The true obstacle for any talented individual who has neither been snatched up before full-development of their pre-fontal cortex nor has the mental disorder known as narcissism in any quantity is this:
Knowing your worth.
We’re living in a new world.
I know that’s cliché, perhaps even trite, to say. But that doesn’t make it any less true.
If you don’t come out of 2020 having learnt a robust self-reliance, then you have missed a critical schooling that no amount of crippling student debt could ever replicate.
People like to talk about talent stacks.
That’s thanks to Scott Adams and, despite the masses running with it and wearing down its poignancy with misuse (similar to how those not in the know use the term “skin in the game” with neither their own skin in the game, nor giving credit to Taleb), it still encompasses great life advice.
But the one skill you need to learn today is this:
Pivot.
This year is not an obstacle.
It is not a detour from your mission.
As Misha Thomas says:
It is your mission.
And as I say, with years of reading Rilke, Frankl, and Aristotle forming the words that come out of my mouth:
Pivot into the pain.
Here are some of Misha Thomas’ mantras that may well see you through the flames:
- Focus on your core.
- Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure.
- This is not a crisis.
Focus on your core.
What’s your core?
It’s not your abdominal muscles, although that could be part of it.
Your core is comprised of your body, mind, heart, and soul.
Focusing on your core means staying tight-knit to your own development in every domain.
Storms reveal the ill-prepared boatsmen.
And 2020 was a huge storm.
Not the biggest. There’s another storm, even bigger, on the horizon. So you still need to prepare.
But a lot of people found themselves out in the middle of a storm-tossed ocean, mountainous waves climbing on every side, leaks from their shoddy rafts, no lifejackets, no flares, no emergency rations.
A lot of people drowned.
But if you just got wet and your heart’s still beating, it’s a sign from God to get back to the shore, don’t stay in the eye of the storm, and get building seriously for the next one.
Every day you selfishly and lovingly invest in yourself in all four quadrants:
- BODY: Don’t wait for disease and injury like the majority of our degenerate culture. It’s easier to prevent than cure. Align your lifestyle to, in the words of Stephen Covey, ‘be in harmony with established, universally accepted principles of health.’ You owe vigorous blood pumping exercise every single day. Get into your body and out of your mind.
- MIND: The masses of our decaying society passively consumes television and social media that brainwashes them, makes them insecure, and makes them feel as though they’re lacking (money and looks being the two largest targets). Fuck being “entertained”. Passively letting ad-heavy propaganda-filled television and social media is like sailing in a poorly constructed boat towards a tornado. Instead, read deeply and broadly with a view to nourish your soul a and practical apply what you learn. Continuous education is the goal.
- HEART: Most people don’t listen when someone talks. All they think about is what they can selfishly get out of another person. Relationships are transactions and everyone has an invisible dollar cost on their head. Reject that fundamentally anti-human paradigm. Choose to respectfully listen to and serve others, especially your loved ones. Giving is receiving. Seeking only to take is the surest way to end up with nothing.
- SPIRIT: Even atheists need religion. Religion today is toxic sensationalist streaming news, binge-watching tv shows that make you feel like garbage inside, and elevating a lifestyle of wild abandon, eschewing responsibility and meaning. We need God now more than ever. Everyone’s God, and everyone’s scripture is different, but if you don’t designate your own and treat it with reverence, you will be damned to suffer from other zealots imposing their own religion upon you. And the dominant religion today is intolerance.
All of this is founded upon the principles of character ethics and following a life of virtue.
This is what leads to success in all quadrants.
Daily fidelity and commitment to moving through life with courage, truthfulness, and justice.
This is how you build a sturdy boat.
What does infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure mean?
This means you get your finances handled.
You need to start building your moat, amassing a mountain, building a buffer.
Take whatever money you can get coming in now, and always be looking for a better job.
Look for cutting your hours and then filling them with side hustles and multiple income streams.
Look for where you can scale.
Look for who you can enlist to help you.
Get the number you need to be comfortable, a number that covers cost of comfortable living for the next ten years, then move unapologetically towards it.
Keep the manta in mind:
Infrastructure, Infrastructure, Infrastructure.
That means with everything you do you’re asking how this supports you, when it’s going to support you, and how everything else can scaffold onto it.
And keep your emotions moderated.
This year was a huge crisis.
But not for you.
For you it’s a sign.
A miracle sign.