Month: September 2022

How to be a Master: The Philosophy of Bruce Lee

How to be a Master: The Philosophy of Bruce Lee

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Bruce Lee passed away on July 20th, 1973 – nearly 50 years ago.

Yet his instagram page has over 7 million followers, “The Warrior” – based on an original concept by Lee, is now a hit show on television,  And t-shirts and sneakers bearing his likeness are still flying off of shelves.

Even all these years later, Bruce Lee is still a cultural icon.

And while his movies and overall aesthetic were astonishing – the real reason that his legacy continues to inspire millions of people around the world is because of the philosophy that he came to represent.

It was this philosophy that initially drew my attention and made me curious to learn more about him.

More specifically, it was a clip I saw where explained how to ‘be like water’.

"Be Water, My Friend. Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend." Bruce Lee

This was my gateway into the philosophy of Bruce Lee.

It was in investigating his philosophy where I was introduced to Taoism – which I have spent much of the last 8 years studying and applying within my own experience and producing incredible results.

I was introduced to the idea that hidden within paradoxical nature of Eastern philosophy, was a deeper knowledge that held the key to so much of what ails of us here in the West, the key to so much of what was limiting MY own ability to achieve what Bruce Lee considered to be the highest form of human achievement: self-expression.

In this video, we’re going to deep dive into Bruce Lee’s philosophy of Jeet Kune Do and how it lays what I believe is the BEST foundation for the true cultivation of any skill.

The Style of No-Style

Most people understand Jeet Kune Do as being solely a  ‘style’ of martial arts.. And that could not be further from the truth.

Jeet Kune Do was at its core a philosophy of learning, which Lee taught through martial arts.

The core tenet of Jeet Kune Do is ‘instant, frictionless reaction’. To put it another way “the expression of one’s feelings with the minimum movements of  movements and energy”… wu-wei.

It was a ‘style’ of martial art, only in the sense that it was ‘the style of no style’

“Because of styles, people are separated. Research your own experience, absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is essentially your own”

“The man who is really serious, with the urge to find out what truth is, has no style at all. He lives only in what is.”

He dislike styles when referring to personal processes like self-development,, because he believed that to adhere to any individual ‘style’ was to essentially put ourselves into the ‘box’ of that style – which is restrictive.

Instead Lee saw styles ‘collectively’ – similar to Taoist world-views – and so instead of focusing on any individual style, he focused on the foundations which connected the best elements of different styles.

“Man is always in a learning process. Whereas ‘style’ is a concluding, established, solidified something, you know? I mean you cannot do that, because you learn every day as you grow on, grow older. Each person must not be limited to one approach. We must approach it with our own self”

Lee believed that it was important to not take positions.. In his words “be not for or against”. That we should instead allow our circumstances to dictate our actions.

I see this sort of limiting style approach manifest within so many of the different themes that encompass self-development.

I’ve had people criticize me for laying down while meditating… for walking on a treadmill while I work…  for doing Pomodoros of 50 minutes instead of 25.

I see this in particular when it comes to which style of ‘diet’ or exercise is superior – as if the best diet and best style of exercise isn’t the one that produces the best results for the individual…

As if we shouldn’t experiment with all styles, and “Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is essentially our own.”

In the past, I had the bad habit of ‘marrying’ myself to individual styles and believing that my way of doing things was superior to other ways… even if that way was no longer actually working for me.

When I started to apply Lee’s ‘style of no style’ philosophy within everything I do – my work, my physical activities, my artistic activities,  I’ve now been able to evolve year after year.

The 3 Stages of Cultivation

Within Jeet Kune Do was also Bruce Lee’s unique philosophy towards the actual learning process, which he referred to as the Three Stages of Cultivation.

First, is  the “Stage of Innocence” – or what Lee referred to as “Partiality.”

In this stage, we are completely ignorant to the particular skill we’re trying to learn.

Because of this, if we try to perform the skill, having no knowledge but our own instincts – we’ll act in a way that is natural and reflective… but because we have no knowledge of the skill, our actions will often be incorrect.

Second, is the “Stage of Sophistication” – or what Lee referred to as “Fluidity”.

In this stage we begin learning the skill that we’re seeking to master. We’re taught different ways to perform the skill and we do so in an ‘imitative way’ – meaning that we essentially try to imitate the teacher, whether that be an actual person, a book, or even a video – until we feel like we’re ‘doing it right’.

Because we imitate, we lose the natural, reflective qualities of our actions – often becoming almost robotic.

We constantly second-guess ourselves, and because of that we often freeze.

Third, is the “Spontaneous Stage” – or what Lee referred to as “Emptiness”.

This stage occurs after years of disciplined practice – where, instead of having to consciously force our actions, they happen spontaneously.

Instead of trying to ‘impose’ our mind, we simply react without friction, to whatever the unique circumstance is that we are faced with.

As Lee described, “there is nothing to try [to] do but try to be purposeless, and formless, like water. All of his classical techniques and standard styles are minimized, if not wiped out, and nothingness prevails. He is no longer confined.”

The first time I read about Lee’s 3 stages of cultivation, I was still confused – until one night at a salsa club here where I live in Colombia.

When we first set out to learn how to dance – we don’t know anything – or worse – we know that we’re not good at dancing.

Someone who dances but has no skill at dancing – will still move naturally… instinctively… this is most easily observed in little kids who haven’t yet reached the stage where society has taught them to feel shame over their own unique self-expression – that’s a topic for another video.

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Anyway at the first stage, we move instinctively and naturally, but are ignorant as to how to actually dance.

In the second stage, we begin to learn how to dance. We imitate our teachers and because of that our movements are initially very jerky and uncoordinated as we constantly second-guess ourselves and seek to do the thing that makes our teacher happy.

As we get better, we are still mechanical… robotic, because we’re getting better at ‘imitating’ what we believe to be the ‘correct’ way to do something.

Then.. what I realized all those years ago as I sat, buzzed after a few mojitos, trying to figure out the essence of what made these dancers so good.

Was that in the final stage – these dancers weren’t ‘planning’ out their moves. 

Instead, in this ‘highest’ stage of learning… these dancers were simply… forgetting.

Interpreting the music within their own unique styles – no thinking at all – simply ‘existing’ within the unique circumstance of each individual second.

That was the moment where I decided to learn salsa – and here I am 6 years later and I’m still very much in stage 2 – still practicing, ‘imitating’ thousands of repetitions.

But slowly… I am creating my own style.

What I’m describing here is the process of mastery – what Bruce Lee considered to be ‘limitless self-expression’.

And if you’re aspiring to mastery within individual dimensions of your own life, whether it be physical, mental, expressive, or occupational.

Hopefully the philosophy of Jeet Kune Do can help you as it has helped me.

