Stop Chasing Excitement!

I am richer than I've ever been.

Why?

I chose to do the boring things more.

Who's this newsletter for?

1. If you need the motivation to do the boring stuff and discipline yourself enough to get off the easy route, this newsletter will motivate you to take the first step and stay on it.

2. If you are feeling burned out at a job you have no passion for, you will see why you must take time to figure out how to balance making a living and finding a passion after reading this.

3. If you are already on a path of aligning your passion with the boring stuff that makes it marketable but are seeking a reminder that you're on the right track, this newsletter will inspire you to keep going.

I share my story to show you my experience with choosing the boring path within a career I'm passionate about.

I stopped depending on constant stimulation and entertainment to feel good about myself.

Even those things that used to make me feel good about myself started making me feel bad because I felt too idle and useless.

I mean watching movies and scrolling on social media.

There was a time when I wished I had a smartphone or could afford the data to continue watching funny videos on social media.

There was a time when I sneaked to use my father's portable DVD player to watch movies.

I was a child in this period.

But I watched several movies and series from that time till recent times.

I could also afford to scroll as long as I wanted.

Since I could choose my working hours and I was done with school, I found myself addicted to scrolling and watching movies.

I even had a period when I went back to playing video games on my phone.

I also had a moment when I wasn't addicted but was still playing the games, but it still felt unsatisfying.

Another thing I used to enjoy was going to parties.

Sometimes, I would even stay overnight.

My main purpose, though, was to pick up girls.

After a while, I didn't enjoy these parties as much as I did before and didn't like the vibe I was getting.

Everything felt fake.

Also, I was losing money.

Eventually, I concluded that endless fun in a society that's built to drain you financially is dangerous.

I also realized that most things we see as fun today are unnatural.

The fact that you can sit down and have fun and you're not doing much other than moving your finger to press your phone is concerning.

Many other fun activities from the past would exhaust you physically.

People had to dance, go outside, sing, talk to someone, etc.

Some things we do a lot of today, like partying, drinking, and losing sleep are unsustainable activities.

These fun activities are more dangerous because we no longer have strong communities.

Strong communities have discipline and structure that quickly curb or stop addictive behavior.

When I think of strong communities, I imagine tribal societies, and I would be using them as an example.

Imagine if your friend or brother woke you up by 6 AM because the tribe was going hunting and gathering for the day.

Then you all come back by 6 PM and join a small celebration with the other tribe members.

It would be almost impossible for anyone to be alone and be drinking 24/7 in that sort of community.

I am someone who believes communities that share some values with most healthy tribal societies are the best to live in.

The values I'm talking about are healthy relationships, close friendships, physical activities in nature, valuing each person's company over material things, and engaging in fun communal activities, among others.

We don't have these values in most capitalist societies.

That's why I decided to embrace a monkish mindset.

I believe that thinking like a monk is the best way to survive the mess that capitalism is.

Otherwise, there are a lot of dangers that could consume you.

I'm talking baby mama drama, an unhealthy sex need, addiction to harmful substances, imprisonment, STDs, etc

Many of these dangers are attracted little by little.

They just don't spring up on you.

They are usually attracted to a mindset that believes that life is about fun.

Once I recognized this, I realized that I must have a disciplined mindset.

Because the consequences of freedom and fun are too great in a world that would crucify you before hearing your story.

Though society constantly lures you to do things that are worth reproach, it would isolate you for condemnation when your "transgressions" are discovered.

A good percentage of people will look down on you for not having money or being a virgin, especially if you're older than 30 and a man.

And society makes having food and losing your virginity much harder than it should be for the average individual.

In the past, it was quite straightforward.

Many tribal societies would assist their people to lose their virginity by making arrangements.

It was even celebrated and encouraged.

Also, men and women didn't have to wait till they finished school and gained enough accomplishments to merit marriage.

They didn't have to suppress their sexual needs for years after their hormones became very active.

Now, we blame women for being cheap and blame men for not being successful at sex.

But if you lose patience and go and rob a bank or get too aggressive with showing your interest in someone of the opposite sex, you will be judged very heavily.

Society makes crime attractive in movies and other platforms but will be fast to crucify you if you get caught.

We don't consider the fact that most of the time, what we put in is what we put out.

And a society with no drugs will not have a drug abuse problem.

Your mind will stick more to what you listen to or see than what you don't.

All these problems spring from how we worship money, vanity, and individualism while neglecting communal values and appreciating our fellow men.

I feel most capitalist societies create very difficult situations and push us to crave self-sabotaging behaviors because of the void that's left from choosing materialistic, extrinsic goals over spiritual, intrinsic goals.

