In light of /u/redpillschool’s addition of a building power flair, I thought I’d do a piece on how to achieve that by developing your own voice through genuine thought and reflection.

 

Think For Yourself

In general, I think it’s safe to say that men are driven creatures. We have this internal calling to become better than who we are, and we can feel when the value of our own worth is stagnating. We’re constantly doing things. Something. Anything. So that we feel like society values us. Today, with the advent of the internet, we can absorb a potentially infinite amount of information if we so choose. News, sports, movies, education, celebrity gossip, documentaries, the list goes on. It’s physically impossible to absorb it all. But, who’s to say that men aren’t going to die trying.

 

The problem with all of this information is that by trying to take it all in, we tend to just quickly skim through everything without actually thinking about it and developing our own thoughts on the matter. It results in us saying “oh that’s nice” and forgetting that we ever saw it. Think about it this way: Do you remember three things that were on the front page of reddit yesterday? Thought not.

 

The fallout of this behavior is that we train our minds to become passive—to accept and move on. For those striving to be a cut above their peers, that kind of behavior is unacceptable. If you aren’t able to come up with your own thoughts and ideas on your own, then you’re merely a vessel that’s spreading the ideas of another human being. You’re not contributing anything.

 

So how do you prevent this decay of the mind and prevent yourself from becoming a mindless Facebook reposter? The answer lies in focus and solitude. You must be able to focus on one thing long enough to develop your own genuine ideas about it. This requires patience: A wise man once said to me, “When congress takes excessive amounts of time to pass a bill, you know the democratic system is working.” The more time that a bill spends on the floor, the better the end product will be. And just like federal law, your thoughts need time to develop. This also requires eliminating distractions: That’s what I mean by solitude—consciously putting aside the time to be alone with your thoughts. In a world of distractions, it’s easy to get sidetracked. What you need to do is turn off the music, put your phone in another room, and stop multitasking.

 

A Challenge To You

Sound logic and reason comes only from consistent practice. Whenever you go on Reddit, I challenge you to type out a response to one article that you read. Just one, well thought-out response to whatever it is that you had read. The key is to close of your mind to distractions and stay focused. With time and consistency, you will be better able to think for yourself and act on your convictions, which is a key step in building power.

 

If you'd like to read this post's inspiration, I highly recommend William Deresiewicz's speech named "Solitude and Leadership"