“Before one studies Zen, mountains are mountains and waters are waters; after a first glimpse into the truth of Zen, mountains are no longer mountains and waters are no longer waters; after enlightenment, mountains are once again mountains and water once again waters.” ― Dōgen

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The (Secret) Chinese Wisdom That Makes Work Effortless

The (Secret) Chinese Wisdom That Makes Work Effortless

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From the outside looking in – I think that most people believe that I must have an insane level of discipline to be able to work as I do for days, weeks, and sometimes even months at a time.

And yeah – sometimes I do need discipline – sometimes I am overwhelmed by the constant chaos and unpredictability that is inevitable when one pursues excellence in so many different areas.

But ONLY when I stray from the teachings of the philosophy that quite literally saved my life.

That philosophy is Taoism – and when I live by it’s principles – which I do more and more with each passing year – life becomes… effortless.

I wake up and within 30 minutes I’m at my desk with a warm cup of hot chocolate ready to start working on the days tasks.

I start my day working on NelsonQuest, my passion project –

And then around 9am I shift my focus to AgentFire (my business), for the remainder of the day.

Within my day are always at least two one hour blocks reserved for my various physical and expressive pursuits – one in the morning and then one later on in the afternoon.

When I’m in my ‘zone’ – working entire days is not something that requires discipline or dedication – instead – working entire days becomes effortless.

My essence is greatness – and when I’m in my zone, it actually becomes more difficult for me to not exist in this way.

Now I think that we’ve all experienced ‘being in the zone’ at some point in our lives – but until I discovered Taoism, it never occurred to me that it was possible to simply exist in this state.

It’s been about 8 years since I dedicated myself to a careful study of ‘The Tao Te Ching’ – the sacred text of Taoism.

Hidden within its teachings, I found the tools that I needed to combat the many mental afflictions that were wreaking havoc within my mind and preventing me from being able to express my essence.

In this video, I’m going to introduce you to the Taoist concept  of ‘Wu-Wei’ – the beautiful art of living without friction.

I’ll show you how I’m able to apply Wu-Wei  it within my own life to quickly achieve incredible, effortless results in virtually everything I do.

And by the end of this video – especially if you’re an entrepreneur, or someone who is moving down the path of self-development, you’ll understand how to replace the toxic ‘hustle’ mentality, with a power far superior.

A power that can enable us to actually get more done, without actually doing anything.

The Insight (Rising Action)

Growing up in New York –  the ‘hustle’ capital of the world – it was essentially hard-wired into my DNA that if I wanted to get ahead… if I wanted to achieve ‘success’… that I needed to work HARDER, to sleep LESS.

That we need to PUSH ourselves as far as we can past our limits… and when we can’t go any  further… to drink some coffee or pop some amphetamines.

In my late 20’s, when I decided to start my own business and embark down the path of self-development.

This ‘hustle’ mentality was all that I had ever known… and it nearly destroyed me.

By the second year of my business I had so much accumulated stress, anxiety and fear, that I couldn’t even sit in a chair for more than a few minutes before it felt like my shoulders were on fire.

I spent that entire year working off of a mattress on the ground – my whole body hurt – and I could now drink a double shot expresso from Starbucks and still feel exhausted.

What I’m describing is the inevitable end-game of ‘hustle’ mentality… burnout.

It was around this time where, out of desperation, I discovered the philosophy of Taosim and the essential concept of ‘Wu-Wei’, which roughly translates to  ‘non-doing’ or ‘non-action’ – action without action.

I was initially very resistant to this idea for obvious reasons – it seems to be the exact opposite of the hustle culture to which I was a disciple.

But here’s the thing – Wu-Wei doesn’t mean to be lazy or to just sit around and not do anything, quite the contrary. Wu-Wei means ‘effortless’ action.

It means that regardless of what task we’re engaged in.

Whether it be writing a script for a YouTube video, working on a new ad campaign for our business, or even training past our perceived limits.

That we engage with these tasks in a way where – instead of ‘pushing’ or ‘forcing’ ourselves to do these things, that we simply ‘become’ these things.

Where the ‘task’ is simply an expression of who we are and what we’re striving towards, without focusing on the result or even striving at all – so that we can perform the task, at a high level, in a way that ‘sustains’ our energy instead of burning through it.

To exist in a state of ‘Wu-Wei’ is essentially to exist in a state of constant flow.

Wu-Wei Explained Through The Metaphor of the River

We are all, at every moment, floating within the river of life.

When action feels effortless, it can be said that we are moving with the flow of the river.

When action feels difficult – when it tires us out mentally – it’s because we’re swimming against the flow of the river.

In the west, we’re essentially hard-wired to swim against the flow of the river.

A lot of this has to do with misunderstanding the nature of ‘control’ – we mistakenly believe that we need to control everything around us.

If we look carefully, there’s actually a surprising amount of stuff that we can’t control – nature is one of those things.

MOST of what happens around us, and even within us – is beyond our control.

Our blood flows by itself… our wounds heal without us having to manually intervene –

Even thoughts themselves, more often than not, simply ‘come’ to us.

Which brings us to the first part of learning to move with the river, – making sure that the water is clean and free from blockages.

Keeping The River Clean

Thoughts actually flow much in the same way that water does, and when we over consume things like social media, junk food, video games, and porn.

The neural pathways within our brains actually change to motivate us to consume more of these things, instead of motivating us towards the things that are actually consistent with our essence.

Our rivers become polluted and full of blockages, and so we need to start here.

When we limit or abstain from the consumption of the things that pollute us, the river becomes clear and moves freely.

This is why, when we value health and avoid sugar, we find that the river moves us towards healthy food and away from junk food.

When we value strength and avoid activities that numb the mind, the river will move us towards physical activity, and away from laziness.

And when we value success, security, and freedom – the river will move us towards  occupational pursuits.

But there’s still something we need to understand before this action can become effortless.

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Be present ‘within’ the river.

Within the act of ‘striving’ – it’s implicit that we are striving towards a ‘result’.

The results exist in the future and the past, and therefore, when we focus on them, it implies that we are leaving the present, where we do have control, and entering a future or past where we have no control.

A future or past where we encounter feelings like stress and anxiety – worrying about things that have happened or that may happen.

What we can control is how we act in the present moment, that is, whether we choose to move with the river, or against it.

This is why you often hear successful people say things like ‘don’t focus on the money, focus on creating value’.

Money is a ‘result’ and people who focus all of their energy on the ‘result’ of money, rarely have any.

Instead, those who ‘choose’ to do what they do… to do things with love… will always produce a better result than the person who ‘forces’ themself to do what they do because they see it as being necessary to achieve a certain result, i.e. a paycheck.

Move Like The River

The final step to learn how to ‘move with the river’ involves being as water is, which is to say to to be soft – to be ‘yielding’.