I believe this chaotic reality is worsened by sophisticated laws.

I feel the following factors cause our laws to be more sophisticated.

Why our laws are sophisticated.

1. We study law in schools and have had enough time to think up more laws.

2. The frequency of crimes is higher due to a larger population—which further brings closer attention to every little action). For example, traveling between countries was not as complicated as it is today. But because many people have attempted to travel through borders with banned goods and many have ended up becoming terrorists at their destinations, they had to make tighter laws.

3. We now have the internet, where many negative and judgemental opinions are shared regularly. People judge others for so many things. In the past, a man could leave his wife for another woman without being chastised by a great number of people. Now it's more likely that a lot of people will know and blame you for every little thing you do, whether it's leaving your wife, firing an employee, or being seen with a little child that's not yours.

The world doesn't want to know why you left your wife. People will criticize you before they find out if she is the problem.

People will criticize the older man trying to find out why a child is alone to help it find its parents before they understand why he's doing it.

Criticize first. Ask questions last.

So it's never advisable to follow the crowd or allow yourself the leisure of doing whatever you like.

Freedom today is an illusion.

Harsh criticism, punishment, and freedom of speech have replaced authoritarian laws.

Anyone can bring up lies and send you to prison.

This is a big danger for men.

Many men have been accused of sexual assault and punished without enough proof.

It's very advisable to know that freedom is not only an illusion but very dangerous.

And the same society that encourages you to explore your freedom will nail you to the cross the moment you exercise your freedom to a point it's not comfortable with.

Considering all this, I think it's wise to approach freedom with caution.

The world is not as glamorous as we think.

Its dangers are more damaging than what we had in a primitive environment because they're not obvious.

Instead of robbing you with guns, society will lure you to marry and lose half your stuff in divorce.

Society will tell you you're free but lure you into prison with tempting, attractive offers.

It's best to see these traps for what they are.

What this means for someone who wants to live a great life is to develop a disciplined life that is detached from the consequences of reckless freedom.

It's to develop a mindset that's averse to the sweet freedom that secretly traps people and enslaves them financially and physically (as in prison).

No, I won't be chasing the sweet pleasures because I know that every bite of chocolate is a doorway to seeking more pleasures.

Every time I say yes to a "harmless" guilty pleasure, I condition my mind to be weak and dependent on consumption.

Over-dependence on consumption can lead to many problems.

1. Debt and spending too much.

2. Being a burden to others. Excessive consumers usually turn to beggars and leaches

3. Addiction.

4. Mental weakness. A mind that's constantly consuming can easily identify as a victim. A producer gets things done regardless of problems.

5. Attraction to crime. Once you believe life is about consumption, you begin to get stimulated by rarity because the common things don't appeal to you anymore. Not only will you crave expensive things. You will also crave things that are frowned upon by the law. The thrill of getting away with something dangerous will appeal to you.

Your mind is a sponge that just wants to keep soaking up pleasure and thrills.

The natural world and lifestyle are best for containing the mind.

The danger of unexpected attacks from wild animals.

The great influence of speaking or vibing with someone in person.

The physical toll of walking to the river to get water.

All these things are the natural things that keep your mind in check.

But when we look at the artificial world we've created, we'll see why it's very dangerous to just let your mind go unguarded.

There's an excess of a variety of things, including food, communication, entertainment, porn, work, progressions, money, etc.

A tribal man never has to worry about what a million people are buying on Instagram.

A native Indian from the past will have to work extra hard to get fat because their cultures are mostly about motion and not having too much excess.

Comfort is killing us, and too much of anything is dangerous.

I think the problem of the modern mental health industry is they lie that the individual is the problem.

I might be wrong, but I believe it's more about the environment than the individual.

Your mind should be guarded jealously.

The three lifestyles that help you protect your mind.

1. Living in a very natural environment and with people who have traditional values, like a tribal society or a village.

2. Living like a monk while in the city.

3. Focusing on work and boring stuff and treating them like a monk would treat meditation.

You can embrace discipline and restrain your mind from soaking up all the harmful things in society.

This last option is what I've chosen to embrace.

What does embracing discipline mean for me?

It just means I work a lot.

You have to be focused on something external that keeps you going.

For me, it's my goal.

Financial, artistic, and relationship goals.

Then I squeeze fun into my schedule.

I make sure I'm always working towards a goal, whether it's in music, writing, or relationships.

Some people might call it slavery or tedious.

For me, I think it is happiness and freedom.

Because it makes me free of my cravings for a while.

Einstein agrees with my idea about goals.

He said, "If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things."

Society tries to make you believe happiness lies in consumption.

It's a lie created to keep us buying and spending.

Happiness truly lies in creating and contentment.

