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- Sep 15, 2014
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We're Not All Going To Make It.
The end is near... the end is near for us all. Once the training is over, you are literally thrown into the middle of a jungle or for some of you, a barren wasteland, with no one helping, and it's scary. It's frightening, but it's also a rush. Night fall will come soon, and you'll need to seek shelter, but there are predators around you, hunting other animals, hunting anything that moves, attacking anything that wanders into it's territory. Knowing all this - what do you do?
Do you know what most people do, they've already given up - didn't even attempt to survive, and the first predator or obstacle they come across, stops them dead in their track. They're done.
I've been where you are. I know everything you are going through. Here is the reality, 99% of people will fail at what they want to achieve. Why? Cause when things get a little tough they give up. 20 or 30 years from now, they'll be wondering "What IF?" Now the question you have to ask yourself, are you going to be one of the "What IF?" individuals, or one of the people that's enjoying not only the fruits of their labor, but also the risks they've taken. That's the sad reality of this world - it's a dark, black place that no one really gives a fuck about you, unless you've got something of worth to give them. Whining, complaining, and begging will get you nowhere.
The barren wasteland I've dropped you in is dark, lonely, and dank. Most likely you will not survive it, and give up. The majority of people in this world are stuck on Plan B - they want to have something to fall back on in life, job, some career in case things don't work out or whatever it is they use to justify them not putting 100% at something. That's why most people half-ass their projects, they do a little here and there, then run to some online forum and try to pat themselves on the back for a job well done while giving bullshit advice to newbies that are completely lost. Yet, when asked a serious question about their success or failures, nothing but excuses and vague results.
Now imagine if this metaphoric scenario was playing out in that wasteland or jungle. In order to survive out there, you need shelter, then need fire, and food. But most people are content with the little life they've got for themselves, they say they want more, but do nothing to get to that goal. They play a lot of pretend - when it comes down to hard work they're scared they'll put their absolute best, 100%, no 110% and fail, then be miserable and realize they just aren't cut out for it. So when they've got free time, instead of grinding on their project, they waste it doing something stupid, telling themselves I'll do it tomorrow - some time later. Later never comes, then the days, weeks, then months go by, then eventually years, until their small fire is extinguished for good - and no one ever even noticed.
In this metaphor, Shelter represents happiness in your life. The fire represents energy, and the food represents rewards (revenue, or more so profits) - created by that energy, that fire.
The problem is the 99% that don't make it have one thing in common. They want a guarantee from the universe that if they rub two sticks together it will create the fire for them. It won't. There are no guarantees in life, the only guarantee you have is death. And that's coming for you no matter what. So what do you do? Do you give up, read another blog post hoping this one will give you the magic to create fire, or do you try rubbing two sticks together frantically.
It might have helped if you had some guidance on creating fire, but the first man to create fire didn't have guidance, and your brain is far more advanced and superior to the early Homo Sapiens - in fact YOUR official classification is Homo Sapiens Sapiens - a subspecies of Homo sapiens since you are a being that knows, and you know that you know. So that jungle you are transversing should be easily conquerable if you took the time to understand all that is possible.
And unlike being dropped in the wastelands, you have access to all of mans' knowledge at your finger tips - the internet, if you are reading this transmission, then you are sitting on ALL of mankind's collective knowledge - with all that in perspective, are you telling me, that you would rather join the 99% that can't be bothered to make a little fire?
Is fear going to hold you back forever? If you can't stand on your own, then you're paralyzed, so something is stopping you dead in your track. Maybe you've never worked hard for anything in your life, and don't want the misery that comes with failing - the problem is you are exchanging it for another misery of the "What If?" nature... That's even worse.
Surely if you have all of mans knowledge at your finger tips, and you have the shadow council willing to guide you - how can you fail? There is still a way, if you completely half-ass your approach.
It's impossible for a man to grind 6 months straight on a problem, day in and day out, night after night, and not solve said problem, unless you simply aren't capable of learning. Like riding a bike for the first time, you're going to fall off. You're probably going to fall off dozens of times before you eventually figure out balancing and braking.
