Your brain has been programmed to seek instant pleasure since you were born. Sold to you by big business for their profit and to keep you buying. These people don’t give a fuck about your well-being. Society doesn't care. You are supposed to be pathetic. You are supposed to be a slave to your vices.
You can fuck around in your spare time, watching YouTube, smoking weed, mentally masturbating on Reddit, actually masturbating to porn, etc. You can do all these things and get away with it in the modern world because to survive, you don’t have to work very fucking hard anymore.
With the advancement of society has come the destruction of work ethic.
You can easily get a cushy job, an average house, an average car, and be average fucking Joe. Or, you can be fucking Joe's wife while he's watching football. We all die eventually. All that matters is how fun your life is.
Would you rather watch others excel while you are a slave to cheap pleasure? Or would you rather be out there doing the real thing?
You likely sit on your ass and waste precious time, satisfying your reward system with cheap substitutes instead of working your ass off to achieve real goals. You don’t have to be a slave to these substitutes. The most successful people are not slaves. They are the ones with the whip.
I mean, just take a look at Schwarzenegger. Even now, in his 70s, he is making moves in politics and charities. One of my favorite quotes of his:
"The worst thing I can be is the same as everybody else."
Fuck laziness. Fuck boredom. If you’re bored, you aren’t working hard enough. Get to fucking work. Go out, make connections, start a business, whatever. There is always something you can do to take a step away from the cheap life that you were supposed to live.
Conclusion:
Break the fucking cycle. There is too much instant pleasure these days. Don’t fall slave to it. The changes that are hardest to make are the ones that aren't necessary to live a cushy life.
TL;DR:
Don't cheat life with instant pleasure.
EDIT:
So some of you have been asking what I mean by "fun." By "fun" I mean being alive; not being depressed, not having low drive, not having low confidence, and being able to amuse yourself wherever you are. Delayed gratification is what creates this mentality. If you live life craving-to-craving this is something that is not feasible. You are only alive when you are looking at a screen.
The biggest way that most people are poisoning their mind is by being on reddit on a daily basis. There should be no hamstering of it - if you use TRP as your daily entertainment or you crowdsource your perspective from a bunch of other men also crowdsourcing their perspective, you're poisoning your mind too.
There are guys reading this now who spend so long reading TRP, incels, MRA shit, etc, that they legit won't go approach women because they don't think they are 9/10 ripped Chads. There are dudes here who think every girl is out to metoo them or spermjack them. There's dudes here who make their girl cuck them by being so fucking insecure about being a cuck that they are expecting her to cheat so badly, and they wind up producing the result they were so worried about. They are in these mindsets because they spend all the damn time in a bubble.
You can tell too. All these faggots who respond to every fucking post, you see they've posted like 18 times throughout the weekend. Then they try argue with you like there's no way PUA shit would work, or MGTOW is superior, or girls don't fuck 7s literally ever, etc etc. Their mind is gone. Get off reddit if you're going to get off video games, porn, and smoking. Took a few weeks off reddit this summer - not just posting, literally reading nothing from it. Intaking zero information, no memes, no nothing for about a month. It's amazing the mental space you free up when you're not skull fucking yourself full of other people's often exagerrated or fabricated versions of reality.
To any newbies reading this comment and having doubts about it, make no mistake every word here is true. I say this as someone who's been here for over 5 years and regret most of my time I wasted on this fucking website.
I call it defeatism. If you dwell enough on a problem, it becomes to big for you handle. Then you continue to dwell on the problem, absolving yourself from trying.
I dunno dude. I probably browse reddit daily on the train between 10 other sites I read to keep current.
some days is 10 mins. others may be more.
Part of TRP is me deciding for myself exactly how to use my time.
You are coming across like you are giving a prescription.
Guys will absorb and move on to bigger and better when they are ready
Or they won't. most really wont
Agreed but atleast with Reddit you are learning not watching TV or using social media. If Reddit or learning is taking the place of garbage media, its a win especially if you you are going to sit on the couch and eat chips anyway...
There's flipside to this you're not admiting or you're unawere of. I started out in life with immense work ethic. Didn't miss a single day of school from 7th grade through college. Played sports in college and got an engineering degree. Shot up in profession in my early 20's and thought I had it made. And then I realized all work ethic, excellence, and commitment to the details didn't bring me true happiness. So I became a hedonist. I do enough to make a living and stay in shape but I try to milk every second of pleasure out of life that I can.
When was the moment that made you realize you weren't truly happy?
Yes. One of the key lessons I have learned is that the skill set needed to be successful is not static; it evolves through life. When you are young, most people have little money and experience so you have to make up for it with energy, sweat, grit. But if you are still grinding it out when you are older, you are not doing something right.
For one thing, if hustle is your competitive advantage then your competitive advantage will erode as you age because inevitably there will always be a new crop of young, hungry, energetic cannon fodder. Second, work that depends on hustle usually does not pay very well relatively speaking. Third, while hard work is greatly respected in a young man, oddly, you will come to find that people do not respect an older man that busts his ass—there must be something wrong with him if he has to work that hard.
