Post: #1

So a conversation with fellow RVFer brought back memories of a better time and clearer headspace. A few drinks and volumes of smoke later, I sit here with friends talking about the fragility of mankind and taking drunken stabs at the abyss.

What makes a man great? What makes him powerful beyond measure? The Super-motherfuckin-alphas that bestrode the Earth,the übermenschen who carved their names in history...were they mere byproducts of chance and circumstance, or is there a common bottomline somewhere? Alexander,Gandhi, Ogilvy, Schopenhauer, Einstein, Jordan...

Can you and I become as great as them, or are we consigned to a lesser existence?
Are we so short,fat,ugly,stupid,bald, luckless,and talentless that we will live a mediocre life, never rising above the hordes?
Do we fight and die for our rightful place in history, or do we become mute spectres taking solace in the comfort of our stations?

How do we become extraordinary?
There may be no single answer.

Just as we tailor the various tenets of game to suit our individual preferences, maybe we should find our own ways of becoming great.

One underlying characteristic that most, if not all, of the folks i admire, is discipline. Mountains of it.

We all possess certain amounts of self control, but are we total masters of our will and ego? Are we really doing everything imaginably possible to get to where we want to be?

It is so fucking easy to give up, to consign our goals to the future, to give in and masturbate to ideas and events and videos, to live vicariously through the eyes of others.

To quote a man I admire, "Are you willing to sacrifice who you are, to become who you want to be?"

Are you so sick of yourself and your excuses that you would rather hang yourself than continue your sheltered existence? Or would you rather carry on being reasonably happy, numbing the edge off of that pinprick of unease you get once in a while when you catch yourself introspecting and thinking about the future?

Inebriation has a way of silencing the noise in my life, so here are three things I intend to change right away.

1- Quit smoking, cold turkey - I have smoked close to 4500 pots of hookah in the past 5 years, every single day, come rain or shine. I stop doing that right here, right now.

2- Develop atleast 5 A+ contacts in the industry that I am working in.

3- Increase my income by 50% by February 15th, 2014.


This is not a motivational post. I really want to know what you think.
If tomorrow was the last day of your life, what is the ONE thing you wish you had achieved? What are you doing right now towards achieving it?



Vielen danke, Walderschmidt

Post: #2

Produced more. Music, leads, businesses.

Great post man.. Discipline is the underlying factor in all success stories, one's I respect anyways.

From Frank Lucas to Rocky Aoki.

Thanks for a reminder. + 1

Post: #3

It's 'vielen Dank' man, 'thanks' is a noun here.
Also I'm sort of impressed that you've smoked hookah so frequently and with such volume that you consider yourself a smoker. That's pretty cool. You must own a pretty badass hookah to get used that often and not break.

Post: #4

(11-07-2013 01:23 PM)Hades Wrote:  It's 'vielen Dank' man, 'thanks' is a noun here.
Also I'm sort of impressed that you've smoked hookah so frequently and with such volume that you consider yourself a smoker. That's pretty cool. You must own a pretty badass hookah to get used that often and not break.

Yes, thanks, I was drunk so forgive the error.

It was a custom made crystal hookah pot with stained glass bottom and a pure silver chillum. I gave it off on the 4th to a friend.

The first day was fine.
Insomnia struck the second day. I've been acid refluxing. Threw up today, burning throat throughout the week.

Have been randomly daydreaming about hookah, reliving the old memories. Also intense irrational anger.....last time this happened was during a no fap challenge.... I used to think the aggression was due to increased testosterone....or something. Seems the aggression switch is almost wholely in the brain.

Also when I'm not dreaming about hookah, I'm pretty intense. My workoutsve been better, my self confidence has slightly improvedi'm seeing almost Identical symptoms and gains that I had during no fap.

Only things diffeent are that my lungs are no longer throbbing with pain.

Maybe a large part of "habits" or "addictions", atleast not those ones that are very physically overpowering, are in the brain. Something I've taken for granted but the significance kinda increased over this week.

Maybe there's a Gollum in all of us, lookin for his "preciousssss" all along. Maybe the things that we get hooked onto, whatever they may be, beguile us with their promises of power, and good things, and advancements, and once we get used to the "precious", we refuse to let go, even long after we've become mere hollow shells chasing the ghosts of power and old promises.

Maybe burning down these things is the answer, maybe losing your mind as it tries to convince you that alls well is the right thing to do, maybe, as Tyler Durden said, self improvement is really masturbation, while self destruction...

Maybe.

Post: #5

Plus one on this thread.

Bold and determined blog is a good one to check out.

Post: #6

(11-10-2013 03:53 PM)Bricks Wrote:  Plus one on this thread.

Bold and determined blog is a good one to check out.

Cool blog reference, thanks

Been travelling extensively for 8 days, happily coinciding with quitting the smoke.
Reached home today, and it was like a sex starved lunatic on no fap coming home to naked females.
So many relics of the hookah still remain, so many memories, so many experiences. Wish there was something that could map brain activity during this time, I think I lost a last shred of sanity today.
My brain was like a crazy teenager, massive mood swings. After more than 700 straight days of daily smoking, I've survived 9 fuckin days of abstinence.

