, kept a sleep schedule etc.
Influence: Gotta have an audience and know how to communicate with people.
Wealth: The more financial power you have the better your chances of accomplishing most goals.
Intelligence: This would mean learning/practicing as many of the skills needed to keep me on track.
Psychology: The mindset of a winner was something I would need to cultivate. Traits like persistence, willpower, and concentration.
Over the past 5 years, I devoted my entire life to reaching these goals.
You can read about my learning journey here.
I was a player in a video game and this was my skill tree.
It’s not like without my goal, I wouldn’t have done these things.
But I would have only done them to a sensible amount.
And since “sensible” is set by the people around you.
My aim would have been calibrated based on my surroundings.
And since my environment was filled with underachievers. Who didn’t care about changing the World.
Following them would have been catastrophic.
However, with this moon shot goal. I had new expectations for myself.
Much more than anyone could ever have for me.
This goal has taken everything from me.
It’s shaped me more than anything else in the last few years.
As an example of how it’s affected me:
Sometimes you tolerate friends who you know are bad for you. But you do so because you have history and you don’t want to feel lonely.
Because of my goal, I simply let that bridge burn quickly.
On this mission of self-improvement, nothing will be spared.
But even Romantic relationships aren’t left out.
Most people in a romantic relationship do so out of convenience.
I’m here and you’re here, so….
And I get it.
It’s human to want someone to cuddle with as you watch Rick and Morty.
It can be a cold world after all.
But largely, I’ve not had time to cuddle.
I’ve had 1 serious relationship in 5 years—and that ended very quickly.
Because she was my first real girlfriend, that really means one serious relationship in 25 years.
The fact that I’m introverted might have more to do with this though.
But simply, my focus was elsewhere.
It’s how I’ve had the time to write, make films, music, and apps.
I’ve lived a life free from most distractions for so long.
Another instance of this goal affecting me:
Is that people let other people dictate their path in life.
Because they’re friends or family and care about you.
But I knew for a fact that no one believed more in me than I did.
The people who cared about me wanted me to be safe.
But what I’m looking for can only be found in the most extreme of human endeavors.
I could not play it safe.
I remember watching “Free Solo“ which I’ve written about here.
And also watching videos about the greatest Olympian alive; Michael Phelps.
Even though Michael is married, he sleeps in an oxygen-controlled bed by himself every night.
This way he can adapt to the low-oxygen requirement of swimming.
The dedication these people have made to be—not just the best at their craft.
But to push the entire space forward filled me with intense passion.
This is what I would do with my life.
Not sleeping in an oxygen coffin or climbing cliffs without ropes.
But the other thing.
Dedicating my soul to becoming the best in the world at something.
When I started on this path, I knew I would give everything to this goal.
I didn’t know, that the goal would also give me everything.
And honestly, it is fun.
2. It Should Be Fun (mostly)
When I tell people things like what I wrote above.
It seems like I’m either all about making money or my life must be toil.
But this would be far from the truth.
Michael Phelps couldn’t do what he does without immense love for the sport and a calling greater than money.
He does it because to him all that effort is worth it.
It’s fun!
For me, the prize has always been creating something useful and unique.
I’ve always had a very deep respect for technology and art.
The cartoons I watched growing up would captivate me to the point where I watched them while everyone else was asleep.
And computers simply filled me with awe.
When I had time, I drew in a sketchbook.
Imagining new things like them.
The intersection of art and technology has always been where I saw myself even before I could put these desires into worlds.
The last 5 years, and frankly the rest of my life, will be me following this call.
It’s been difficult no doubt.
There have been times when I thought everything would end.
Times when I cried at the sheer madness of it all.
But never ever have I felt it was a waste of time.
Even when I suffered losses—and there were many.
I realized after my father died why I can’t stop.
As someone who was very prone to negative emotion and has been severely depressed multiple times in my life.
The only way I can balance the utter shittiness of certain unavoidable facts about life.
Like the fact that we’re all going to die.
Is to do things that give me joy.
When my father passed away. I went to see his body for the first time.
At that moment, I was questioning the point of it all.
The pain that’s so much a part of life.
So I did the only thing that felt sane at that moment.
I brought out my phone and wrote the first line of a story I’d been thinking about for months.
And I understood.
This is it.
Life will knock you around.
So what do you hold on to when it happens?
We all need something, otherwise, there’s no reason to get up.
Why stand when you know another punch is coming?
My answer is that what I do is worth the pain.