That is not to say that you will never have to buckle down, put in some long hours; it’s not to say that work won’t be hard sometimes. But hustle should not be your plan A as you get older. Use hustle as your plan A to get a toehold when you are young, to get some experience, to get some capital. But then be ready to evolve your methods. Don’t fall into the trap of continuing to grind it out just because it worked for you at first. Over time, progressively transition to leveraging your expand capital more and your sweat less.
Very interesting take... so true when u think about it. When you see some old dude busting his ass my first thought is how did he get here. Funny how that is.
"All that matters is how fun your life is..."
Hmm that statement kinda contradicts the whole instant gratification point you trying to make.
It's just one type of philosophy — hedonism. Some people go for that kind of lifestyle.
There's also plenty of nihilists who would have you believe that there is nothing that matters, period.
There are lots of different answers to the question, "What matters in life?"
-Fun -Nothing -Service to society -Self-discovery and investigation of life's mysteries
Stoicism is the iron path. Stoicism is man shit. But don’t confuse being resilient with being an unaffected nihilist. I made that mistake.
The stoics strived to live in concordance with nature. Eat well, sleep well, work yourself and spend the time allotted to you with decency. Don’t complain too much about your inevitable death.
Nietzsche pointed out the fundamental flaw of Stoicism - their presumption that they understood nature. It is not that they did not live well, but rather that their lives were built around a flawed understanding. There was religion behind their model of the world, something unseen, something to be strived for outside the realm of mortality. Each Stoic philosopher had their own understanding of it, of course, but on its own, it isn’t a complete system.
The takeaways are simple. Control what you can, accept the things you cannot control. That’s all. That’s what TRP wants you to take away, not Senecas ramblings on the virtues of poverty, or Marcuses therapy journal. Or those before them. You can’t chalk Stoicism up to any one philosopher. That’s what separates it from religion - it evolves.
I saw a very interesting video a few weeks ago in which Nietzche's criticism of the stoics is explained.
From my understanding, both Nietzche and the stoics had different opinions of what "nature" really is, therefore what he critices is in fact an unnoticed misconception of the term.
For a stoic, what is the motivation to live? I don’t think being stoic actually answers that question. You can be a stoic and still also be a nihilist, or hedonistic.
Stoics strive to enjoy the miracle of life itself. Waking up healthy to a rising sun and taking a deep breath is an incredible thing if you think about it. It doesn't need more meaning than just itself.
I can relate to this. Nothing more pleasurable to me than waking up to the rising sun.
Not really, it's more like: live in accordance with nature (your own and the nature around you). Virtue is the highest good and is its own reward.
Do you mean to live at all? Or to live the best possible life?
Hmm. I guess both, if you don’t mind.
um, what kinda licks you want? prog rock, metal, jazz?
could you explain this a bit more ? seems to be what i’m stuck on at the moment
there is also Epicurus's hedonism: to find the most pleasure (that doesn't bring suffering)... so trying to optimize between the two.
Sure, drinking your ass off tonight is pleasurable, but it will bring you a hangover and many other negative consequences
Inviting a friend/girl over and having just a glass of wine, on the other hand, relieves some of your anxiety and will not bring you suffering with it
Took me until i was 30 to really weigh the cons of drinking heavier than the fun.
I agree with OP.
What I think he means is; We are all chasing happiness. All that matters is that you’re happy because in the grand scheme of things, nothing matters.
become hitler and u can change the world
I thought the answer was 'To crush your enemies -- See them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women'?
If I buy nihilism I just arrive at hedonism as the conclusion.
Your last three items hit way closer to home than the first two.
Nothing actually makes the least sense. If "Nothing" matters to you, technically that is something...You value the absence of content, which is a concept and thus not nothing.
You’re just twisting the words. It isn’t that nothing itself matters. They don’t value the concept of nothing. It’s that there isn’t anything that matters.
Well there isn't any *thing* that matters, it's the meaning invested in the thing by consciousness that matters. Meaning is subjective and not something that can be objectified as being either existent or non-existent. Meaning is what causes existence and non-existence.
So when something feels meaningless but is prominent in my consciousness it is a meaningful experience (because it exists) of meaninglessness?
Feels meaningless?
Impossible. Feelings are meaningful.
Instant gratification isn't that fun. Delayed gratification is FUN as FUCK.
All gratification requires suffering. The wise person is impartial to both and simply acts out of duty, taking pleasure and pain as essential components on the path to glory of one's offering to One. The soul sees everything as himself, yet is self-forgetful. It's a state of eternal intoxication.
And thus the soul and god are continuously offering themselves to each other, creating a man that is like god and a god that is like a man. This perpetual and blissful state is (in my opinion) the perfection of life and creates perfection for others. It is the highest path for man, that which is attained after attaining all lower pleasures and pains.
