The million dollar question that everyone asks is how do we be attractive. Attractiveness is really just being high value - which many of us know as obvious at this point. Being high value is really just being a action-taking, productive human that is the best version of himself. Let me explain further.

Lacking productivity and worthlessness are the same. Although that may sound like some harsh, capitalistic slogan for corporate America, it’s really just a blunt, but overlooked guiding life principle. I was on Quora and read the question: “What should I start doing in my 20s that I have nothing to regret at 40?” One of the top responses gave the advice to start building. The post goes on to elaborate on reasons why building what you can now allows you to have more leverage in the future. The relationships you build, the portfolios you create, and the skills you develop will compound over time. Future You will then reap the rewards of the work from what is now, present You. It’s an awesome post that I certainly agree with, but this post frames the argument for productivity with tangible benefits to make it more compelling. I realized that aside from those, the contrary to productivity is actually so unpleasant in principle that I had to share my thoughts on it. And yes, the contrary is worthlessness. If you’re not producing, you’re consuming. Unfettered consumption merely draws value out of society while productivity adds.

Attaining success seems so elusive, and marketers are always quick to sell countless, convoluted guidebooks on it, but it all boils down to value. For example, in the dating market, high value or attractiveness is a cocktail of psychological and aesthetic characteristics as determined by the “buyer.” Emotional stability, humor, and style are major pluses. For entrepreneurs, financial success of a business is directly tied to the ability to generate value in the market. Value can be added in increasing efficiency of a process, improving the design of a product, or even complete disruption of an industry through other means. Simply put, just do something that people will want and you’ll get paid. Similarly, living a fulfilled life and being a productive, high value person are inseparable. In fact, it’s a bit reminiscent of some religious anecdotes. In the Bible, Galatians 6:7 says,“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” For the atheists and more secular of readers, I’d recommend you replace God with your preferred noun to describe the Universe — Nature, Life, etc. Then, of course, there’s karma. The simple, yet commonly misunderstood Eastern philosophy concept of cause and effect. I can’t say with any certainty that there are gods in sky, marking the scorecard every time we pay for dinner or penalizing us when we ignore someone’s text. And I’m also pretty ambivalent on the notion that what we do now will affect what our next lives will be. But what I can say with utmost certainty is that if you’re sitting at home watching Netflix in your spare time, and you badmouth your friends constantly, then you’re likely going to continue to drown in a tar pit of self-loathing and persecution. People with good relationships and good intentions in their life will have goodness bestowed upon them. No divine intervention necessary. In physics, Isaac Newton said that for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. This holds true in our lives as well — we kind of all end up getting what we deserve from our actions and intentions.

If you understand value, you’ll understand life. Ecological systems stay balanced because each organism exists and contributes their share. The flower simply blooms and the bees pollinate. The weaker animals graze on the grass, only to be eaten by the stronger ones. As humans, we each possess the potential to produce and create value for our societal ecosystem in various ways. Yet, many choose instead to remain unrelenting consumers, and continue to wonder why they’re not rewarded for their “efforts.” We have people who sit at home reading forum posts and endlessly scrolling on social media sites, who then believe that sporadically stopping people on the streets will change their lives. It probably will if you dedicate yourself to taking action, but it's important to remember that you refurbish your life so that you are high value in every regard. True mastery of yourself and your life will naturally bring you the rewards in dating and whatever else you've desired. Remember that a successful business only attains its position of profitability once it’s producing more than it’s consuming. Profits have to exceed expenses. A tree consumes at first in order to grow, but it then produces fruit. So remember that it takes work and it takes time. Balance your consumption with production. Maximize your usefulness to the world. To not be fully productive in your purpose in this life is to miss the point of life itself. It’s why I wrote this short essay, and it’s why after you read this, you should probably get off your phone and get hustling.