Sat down in a dark room, brewed myself a cup of black coffee, and just stared blankly. Watched the fumes rise out, smelling the coffee.
What was a relief at coming home soon turned to a vile ball of emotion.
Almost, almost broke down and went to a hookah place.

I swear I could smell grape and apricot flavoured fumes in the room. Hallucinations, perhaps?
If the first week was hard, this is hell.
Between delusions of grandeur and paroxyms of rage, I was reduced to a senseless mass of twisting,writhing cognitive and emotional dissonance.

People fight wars for an abstract cause and survive concentration camps, and here I am, unable to fuckin break a simple habit.
Shackled by a resistance to change and a loathing of self.

Its all in the mind, they say.
A diseased mind.

Post: #7

Self-discipline is important when trying to maintain weight or reach your weight-loss goals. Eating healthy and getting routine exercise can be challenging, and you will need self-discipline and willpower to stay focused. Making sure you have some type of plan in place will make it easier for you to stay regimented and on task. Finding support, especially when your willpower is tested, can help shift your focus back to reaching your goals.

Post: #8

With respect to "extraordinary" or other legendary heights, one must ponder the context: Legendary to OTHERS.

If you are remembered for your greatness, you are remembered by other people. Only these other people can carry on the stories of your greatness. To them, your legacy matters, perhaps.

Problem is, THEY don't matter.

What difference does it make if you are "remembered" or not? What difference is it if anyone on the face of the earth was 'impressed' with you in any way, or not? Any efforts or disciplines towards greatness of this effect is simply vanity. Now, vanity is fine, and normal, but what is being discussed here is focusing massive energy and discipline to achieve shit so that others (people you don't know and don't care about) will be aware of you in some positive light.

If you want to do tons of self-discipline, do it for your own gratification- whether it is mastering bad habits, mastering your body in training... even mastering your speech, such as not using certain terminology anymore... just do it because it pleases you. Do it for your own gratification and satisfaction, even as you know that no one gives a shit whatsoever.

Everybody else is already wrapped up in their own vanities, and those who worship celebrity are empty-headed anyway.

Do what you love, and do it well, and be excellent for its own sake.

Let history take care of itself. You won't even be here for it.



rock

Post: #9

Not necessarily.
Different people are driven by different things.
People can be driven by greed, lust, fear, insecurity, survival, love, curiosity, revenge, competition etc.

While it may be theoretically possible for everyone to compete with themselves and achieve a zen-like mastery over oneself and be in complete control of one's desires, I'm not entirely sure that's the best thing to aim for all the time.

Emotions and insecurities can be very effective if channeled properly, and there are countless examples of how humans have transcended perceived limits in the throes of faith, emotion, insecurities and competition.

Like Michael Jordan(or Will Smith or whoever)said, "Every time you don't push hard enough, every time you take your foot off the pedal, remember that there is someone out there who's working harder to be better than you."

Humans are social creatures, and like it or not, most of us ARE driven by competition. Other people, no matter how punitive, do count.

In that context, aspiring to be "Legendary" with respect to others is a worthy goal for many people.

There will, of course, be no single universal answer. Except perhaps the fact that struggle, whether self inflicted or necessiated by the environment, is crucial to forge one's own identity and realize whatever end goals one sets for oneself.

Anyway,

1- stop smoking --- failed.
2- develop contacts --- check
3- increase income by 50% --- check.

Belated Happy New Year's to all the forum members. Hope y'all have a prosperous 2014.

Post: #10

Everyone was born with a different potential. No, not everyone can be "great". The greats are a combination of potential in the field that they are renowned in (e.g. Einstein had the potential to be intelligent), hard work, and luck. Take away any one of the three and they would be nobody.

Just because a person cannot be great doesn't mean that person is hitting their max though. Work to hit your own max.

Post: #11

You're on the right track. Just give up the idea that you are __________ (fill in the blank) or that you need to be as great as _________ (fill in the blank). Those people are only great because we say they are. But we, as a society, don't talk about the everyday great people who raise good families, save lives, or build a better hookah.

To get over weed; make note of every time you feel the desire to smoke, (whether you smoke or not) try to placate that desire with something healthy (a walk, etc), eventually you will re-program your brain to associate that desire with something healthy.

Post: #12

Well to each his own I suppose.
Some interesting perspectives for sure, thanks.

@JT - Its funny you wrote that bit about reprogramming the brain, I was thinking on the exact same lines yesterday.

Anyway, going off this thread for another 50 days(26 March) now

1- quit smoking, cold
2- get back to peak fitness circa 2010 days----fit enough to run the city Marathon coming April
3- see tangible physical changes with meditation (wtf.)
4-get better clarity on my short term career goals post August...hopefully I'll be going back to school.