Bro what the fuck just fucking lift
I lift my body mind and soul daily
That’s what’s up. Go uber mensch.
Hey Yogi wtf all that mean, for the non practitioner
It means nothing to the non practitioner.
What do I have to do in order for it to make sense and mean something to me?
Find a practitioner and practice with him. It's a subjective experience. Pointless to try to academically understand.
I'm kinda low on the enlightenment ladder. I just repeat what I heard from those really wise people I used to hang out with back in college.
sigh
You’re talking about Nirvana.
Both are as soon as you stop thinking one is better than the other. There are no rules as to what you can be fulfilled by and and have fun with.
enjoy your bluepill dopamine pop for saying that. I don't agree, especially how you presented that
Delayed Gratification > Instant Gratification
What counts as instant gratification? Porn, video games, YouTube, etc. Anything that does not require you to work. It is artificial pleasure. It isn't real.
Instant gratification is the fastest way to kill your masculinity. Because it does not require you to face challenges. It destroys your drive. It causes you to question why you need drive at all.
Delayed gratification, on the other hand, is any form of pleasure we have to work to get. A paycheck at the end of the week, hitting a PR, losing your virginity, all of these are forms of delayed gratification. All of these build confidence. This form of gratification snowballs, because as your confidence builds, you begin to achieve more and more. This is how you become high on life.
MenBoys who fall victim to instant gratification drift though life without direction, aka betas. They are not happy unless they are receiving instant gratification, because without it, their life is nothing. They have not achieved anything. They only feel "alive" when they are looking at a screen.Men who reap the benefits of delayed gratification are the ones who are consistently happy, aka Arnold. They don't need instant pleasure to feel "alive," because they are men. They are men, because they have endured adversity while seeking delayed gratification.
Which one would you rather be?
You're truly enlightened bravo lmao
You highlight some nice pointed. Delayed gratification doesn't even necessarily have to be sensual or hedonistic. It just means following the natural flow of work...pain for reward.
I suppose it's easy to make assumptions using words with sensual connotations. They very well apply to the spiritual side of things as well.
That philosophy of one type of happiness being greater than another goes all the way back to Aristotle. I feel sad when I see people using Stone Age philosophy is modern times.
Aristotle was an asshole who was either wrong or unoriginal in short stretches. He set the basis for most western philosophy by being absolutely sure of himself without even the idea of testing his beliefs.
Modern techniques have clearly shown there aren’t better and worse types of happiness, manufactured or earned doesn’t matter. If you’re happy on Reddit, do it. If you’re not, pursue other things.
And no, people aren’t unhappy today because they don’t need to work hard anymore. Hunter/gatherer societies work much less than any modern, westernized nation.
High life satisfaction is negatively correlated in all societies on Earth with western media. This ignores lifestyle. The poorest people are perfectly happy, happier than rich westerners, until they get our media.
This leaves us with a Occam’s razor to cut away all your misleading beliefs about why people are unhappy and how that interacts with media. People are unhappy because they take in too much media.
This has been shown, again, in studies. If people cut media intake by half, theywill report higher life satisfaction. This effect happens no matter how much or how little Media they take in, originally.
So media causes all our problems?
Would you mind citing the studies youre using here, specifically the ones that say there are no different types of happiness?
So... drug addicts are unhappy because of media?
This sounds like some grade-A hamstering to me. No man feels satisfied living life craving-to-craving.
Watch the Ted y’all about “Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong”. It kinda opened my eyes to some things.
Drug addicts are drug addicts likely due to their environments, internally or externally. (See the Rat Park Experiments) So in a manner of speaking, yea kinda cause of media. There’s no doubt our fast paced info overload world (not to mention traditional western diet) has changed our brain chemistry and it certainly contributes to drug addiction and unhappiness alike.
Doesn’t mean the way forward is any different: pull yourself up by your bootstraps and do something about it. But it’s food for thought.
While delayed gratification is better, we also need instant gratification. One may never enjoy the fruits from delayed gratification considering how fickle man’s life is, anyone can pass on anytime.
well, Tbh gaming can be really be ''delayed gratification'', now i'm not talking about these casuals that just play for fun but about reaching goals, you're getting on the top 1% of your favourite game, you're crushing everyone and being so competitive, heck look at ''ninja'', with the money he has made doing ''instant gratification'' he could retire probably 100 times and still have some spare money, what i want to say is that not everything is black or white, there is in between
I think he's more so saying, in the words of Chris D'elia, don't be a 'cuda.
Barracudas are attracted to shiny things, if you're only doing things that are 'fun' because it seems like it is what everyone else is doing for fun, then why are you doing it? Just to fit in?
No, do what you thoroughly think is fun and rewarding and minimize the amount of pointless things that seem fun but in reality just hold you back (a lot of mindless TV shows and online content). Stop looking at things that can bring feelings of accomplishment and self growth as tasks or work and view them as something fun if they actually can be to you.
