[Menace]

I'm not sure how many of you read the blog Bold & Determined. The proprietor of the blog recently sent out a very topical post on motivation, and it's something I have come to realize as well.

He hasn't put it up on his blog yet, and I don't know if he will, but I think it would be of interest to the guys here.

The following is the content of the e-mail he sent out this morning:

Quote:

Often I hear comments along the lines of “Victor, help! I just can’t find the motivation to ________“.

(Having trouble viewing this email? Click here.)

I have the answer to this dilemma but it may not be the one you’d like to hear. The motivation is already there, but it’s only there for things you truly want or need to do. If you have to find motivation externally then you don’t truly want to do it, whatever “it” is.

I can’t find the motivation to eat peas, I can’t find the motivation to live in Little Rock, Arkansas, and I just can’t seem to find the motivation to punch a time clock for someone else. Because I can’t “find the motivation” I don’t do any of those things and I don’t go looking for motivation to do them. Looking for motivation for something you don’t want to do is a waste of time.

You will either want to do it or not want to do it. When you ask for help “finding motivation” you are just pretending.

“I just can’t find the motivation to get to the gym“.

I can’t find the motivation to stop going to the gym. I’d rather die than stop going to the gym. It would take an act of God to get me to stop going to the gym. Even when I have no energy or “motivation” or my mind is focused on another project I’m still in the gym 3-4 days per week. And wouldn’t you know it? Each time I’m in the gym I see the same people and none of them have a motivation problem. Each time I walk by a McDonalds restaurant I see the same “type” of people and they don’t look like they lack the motivation to eat a supersized #2.

“I just can’t find the motivation to do any entrepreneurial work when I get home from my day job“.

Before I left my last real job I couldn’t find the motivation to stop working on my side project. When I was at my “real” job I was spending all my time selfishly working on my side gig and I would continue working on it all through the night when I was at home. I still can’t find the motivation to stop working independently. Thinking back on the punching a time clock, getting permission to be sick, and dealing with morons daily is enough motivation for me to keep working and making money independently. Looking at the ridiculous lifestyle I have now, compared to 6 or 7 years ago is just mind-boggling. I’m completely free now and I would rather die than go back to being a wage slave. I can’t fathom how people find the motivation to go to a soul-killing job every single day. To me that is insanity. Unless you love your work you should not do it. We live in such a special time in history that you are free to do nearly anything you want, I guess it just so happens that most people want to take orders and be given a paycheck. That’s fine for them, but they look like the living dead to me and I don’t need any extra motivation to not be like them.

“I can’t find the motivation to practice playing guitar“.

That’s because you don’t want to play the guitar. Stop pretending.

“I can’t find the motivation to lose weight“.

That’s probably because you’re a lazy slob. I can’t find the motivation to go on daily donut binges, as a consequence I’m not a fatass.

“I can’t find the motivation to wake up early“.

That’s because you have nothing to wake up for. I can’t find the motivation to stay in bed all day.

So how do you find the motivation, really find the motivation, to live your life the way you want to?

#1 Be honest

There’s no need to pretend you want to do something just because other people want to do it. All I want in life is to be jacked, make money, be free and be served by a sexy girl or two. I don’t need to find the motivation to accomplish these things, I’m driven to do them. I can’t not do them, and I don’t give much of a damn about anything else. You can call me small-minded, I only want a few things in life, I have them, I won’t let them disappear and it just doesn’t matter to me who agrees or disagrees with me.

#2 Go for it

You don’t need permission to go after what you want. If you require permission then you will not get what you want. You’ve got to go for it, you’ve got to take it, and you’ve got to stop caring what other people think. You’ve got to put a boot to the ass of anyone who is trying to naysay or stop you from achieving. Make your ears deaf to their nonsense.

#3 Don’t quit

What is it they always say? Quitters never win and winners never quit. I tried to do a million entrepreneurial gigs before and I quit all of them. There are only two entrepreneurial gigs that I never quit and I’ll be damned but I have lived off of the income from those two for many years. All the nonsense I tried to do before I didn’t really care about so sooner or later I gave up and quit.