Water does not stop when it encounters obstacles – it simply moves around them.

Water is an essential part of all creation- yet it has no specific goals or desires. Without it, all creatures would perish, and so by benefitting all creatures without conflict, it represents the virtue of humility.

This part is perhaps best encapsulated in the immortal words of Bruce Lee.

“Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

Conclusion

As always, if you enjoyed the article – please subscribe to my YouTube Channel… maybe consider sharing it with a friend who you know is struggling through their own path of self-development.

This article was a really special one for me – I’ve been in a pretty bad place these past few weeks – and in writing this script – which I spent over 25 hours writing between Saturday and Sunday – I was able to reconnect with the primary philosophy that has guided for many years…that I had for whatever reason… I had forgotten.

I hope it’s able to help you as it’s helped me.

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How to Change Your Life in a (Single) Moment

How to Change Your Life in a (Single) Moment

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So how many of us, if we’re being honest, are desperately searching for that one thing… that one book, that one experience, that one… switch…

Where we DECIDE we’re going to develop a skill or habit, improve our physical, or launch that new project – and despite years of repeated failures, that this time we ACTUALLY stick with it until it becomes hard coded into the fabric of who we are.

Where we ACTUALLY make it to the point where the person reflected back at us in the mirror CLEARLY understands something that the person who was there only a few weeks ago WISHED they could understand.

Where we wake up to the feeling that we are finally ‘at home’ with who we are.

And who we ‘were’ is now just a memory  – a prior reference point, for this new, TRUE ‘self’ that has only just begun to emerge.

What we’re searching for is an ‘epiphany’ – a sudden, profound insight that fundamentally alters our reality to where what was previously impossible, now becomes effortless.

What Is an Epiphany? (and what it isn’t)

The word “epiphany” originates from the ancient greek word “epiphanea” – which was used to explain when a God or deity appeared before a worshipper…

And THIS is a MUCH better definition than whichever one you currently hold – I’ll explain.

Let’s start with the idea that to experience an epiphany, we first need to worship something.

As David Foster Wallace so brilliantly points out “Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship…

is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough.

It’s the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you.”

So, we’re all ‘worshippers’… now consider the following 3 ‘epiphany’ type scenarios:

1. The girl working a cushy corporate job for 100k who wishes they could trade it all in for a life where they travel the world and work online.

2. The boy who has spent years -reading books and watching videos striving towards that ‘moment’ where they finally begin to take action.

3- The dog, who… uh…  is a daily reminder to their owner that ‘happiness’ should be experienced here and now – instead of merely existing as some ‘future point’.

What do all three of these people have in common?

It’s that they are all ‘worshippers’ at the altar of the ‘ideal self’ – we all are – and it’s a great thing to worship.

Because we don’t just want money or beauty – we want to manifest our true potential so that we can bring happiness and success to ourselves and those around us.

There’s just one problem… we’re trapped in a reality where we can feel our ‘ideal self’ clawing frantically within us, trying to break free.

But for some reason we’re just… waiting… or searching…. or striving for that ‘moment ‘ when it just, happens.

And let me tell you – when it does happen… IF it does happen, it is EXACTLY like the experience of a faithful worshipper who after years of difficult practice, FINALLY has a divine experience.

Here’s the thing most of us fail to understand – For even the ‘remote’ possibility of an epiphany, we actually NEED to be extremely unhappy, unfulfilled, uncomfortable – we need so much ‘negative’ experience to accumulate that, trapped and with nowhere else to go, we are forcefully routed into a divine space where we are obligated to not only QUESTION reality, but to outright DENY it –

So that we can forge our OWN reality where we are no longer bound by silly, societally derived limits.

How To Have An Epiphany (and how to not have one)

I’ve thought a lot about this, and I would say that the ‘secret’ to having an epiphany, if there is one, lies in taking extreme EMOTIONAL risks –

Allowing ourselves to love someone so deeply that should they leave or betray us, we would be absolutely devastated.

Committing so thoroughly to a career pivot or business idea that we believe in that we eliminate all possible paths of retreat – no plan B.

To go from years of watching fights on TV, to lacing up a pair of boxing gloves and stepping into the ring ourselves.

Basically, to take the sort of risk where we’re doing something that we FEEL we must do, even and especially if it scares the absolute shit out of us.

And that we don’t just do it, but that we go ALL IN –

If we feel the undeniable pull to do something we know to be true, regardless of what our friends, parents, or even society thinks – it is in risking everything that we come to know the true emotional floors and ceilings of our brief but beautiful existence.

I have loved with all my heart, and gone all in on things that I truly believed in, and those decisions were NEVER wrong in the long-term.

‘Risk’ as we understand it is just an illusion of a reality designed to consume us- the true risk is to not take risks.

And if we’re hoping to have an epiphany that enables us to do something so audacious as to rewrite reality itself, then we had better accumulate enough challenging life experience to be able to at least somewhat perceive where the limits are.

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My Epiphany Moment

So my epiphany moment came to me at my absolute lowest point in my life – where after years of on and off depression, I found myself heartbroken over a girl who had left me to get back with a previous boyfriend who was far superior to me.

He was smart, career focused, philosophically and spiritually inclined –  i was an emotionally immature loser whose entire existence was revolved around having fun and getting drunk on weekends – she made the right choice.

Anyway, after months of feeling devastated and barely being able to lift myself out of bed – I experienced a moment where I was FORCED to DENY my present reality, where depression was something I had to just sort of  ‘wait’ out.

And I instead created a new reality –  where I could actually channel all of the ‘depressive energy’ was experiencing into immense positive action… into POWER.

And so in a single moment – I transformed – and suddenly, effortlessly, began to take MASSIVE action – training for an ironman even though I had never run for more than a few blocks, making MASSIVE leaps in my career, immersing myself into ancient philosophy.

Anyway you guys know the rest of the story – fast forward to today and I’m living a live that is beyond what I coil have even dreamed was possible.

And hey, if you want to learn about my story and philosophy – subscribe, click the notification bell, and  follow me on instagram @nelsonquest – and check out the description below for a link to my ‘dark mode’ system – which will give you the exact 7 tenets that I practice daily – it’s free of course.

Anyway, so when I strip my epiphany moment down to its core essence, here’s what I’m left with:

I took a huge risk that didn’t work out which threw me into the deepest depression of my life – and it was precisely there where I was ‘forced’ into a divine space where I was able to create my own reality – one where negative emotions, instead of weighing me down, now give me incredible power.

So if you’re someone who feels like they’re ‘waiting’ for that one big moment where everything suddenly changes – Then you already understand the pain of living with regret… question for you…

 – do you really think that the pain of going all in on something you believe in, and possibly failing… could be worse?