Just because something is easy and requires little to no effort doesn't make it fun.
Not saying any of this is your opinion and I might be completely off the mark with what the OP was getting at, but it is something that has helped me in life to actually have a life I consider interesting.
I agree with this.
I think OP would take that line back if given the opportunity. I do think his overall message is one that leans more towards stoicism than cocaine and hookers as the goal of life. With that said, the post lacks detail and pragmatism and stays hooked predominantly on ideals. I wish OP would air out his definition of fun.
My line of questioning:
I like the Arnold quote, "The worst thing I can be is the same as everybody else". It brought to my mind a quote from Gurdjieff, "What is possible for individual man is impossible for the masses". My question from here would be if fun is all that matters, what makes your idea of fun different from the masses idea of fun? And here is where OP is being called out on a contradiction.
Hopefully the immediate reply from OP isn't something like "my idea of fun is to work my balls off and keep going until my balls fall off". This is a typical Hamster wheel work ethic that we are sold today by Tai Lopez and Co. But if that ethos doesn't fly then OP is trapped because he can't fall back on any sort of individual experience being fun because the root of what he is saying is that no experience brings lasting satisfaction but rather mentality is what matters. Which again brings me to my question - What is fun? :)
No it doesn’t. Often to have greater degrees of enjoyment, you have to forego the immediate pleasures of instant gratification.
I disagree with his premise that all that matters is how fun your life is. Personally I subscribe to the idea of self-actualization, or bringing your talents to fruition and “becoming who you are”, and achieving high levels of performance and development.
However, he is not contradicting.
Enjoyment is relative. Ultimately all enjoyment is disappointing due to the enervating nature of the thing.
But that's why we use intelligence to understand enjoyment as what it is. We don't pin it as the goal of life lol...
We enjoy, but ultimately we leave it aside when we learn the lessons we need to in this world.
I agree. "Fun" the false god of hedonism. People chasing fun is how we got to a point where we are going backwards with culture rather than forwards. Enjoyment has its place. But enjoyment is also how people are controlled, much like prophesied in brave new world; control by the passions.
I know people that agree that netflix is mostly propaganda, but still continue to watch weekly. Controlled by passions, controlled by things you like. At some point one should ask themselves if they'd rather have fun or they'd rather be free. And the thing is; it's not that hard to find fun once you free yourself further.
I don't know about you, but back when I lived my life on a craving-to-craving basis, something didn't feel right about it. Because it wasn't right. It was pathetic.
Delayed gratification is different from instant gratification because to achieve delayed gratification means enduring adversity, and adversity is what makes men.
All
menboys who fall into the cycle cheap pleasure deep-down feel the same way, but most don't want to face it. There is a voice within us that knows it isn't right. You need to listen to that voice. It's your masculinity, but it's locked in a cage. You need to unlock it.You can live life with the nihilistic mentality that nothing matters, but that's not a mentality that will get you very far and too often ends a smoking gun. That's not the mentality for me.
I'd say both are disappointing due to their temporary nature.
But definitely fun.
Disappointment also comes and goes.
Samsara.
Cycle of birth and desth... happiness and distress.
Is samsara also impermanent?
Samsara is always there. Just depends on how much you are affected by it.
I noticed that about this post too. The argument is to avoid laziness and instant pleasure... So your life can be fun? Aren't those things fun? Does it really matter what you do if the point of life is to enjoy it? I don't know, just thinking out loud.
Well fun in the form of sensual pleasures are available to all creatures. But humans have the ability to inquire about truth and identity. Therefore, why waste such a machine on things that lesser machines can utilize?
Get enlightened.
If you can't do that, help those trying to get enlightened.
If you can't do that, help anyone with anything
If you can't do that, at least meditate and read about improving yourself.
If you can't so that, at least be charitable.
But dont live to have fun. Have fun living for a higher purpose.
I disagree. We live in a silent universe, that gives us no answers to this absurd life. I do believe that all we can hope for is having fun while it lasts. And it doesn’t contradict the OP. He is advocating for delayed gratification, which can be immeasurably greater than all the instant gratification combined.
You live in a silent universe.
You asked wrong questions
You'll change your mind.
Yes am I'm not necessarily against that either. But it's not like the highest potential truth out there. It's a relative truth for a temporary period of time. Eventually death comes and you can't delay any more gratification. You must accept the end of gratification. That's a tough pill to swallow. That's the final red pill.
I would gladly change my mind. Try to enlighten me.
Seriously, I’m not being cynical here. If you could show me how to find any answer to this life I will honestly consider it.
So far I only see an overall pointless reality, with pointless suffering, and only few of us are privileged enough to be in a position where we can actually have pleasure before death comes. I ask and I look around, but all I’m getting is silence.
I’m just grateful to be one of the few who gets more pleasure than pain.