I’m not the smartest or most capable man in the world, I’m not even the 2nd smartest or most capable man in the world. The only thing I have going for me is that when I am fired up I will never quit. I’ll go the edge of the earth for something I believe in. I will go broke for something I believe in. I will risk anything and everything for something I believe in. Because of this my life is comical in it’s abundance. I look around at everything I have and everything I’m able to do and I start laughing sometimes at what I have been able to accomplish and how I have paid for everything without having a job. I start laughing at how I used to sit in my tiny apartment with a notepad dreaming up ways to leave the rat race and be as free as I am right now. I’m not a humble guy but it truly is humbling to think about how my life turned out exactly the way I dreamed it would many, many years ago and it’s only because I didn’t quit two projects.

It is only when you have fire for a project that you cannot quit, there is no option to quit. Rather than trying to force motivation you should only work on projects that fire you up. You’ll save yourself a ton of time and heartache. If you’ve got to force motivation then you should just go ahead and say “no”. It’s only when you can’t stop working on something that you are going to get the benefit from it.

When you’fe fired up about something, take it to the extreme.

There is no need to “find motivation”. The motivation is already there. Your motivation just may be different to someone else’s motivation. I see a lot of people who are motivated to watch television and eat potato chips all day. Fine for them. Is it fine for you?

-Victor Pride

[Beyond Borders]

Awesome. I needed this right now.

[NFallin]

Danger and Play and Bold and Determined have become my gospels. I sat down with my family at Christmas and told them to heed the words of the new saints.

The wealth of wisdom within these two blogs is outstanding. Can't thank these guys enough.

But it really just boils down to: be a man, control your emotions, cultivate your priorities, take action, and kill it.

[Phoenix]

Have any of you guys been following BoldAndDetermined recently?

I think the dude is going actual crazy. I think he's unplugged himself from reality too long. Listen to his audio introduction to his new book. Read his posted glossary for his new book. All sounds like a bunch of jibberish, talking about shoguns and samurai and sharks, and calling your office random things like 'laboratory' or 'war room'.

Quote:

SHARK – A high-flying businessman who plays the game and never stops moving forward. Another word for ronin or shogun. Sharks are black and white but only on the surface. The shark’s human name is Shark Jackson.

Black and white is part of his new ranting about living in B&W versus "full color", and his flip-flopping back and forth from his blog name (Victor Pride) and his real name. He doesn't sound coherent anymore at all.

Dude also posted how he just his the $1M income mark from his books, which is awesome. Still I think someone needs to check in on him and make sure everything is OK upstairs.

[Valentine]

Dude bought too much into his own marketing. Stopped reading him about two years ago when every single article became about motivation. Typical internet marketer tactics. Also reminds me of another marketer who I stopped reading because he'd turn loads of every day behaviours into some unique brand word.

[britchard]

I have stumbled across his site quite a few times, but was immediately turned away by the pretty awful site design. When I tried to read an article, everything would just feel wrong! The colours, the font, the spacing, just everything. What's funny is that this is the guy who told Cernovich that his site looked like crap as some constructive criticism (when Danger and Play first started out), and admittedly it did look like crap, but his own website looks like a pile of steaming horse shite.

[Sooth]

I thought I was the only one. Hes been doing some really weird shit lately. It's painful because I've read him for a long time. One of his last youtube videos got more dislikes than likes. I sent him a message a few months ago.



I'm half way through his new book at the moment but struggling to pick it back up.

Every empire falls eh.

[Nascimento]

Yeah. There's some solid content on there from his first few years. But lately, nothing worth reading.

I stopped reading him at least a year ago. It started to spiral even before that.

[Sooth]

I get the feeling that he doesn't have any friends that he can talk to, that's why I mentioned Cernovich in my message as I know they were close for a bit.