To CHANGE reality we have to first UNDERSTAND it, which means we need to feel emotional highs as well as lows, and the ONLY way to feel either of those things is to take extreme emotional risks.

If things work out, well hey that’s great, I guess we didn’t need an epiphany in the first place.

If things don’t work out, we gain extremely valuable insights into the things that need to change.

It’s only when we stagnate, when life passes us by while we just sit there and do nothing – where an epiphany becomes necessary.

And so perhaps the greatest epiphany we can hope to have…  is that we don’t fucking need one.

This is the path.

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How to Make an Ordinary Life Extraordinary (The Hero’s Journey)

How to Make an Ordinary Life Extraordinary (The Hero's Journey)

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“The hero’s journey always begins with the call… ‘Look, you’re in Sleepy Land. Wake. Come on a trip. There is a whole aspect of your consciousness, your being, that’s not been touched. And so it starts.So you’re at home here? Well there’s not enough of you there’ ”

– Joseph Campbell, A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living.

In his book “The Hero of a Thousand Faces”, Joseph Campbell observed that the hero of every great story or myth, across the whole of human history, has more or less the same narrative progression.

Ushered forth by the call to adventure, the hero, aided by a wise mentor, must journey into an unknown world where they will battle through great adversity as they make their way towards a great monster they must slay, to claim the treasure they will need to defeat their ultimate challenge, before finally returning home, completely transformed from when they left.

Campbell referred to this progression as  “The Hero’s Journey”, and if we look closely, it’s the same progression that we all pass through on the journey of personal development.

So in today’s video, I’m going to summarize the ‘Hero’s Journey of Personal Development’ in 12 stages.

Understanding this journey will be a revelation for many of you because, if you’re stuck or not entirely sure where to go next, this video will give you tremendous clarity.

If you really want to benefit from this video, I suggest that as we move through the 12 stages in this video, try to layer them onto your own journey… What was your ‘call to adventure’?… who or what was your ‘mentor’ that helped you to ‘cross the threshold’ into the world of the ‘unknown world’?

…This will all make sense shortly. Let’s begin.

Stage 1: Ordinary World

Every hero begins their journey in the  ‘ordinary world’:  the world as we have always known it to be.  Here’s where the story begins… or rather… where the story has yet to begin.

Here, we are comfortable. Here, every rule and tradition was established by the society around us long before we had any say in the matter. Here, the final destination of our path is not to discover what Campbell would describe as “the inward thing that we basically are”,  but rather (and perhaps tragically) to merely conform to the expectation of ‘what we ought to be.’

Here, we have a sense that something is ‘not quite right’, but don’t yet possess that which will enable us to articulate it.

Stage 2: Call to Adventure

The call to adventure is an invitation to embark on a new quest into an Unknown World. A quest that we know we must accept, because we sense that within it, we will find our salvation.

The call to adventure can happen intentionally, such as when we move to a different country, start a new business, or embark on the journey to master a new skill.

But more often than not, the call to adventure happens unintentionally – like when someone breaks our heart, when we have an epiphany, or otherwise any sort of life circumstances that causes us to fall so far down (or up) we are forced out of the comfort of the ‘original world’ and into a space where we can see into the ‘unknown world’ and understand this potential life-changing adventure that awaits us.

Stage 3: Refusal of the Call

The ‘unknown world’ is terrifying at first, because it’s completely foreign to us.

To enter this world IS to understand the many risks and perils of the journey ahead, of which we are woefully underprepared.

And so when presented with such vast unknown, most of us initially choose to scurry back to the comforts of the original world, where many of us remain permanently.

If we are to answer the call to adventure, we’re going to need a bit of help.

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This guide is about actually walking the path. It creates a perfect environment devoid of excuses and forces you to face who you are and what you need to do in a way that’s sustainable.

Stage 4: Meeting The Mentor

The Mentor is somebody who, having already ventured out into and returned from the unknown world, possesses a unique knowledge of it, which they can use to prepare us and give us the confidence to venture out ourselves.

While the archetypal mentor is a ‘wise old man’ – mentor’s can come in many different forms and iterations – friends, philosophy… a movie or blog post.

The mentor that helped me to answer the call was Napoleon Hill – and while he passed away 30 years before I was born, his book “How to Think And Grow Rich” gave me what I needed to accept the call and venture out into the unknown world myself.

Stage 5: Crossing the Threshold

Here, the hero departs from the cherished comfort of the ‘original world’ and ventures forth into the discomfort of the ‘unknown world’ where many challenges lie ahead. This is a point of no return.

Where in the original world, we could faintly sense that something was not quite right’, here in the ‘unknown world’  that sense transforms into an extraordinary all-encompassing goal: to find the monster of ‘that which is not quite right’ and to slay it and claim its treasure.

I crossed the threshold and entered my point of no return when, at the lowest point in my life, I had an epiphany. A sudden realization that all of the pain and suffering at that moment, I could in fact experience as power. The sort of realization that is impossible to un-realize.

If you still haven’t crossed the threshold, understand one thing – to do so, you must give yourself no viable path by which to return. So burn your ships… take the leap… ad astra per aspera.

Stage 6: Tests, Allies, Enemies

Here the hero begins to battle through the obstacles of the unknown world, and in doing so, begins to distinguish allies from enemies.

While these can be ‘people’, the greatest allies and enemies are encountered within.

One of the greatest enemies of the unknown world is often our own ego, which, desiring the external validation of others, will encourage us to pretend we know things, which is precisely the thing that prevents us from ever truly knowing.

Thus, one one of our greatest allies in this world is thus humility. To come to know, we must accept that we do not.

There are many more allies and enemies in this world that will reveal themselves to us as we progress through more battles.

Stage 7: Approach to Inmost Cave

As Carl Jung describes: “That which we need the most will be found where we least want to look.”

The inmost cave is thus the place that we most fear to enter, because it’s the place where the monster of ‘that which is not quite right’ resides.

To come face to face with it is to come face to face with our ‘shadow self’ – the side of our personality that contains all the parts we don’t want to admit having.

Stage 8: The Great Ordeal

After making preparations and delving into the inmost cave, the hero comes face to face with the monster.

I’ve faced this monster many times – in my business, when my company almost went bankrupt and I had to trust the person I least wanted to trust in making decisions, myself.

In boxing, when I stepped into the ring to face my first opponent and had to overcome the desire to win and the fear of losing to be able to truly and freely express myself.

Even with this channel, clicking ‘publish’ on my first video meant going to battle with the most formidable monster I’ve ever faced: my fear of judgment.

It’s important to note that sometimes we don’t slay the monster on the first try, heck it may even initially  seem impossible. However,  through repeated confrontations and thus gained experience, we will eventually succeed, even if victory comes in a different form than we had anticipated.