I like re-reading a lot of my favorite books, and when I'm unsure of something I know exactly which one to go to in order to re-energize my core and re-tune into what I must become. My #1 book for this is "The Book of Five Rings", every scenario in life can be metaphorically understood in one of Miyamoto Musashi's lessons.
Riding a bike or starting a new venture:
"It may seem difficult at first, but all things are difficult at first."
Overcoming obstacles:
"Maintain the spirit whenever you cross swords with the enemy."
"In battle, if you make your opponent flinch, you have already won."
"You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain"
Becoming a better you at whatever you are doing by moving forward each day:
"Today is victory over yourself of yesterday. Tomorrow is victory over lesser men."
--
So why am I re-reading to this book on a weekly basis? since I know if I can clear my mind, I can bend it to any level possible and find a solution to any problem. There is a specific part in the introduction of The Book of Five Rings that underlines all of life, which I want to decode for you:
KENDO AND ZEN
The Way of the sword is the moral teaching of the samurai, fostered by the Confucianist philosophy which shaped the Tokugawa system, together with the native Shinto religion of Japan. The warrior courts of Japan from the Kamakura period to the Muromachi period encouraged the austere Zen study among the samurai, and Zen went hand in hand with the arts of war. In Zen there are no elaborations, it aims directly at the true nature of things. [All natural things are made of pure energy - grind] There are no ceremonies, no teachings, the prize of Zen is essentially personal. [Everything you learn is done to make you better and create a better understanding for your forward journey] Enlightenment in Zen does not mean a change in behaviour, but realisation of the nature of ordinary life. The end point is the beginning, and the great virtue is simplicity. [Simplicity is key to All] The secret teaching of the Itto Ryu school of Kendo, Kiriotoshi, is the first technique of some hundred or so. The teaching is "Ai Uchi", meaning to cut the opponent just as he cuts you. This is the ultimate timing ... it is lack of anger. It means to treat your enemy as an honoured guest. It also means to abandon your life or throw away fear. [That last paragraph was critical, the way you go about anything cannot contain anger, but pure steadfast focus. If you have to give your life - which is also a metaphor for giving more then 100% towards your goal, then that is what you must do.]
The first technique is the last, the beginner and the master behave in the same way. Knowledge is a full circle. The first of Musashi's chapter headings is Ground, for the basis of Kendo and Zen, and the last book is Void, for that understanding which can only be expressed as nothingness. [The student and master come full circle - a master who was truly mastered any subject approaches every opportunity like a newbie. But he has developed the technique to fully engulf whatever new opponent or obstacles in his way.]
The teachings of Kendo are like the fierce verbal forays to which the Zen student is subjected. Assailed with doubts and misery, his mind and spirit in a whirl, the student is gradually guided to realization and understanding by his teacher. The Kendo student practices furiously, thousands of cuts morning and night, learning fierce techniques of horrible war, until eventually sword becomes "no sword", intention becomes "no intention", a spontaneous knowledge of every situation. The first elementary teaching becomes the highest knowledge, and the master still continues to practice this simple training, his every prayer. [Doubt and misery will always cloud a newbie. That is why they practice for thousands of hours at their craft. Once you've done something for a thousand hours, it becomes second nature to you - sword becomes "no sword" since your arms and your sword are no longer two items, but function as one unit. Intention becomes no intention, since you naturally know what to do in every instance - even if it's not clear to you consciously. Most importantly, even the master continues to practice even the most basic training - there are no days off when climbing to the top, but even after you get to the top, you have to continue sharpening your skills, your sword, yet be in the newbie mentality to see the changing tides of affairs in your industry. And no, there is no shortcut to the thousand hours, that's life.]
Now I know most of you are still not going to understand most of what I explained, but a part of you understands it subconsciously.
In life you are going to fail - I've failed hundreds if not thousands of times. But you learn from each failure. You can't let the fear of failure which is inevitable hold you back from pushing forward in life.