Hes doubling down on being better than everyone else.

[Roosh]

There is a point where a writer or teacher shares everything he knows about a topic. From the outside in you see a "decline", but understand that the internet requires a man to produce content indefinitely. This is not sustainable. If I didn't have a community forum and ROK, where other writers can submit, you'd see the same "decline" with me as well. I highly doubt my post-game topics will see as much popularity, especially since I was into game when it was a big trend.

[zoom]

I also stopped reading his stuff a long time ago. He seems arrogant and rarely ever offers any concrete advice, only abstract 'motivational' writing. I also can't take any man seriously who posts duck face selfies of themselves.

[stefpdt]

Victor Pride has proven that anyone from the West can start a website and become a millionaire with some persistence and effort.

That's the underlying value that I've taken away from his stuff.

I appreciate his work.

Also, most successful people are forced to be kinda crazy/obsessive/out there to get results.

Thx for posting. I like the email.

[Sooth]

Dumb comments from myself above. I should have listened to his podcasts past the strange intro chanting video.

Listening to them now and this is exactly what I was hoping from him and why I was a bit disappointed to see weird vocals in the intro video.

I remember a video he did where it was just him looking directly into the camera on a push bike and straight talking like hes doing now. It was absolutely fantastic. I have no doubt that the decline I pointed out won't continue. Awesome and inspiring. He has huge vision and I live the idea of him gathering like minded guys and working for some bigger purpose.

[philosophical_recovery]

I bought NWR and have been enjoying the podcasts that I have watched.

I don't have the same life goals or plans as him but he's going to help me step up my entrepreneurial game.

Honestly, I enjoy the over-the-top attitude that he has. It's refreshing because that's just HIM. Same with Cernovich. Same with Roosh.

[Seth_Rose]

(12-11-2016 08:36 PM)Sooth Wrote:  

Dumb comments from myself above. I should have listened to his podcasts past the strange intro chanting video.

Listening to them now and this is exactly what I was hoping from him and why I was a bit disappointed to see weird vocals in the intro video.

I remember a video he did where it was just him looking directly into the camera on a push bike and straight talking like hes doing now. It was absolutely fantastic. I have no doubt that the decline I pointed out won't continue. Awesome and inspiring. He has huge vision and I live the idea of him gathering like minded guys and working for some bigger purpose.

Your initial reactions were not too far off. For over a year his content fell way off. He rarely posted and was forcing content. After releasing New World Ronin he has really bounced back.

There's still too much motivation stuff for my liking and he can be a bit over the top, but his content as of late has been good and looks like he has reinvented himself.

[The Man w/ the Golden Gun]

(12-11-2016 09:00 PM)philosophical_recovery Wrote:  

Honestly, I enjoy the over-the-top attitude that he has. It's refreshing because that's just HIM. Same with Cernovich. Same with Roosh.

That over-the-top stuff speaks to me. I just got around to listening to Bold and Determined's stuff. Nick talks a lot about MOTION nowadays after writing New World Ronin. He's opened up my eyes to the importance of motion, and I had a revelation about motion yesterday:

To start the day, I hit the gym for shoulder day. I've been focusing on slowing down each of my reps (especially on the eccentric) because I know this will help me grow. I felt I had been working out forever, but my workout was only for about an hour.

After lunch, I went to study for the GMAT. Took a practice test and did pretty well. The whole test is about 4 hours, but it certainly felt longer than that.

Time seemed to go so slowly when I was crushing my workout. Time seemed to go slowly for my test.

People say that time flies when you have fun...but it seems like it slows down when you're in motion.

I've heard countless athletes mention that when they're at the top of their game, they see everything in slow motion-and they can anticipate the next 2, 3, or 4 moves ahead. When you're in motion, everything else seems slower.

You know who also experiences a warped perception of time? Astronauts. These scientists and explorers experience time slower than you or I do. (For fellow nerds, the lingo is "time dilation")

The International Space Station flies around the Earth at 17,200 mph. Now that is MOTION.

