I Changed My Mindset and Increased My Productivity by Brainwashing Myself

You don’t have free will.

Well, you don’t have as much free will as you think you do. If you want to change your life, change your input.

Garbage in, garbage out. The reverse is true, too.

To change your mind, it's best to essentially brainwash yourself with positive and useful information to drown out the noise and negativity of the world.

Steal one of these techniques.

Take the Red Pill

“The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you’re inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.” — Morpheus

In the classic scene from The Matrix, Morpheus gives Neo two choices — take the blue pill or take the red pill.

If he takes the blue pill, he’ll go back to his normal life, a life of ignorant bliss or ignorant ignorance, depending on how you think about it. If he takes the red pill, he’ll know the truth about the world.

He takes the red pill and he does learn the truth about the world, which ultimately gives him the power to play with the reality of the matrix itself.

That’s what taking the red pill will do for you.

You don’t get to live a successful life without knowing the truth about the world. You’ll have to see the world for what it is, the good, bad, and ugly. To manoeuvre properly, you can’t have your head buried in the sand.

And, honestly, sometimes it sucks to know the truth. When you get deep into self-improvement, study information from different sources, actively try to disconfirm your own beliefs and realize that the answers are always somewhere in the middle, in the grey, you feel alone.

Because 95 per cent of people live in the black and white, either-or, binary world that causes all the problems we’re having today. You will want to shake these people, scream at them, and dump loads of facts and information in front of them. But they won’t listen.

They won’t listen because they are demoralized by propaganda. Fully plugged. Trying to explain propaganda to them would be like trying to tell a fish it lives in water. It’s too late for them. Focus on saving yourself and those who can be saved still.

How to Gain Wisdom

‘Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.

People often tell me I’m wise. I’m not. I just study life, a lot. Spoiler alert — not much about it has changed.

I read a ton, watch videos, listen to audio, etc. I’m constantly on the hunt for information — the truth about the world. Doing this long enough has shown me a narrative that runs counter to the one we have in society.

Society would tell you opportunities are limited. My studies have shown me opportunities are insanely abundant.

Society would tell you that you’re rational. My studies tell me you’re completely irrational, which is something you can use to your benefit by correcting your mental errors and taking advantage of the mental errors of others.

Society tells you to get into debt, become a slave to consumerism, and then complain about your lot in life. My studies have shown me how to build wealth by buying assets.

Basically, once you start to crack open a few books you realize you have the cheat codes to life. You’ll continually think to yourself “How did I not know this? Why didn’t anyone tell me this?”

All the puzzle pieces to a good life will fit together seamlessly and you’ll feel like you know these secrets, except they’re not secrets at all.

Studying these subjects remind you of what you know to be true deep down already. People in society already know, deep down, that the societal narrative is BS. But most are too brainwashed to fully reach that layer in their mind.

If you do reach that layer, keep digging, and protect yourself from the narratives that try to keep you down.

Build a Fortress for Your Mind

“People look for retreats for themselves, in the country, by the coast, or in the hills . . . There is nowhere that a person can find a more peaceful and trouble-free retreat than in his own mind. . . . So constantly give yourself this retreat, and renew yourself.” — Marcus Aureilus

On top of re-programing the narratives in your mind, you’ll have to continue to protect yourself from the narrative every single day. You have to be mindful of your environment.

In the first few years I spent studying life and writing about it, I read more than 100 books, listened to audiobooks on my commute, listened to talks and tapes while I worked out, cleaned, did laundry, everything. I was trying to hammer positive thinking and rationality into my subconscious mind by drilling it over and over and over again.

I’d read the same books three times, watch the same videos dozens of times, I’d study these concepts until I had a deep second-nature understanding of them.

Read the book Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s an autobiography, but it’s a sneakily good self-improvement book — one of the best. Basically, he used the same strategy to get ridiculously strong and applied it to all areas of his life. Reps, reps, reps.

He knew nothing about real estate and went on to own a multi-million dollar portfolio. How? He studied thousands of properties and had conversations with tons of real estate experts. Reps, reps, reps. He wanted to become the highest-paid actor in the world, and he did it. How? With physical training and acting training for roles in action films. Reps, reps, reps.

This is how you become successful in life. You get your reps in. You study and implement it over and over and over again until it works. That’s it.

Move Forward No Matter What

“Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful” — Warren Buffet

The ‘sky has been falling for years now, but I’ve kept moving forward. I chose to focus on a helpful reality instead of living in one where I’m always afraid and terrorized.

As far as my mission in life goes for the foreseeable future, I can only help the curious, the ones on the fence, the ones who can kind of smell BS but still feel trapped by the narrative.

Maybe if we all lead by example we can bring more people into the fold. I’m pessimistic about that, but I’ll try.

I’m going to need your help. The more educated, free, self-directed people in the world, the better.

You’re not just stepping up to the plate for yourself, you’re also stepping up for the world. See, one additional free-thinking successful person means one less brainwashed helpless person.

Let’s start shifting the ratio.