I believe the greatest mystery is how the mind works. And that scientists and engineers will likely solve this within our lifetimes.
Until that time, we are mostly guessing about ideal mental states, or we’re just running our biological programming.
So to recap, we are not wise enough yet to fully know our potential, but we are slowly getting there.
Can we swallow it even if we want to?
Fun can be a delayed reward for work though. For example, sport is fun, but it relies on grinding & training that isn't fun in the moment.
The life philosophies discussed in TRP sound like the Light Side and Dark Side in Star Wars.
I don’t think he was making the argument that this is the way it SHOULD be but the way society is making it out to be. At least that’s how I read it.
I've said it before, I'll say it again: Stagnation for a man is death. To not improve, no desire to further evolve yourself, and to be content with mediocrity is pitiful. Being able to go outside of your comfort zone is what you should be striving to do ALL THE TIME. Be comfortable being uncomfortable! Hell, I stayed up til 2 in the morning working on my blog because I want to make a supplementary income that doesn't require me to kill myself at ANOTHER soul-sucking job. I have to go to the gym later today and get my ass kicked by my personal trainer. Is it fun? No, but being a man is enduring tough times and making something great of myself.
If you're not growing, you're dying.
Can’t have a personal trainer forever
Don't plan to either. Just want to get my goals in motion within 6 months and then I'm solo.
Why do you need a personal trainer?
Do you lack the motivation or the knowledge to do it alone? Either way, it's something you should be able to do independently.
I need to have training wheels as I haven't been exercising extensively since playing football in College. I also have a nutritionist to keep me on the right path and maximize my results. Do I need it? Not really. I know the information is available online but I want to get the best results so that when I don't need them I'll be more than good.
You could say that for any skill really, the purpose of a coach/trainer/mentor is to accelerate the accumulation of said skill and associated knowledge, in order to achieve greater results faster. Hating on a trainer, is a waste of your time. The utilising of a trainer however is a far more efficient use of a clients time.
Good old Arnie. "Sleep faster" ha.
Great post, man. Not trying to steal your thunder but I would like to add to it. The ones who achieve success are hungry, for sure. But I think it's important to realize that down time is necessary to our health and happiness too. Personally I'm guilty of wanting it all right now and getting stressed out when I lack traction or when results come slower than I want them to.
Having a PLAN and a set goal makes shit run so much smoother. I had to strike a balance between strife and celebration. I stick to my guns and my goals and I don't compromise them for anyone or anything.
I learned the hard way that the only tempo I need to be moving at is my own. And the only person I should really be aiming to please is myself.
Good stuff, brother.
I'd like to make several posts on TRP, but they would be 'unfinished' and it wouldn't get any reads.
One is the concept of scheduling macros. Say your macros are 2 hours on reddit 4 days a week and 2 hours in the gym a day in gym 5 days a week, and 3 non healthy meals a week that do not exceed 1200 calories a meal. 4 visits to grocery store a week, (Sat, Tues, Wed and Thurs. set days optional). On Fridays read 20 min on body language before going to bar for 2 hours. After you have sensible macros that fit your schedule, Execute and stick to them.
So if you are on reddit 3 hours you have to be on only 1 the next day. And if you have more reddit than working out, you have to work out first. You can always listen to podcasts at the gym.
That's the rough version.
Right. You definitely should know when to take a break. Down-time is necessary. Though down-time does not necessarily require instant pleasure either, at least not intense forms of it like porn and TV.
When I'm resting I am: sleeping, reading, meditating, playing guitar, etc. Cutting out various activities like porn, video games, TV, YouTube, and reddit browsing have made me actually enjoy those activities a lot more. They are my form of down-time.
Most people on reddit have an underworking problem rather than an overworking problem. They don’t need to be told to rest when they browse reddit 8 hours a day. But yes it goes without saying you need to rest so that you can be a more efficient worker.
Lol every time I see statistics that there's more and more fat lazy people, or more drugs addicts, or more incels, or more stupid people in general..i say to myself good!!...one less person in my way
Simple, easy pleasures that take advantage of the hard work and innovation of our forefathers aren’t “fun”; but working your ass off for ungrateful cunts and an ungrateful society is?
Dopamine in the modern era isn't what it is when our ancestors were alive. They didn't have the same easy access we do. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. The more we expose ourselves to cheap dopamine, the more receptors will be present in our neurons requiring us to seek more dopamine than before to achieve the same effect. Sadly, many people are not aware of that.
Past : survival essential Now : Drug
What a judgemental Douchebag..
Mkay... why are you on TRP?
you cannot in fact just go out and "easily get a cushy job, an average house, an average car, and be average fucking Joe. "
The real world doesn't work that way, so fuck off with whatever silver spoon you got. I have a coworker who thinks the same way. He's an immigrant who was given a business loan simply for being foreign though. I guess it varies depending on your free passes.
Interesting point. Depends on your definition of average.
