Based Zone

Regret Years ago, I wrote a complete novel. It had 20 chapters. I needed to edit it. With a bad cut and paste. I deleted the last 5 chapters. I was terrified when I realized I had no backup. After that, I didn't write for months. And I never had the courage to write them again. There was a whole world. A post-apocalyptic world. A rather mundane beginning. Humans who had destroyed everything. And a girl who had to survive. At the time, I really liked The Walking Dead. I had always wanted to explore this universe. I even wanted to do a trilogy. I was obsessed with that story for years. I thought about it day and night for a long time. I spent a year and a half writing it. I was attached to my character. And I lost it. It's probably a blessing in disguise. Although I only see the disguise and not the blessing at this point. Life goes on despite the losses. We forget how much we've suffered. And in the end, it's just another story to tell. Regret didn't bring my 5 chapters back to life. I felt bad for months...for nothing. "Do not regret what you have done." Miyamoto Musashi

I was doing some introspection on how I deal with the sudden anxiety that comes with things like fear of failure and self doubt. In the past, I have advised to use mindfulness meditation - because that's what I thought I did. But I have had some people say that it doesn't work for them. So I went deeper and here's what I realized: I do something that's a step ahead of mindfulness meditation. I promise myself to worry 24 hours in the future - I postpone the worry. In the meantime, I act. After all, nothing bad can happen in 24 hours. Then I come back to the problem, and it's not as big anymore. To those whom I suggest mindfulness meditation, I apologize. I made a mistake. It does work according to many people, but it's not what I do. This is what I do. Give it a shot and let me know how it goes - just make sure that you truly mean it when you make yourself the promise.

If you want to unlock the king within, this is a must read: https://twitter.com/HooaFury/status/1609908985670340609

Leaving that topic behind, here's an idea to munch on: Most of your problems would go away if you: - Stopped living in the present when planning - Stopped living in the past & future when acting

I'll add one last nuance and then leave the idea: Most people can't get rid of the urges because they try to resist them. Sounds woo-woo but it's true. You cannot resist your urges. Just like you can't force out negative thoughts. It's a waste of your limited willpower. You have to either let them go with mindfulness meditation or outsmart them like I do.

Another nuance to this how you're treating your main habit or goal. If you're trying to go all in on your new habits or tasks, you'll be more prone to cravings because of the anticipation of suffering. But when you slowly increase the intensity and avoid burnout, you'll be less prone to cravings. There are a lot of things behind the original idea that's difficult for me to explain at once.

Another thing I do is remember the pain I felt the last time I gave in to my urges. Because often the urges go away and then suddenly come back weeks and months later. Remembering that pain makes it quite easy to create an aversion. These are the 2 main methods I use. Outsmart triggers in short term. Remember pain in the long run.

To make things clear. I am in no way against pleasure and enjoying life. You can enjoy life in a healthy way. But when your cravings are high, you're better off finding ways to reduce the craving. When you give in to your cravings as an emotional response, it's difficult to control yourself. And when you're fixing a part of your life, there's a high chance that the pleasure you'll have will be an emotional response - your brain wants to go back. Of course, this doesn't mean you "force yourself". Because as my friend mentioned in the comment section of the above post, you'll eventually lose control. Instead, make it easy to not have urges. I do that by outsmarting my urges. I just eat something healthy an hour before my usual time of craving. Same goes for the idea of avoiding too many parties when starting a business. You're literally giving yourself visuals of cheap comfort. I used the same technique when I wanted to quit porn. I recorded when I usually have urges and where I have them. I leave that place a few minutes before and walk. The urges never come and they eventually went away.

When you’re trying to get a part of your life in order, avoid anything that can distract you or steal your progress. For instance, rn I am in the cutting phase. I have reduced carbs which slightly increases the craving. So, I avoid all the sweets I can. Because I know a bite of sweet can turn into 1000 calories. Similarly, if you have just started a business, avoid going to too many parties. All the fun is good when that part of your life is in order. But when you’re getting it in order, a small distraction can cost you your progress.

Happy New Year Based Mfers Have a great year!

