On Excitement, Entitlement, and Enlightenment
Hey, it's the Jona Digest.
This week, I have a rapid-fire succession of mildly valuable ideas for you. They're only mildly valuable because I'm a 20-year-old chap spending Sunday night writing on the internet, what do you expect?
1. Work Creates Excitement, Not Vice Versa
When you feel a little lackluster, your brain will come up with a truly infinite list of things to do to get motivated. Funnily enough, none of them involve working. Today, I almost spent $2,000 on a camera rather than buckling down and doing my task.
Fuck that.
After taking a few breaths and starting with the micro task of the bigger project, the neuro-chemical cascade started flowing, and I was back. If you lack motivation, agree to just work for 5 minutes. If you're not feeling it after 5 minutes, just stop. But you likely won't want to.
2. Kill Entitlement = Peak Performance
Today, I had a flashback to what allowed me to progress rapidly when I first started making YouTube videos.
I remember repeatedly telling myself every single moment of every single day for months: you are not entitled to people paying attention to your ideas, you are not entitled to people paying attention to your ideas, you are not entitled to...
I edited my videos ruthlessly, going from 2 hours of footage down to 7 minutes. I studied influence, writing, and biases for hundreds of hours. Paradoxically, I ended up enjoying myself more because putting my subjective feelings about what was "good" last led to its objective value improving.
3. The Early "Enlightenment" Trap
Over the past year, I read 4 books on spirituality, as well as more than few Bible verses and hundreds of hours of spirituality podcasts. And... I quickly faced a "problem" I never thought about. The more I:
"Let go of worldly ideals..."
"Disempower the ego..."
"Stop letting externalities dictate happiness..."
The more I did that, the less I wanted to pursue conventional goals.
Realizing that being rich and famous won't make you fulfilled BEFORE being rich and famous...is kind of annoying because you don't get the cool part of being rich and famous lol.
I taught myself to cultivate fulfillment and happiness, on command. Though now that I can do that, I am rediscovering an old skill. To let myself crave goals again. Otherwise, I might as well pack up my shit and become a monk.
Life Snapshot
Where
Austin, Texas.
What
Learning about the ins and outs of the podcasting world.
Much love,
Jona