Stage 9: Claiming The Treasure

When we do finally defeat the monster, we get to claim its treasure – the weapon of sacred knowledge, forged from the most valuable material in this Unknown world: experience.

Stage 10: The Road Back

With the treasure in hand, it’s time to make our way home to the ordinary world, however the journey is not yet complete, and even greater challenges lay in wait.

However when confronting these challenges, the hero now wields their treasure – the weapon of sacred knowledge – and with each new battle, the hero becomes more skilled in the use of it.

Stage 11: Resurrection

Here the hero must face what can be considered the ‘final battle’ of the journey – which determines whether or not they have truly earned the right to wield the treasure they possess.

We don’t earn knowledge simply by reading something in a book – we earn it by acting on it. To know the path is not to walk the path, to walk the path is to know the path.

After saving my business from bankruptcy, armed with that knowledge I now had to rebuild everything and achieve growth.

In boxing, I’m now wielding what I learned in my first fight, in the many fights that are to come.

After releasing my first YouTube  video, I had to release MANY more videos before I could actually understand the judgments of others enough to become emotionally unaffected by them.

Stage 12: Return With The Elixir

By overcoming the ‘final battle’ of the unknown world, the hero is now worthy of the treasure, the ‘knowledge’ that they believe themself to possess.

In becoming worthy, this knowledge is transformed into an ‘elixir’ which can be brought back into the ‘ordinary world’ once more. Here, not only can it be used to continue to benefit the hero, but it can also be shared for the benefit of others.

 

Alright guys – so it’s important to note that this hero’s journey is not a one-time process, but rather something that, if we’re living an honest life, we will embark on many times over the course of our lifetime. 

As Campbell puts it, “What I think is that a good life is one hero journey after another. Over and over again, you are called to the realm of adventure, you are called to new horizons. Each time, there is the same problem, do I dare?”

Joseph Campbell – Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation

“We have not even to risk the adventure alone for the heroes of all time have gone before us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known … we have only to follow the thread of the hero path. And where we had thought to find an abomination we shall find a God.And where we had thought to slay another we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outwards we shall come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone we shall be with all the world.”

Joseph Campbell, Hero with a Thousand Faces

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How to Channel Your Sexual Energy (Enhanced NOFAP)

How to Channel Your Sexual Energy (Enhanced NOFAP)

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I don’t talk about it often, but sexual energy is the the primary fuel that I use to power 100+ hour weeks focused on growing my 50+ person business, mastering salsa, and climbing the tallest mountain in every continent

The majority of people don’t know that this energy exists – and so they waste it by consuming porn and chasing meaningless sex… rarely ever considering ‘why?’. 

I used to not know that it existed. 

Channeling sexual energy – or ‘sexual transmutation’ – is about learning how “channel” our strong biological reproductive motivations towards PRODUCTIVE action.

If you’ve ever practiced NoFap, and suddenly felt more motivation and energy towards becoming your best version  –  then you’ve already had a small taste of what this feels like.

In my  ‘Dopamine Switch’ video – one of the most popular videos on my channel – I explain how we can combine ‘Dopamine Detox’ with ‘Productive Action’ to SWITCH our motivation AWAY from the short-term gratification of social media, netflix, and videogames, and TOWARDS long-term goal oriented activities such as work, study, and gym –

Sexual Transmutation is essentially THAT, but within the realm of sexual energy… and when done correctly,  it feels like a constant surge of motivation – here’s how it works.

First – we have to look at dopamine – which is NOT some sort of ‘feel good’ chemical.

dopamine ISN’T the reward – Dopamine doesn’t get released when we HAVE sex, Dopamine is what MOTIVATES us to pursue sex in the first place –

Dopamine is what motivates us in anticipation of a reward.

This is why the more time we spend watching porn or browsing instagram – the more our body begins to see those things as ‘rewards’ and the more dopamine it releases to MOTIVATE us to consume more of those things –

Leaving us with very little motivation towards the things that we should ACTUALLY be doing.

Now for EVERY species of known animal, both male and female,  reproduction is one of the PRIMARY instinctual goals that drive behavior.

So our brains release MASSIVE amounts of dopamine to motivate us to reproduce.

Now here’s the problem – modern society has learned to ‘HIJACK’ these impulses via pornography and the overglorification of meaningless sex, which I’ll get to in a minute.

Our impulse to reproduce is so strong – and our behavior so conditioned – that we often don’t even realize that we’ve opened PornHub until we’re covered in our penis vomit.

And so the important thing to understand here is that this SAME overpowering impulse, can INSTEAD  be used as FUEL.

When we see it in this way – learning to ‘channel’ our sexual energy is really about making the conscious decision to readjust the REWARD that we’re aiming towards, and then letting our dopamine system do the rest.

If we’re aiming towards the feel good sensations of ‘ejaculation’, or meaningles sex – well then of course our dopamine is going to motivate us towards meaningless bullshit like porn, partying and pickup.

But if we aim instead at a meaningful connection with a beautiful and talented partner – well then there is a LOT that we need to improve within ourselves to become worth of that –

And with THIS mentality, we can channel the sexual motivations of our dopamine system towards MASSIVE self-growth.

In this video, I’m going to take you through that same process that I went through –

First UNLEARNING the toxic, self-destructive beliefs that I was born into as part of a profit-oriented society designed to consume us and then RELEARNING sex and sexual energy in a way that fuels me to be better.

If you can make it to Step 2 and ACTUALLY APPLY it, I promise that therein lies the potential to COMPLETELY transform your motivation and productivity.

Step 1: Unlearn What Doesn’t Serve Us About Sexual Energy

Learning to ‘channel’ our sexual energy is really about making the conscious decision to readjust the REWARD that we want our dopamine systems to motivate us towards.

If we’re not already using our sexual energy towards constructive outlets, it’s BECAUSE whatever understanding we DO have, is rooted in the lies of a society that is designed to profit off of us.

Consider the multi-billion dollar porn industry –

For practically 24 hours a day, most of us are never more than arms length away from what is essentially an INFINITE gateway to porn and the feel-good sensations of masturbation and orgasm.

Elon Musk has an interesting perspective on this.

“A massive amount of thinking has gone into sex without procreation – which is actually quite a silly action in the absense of procreation. So why are you doing it? It’s pretty absurd really.”

He’s not saying that casual sex or even that masturbation are bad – but it is fascinating to consider how billions of dollars have been made off of an act that has ZERO evolutionary value.

And it isn’t  just porn – the cosmetic, fitness, and pickup industries all exploit our instinct to reproduce for profit.

And it isn’t just these industries – virtually EVERY industry is uses ‘lifestyle manipulation’ to get us to believe that their products and services will make us more attractive to the opposite sex.

This is most obvious in rap culture – which glorifies meaningless sex and limitless consumption as being the highest human values.