If Nick Kelly is right about this whole motion thing, motion slows time down If you can slow time down, you have found the elixir of youth, metaphorically....or maybe literally.

[Guriko]

The man is churning out valuable content out at an insane speed and I am barely keeping up.

What seemed like the end was in reality a Full Color Phoenix experiencing rebirth.

Truly from Victor Pride to Nick Kelly.

Very interesting to see how Nick Kelly and Mike Cernovich overlap as they both stress out the same things but have differentiating priorities.

Mike is Mindset.
Nick is Motion.

I've learned a lot from his newer podcasts:

• importance of motion --> I walk a lot more these days and many of my ideas spring up within my head as I am trekking through nature by the river
• importance of breathing --> Mike advocates the Wim Hof method whilst Nick says to breathe like the Buddha and also give props to mister Hof
• importance of sound --> binaural beats anyone? I've been using them since the day I've heard about them in a post by Mike and Goddamn do they help keep me focused on my task
  

I also had a laughing fit when I was listening to Nick's Full Color Godcast when a reader questioned him about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and it's possible use to treat depression because I could hear it in his voice how baffled he was by the inquiry with his dry answer: 'Don't have an opinion on it because I don't know what it is.'

I was cooking at the time and somehow this caused me to laugh so much that I almost spilled boiling oil all over myself.

Nick Kelly is all instinct.

Currently I am reading New World Ronin and it is over the top with its Full Color Work, Black and White Work, Ghosts, Hungry Ghosts, Red and Green, War Room, the Way, Ronin, Soldier, Shogun etc., but I like it precisely due to this reason.

I just feel like this is who Victor Pride was always meant to be - the over the top Nick Kelly and you can hear it in his voice that he enjoys every second of it.

[greekgod]

(12-11-2016 10:42 PM)Seth_Rose Wrote:  

(12-11-2016 08:36 PM)Sooth Wrote:  

Dumb comments from myself above. I should have listened to his podcasts past the strange intro chanting video.

Listening to them now and this is exactly what I was hoping from him and why I was a bit disappointed to see weird vocals in the intro video.

I remember a video he did where it was just him looking directly into the camera on a push bike and straight talking like hes doing now. It was absolutely fantastic. I have no doubt that the decline I pointed out won't continue. Awesome and inspiring. He has huge vision and I live the idea of him gathering like minded guys and working for some bigger purpose.

Your initial reactions were not too far off. For over a year his content fell way off. He rarely posted and was forcing content. After releasing New World Ronin he has really bounced back.

There's still too much motivation stuff for my liking and he can be a bit over the top, but his content as of late has been good and looks like he has reinvented himself.

Its important to consider that him and cernovich lived together for about two months and were planning on going after business together. I listened to a B&D podcast were Nick said he was in a complete funk during that time.

This is the same time Mike went from D&P to launching Gorilla Mindset and beginning his twitter move. He then followed up twitter beefs with becoming a political pundit.

This may have played into Nick's "WHOA, wtf" moment. He doubled down on self absorbed self improvement and it wasn't real. Remember, initially, B&D was bigger than Mike's brand, by a lot.

A little bit of cognitive dissonance.

Mike's play on "100% disclosure, no barrier" trumped 99% of internet personas.

Nick is a talented guy. In briefly listening to a recent podcast, his "voice" is grounded and upbeat.

[Sooth]

Nick Kelly is going to tap into the "right brain", artistic side that has been ignored if not purposefully suppressed by scientists and intellectuals. Love it, this is where my interest is at the moment too.

[ExploringReality]

[/quote]
In briefly listening to a recent podcast, his "voice" is grounded and upbeat.
[/quote]

His voice is awesome, he talks about it in his 1st podcast. I'm definitely going to work on mine; I want that rhythm and cadence, its hypnotic, makes you focused on his message. One can imagine what it could do to a girl.