My plan:
Climb Coporate ladder. Become an expat and move overseas. Check
Stack cash with fat expat contract. Learn foreign language. Explore Europe. Become versed in other cultures. Expand world view. Not be like your typical American. In progress.
Study real estate in spare time. In progress.
Buy real estate rentals with expat savings. Build side business. Eventually be financially independent. Continue working or not. Own choice. Next step.
All while watching YouTube, smoking weed, and jacking off. You can live in both worlds. It’s not all or nothing. 100% self improvement all the time is retarded. It’s ok to relax.
Indeed people make a distinction between hard workers and slackers. There's plenty of time to do both. Most important is that the work you do is the right work. Spending 80 hours a week on the wrong thing is less efficient than spending 20 on the right thing.
Why did you choose for a corporate career? To me that falls in the 80 hours /w on the wrong thing, namely working for someone else. Ever thought about being an entrepeneur now?
(I get that now you have a fat expat contract it's probably not interesting anymore - but before you started your plan)
When I was in college I didn’t have the knowledge I do now. I didn’t see the rat race as the rat race. I just figured this is life. I became more enlightened towards my late twenties and began realizing being beholden to someone else’s schedule is a massive boner killer and that there’s other ways to live.
*** I have to put a disclaimer here. The company I work for is honestly great. Work life balance is fantastic. I rarely put in more than 40 hours a week. Work from home options. Premium gym membership, encouraged to hit it at lunch time, on site gyms at some offices, world travel, awesome culture. I know not all, if not most companies are like this. I know from experience, I worked at two soul sucking companies before this one. ***
At the same time I was killing it in the corporate world. I was a rising star and was in really tight with a number of powerful men and other stars within the company. Then I was offered an expat position with most expenses paid. This is now a double opportunity for me. The assignment allows me to massively further my career and myself. The other opportunity is the money. I’ll walk away from the assignment with close to $100k in the bank. Not including my 401k which is already six figures.
My plan now is to take some of what I save and invest into real estate rentals when I return home (have been studying this heavily, best option for passive income while fully employed). I will continue to work for my company as I grow my rental base. While being beholden to their schedule does get on my nerves, there are aspects of the work I really like. So I plan to stay with company until it doesn’t make sense or I’m able to grow the business. I’m basically hedging my bet here. I don’t want to jump out of what is a very promising career when I’m just starting my side business. If it makes sense later, I will of course check out of the corporate world.
Sounds great, and sounds like a good company to work for too, and indeed a great chance for you.
Our (my) company policy is work 6 hours / day whenever you want. Training during the day is highly encouraged. Happy people is good company.
Do you know FIRE (financial independence, retire early)? Most people who do it have a job. A good paycheck is a pretty stable way to grow your wealth. Certainly when, like you, are planning to add on real estate investments and side income. You're probably familiar with it, otherwise google Mr Money Moustache.
I was full-on work ethic all the way to my early 20s. Went to a top-20 school with a full scholarship. High school valedictorian. Somehow ended up in prison for saying the wrong things on Facebook (not in the US). During prison, it dawned upon me that I could have EVERYTHING that I worked so hard for just suddenly taken away from me, and more importantly IT CAN ALL END SUDDENLY.
You can never know the future. You can drop dead at any moment.
Came out of prison, started fucking women and pursuing my dreams. Cut off tons of people including toxic family members. Moved to a new city. Working less. Happier than ever.
Very good read, man, thank you. Knowing that your dopamine is being "manipulated" can really turn your life around.
It actually is hard enough just to get an average job for many these days. An undergraduate education alone (Bachelor's degree) is not yielding any results straight out of college and high skill high pay jobs are super competitive, with employers often demanding a Master's degree and/or further certification and training at the very minimum.
Many millenials are still struggling with the fact that they aren't all cut out for STEM subjects and $60k/yr is no longer even cutting it, let alone the $35-40k starting salaries for entry level work. Inflation is also negating any incremental base salary increases.
Depends.
Sometimes success is getting that cushy job, relaxing and kicking back.
Not everyone here is going to be super successful Bezos. The most of us are average Joe's trying to make the most of our lot.
Knowing that you are in the system, knowing the negatives of that system. female nature, starting a family and riddiculous social expectations.
With the advancement of society, men are able to relax and not have to do all the things we were traditionally expected to do. Thats part of the positives of the system.
By all means be the best type of man you can be, but be careful of your expectations of yourself. There are negatives to ambition
I have a 50k student loan debt and currently work 10 hours a day without payment for overtime, can't afford a house or a car. How can I get away from my cheap life?
“You are not your job, you're not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You are not your fucking khakis. You are all singing, all dancing crap of the world.”
