Summary:

Bullshit, mass persuasion, and solutions are on the agenda for you today. Buckle up Buckaroo.

Today you’ll learn:

  • Fear and How I Got that Scar on my Face
  • How The Film Industry Transformed John Ford into a Badass
  • Why Being a Nice Guy Stems from Fear
  • Developing Fearless: Stories from Hemingway, Churchill, and 50 Cent

Born Into Fear

If we ever Skype you might notice that I have a permanent scar on the right side of my forehead.

Here’s the story:

When I was young I got in a severe accident. It’s one of my earliest memories. I was maybe 6 years old and I was riding my bike down ill. I had no helmet.

I'm going full speed down a big hill. I kept going faster and I got nervous.

In a panic, I grabbed the left-hand break, which was a big mistake. Because the bike's left-hand break connects to the front wheel...

Going full speed I locked my front wheel, flipped into the cement and... bashed my skull in…

All I remember is my vision being covered in blood. And my Dad carrying me away.

I was rushed to the hospital and recovered. No serious injury, but it scarred my face. If you see me, you’ll see the scar on the right corner of my forehead. All because of that one day.

I didn’t ride a bike for the next 10 years… Seriously, I was terrified of bikes.

I’m sure there were other reasons why I grew up fearful but I don’t remember the other incidents. My limbic system does, though.

I know what it’s like to be born into my own self-made prison of fear.

The journey to fearlessness requires you to rewire your brain to take on risks.

In What Every Body Says, Joe Navarro writes that our limbic system acts like a scoreboard. It remembers painful incidents and as a result subconsciously shies away from them.

We don’t forget these scenarios. That time a girl rejected you? Yea your brain remembers.

We’re also taught from a young age to be afraid of strangers. We’re in school for 12 years and constantly indoctrinated to stay still and fit in.

Is it any wonder why so many of us are born into fear? We’re pushed bullshit propaganda to make us good “workers”. We’re punished if we try to go against the norm.

My favourite interview question is by Peter Thiel and it’s this:

”What one truth do you believe, that very few people agree with you on?"

My answer is that the K-12 public education system is legalized child abuse.

Remember the first time you realized authorities figures didn’t actually know as much as they claimed? But we still have years of consumerism programmed into us. They’ve shoved that blue pill down our throats for years. Making us see reality not for what it is but for how we would best serve society.

That’s why so many people love TRP. It’s gives you a realist view of how society and sexual relationships work.

The sidebar is real eye-opener when it comes to relationships. But sometimes reading isn’t enough. Sometimes you need experiences to change your life.

Below is a story of how one guy changed his life to become one of the most successful Hollywood Directors ever.

How The Film Industry Transformed John Ford into a Badass

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the film industry.

On a well-run film set, the director is the captain. Everyone else is his first mate.

The director has a lot of pressure. He must get good performances from actors, keep his crew in line, and finish on budget and on schedule.

Basically, it’s almost impossible for a blue pill director to be successful in the business. The director is constantly pulled by forces that want to ruin him.

He must be as strong as possible else he’ll create a subpar product.

But if you stay with it, the film industry might just make you into the badass you knew you always were.

Beta Directors Don’t Last in Hollywood… You Either Go RedPill or Bust

"For it is a general rule of human nature that people despise those who treat them well and look up to those who make no concessions." -Thurydides

Here’s the story of John Ford, the famous Western and Action Movie Director.

Contrary to popular belief he actually started his career as a sensitive and empathetic guy. However, he soon realized that if he revealed this side of him to actors and producers that he would quickly lose control over the final product.

Actors and producers would begin to assert themselves and the film would lose cohesion. He also noticed that notoriously nice directors never lasted in the industry and tended to make mediocre films.

Early on in his career, he decided he would do whatever it takes to make great films.

For filmmaking, he had to change his whole personality.

Instead of being the nice guy, John Ford became an impossible to please and frightening director.

But he didn’t lead from back, he led from the front. He would work longer hours than anyone else. He would sleep in rough conditions and eat the same food as everyone else.

He’d even get into fights with leading actors such as John Wayne. These weren’t for show, they were full on fights when the actors went all prima donna.

He had a unique way of directing. He followed law 4: Always say less than necessary.

He would give actors a few words of direction.

And when his actors would screw up or disobey his direction he would handle it. He’d handle it such a way that they would never want to disobey him.

Because if they did the wrong thing on the set, he would humiliate them in front of everyone.

Actors quickly learned to pay attention to the few words he did speak.

He even handed his producers masterfully as well:

Once one of his producers visited the set. He Told Ford that he just wanted to “watch him work”. This is code for a producer to spy and apply pressure on the movie.

Like a true Machiavellian, Ford didn’t say a word. Instead, the next day he went to his producer’s office and sat silently watching him. Eventually, the producer asked him what he wanted and Ford just said he wanted to “watch him work”. His producer never visited him on set again...

All of this a had a strange effect.