But my personal favorite example  of this are all of the fake gurus on YouTube – who showcase expensive cars and paid-for girls to PRETEND to sell some sort of course, when what they’re really selling is a lifestyle.

A lifestyle that’s not even real – most fake guru commercials are essentially just what poor people THINK that rich people do.

And this is how we are where we are today – with an entire generation of men who aspire towards these things without any REAL consideration as to WHY.

Because if they DID consider why – well… that would be bad, because then it would be a LOT harder to turn them this.

When these are the things we aspire towards, well then of COURSE our dopamine systems are going to motivate us towards meaningless bullshit like porn and cars and clubs and manipulative pickup techniques.

We are BORN into this ugly, toxic cycle, this false reality – and we are TRAPPED here unless we make the conscious decision to challenge the truths that form the very foundations of our reality.

Step 2: Relearn Sexual Energy in a way that serves us

So if the first step involves UNLEARNING most of what we know about reality, and questioning  who we aspire to be.

The second step becomes about deciding what want to believe about sex – and then recalibrating WHO we actually aspire to be and whether or not our sexual energy plays a creative or destructive role in that process.

In my case – I aspire to be the sort of man worthy of the HIGHEST level of relationship – a soul mate – 

It’s probably less than 1% of people who find their soulmate, and from my perspective – that means that I ought to be better than 99% of men –

I aspire to be GREAT – And with THIS sort of mentality, it becomes possible to harness the power of our dopamine system…to CHANNEL our sexual energy – towards unimaginable growth.

When I had my epiphany and realized that everything I THOUGHT I knew was just the predatory hardwiring of a society designed to consume me –

In that moment I became free to channel my energy however I wanted.

In the book “Think and Grow Rich”, Napoleon Hill dedicates an entire chapter to the power of Sexual Transmutation:

In it, he explains:

“Sex energy is the creative energy of all geniuses. There never has been, and never will be a great leader, builder, or artist lacking in this driving force of sex.

The mere possession of this energy is not sufficient to produce a genius. The energy must be transmuted from desire for physical contact, into some other form of desire and action, before it will lift one to the status of a genius.”

What he’s explaining here is essentially that – if we can learn to harness the driving forces of our reproductive instincts and channel them NOT towards a desire for physical contact, i.e. sex for the sake of sex.

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But INSTEAD to channel that energy towards activities and actions that we believe will make us BETTER… that THIS is the way to reach ‘greatness’.

I’ll give you 3 examples:

Build a business: 

Instead of starting a business with the hopes that we can just make lots of money to be able to buy things to impress women in the hope of ‘physical contact’

That we should instead look at building a business as an opportunity increase our intelligence… to improve our ability to think critically and solve difficult problems –

All of which improve our overall ‘level’ of human, thus making us more deserving of a high quality partner. 

Improve our bodies: 

Instead of aiming to have big biceps and a 6pack in hopes of encouraging more ‘physical contact’.

That we should instead look to improving our bodies as part of the challenge of mastering ourselves –

to see our bodies as the physical representation of the strength of our mind, to be worthy of a partner whose mind is equally as strong.

To Learn Expression: 

When I first started learning Salsa I saw it as a way for me to have more ‘physical contact’ with women  – which is why I always struggled with motivation to keep practicing.

When I began to see salsa as this incredible vehicle through which my very essence could manifest itself –

As this beautiful conversation where the highest level male dancers learn to communicate through energy, and where the highest level female dancers learn to read that energy and communicate back.

Which, beyond enabling deep connections with people – IS the reason why dancers are better in bed…  it’s not just because they move better.

Anyway – when I saw salsa in this way – as something that made me a much better human – I suddenly felt INCREDIBLE motivation to keep learning and reach higher levels –

And the reality is that EVERYTHING we do within our Physical, Mental, Occupational, and Expressive dimensions – can be interpreted as something that moves us further along the path towards manifesting the ‘greatness’ that is our best version.

Conclusion

That’s it, guys – just 2 steps.

And this becomes much easier when we consider how foolish it is to NOT act in this way – which hopefully is a bit easier after watching this video and more deeply considering these things for yourself.

The people who most often complain about not being able to find a ‘quality’ partner, are almost always those who most ‘lack’ quality themselves.

The people most often frustrated by the role that sex plays in their lives, are almost always those unwilling to consider why.

The people who learn to channel their sexual energy – are almost always those who actually understand these things.

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You Should Start Over in a New Country (Here’s How)

You Should Start Over in a New Country (Here's How)

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It’s hard to believe that I’ve been living in Medellin, Colombia for over 8 years now – and with respect to my own personal development, the decision to move to another country was probably the top life-changing decision I’ve ever made.

And as I’ll explain in this video – I think that especially if you’re a young person or at a point in your life where you don’t quite have things figured out and feel like you still have so much more to learn about yourself and your place in the world…

Or if you’re someone who wants to completely reinvent yourself like I did –

Then moving to another country is probably one of the best life-changing decisions you could make as well.

Let’s begin –

How Living in A Different Country Went from Dream to Reality

So if you’re anything like what I once was – the idea of moving to another country probably feels like more of a fantasy than it does a real possibility… so let’s see how you feel after hearing my story  😊

So I grew up in Long Island, NY – and the idea of ever leaving, let alone moving to a different country, had either never crossed my mind, or seemed so utterly preposterous that I had never really considered it. That was just something that other people did.

Virtually everything I do now, I used to think only other people could do.

Anyway to make a long story short – 2012 is when, at 27 years old, I sold everything I had and moved back in with my parents to start a real estate web design company.

Fast forward a few years to 2014 and I was watching an interview that one of my industry friends had done, where he mentioned that he was living in Medellin, Colombia – and this blew my mind for 2 reasons.

First was that, like most Americans – the only things I associated with Colombia were drug cartels, and murder – yet my friend seemed to be in a really nice place, where, at least at that moment, he was not being murdered by a drug cartel.

Now the second reason that his interview blew my mind was that, for the first time since starting an online business, it occurred to me that I didn’t have to live in New York… that I could actually live anywhere.

So with my curiosity piqued, I reached out to my friend and that conversation ended with an invitation to join a private online forum consisting of mostly location-independent entrepreneurs who were living and traveling all over the world.

Suddenly I was now talking to these ‘other’ people and as it turns out, they were just like me.

Most of these guys were living and traveling throughout South America –  where new cultures, warm climates, stunning geography, and a very strong US Dollar all merged into a dazzling offer that many young, broke, starved-for-adventure entrepreneurs living in their mothers’ basements couldn’t say no to…

The reality is that if you make money online you are ‘location-independent’ too – and you can technically live anywhere that will give you a visa… which is most places.