We live in a world where mediocrity is becoming the standard of performance. Mediocre people are content with having just enough because having more requires that they work harder. Yet, these same people will bitch and complain about the success of others, placing the blame of their lack of success on other people and the unfair circumstances they have to deal with. No, their miserable position in life is due to their lack of ambition, discipline, and execution. Take pride in yourself as a man, instead of allowing yourself to become a slob who no one respects. I wrote a blog post about the reason men accept mediocrity and would like to share it: http://beastamongmen.com/4-reasons-men-fine-mediocrity/
Contrarily, I'm less ambitious post unplugging. Only want so much wealth which lets me eat nutritious, sleep comfortably and lift. Rest is noise.
Good post! And when did this become the fuckin high school english teacher subreddit.
Things I've done to eliminate instant pleasure from my life:
Traded my smartphone for a dumbphone. It's a conversation piece. It keeps me from being overly invested in online conversations. It works as a filter to see who's interested in me enough to remember I only check whatsapp once a month.
No more games It was a big fight with myself but I haven't played a game in a month and I'm starting to not miss it. Sometimes I get a similar yearning for getting xp/loot but I notice that it's started to bleed towards other accomplishments instead like workouts and job goals.
Incentivize goals My goals and mission are important. I want to be healthier, smarter, better, bigger, braver. Every 30 minutes of uninterrupted attention I reward by putting a cross on a log and I do everything to induce a physiological positive response; power poses, screaming "YES!" It may sound silly, but it works if done with frame. Sometimes I'll reward myself with something small I like eating. I want my main pleasure to be from getting goals if I could, so I'm trying to train myself towards that.
low porn diet I would prefer a no porn diet, but I can't make every change at once. I have no hard rules with myself about this, but I watch porn less than once per two weeks. Since changing this I find it really hard to not be distracted by all matter of boobs and other attractive parts that girls put on display. But the extra energy and focus is worth it. Anyone that questions this should watch libido dominandi on youtube. Just 1/7 will give you a lot of perspective on this. I will go no-porn later when I have more attention and energy to change this.
Cancelled netflix, mostly avoid hollywood films I know it's mostly propaganda, you know it's mostly propaganda. So why are we watching it? Well I'm not anymore. I'll still watch old movies (out-of-date propaganda, ha ha) and I'm not going to be fussy if friends want to watch something particular. Not watching so many movies / series gives me more time and motivation to self-improve and get work done.
Things I can still do to eliminate instant pleasure from my life:
Go no porn (see above)
Eliminate sugar from diet My current go to food reward for bigger things is 400 KJ icecream. I'd really like to remove this from my otherwsie sugarfree diet.
Eliminate white bread from diet I am always fussy with lunch and am rarely satisfied with lunch, except white bread & eggs which always works for me. It's fast, it's tasty, it reminds me of the best time in my youth. I've tried other things but I usually end up not eating lunch instead which reduces my productivity. The best way to beat this is probably to cook a little extra in the evening and save it as lunch for the next day.
I went to college and became an IT professional made pretty good money, bought a house and a car and had a pretty good rotation of 3 plates throughout my early 20s. The stress was tolerable but I always felt like there was more to working 40 hours a week and hitting the gym everyday. Then one day one of my close friends DIED unexpectedly from a car crash. It kinda made me question what I really wanted out of life and I decided to say fuck everything.
I quit my job, got my security deposit back, told these whores to fuck off and I traveled the country for two years. I witnessed and learned a lot. Towards the end I essentially became homeless and crashed my car. I ran out of money and the life of traveling, partying and doing whatever the fuck I want actually got pretty depressing.
So I returned and now work 40 hours a week and hit the gym everyday. Just leased a new apartment. Go figure. Your values will change throughout your life, what was fun today might suck tommorow. Cherish the days where you live comfortably.
Love this. If you're just mindful for one day you'll see how much your mind is hard-wired to just go for easy dopamine releases. It is whiny, tired, and always the victim. Fuck that shit. Life is beautiful, push past the barriers, show your mind who is in charge and grab life by the balls.
Only fear is mediocrity
If you don’t have to work hard any more, and it’s easy to satisfy your vices, how do you force yourself to do better, specifically?
I get the sentiment that you are trying to impart but the phrasing and conclusion could have been much better. You do realize that once you keep on seeking instant gratification it becomes part of your personality. You become one with the average joe. And your post will definitely help others realise that what a despicable situation that is. But how to break the cycle?
I would like to expound on that. Personally i have had better than expected results with doing mediation daily for 10 minutes.
One more thing that I am trying out is actually noticing and logging my productive output. Because nothing motivates me more than knowing how much mediocre my work performance has been. Also how much more my peers are earning.
Also I am starting out a regular breakfast regimen from tomorrow. Let us see how this goes.
While I admire your post and can kind of see where you’re coming from, I’m inclined to disagree a bit with the tone behind it, let’s say...
It seems a bit nihilistic to me. “We’re all going to die, so have fun!” Hmm, yes and no.
Part of being a man is taking responsibility for yourself and recognizing there are consequences to your actions. If you just throw all caution to the wind, it’s not going to end well for you.
This isn't about throwing caution away. Watching porn isn't being cautious.
