Ignore outliers: Mozart, Musk, etc. Everyone else is not that different from me.
Almost everything is done by people not that different from me. Almost every thought I have has been thought before by someone not that different from me.
People very much like me have done the exceptional, the extraordinary. And they have done the exceedingly ordinary, the blindingly obvious.
What they did, I can do.
Repeatedly do the blindingly obvious to achieve the extraordinary.
You already know what you need to know. The Kingdom of God is within.
Relax and go about your day.
Interesting. I clearly remember, in the midst of my Prodigal Son phase, I had a clear vision of who I am now. In professional skills, I mean.
I had a clear sense of when I would arrive at that feeling of mastery.
I’m late, but I got there. And I’m late by approximately the same number of years I spent as a Prodigal Son, wandering in the wilderness.
Wandering in the wilderness. I didn’t waste my time there. Without that time I would not be the man I am today. And becoming that man (in the spiritual sense) helped me stay on the path of mastery.
Truly, in my mind I am but a journeyman. Others tell me otherwise. That is of no mind.
Show up daily and be the journeyman. The happy, unstressed, ever-learning journeyman fascinated by his craft.
Mastery is not, I know now, a destination. Mastery is a path, a path you choose to stay on, knowing it has no destination.
LFG.
A Twitter conversation.
one of the cool things about being known as a helpful person is you constantly have people showing up asking for favours and also another thing is they generally suck at helping you in return and also maybe your self esteem is dependent on you constantly being useful to others
https://x.com/RichDecibels/status/1821183401937760763
And the reply, echoing and amplifying:
what do you MEAN if I derive my worth solely from being helpful I’ll end up overextending myself and ending up lacking the reciprocity necessary to sustain myself, are you implying I might have VALUE beyond “useful to others”???!!!!!
https://x.com/loopholekid/status/1821184571754307618
Why are they talking about me behind my back?
How many times have I looked at you?
We all want to change and be different in some way. Richer, fitter, sexier, smarter, whatever. Discontented with what we think we are, yearning for what we think we want to be.
That new person is not new. That new person is already inside you. That new you is just a revelation of what you already are, what already exists.
This is a game of revelation. A game of revealing to you who and what you are.
Pick an aim. Any aim. First, within the bounds of physics. I’m unlikely to play center for the Lakers.
Second, don’t worry about what you pick. Is it wrong to want this? Is it achievable? Is it silly? All of the second-guessing and uncertainty is to be expected, but not necessary.
Of course your aim is going to be “wrong”. Of course you will end up somewhere else—not where you are now, not where you think you want to be. You will, along this journey, see things you didn’t see before, understand yourself in ways you didn’t understand yourself before. If you have never had Thai food and then you taste it—your preferences have been forever altered.
You are deliberately seeking these life-altering revelations. There is no “wrong”. It’s not about the Thai food. There is only revelation and response. And the process of revelation and response—that is an inside job. That is like breathing. You do it. It changes you from the inside.
So. First start, and second, point yourself in any direction that seems right in the moment. You will course-correct when you are under way. The rudder works better when you are under way.
At this point you are standing, facing the sun. You aren’t moving yet. You have a direction, you have an aim. But what do you do?
A microscopic amount of “this”. Whatever “this” is. By the effect of substitution, you will automatically do a little bit less of “that”. You can’t be in two places at once; you can’t do two things at once; you can’t think two thoughts at once. You have more of “this” and, by definition, less of “that”.
So just do “this”. Do it badly. Fail abysmally, according to your standards. Just do “this” and see how poor the outcome is—compared to what your desire is.
Can you not see that a moment before “this” was not, and now, in this moment, “this” is? A moment of creation. You created “this”.
Now do “this” again. See? The second “this” looks a microscopic increment better than the first “this”, according to your standards.
You have learned a secret. You get better at “this” the more times you do it.
But that is not the secret. And now the process of revelation has begun. The point of doing “this” is not to create a perfect “this”. The point of doing “this” is to change your mind, your point of view. To reveal self to self.
What did your experience of creating a “this” and then another “this” reveal to you about yourself?
You are a creator.
You evolve—in directions and in ways that you choose.
You have taste.
If you can create—something was not there, and now it is there—and you can evolve—something was there, and now a better something is there—and you have taste—something was there and you saw how that something could be better—what wonders await you?
Sit quietly. Thoughts come to your mind. Take each thought and try to make it a tiny bit more positive.
Step one: reflect on yourself as the cause of your own problems.
Step two: do something about it.
Luinalaska on Twitter.
No waiting, just go.
No “as soon as I get . . . .”
Just go.
Had lunch with a guy today. Can’t launch.
Came home. Thought a bit.
I’m not launching either.
Starting when you wake up tomorrow?
It’s all malleable. Even you.