[rkIE]

Pretty amazing to see how the tide of opinion turned around in this topic. I have not been able to keep up with his video output recently, but the ones I've listened to have been fascinating and entertaining. There is the occasional ridiculous statement that just makes me laugh and shake my head, but Nick Kelly has really proven himself lately. I read half of New World Ronin, found it high-quality and unique but haven't finished it yet. I am not of a mindset to put what he says in practice yet. I like to wait on books until I'm in an area of life where I can really use the knowledge and take action on it to improve my life and work. Hopefully will be finishing it and putting it into practice in my life sometime in the near future!

[Silver_Tube]

I think a lot of the sphere is focusing a bit much on 'mindset' lately. I would like to see more material on execution, I do understand that much of it has already been said but there is always more updating and synthesis to be done.

[nomadbrah]

The cool thing with his blog was that you could follow his progress from humble beginnings to comfortably well off in a SEA 'mansion'. He had a thread on Misc too several years back when he was living in a small apartment in a second tier Chinese city. I don't think his focus on motivational posts was wrong, because he was very good at that kind of high octane motivational speech. If you read the blog or his Misc posts from beginning to end, then it is right there, laid from beginning to end as proof of how to achieve a location independent lifestyle and add to that some really good advice on lifting.

MikeCF seems to have been inspired quite a bit by Bold&Determined. Gorilla Mindset seems like a book that Victor Pride should have written.

[Valentine]

(12-15-2016 01:09 PM)Silver_Tube Wrote:  

I think a lot of the sphere is focusing a bit much on 'mindset' lately. I would like to see more material on execution, I do understand that much of it has already been said but there is always more updating and synthesis to be done.

Mindset stuff is good (particularly Gorilla Mindset), endless fluffy motivational stuff is crap.

I'm not sure the direction he's taken lately but when I last read him it was endless fluffy stuff which repeats a whole lot of nothing and doesn't give you any secret, unknown, or expert actionable information.

I tend to follow Wall Street Playboys perspective on motivation:

Quote:

Motivation is for the Weak

The title says it all. Self doubt is normal. However. The need for motivation is for the unsuccessful. If you know someone who needs to be lifted up *emotionally* to achieve something… He never wanted it in the first place. He’s simply someone who wishes upon a star for the world to give him something he never deserved. Even worse? He thinks the emotional pump up is good for him.

The type of person who gets amped up by written words in a text book or a motivational video will scour the internet far and wide looking for a solution to his problems. It will never come.

He will attend seminars and speaking venues. It will never help him.

He will try to use the same ideas to sell to his peers. It will never work.

He’ll never find his magic product or service to sell. He’ll never succeed even in the slightest because he is unwilling to take risks. Perhaps, if he is lucky, he gets by on a middle class salary of $100K per year. But. He’s never going to accomplish anything meaningful. Period.

Knowing that most people love this type of inspirational nonsense, many, many, many people become rich by transferring this feeling to the masses. As usual, don’t just do the opposite, be the opposite. Use motivation to sell products because people will make purchases when they are in a high emotional state.

[Caractacus Potts]

So what is the answer then?

I have never been truly passionate about anything.

I take that back...for a brief period when I was younger and hormones were kicking in I was a horny kid and all I could think about were girls. lol

But even that has lost its luster.

There are aspects of my job that I enjoy but I am not passionate about it. I have friends who are artists/musicians who talk about their passions all of the time. I envy them their passion. I have never had that.

I sometimes get in a funk and wonder what it is all about. I'd like to be in shape/more successful but I get by on both so there is no outside force pushing me. I get that others say it has to come from inside. I don't think it ever really has for me. I tend to operate in fits and false starts. I eat right/lift for a few months then fall off for a few months.

I work on outside ventures get close to making a go of it and then it dies on the vine for lack of follow through. This has happened three times in the past few years. And I understand that it is my fault/obligation/responsibility to see things through. But I don't have that relentless inner drive. That conation.