Even this sub reddit can poison your mind, if you let it of course.
It's not bad advice, but it is the same advice people have been giving since the start of this sub. What exactly have you added, other then another low level post to the front page, that made this worth writing?
This whole post can be boiled down to "You should be doing stuff that is hard, don't be lazy"
But when you look at it in the end it doesnt matter what you do, if you are happy whos to judge. Not everyone has the same definition of sucess.
"Having fun" sounds extremely shallow , everybody thinks different things are fun . Some like to lift and eat healthy and others like to sit on their asses watching tv and eating fried chicken and fries. I think striving for a better life (economically, socially and physically) and a better self is a good goal in life .
Can you please explain how that relates to the red pill?
Delay gratification helps build your tolerance of suffering up.
But how do you do this you don't understand
Great post, Thanks for this.
Didn't you post this like a week ago?
Yeah but it got taken down because I made too many edits after posting so I reposted it
Are you atheists going to get tired of normalizing adultery ever?
Wasnt it the other way around...you know before monotheism?,
Just depends on the individual's life goals. Chaos and order have to strike a balance.
Religion is a coping device used for people who refuse to accept the fact that life is meaningless. It's also used as a manipulation tool for the masses.
How can you believe in something you don't know to be true/haven't experienced yourself? I never really bought it, regardless of being raised going to church every Sunday.
Personally I have never found religion to have any benefit besides preventing people from being driven into insanity through existential crises.
I kind of agree. It makes it hard to care about anything and stay motivated. I used to believe in love, souls, afterlife etc but after getting older and melting my reality with psychedelic drugs (lsd, dmt, shrooms etc) over and over again trying to find some answers, I've come to realise we are just animals...primates. Almost every single thought we have can be back traced to some biological urge or instinct. TRP has explained this well in women. In other words we are nothing more than our bodies which are very temporary. This is it. Our egos make up bullshit beliefs and stories to protect themselves. Most of the world believes in some delusional fairytale which makes no logical sense at all.
If you think religion is about denying reality you are surely mistaken. It is about CONSTRUCTING A MORALITY after you accept the reality of the human condition. ‘We are just animals’ is a belief that will lead you to be morally bankrupt, of course you don’t actually believe this because if you did you would treat humans and animals the same...
You construct your own morality.
'We are just animals' won't destroy your moral standard. It'll just allow you to dictate your own. We still have empathy without religion.
The real red pill is that humans are religious creatures and not rational creatures. Religion doesn’t mean ‘organized religion’. Everyone has their own religion. Your religion are the beliefs you hold about the most important questions in life (who am I, why am I here, what is my purpose). Everyone has a system of values, and a highest value. Some people believe they have a purpose beyond themselves, some people don’t. You can call this being spiritual but thats just a weakened term that means religion.
Everyone dictates their own morality. Even people within an organized religion. Do you think every Christian has the same belief of who God is?
No matter if you claim you are religious or not, so long as you are human you have an image of what the Ideal is. And you know deep down that it is right for you to work towards that ideal. All humans function this way period. You aren’t any different because you put too much stock into science. You can’t escape the religious nature of humanity.
What's your point? That humans have a herd mentality and blindly follow without questioning anything? You are right. Religion is the number one cause of death and suffering. Period. Organised religion is a disease for the weak minded.
I love animals. I don't need religion or a book in order to not be a cunt.
Why do I always bother responding to children/retards. Checked your post history. This is pretty much all you do on reddit:
You are clearly a grade A CUNT despite your shitty religion.
Youve never tripped out have you
Yes that is what religion is to a lot of people. Sadly those reasons are naive and precisely what a teenager would come up with after despising Sunday school. It is no secret that organized religion has failed to teach people and is churning out nihilistic science atheists by the millions. The truth is that religion teaches you moral truths about life and the human condition that you cannot find anywhere else. You don’t see the benefits to religion because you are ignorant to how much it has transformed the world.
You know what, you're right. Maybe I'll move to the Middle East and enjoy how good of a life religion has created over there.
No, instead you are living in the West. A culture deeply imbedded with Judeo-Christian and Hellenistic values that you take for granted and fail to recognize their roots. Or did you really think our legal system came from secular values?
Religion doesn't have to dictate sexuality. You can be religious and still fuck whoever you want. I agree that if you're in a committed relationship it's wrong to cheat but most users here are single.
Practice what you preach then. Are internet points fun for you?
No. But learning is. And that's the point of having a discussion and clarifying points.
I haven't had a cigarette in 2 days and your edgy obvious common sense pisses me off. Basically your writing style doesn't work when you're obviously trying to get upvotes
Nice job. Keep it up. You'll be high on life before you know it.
Exactly what I am gonna do now to calm myself after reading this low effort feel-good bullshit. Over 450 upvotes? Jeez, you cucks!
Good ol vandaalen
Suit yourself bro. Seemed to help a lot of other people