A mind that's heavily dependent on consumption is never satisfied.

A mind that loves creating is accustomed to focusing on the moment and enjoying the journey.

The key is to have a better attitude towards your work and to actually do work you love.

To do work you love, you have to make sure your work is free of annoying people and is flexible.

You don't want to work for an annoying boss or not be able to take a break from work every few months.

Also, you have to stick to work that aligns with your core values.

As an online freelance writer and an independent artist, I work whenever I want and don't have to work with annoying people.

I am grateful for my lifestyle.

However, it took sacrifice and refusing to follow the path that was laid out for me.

I left the university before I got my degree because I didn't feel fulfilled with the life I was living.

I don't want to say I dropped out because that has a negative ring to it.

It's even better to say I let the university go because it wasn't serving a good purpose in my life.

I didn't see a future in working with a degree and dressing up to go to an office every morning.

My soul connected more with an artistic route.

I didn't care if I had to live on the farm and own little.

I preferred that route to slaving every day at a job I hated.

Plus the egoistic need to feel accomplished or high in life because I got a degree did not appeal to me.

I preferred to be actually educated than to have a paper that proved I was.

You only live once, right?

You came to life alone, and you would have to go alone.

Nobody makes the rules or has the answers to what life is about.

It's a personal story you tell yourself.

It's left to me to tell my story.

And my story follows the path of being true to myself and thinking for myself regardless of what the crowd is doing.

I love my work, I would rather do it every day and want to do it every day than do a job I can't wait to escape from.

So I do my work and make music at home from morning till around 5 pm every day.

Then it's time for outdoor fun till around 8/9 pm.

When I come back at night, it's time for conversations with my loved ones till I sleep or pick up another goal if I can't sleep.

Sundays, however, are a little different since I use it as a time for dates with my girlfriend.

As you can see, it appears that I have a good balance of work and fun.

And here's how I got where I am today.

I prioritize work I enjoy and create time for fun.

If I had focused on fun, I could have overdosed on fun and remained broke.

I mean overdose as in consuming so much fun that I'm killing my drive, my tolerance for challenges, and my health.

Seeking fun or the easy way out is a fast route to addiction and self-sabotaging behavior.

I believe seeking the boring stuff within a controlled environment is the best way to survive the modern world.

You don't have to do the job you hate.

However, the job you love will eventually become the job you hate once you've done it enough.

What will keep you going is if you choose to embrace the boring stuff.

I have stuck with a niche of writing I loved at the beginning but later got tired of.

I stuck with it till I loved it again.

Now, even if I don't always love it, and I sometimes dread it, it offers me a chance to live a balanced life.

Also, the decision to be an adult and make the tough decision of going back to the same work every day keeps me active.

It energizes me and keeps me tough enough to make other serious life decisions.

I don't completely run away from the tough decisions because I wake up every day to do a job I sometimes find boring.

It's different from a mostly stressful job.

There has to be a balance between doing the difficult things and doing what you love

If you lean too much to one side, it can be disastrous.

Don't chase the sugar nor the bitter kola.

Instead, you get sugary fruits sometimes, you get the bitter kola sometimes, and you have a menu that's mostly filled with regular food that's not too sweet or bitter.

That's how you treat work.

Choose the boring work you have a passion for.

Don't choose the work you have no passion for just because it earns you more money.

Don't choose the work you enjoy and have no way of making good money from.

For example, to make money from playing video games, you won't be playing video games offline and expecting people to find you and pay you for it.

To make money from video games, you have to build an audience online or do some other things that require more serious work.

It's not so effortless like just playing video games.

Learn to do the boring stuff by embracing patience.

People who have no patience and wish to get money fast will never like the boring stuff.

This is how many people fail in life.

The money is in the boring stuff.

Other things might make you money fast, but they won't help you develop the kind of resilience and discipline you need to live a rich, healthy life.

And when you choose a job you have no passion for, you are choosing a lifeless path.

You want your soul to be alive.

So be patient, but don't be too patient that you allow your soul to die almost completely.

Do the boring stuff within the occupation you have passion for.

A disclaimer: all this is just fancy English for those seeking food and are too poor to afford basic things.

Those who are in this category will be forced to do anything to survive.

My message is not for these people.

If you find yourself in this situation, it's advisable to get your head above water first before exploring your options.

But once you get your head above water, make sure you create enough time for what you have passion for.

Because you will eventually get money.

But what memories will you have along the way?

What level of satisfaction will you have?

So money is great, but time is important too.

If all you chase is money, you will eventually get the money and get bored.

You will feel a space inside that can only be filled with a path that's deeply, internally rewarding.

So choose wisely, when you can.