You’d think actors would hate working with such a tyrant but they came to love working for him. They would die to gain a place among his film crew. His standards were so high it forced them to work harder. He made everyone better at their jobs.

And when he did compliment the crew, it would be the compliment of a lifetime.

The end result of his tough and unforgiving style let him produce consistently high-quality movies. He lasted in Hollywood for over forty years—which is almost impossible for most directors.

To be a leader you need to get people to do things against their will.

If you have a nice guy demeanor and you’re afraid of displeasing people you will find life very difficult. You’ll struggle to get people to work harder and make sacrifices for you.

But to do that you need to unplug from your desire to please and plug into your desire to get results.

Developing Fearlessness

When I skyped with /u/Clint_redwood I asked him what his favorite life experiences were. He gave me a really fascinating answer.

To be brief, he told me this:

”Near Death Experiences”

I won’t go into detail because he could write about his experience better than I can, but it’s interesting how much value we get out these experiences.

Personally, I can’t tell you how to develop fearlessness because that’s something you learn on your own. I’ve never experienced the fear of going to war, of going bankrupt, or possibly never seeing my children again.

But one day I might and the best thing to do is prepare. Which is why I’ve researched how others have developed fearlessness.

And I’ll share with you stories of how others have conquered fear.

There are three stories that stick out in my mind.

How Facing Death Gave Hemingway, Churchill, and 50 Cent Their Drive To Live

When Hemingway was a young man he was quite bored of life. So he got a job as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross in Italy, at one of the war fronts. He routinely avoided death and the act of facing death was what set him free. It set him free and gave him the spark to write his now famous novels.

“I died then…. I felt my soul or something coming right out of my body like you’d pull a silk handkerchief out of a pocket by one corner.” - Hemingway

But the effect was ephemeral for Hemingway. Every couple years he’d have to do something that would give him a near death experience. He’d do reporting in the Spanish Civil War. Go run with the bulls. Or cover the bloodiest battles of World War II in France.

Facing near-death experience gave Hemingway a heightened appreciation for life and a desire to live it more fully.

This fact comes up time and time again.

Winston Churchill, The Prime Minister of the UK during World War II, started his career in a similar fashion.

He had a thirst for adventure and when he was 21 moved to Cuba to observe the Spanish fight the Cuban Guerillas. And he actually fought against the Cubans and came close to dying. He then moved to India and did similar activities and the act of coming close to death drove him to experience life to the fullest.

50 Cent has a very similar story.

Everyone knows the story of how he got shot 9 times but there’s way more to his life than that. 50 Cent is a ruthless machiavellian. At the age of 8, his mom was murdered and he grew up with his grandparents. He made crazy power plays to make tons of money hustling drugs. And which ultimately got him almost killed.

But it was in his hospital bed when he was on the verge of facing death that his mind changed.

He had cheated death. Of course, for hustlers in the hood, this was no big deal and nobody would feel sorry for him. He had to move on and not look back. In the wake of the shooting, Columbia had canceled his album and dropped him from the label. Despite all that he remained optimistic.

50 cent knew that it was that moment near death that had changed him for good. He could still feel the original sensation in his body, the light, and the shadow, and it filled him with a sense of urgency he had never experienced before as if death were on his heels. In the months before the shooting, everything had been falling apart; now it was all falling into place, like destiny.

The pattern here is that reminders of our deaths are powerful event in our lives. Giving you focus and clarity on what you want out of life.

Memento Mori.

Memento Mori, Latin for remember that you must die, is the medieval Latin theory and practice of reflection on mortality. It is related to the ars moriendi ("The Art of Dying") and related literature. Memento mori has been an important part of ascetic disciplines as a means of perfecting the character by cultivating detachment and other virtues, and by turning the attention towards the immortality of the soul and the afterlife. - Wikipedia

Developing fearlessness to succeed can come from reflecting on our mortality. I’ve used deep visualizations of being on my deathbed with a doctor telling me there’s nothing he can do… And feeling the rage and disappointment of everything I’ve missed out on. I use that rage and that desire to better myself. To push past negative comments and keep hustling.

Hemingway, Churchill, and 50 Cent all went through these periods. And you know what those moments are like. They bring you back down to earth. They give you focus. It’s when we experience darkness that we fully appreciate the light.

And once we realize how miraculous our life is we realize that it’s simply not worth it to sit around and be controlled by our fears.

I love this quote by the African American novelist, James Baldwin who went through hell in his life.

”If one is continually surviving the worst that life can bring, one eventually ceases to be controlled by fear of what life can bring." -James Baldwin

At the end of the day the less you fear, the more power you will have to fully live.

Lessons Learned:

  • We’re born with fear from our childhood
  • The fear to displease people is something you must overcome
  • Hollywood Director John Ford changed his personality to succeed in the industry
  • One way to develop this is to face death
  • Hemingway, Churchill, and 50 cent credit near death experiences for their drive

TL:DR Memento Mori

Have you had any near death experiences? Share them in the comments below.