Reinvent your life in 10 months. Our mind is clear when we focus on something that is clear itself, otherwise it's chaos. We hate our job yet have more clarity and focus working than chilling home the whole weekend. Everything will die out one day and go back to chaos, from the order in our room to the sun. People don't want freedom but want autonomy, they don't really want limitations projected on them but to create their own limitations. It's not only about enjoyment but fulfillment too. Sustainable long-term clarity comes from self-generated goals in alignment with a conscious future and society-generated goals in alignment with an unconscious future. The former is created, the latter assigned and we need to create our own vision in order not to follow someone else's. We don't need motivation but clarity. Dopamine raises when you want something and just got it but it doesn't last long. Serotonin raises for healthier daily reasons like seeking small details/depth to exit a mindless surface-level routine. Have an internal philosophy. It's better to pursue superficial things and learn along the way than do nothing. Most people keep laying a foundation and never build anything worth keeping. The key to a good life is a disciplined balance between meaningful dopamine sources and creating satisfaction when you achieve those goals. Enjoyment comes from investing attention, pleasure comes from spending attention (long-term process-focused progress vs short-term outcome-focused effortless achievement). Zoom out as the highest perspective is the one that includes them all (it is easier to vote than to change your life yourself). Create your anti-vision by observing society as a habit (paying close attention to people around you in any situation to guess what they lead towards and if you'd want to be like them), reflecting on your past (what do you want to never experience again and what caused that to happen), listing what you don't want (specific things making you really uncomfortable), realizing where you'll be if you keep your current habits (where will your current self be in 10 years and do you want that), transmuting your energy into a passionate vision (what will you have to learn, build and execute daily to avoid your anti-vision). Your (anti)vision is what frames your daily life, the lens from which you view your goals, and it gets strong over time. Seek patterns in your life to identity unhealthy habits. Get specific. Schools won't teach you how to build your dreams, they only educate/condition you to keep the system in place as-is and view giving power to individuals as a threat. Life is enjoyable when you're focused and having challenging goals provide that as challenge plays a crucial role in the flow state, enjoyment and dopamine only if the challenges taken aren't too boring or difficult. To learn as you build and build as you learn, write down 10 to 20 specific skills, interests, and topics that will actualize/help your vision (a better life is achieved with habits of education, skill education and practice meaning that the life style makes you successful not the opposite, specific doesn't mean web design but how to create landing pages that are actually useful to businesses for example), leverage dopamine and pattern recognition, learn and build (to eliminate useless information even if their suggested by others and create what you want as no one will do it for you, goals and projects provide boundaries for your learning activities). The best way to learn is to encounter a real-world problem, research specific information to solve it, keep a steady flow of information from your consumption, solve the problem, enjoy the dopamine, and let momentum carry you into a season of intensity. We are in the digital dark ages. Create your endless source of dopamine by solving the problems that help you attain your goals. It's easy to escape the real issues and get distracted. You are capable of more than what you're being told. Don't be close minded, don't fall into a masquerade, don't intentionally miss the point. If all you know is school-work-retire, you're not gonna do anything else. Most people are working to survive an unconscious thing. Open mindedness comes in several steps. More proactivity, less reactivity. Hold all thoughts, ideas, and opinions in the realm of possibility until filtered through direct experience. You can let them marinate as long as you want. Work toward a more holistic identity: your identity houses your perspective, your perspective houses your beliefs, your beliefs influences your thoughts, emotions, and actions. Adopting an identity that his greater than us allow our mind to expand. Be aware that it's easy to can stuck in your job/religion/family perspective. By taking god/infinity's, our petty human problems loose their weight and impact in our life, thus allowing us to act from a better perspective. If you like beer more than anything, open your brewery to create the best one and spread it to the world instead of just drinking. Spread and share your passion. To collect and transfer consciousness, study/understand the human psychology and place yourself in their shoes to note patterns and observe the consequences of their actions. Search the essence beyond human existence. Take some time to pause and question, to study the exact opposite of your thoughts to try proving yourself wrong. It will be uncomfortable and will attack the ego but is rewarding. Think macro/big, act micro/small. Your smalls actions can have big consequences. Don't just think and reflect but act and push through the problems to improve. Be open-minded.
Dan Koe