By Kamal Ravikant
4. ONE QUESTION
If I loved myself truly and deeply, would I let myself experience this?
LIGHT SWITCHES
James Altucher, in one of his best blog posts, talks about how he stops negative thoughts in their tracks with a simple mind trick. “Not useful,”
BELIEF
Here’s one example. I’ve always known that growth is important to me. If I don’t feel like I’m growing, I’m drifting, depressed. But what I didn’t know, until the practice of self-love showed me, was my belief about growth: real growth comes through intense, difficult, and challenging situations.
Can you see how that would define the path of my life?
It was immediately obvious where it came from.
What we believe, that’s what we seek, It’s the filter we view our lives through. I’ve actively thrown myself at intense and difficult situations. All situations where I grew, but at what price?
I woke up to a spotlight shining on that belief, except the truth was a slight twist: I was driven to not fail.
END
I think that instead of reading loads of self-help books, attending various seminars, listening to different preachers, we should just pick one thing. Something that feels true for us. Then practice it fiercely.
Place our bet on it, then go all out. That’s where magic happens. Where life blows away our expectations.
PART II: THE MANUAL
SECOND, YOUR VOW
And please trust me on this—just because I was at bottom doesn’t mean you must be. Every single moment in our lives is an opportunity to commit. No matter where we are, no matter how good or bad things may seem, this moment is the perfect moment to take our stand. To say no more to what doesn’t serve us and an all-in yes to what does.
PART III: THE LESSON
XI
Today, he’s a blockbuster movie star. His movies consistently break records all over the world. And the name of his film studio: Seven Bucks Productions.
L
I haven’t had a drop of alcohol. My social media consumption is nil. Zero small talk conversations. Depressants, all of them. Carbon dioxide of the mind.
Pascal once said that humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone. Well, bring it on, buddy. I got this.