And it’s not that it makes up for the pain.
There’s nothing in life that can make up for the pain of my father’s death.
Not money or fame.
NOTHING.
But this way. Doing what I love.
It’s bearable.
3. Write Your Story
I think the most important reason why you should learn to write—and write more often—is because your life is a story.
It might not have Jedis, Aliens and Princesses—yet
But it has a beginning, a middle, and eventually an end.
As someone who writes fiction.
I’ve always kept this view of life as a story front and center.
I couldn’t choose how my story began.
No one can.
But I could choose the middle and maybe even the end.
Since my life is my story—I want to make this bitch exciting, inspiring, funny, and give it a fucking magnificent ending!
Like every great book I’ve ever read.
This is more important to me than a stable/predictable life.
Fuck that.
I’ve read books like that and they’re…b0000ring.
I live, like I read, like I write.
Hardship I can handle.
A life of boredom I will not.
4. All Problems Have Solutions
A big part of my mindset now is the belief that everything has a solution.
It might be difficult or involve compromises but there’s a solution.
It’s why I’m always optimistic.
Because I know I can change so much about my reality.
The book, “The Beginning of Infinity” really solidified this view.
You should read it.
But the gist is that the universe is like a giant computer.
The laws of physics are basically laws of computation.
If something doesn’t go against these laws then it is in practice possible.
This worldview is bigger than humans.
Like gravity, it is simply a fact of this reality.
It explains why a Martian habitat is possible.
Terraforming planets is possible.
Because while these feats might seem impossible to most humans.
They do not directly contradict any laws of physics.
Hence are very doable.
Thousands of years ago we saw stars as dots of light in the sky and the Moon as an unreachable domain.
Today we not only know the Moon is reachable.
We’ve walked on it.
And better yet we’ve reached even more distant bodies.
For as long as humans have existed (as long as consciousness even) there have always been problems.
And there will always be problems.
A Utopia free from problems cannot exist.
But there will always be solutions for those who care to look.
An unproblematic state is a state without creative thought. Its other name is death. All fiction that does not violate the laws of physics is fact.
- David Deutsch
Unless what you’re doing is clearly against universal laws.
The only barrier to accomplishing that thing is what you know.
Can’t get a great job? It’s what you know.
Can’t make money online? It’s what you know.
Bad luck with girls? What you know.
You are always the barrier between yourself and what you want.
Your environment, growing up rich or poor, the people around you—are just variables to work with.
Ultimately everything falls to you.
And let’s face it, most of your dreams aren’t against the laws of Physics.
In fact, they’re way easier than going to the Moon.
The only thing stopping you is you.
So what are you going to do about it?
For me, there’s only one thing I can do no matter the circumstance.
5. Keep Moving Forward
Every wrong decision taken is just another step removed from you and your goal.
When nothing is working like you expected, it’s easy, it’s human, to want to stop.
Maybe you’re wrong.
Maybe everyone else is right.
Maybe what you want is impossible.
But as I’ve covered above, despite what anyone might tell you—or you might want to tell yourself—very few things are truly impossible.
A lot of it, depending on where you start in life, is just hard.
Never Impossible.
Don’t do the easy thing.
Don’t give up.
Because it really comes down to how much you want it.
How much of yourself are you prepared to give?
To sacrifice, to reach your goals?
I write all of this because this year I realized that the people who doubt you are right.
You can’t do it.
You’re too weak.
Too stupid. Too slow.
And other people are so much better than you.
You can’t achieve your greatest goals.
Not this YOU anyway.
The doubters are referring to YOU.
NOW in this current state.
They know this YOU and they’re correct.
YOU are insufficient.
So YOU have to change.
Become someone else.
Someone stronger. Someone smarter.
And maybe YOU might achieve it.
Because to get what you’ve never had before.
You have to become someone you’ve never been before.
You have to do things you’ve never done before.
Over the past five years.
I feel like I’ve died many times.
And I know this is just the beginning. I will need to die many more times to reach my ultimate vision.
With each death, I emerge with fewer limitations and a greater understanding.
A psychological death is very painful.
It can hurt for weeks as you shed your former self.
It’s not something you do for fun.
Only the greatest goal imaginable can justify it.
For me, there is no other path other than continued advancement.
What is your great goal?
Something that justifies multiple deaths and rebirths.
It’s okay if you don’t have one yet.
But life is so much grander once you do.
Be well friend.
Until next time! ✌