Be good at theory so you can re-align fast when you fall off your path. Be good at execution so you can walk fast on the path. People in the hustle culture shit on theory as if action is all you need. Sure if you're lying on your bed, stuffing your face with food, and doing nothing... you should focus on action. And yes, knowledge can't teach you everything. But knowledge can teach you many things. Giving yourself a few hours from the day to studying random, or even specific things, will save you a ton of time in the long run. It will prepare you for outcomes you can't imagine. The key is to only give it a few hours and use the rest for execution.

At some point in life, you have to become obsessive about your performance. I make sure to remove most of the time wasters from my life. This includes the "awesome" newsletter that I don't read. Telegram channels. I don't even want to open them. Adding more intent to the videos I consume. Planning out my day. Organizing folders. Of course, it's a dance. You can't live your life without enjoyment. I don't spend every day planned. I often love to live in chaos. But more important - this comes after you have taken care of the 90%. That is, after you have removed the major time wasters like doom scrolling YouTube shorts, or just watching any type of content excessively, or removing food that makes you lethargic. Most people skip the 90% and focus on the 10% like obsessive planning, productivity hacks, organizing every small thing, etc. The 10% is for when the 90% becomes a habit. Do it before, and it will slow you down more than it will help you.

Mastering your feelings & emotions One of the hurdles I overcame was understanding myself and my emotions to a deeper level. Many don’t ever do this unless they have an emotional crisis such as from the loss of a loved one or a relationship breakdown. Emotions then become overwhelming and we have no option but to face them head on and deal with them. This is going to sound strange but negative emotions are good for you. Think of them like this. Emotions are simply messengers trying to keep you safe. Their intentions are always self protective. When you look at them with this new perspective and seek to understand their messages you’ll be able to handle whatever life throws at you. The emotions of fear or embarrassment could be telling you that you are pushing out of your comfort zone. This is growth. It’s only when we learn to acknowledge, understand & accept our feelings no matter how uncomfortable they are that we can truly master ourselves. Lesson….. If you feel like quitting, don’t.

You make a kid stand up in fear, he'll take time. You make everyone around him stand up along with him, he won't think for a second. That’s how programming works.

Any belief and any process not challenged for a long enough time turns into a bias and ruins your progress. Make it a habit to challenge everything you do and believe in. Talk with people who can challenge your thought process. Don’t fit yourself in an echo chamber.

New thread: https://twitter.com/Based_Realist/status/1607743444591730690

If you missed yesterday's sexy knowledge packed email, you can now read it here: https://basedlibrary.com/8-lessons-from-2022-i-am-taking-into-2023/

Question from reader: "I want to stay consistent with gym but I try to avoid the pain." I could just talk about the basics of motivating yourself. But it's time to go deeper. I am gonna share with you the 4 phases of consistency. I will not share the complete details because I charge a lot for this. But I'll give you enough details to apply it on your own. First phase: Preparation. Just follow the process from this newsletter Second phase: Turning inaction into action. In this phase, avoid anything but action. Do not watch motivational videos. They will create unrealistic standards. Do not watch tutorials. They will overwhelm you. Just act. And act small. I don't care how excited you are. Or how tough you think you are. Act small. Maybe even 50% of your capacity. Third phase: This is where you make major leaps in life. Because action isn't enough. You have to progress fast to keep yourself motivated and reach your goals. This includes constantly learning new things about your process and goals. Train your ability to refocus. Go on walks and disrupt the flow of thoughts and start a new flow of thoughts - this will help you control the flow of your thoughts. Alter your desires. Go against your intuition and learn logically. Create a library of wins. Etc. Fourth phase: This is the phase where most of your negative thoughts and points of failures exist. You have been staying consistent for a while and now suddenly you start to fall off. To tackle the negative thoughts, learn to outsmart your triggers - read this post. Practice mindfulness. And journal to find the roots of your negative thoughts. To avoid falling back into bad habits, always remember the pain you feel after experiencing the bad habit. And to make sure you don't become complacent, occasionally shock your body with too much work. If you master these 4 phases you'll never quit again. And if you need help in implementing any or all of them, my coaching and consulting offers are always available.

Sorry for not being too active here. Other projects have been demanding my attention. Let's do a QnA and I'll answer your questions as posts. Drop your most burning questions. Don't be afraid to drop multiple questions. If you don't want to share your problem publicly, you can DM me @based_realist