You may be thinking that you can’t afford to live in many other places, and if that’s the case – I think you’d be surprised at just how many amazing, affordable places there are in the world.

In addition to South America – places like Thailand, Bali, Vietnam, Spain, and most of Eastern Europe  are all hotbeds for location-independent entrepreneurs because they’re all extremely affordable while having a very high quality of life.

Once you have an idea where you want to live – you can easily find online communities (either forums or Facebook groups)  of foreign entrepreneurs or expats who are already living in those areas where you can ask questions and make friends.

That’s exactly how I was able to find my first ‘home’ here in Medellin – it was a small room in a big apartment where I lived with 4 other entrepreneurs for about $150USD per month.

Not only was I paying roughly 10x less than what it would have cost me to rent an apartment in New York, but I was now spending entire days working at a kitchen table with other like-minded young entrepreneurs who i was able to ask questions, talk strategy, and bounce ideas off of –

That experience alone is worthy of it’s own video but what I’ll say briefly is that, if you’re a young entrepreneur and you an opportunity to live with other like-minded people, do not hesitate even for a single fucking second. Do it.

Why You Should ‘Move’ And Not Just Travel

So despite the title of this section – I highly recommend traveling a bit before you decide to move somewhere, because it will teach you a lot about yourself.

You may even end up deciding to go full-blown digital nomad and spend many years traveling the world- but my recommendation is that if you’re really seeking personal growth, you should commit to living somewhere and fully immerse yourself into the culture – let me explain.

So when I first arrived in Medellin back in May of 2014 (I was now 29 years old) my plan was to travel all throughout South America while I grew the fuck out of my business.

I planned to blog about these experiences on a domain that I bought – thetravelingsuit.com – where I spent almost $1000 (that I didn’t have) to get a logo designed that would change depending on the country I was in.

Well here’s what actually happened – after a few months in Medellin, I spent another 6 months in Mexico, where I spent time living with other entrepreneurs in El Rosario and Valle del Bravo, and then finally a few months living alone in Mexico City – and at the end of all of this, I learned two things.

The first was that If I really wanted to grow my business the way I wanted to – I couldn’t be traveling like this. I needed routines and systems and lots of other things that are difficult to set up when you’re living out of a suitcase and moving around every few months.

The second thing I learned was that even though I was meeting amazing people and having amazing experiences –  I felt like I was missing out on the experience of true immersion.

I didn’t want to just keep floating in and out of ‘digital entrepreneur bubbles’ across South America…  What I wanted now was something deeper.

I wanted to visit small pueblos and local attractions and not feel rushed – to learn the history and the culture inside and out –

To go from broken spanish to Fluent Spanish –  To learn to move like the salseros I saw at dance clubs –

I wanted to be able to walk down the street and just… blend in… and probably more than anything, I wanted to find love.

So after 1 year of travel, I officially retired from the digital nomad lifestyle and made Medellin, Colombia my permanent home – where I promptly began the full immersion experience that radically changed my life.

I practiced my Spanish for hours every day – not with books or courses, but through actual conversation – mainly with my girlfriend at the time who only spoke Spanish.

The fastest way to speak a foreign language is to date someone who only speaks that language. The second fastest way is with Spanish VIP – the sponsor of this video… but more about them later on).

Soon I even started dressing like Colombians, and got a motorcycle that I’d use to ride out to small pueblos on weekends where I would just walk around, talk to people, and record interesting things on my GoPro.

I enrolled at a local salsa school and practiced 7 days a week for 2 hours per day – and what began only as a desire to dance and be more social, evolved into a profound love of an art-form that allowed me to express myself in ways that I had never even dreamed were possible.

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is a simple system designed to help you achieve a specific goal by facilitating the development of relevant habits and creating the perfect environment to make failure impossible.

This guide is about actually walking the path. It creates a perfect environment devoid of excuses and forces you to face who you are and what you need to do in a way that’s sustainable.

Speaking of dreams – Back when I was still living with my parents and  just dreaming about what it would be like to live in South America – I started having this recurring fantasy where I’d be somewhere in South America at a random bar with a beautiful latin girl. I’d order us a couple of mojitos in fluent Spanish – and then we’d hit the dance floor and blow everyone away with our amazing Salsa.

In 2018  – that dream became a reality – and it was one of the happiest days of my life – because… well… not only did I finally make real something that I had fantasized thousands of times –

But there was a moment I had shortly after ordering another 4 mojitos (with my now less than fluent Spanish)  where I did something that I rarely do – I paused to reflect just how much I’d actually accomplished…

And allowed myself to feel pride over how much I had improved as a person.

In New York, I believed that my happiness depended entirely on what care I drove,  how much money I had in the bank, and how many girls I slept with – and because all of my friends had the same sort of values – I couldn’t see past that.

Moving to Colombia and fully immersing myself into a culture that was so radically different from the one I grew up in gave me the context I needed to be able to not only SEE, CLEARLY, all of my beliefs and values – but the POWER to change them.

People here have so much less, and yet are so much happier and more generous than the people where I’m from.

I credit this for helping me to derive less of my value from material things, and more of my value from how much I’m able to help others.

Who knows how much more money I could have made with my business over the last 4 years if I hadn’t directed so much of my energy and resources towards making these videos –

But when I get messages from you guys, and it’s thousands of messages at this point, saying that I’ve positively impacted your life…

Or when you come up to me in person…

The other day I was at the mall and some young kid came up to me and started telling me all of the stuff he was going through and it felt like I was literally talking to my younger self –

And so for him to tell me that my videos were helping him – which is LITERALLY why I do all of this – to help the younger version of myself… yeah there’s no price you could ever put on that.

I’ve become the man that I needed when I was younger – and hopefully as I’ve shown you guys through this video – moving to another country was a critical piece of that journey.

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Become INSANELY Productive: The Dopamine ‘Switch’ Technique

Become INSANELY Productive: The Dopamine 'Switch' Technique

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Up until a few years ago, I had no idea what dopamine even was…

And if you’re like me and have watched any of thousands of ‘dopamine detox’ videos on YouTube, you might be led to believe that Dopamine is just some ‘thing’ the human body releases in little ‘pleasure hits’ whenever  we browse through social media feeds, play video games, or watch porn.

That’s not what dopamine is, and when we look at it this way  we see it exclusively as a ‘problem’ that we need to detox from.

But after reading virtually every dopamine research study I could find on PubMed, combined with lots of my own personal experiments, what I’ve discovered  is that Dopamine is just as much a problem as it is a solution.

And that by properly administering it within my own life, I’m able to literally transform into a different person capable of achieving virtually anything.

As I’ve detailed in other videos (which I’ll link below and at the end of this video), our bodies actually produce dopamine to MOTIVATE us to do things, which is precisely why social media and video game companies, the porn industry, and fast food corporations have collectively spent at least hundreds of millions (and possibly billions) of dollars learning how to manipulate it.

They’ve learned how to hijack our dopamine to alter neural pathways in our brains so that we feel motivated towards consuming more of their stuff, leaving us with ZERO motivation for anything that requires more effort than this.

But much in the same way that we can and do easily form these types of ‘negative’ dopamine addictions, we can also easily  form ‘positive’ dopamine addictions, where we can become addicted to improving our bodies, learning skills, building businesses… becoming ‘better.’

So in this video, I’m going to share with you guys a dead-simple 3 step system that once implemented, can fundamentally change who you are as a person – reprogramming your brain to steer AWAY from low value, instant-gratification type rewards, and TOWARDS high-value, long-term rewards.

We’re essentially going to be ‘switching’ how our dopamine is used, which is why I’ve named this system ‘Dopamine Switch’.

You’re free to run this system for however long you’d like but my recommendation is to do it one day at a time. Even after a single day you’ll feel a big difference and learn important lessons.

Step 1: Identify Negative Dopamine Addictions and Remove Them

Take as much time as you need  to identify every single negative dopamine addiction currently present in your life and then work to completely remove as many of them as is possible.

Addicted to video games? Don’t just just say ‘ok I’m not going to play video games today’

Literally unplug the console and stick it in your basement or storage – give it to a friend, sibling, or parent to hide for the day… get rid of it.

Addicted to unhealthy food? Don’t just say ‘ok I’m not going to eat unhealthy food today’ – take every-single- piece of junk food in your house and either give it away or throw it away.

Addicted to Facebook? Instagram? Tik Tok?… YouTube? Get rid of your phone for the day. Give it to someone else, put it in a safe where only someone else knows the code… figure it out.

If for some reason you need your phone, then uninstall those apps and delete or deactivate your accounts.

In case I’m not being clear enough, you need to be as extreme as possible.

Look at it this way:

If you had a friend that was addicted to drugs – and they told you that they wanted to stop using drugs for a day, but had a massive bag of drugs in their house, what would you tell them?

Would you tell them to just use their own willpower? Probably not.

Would you tell them to throw out the drugs? That’s a bit better, but more drugs are still just a phone call away.

The best advice would be for them to put themselves somewhere with no drugs AND no way to get more drugs.

Treat yourself like your drug addicted friend. It’s actually not that different. Your drugs are Social Media,  Video Games, Porn, and unhealthy foods.

Step 2: Identify Positive Dopamine Addictions and Perform Them

Remember, Dopamine itself isn’t the problem – it’s how our dopamine is motivating us towards low value activities with false rewards that’s the problem.

We want our bodies to instead use our dopamine system to START motivating us towards high value activities with life-fulfilling type rewards, ideally in a balanced way.

So for your Dopamine Switch, I recommend choosing roughly one activity or habit to work on from within each of our 4 dimensions – physical, occupational, expressive, and mental.

Because our days for the most part consist of 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of work, and 8 hours for everything else, I believe that out of our 4 dimensions,  the occupational dimension should be the primary focus.

Here are some examples of activities you can choose within each dimension:

Physical things could include running , going to the gym or doing bodyweight exercises at home, swimming… anything combining movement in some way that requires effort.

Mental things could include meditation, cold showers, organizing your apartment or computer, fasting, doing the most difficult thing in your day before you do anything else… anything that challenges your mind.

Expressive things could include dancing, learning to play an instrument, creative writing, telling stories, drawing – anything that you perceive will allow you to EXPRESS that THING inside of you.

Occupational things could include… really anything you do that relates to how you’re going to improve your ability to earn within your chosen profession.

If you’re a student then you should probably focus on studying or getting that important research paper wrapped up.

Now listen, these are all just my personal recommendations. The fastest way to fail a Dopamine Switch is to make it overly complicated or to try to copy exactly what I’m recommending instead of figuring out what works best for you.

If you’ve never run more than a few blocks, and decide that today is the day that you’re going to run a full marathon, knock out a few hundred laps in the pool, and then start a powerlifting routine… don’t do that.

And listen, If I see anyone in the comments below asking for advice on which activities they should be focused on, I’m literally going to go to your house and f*cking slap you.  If your mom opens the door I’m going to f*cking slap her too.

Do NOT overthink this stuff… just keep things simple by focusing on what feels right.

Get the Dark Mode guide

The Dark Mode Guide

is a simple system designed to help you achieve a specific goal by facilitating the development of relevant habits and creating the perfect environment to make failure impossible.

This guide is about actually walking the path. It creates a perfect environment devoid of excuses and forces you to face who you are and what you need to do in a way that’s sustainable.

Step 3: Reflect

So as you’re moving through the day, try not to think too much. Figure out your plan of attack (which should be as simple as possible) and then execute.

You don’t need to dive into the science or theory of WHY you should be doing those things,  you just need to do them.

If at any point you feel tired – sleep! Take a nap – take as many as you need.

The goal of your first day and every day of a Dopamine Switch is to simply get to the finish line… get the victory…  because if you can do that.

Well, I don’t want to ruin it for you, but I promise that you will learn things… very important, special things.

Once you’ve made it through a full day of Dopamine Switch, take some time first thing the following morning to reflect on the experience, at which point you now have full permission to think as much as you’d like.

How did you feel when you first started the day and then as the day went on? Did you notice that the world suddenly seems quieter?…More tranquil? What do you think you can achieve or who do you think you can become if you keep this up?

Most importantly – start to think about how you can begin to incorporate some of what you experienced into an actual lifestyle, and then start implementing those things immediately.

Conclusion

Alright guys – so let’s bring this all together now – starting with a helpful analogy.

Performing a Dopamine Switch is exactly like cleaning a computer.

Removing all of your negative dopamine activities is like getting rid of all the viruses.

You don’t just want to remove a few viruses, you want to remove them all.

Remember to be as EXTREME as possible, and everywhere you can, don’t just rely on willpower – identify the ‘source’ of whatever the negative activity is, and remove that.

By removing the source, you remove temptation – which will remove the distracting thoughts you’ll experience that will try to justify a “quick peek on instagram” while you go to the bathroom, or “just one YouTube video” while you eat lunch.

Then, choosing positive dopamine activities to focus on is like choosing which software you want to keep, and which NEW software you want to install on your computer.

You obviously don’t want to install a bunch of stuff right away which will slow your computer down and make it more vulnerable to viruses.

Instead – just keep whatever software is already working well, and only add the new software that you think is absolutely necessary.

Once you’ve got your plan in place, get the victory – always focus on just one day at a time. Then every morning when you wake up, reflect on the incredible experience you’re having.

Pay careful attention towards figuring out how to implement what you’re working on into an actual sustainable long-term lifestyle, and get to work.

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