All lessons have been taught, the only thing left is grind, if you really want it, you will do it, but if you look around and are satisfied with your shelter, fire, and food, then well you'll come up with excuses and stay exactly where you are at. But if you want more - everything is readily available for you for the taking, after all you have all of man's knowledge at your finger tips, it's just now about putting the grind towards it. - And when I mean grind I'm not talking about 30 mins a day or a week toward something, cause if you have the fantasy that the 4 hour work week is making people money and you just want passive income or just have someone write you a check, you can go and sign up for welfare and foodstamps for that experience, just don't complain in 20-30 years from now, that you should have jumped and took the chance when you could have.
And now like being dropped into a barren wasteland, the CC9 are left to their own devices and we'll see how far they truly will go. You can tell the people that made it and want it bad enough, cause they are grinding without guidance, since in the end the only true guide is the fire from within. The grinders are updating their journals, and showcasing all the failures and pitfalls along the way. I think about guys like Calamari hitting 20K visitors in a single day, Badya hitting 5K visitors as a natural, and you can see the hunger and the pain, but most importantly you can see the progress and the improvements over and over and over. What do they have in common, the grind, it's real.
No one is going to hand you anything guys - you have to take it, and with traffic leaks you are literally taking people's traffic that they've nicely niched out for you on their platform. And as you can see traffic is the easy part - easy being relative, cause now it's about finding profitable monetization routes and finding the best traffic sources for each monetization avenue available to you.
Till next time...
(Yes the dojo is still open, now it's just about monitoring and journaling each CC9 individual's progress and seeing how far they can go until they've simple can't go any further)
The end is near... the end is near for us all. Once the training is over, you are literally thrown into the middle of a jungle or for some of you, a barren wasteland, with no one helping, and it's scary. It's frightening, but it's also a rush. Night fall will come soon, and you'll need to seek shelter, but there are predators around you, hunting other animals, hunting anything that moves, attacking anything that wanders into it's territory. Knowing all this - what do you do?
Do you know what most people do, they've already given up - didn't even attempt to survive, and the first predator or obstacle they come across, stops them dead in their track. They're done.
I've been where you are. I know everything you are going through. Here is the reality, 99% of people will fail at what they want to achieve. Why? Cause when things get a little tough they give up. 20 or 30 years from now, they'll be wondering "What IF?" Now the question you have to ask yourself, are you going to be one of the "What IF?" individuals, or one of the people that's enjoying not only the fruits of their labor, but also the risks they've taken. That's the sad reality of this world - it's a dark, black place that no one really gives a fuck about you, unless you've got something of worth to give them. Whining, complaining, and begging will get you nowhere.
The barren wasteland I've dropped you in is dark, lonely, and dank. Most likely you will not survive it, and give up. The majority of people in this world are stuck on Plan B - they want to have something to fall back on in life, job, some career in case things don't work out or whatever it is they use to justify them not putting 100% at something. That's why most people half-ass their projects, they do a little here and there, then run to some online forum and try to pat themselves on the back for a job well done while giving bullshit advice to newbies that are completely lost. Yet, when asked a serious question about their success or failures, nothing but excuses and vague results.
Now imagine if this metaphoric scenario was playing out in that wasteland or jungle. In order to survive out there, you need shelter, then need fire, and food. But most people are content with the little life they've got for themselves, they say they want more, but do nothing to get to that goal. They play a lot of pretend - when it comes down to hard work they're scared they'll put their absolute best, 100%, no 110% and fail, then be miserable and realize they just aren't cut out for it. So when they've got free time, instead of grinding on their project, they waste it doing something stupid, telling themselves I'll do it tomorrow - some time later. Later never comes, then the days, weeks, then months go by, then eventually years, until their small fire is extinguished for good - and no one ever even noticed.
In this metaphor, Shelter represents happiness in your life. The fire represents energy, and the food represents rewards (revenue, or more so profits) - created by that energy, that fire.
The problem is the 99% that don't make it have one thing in common. They want a guarantee from the universe that if they rub two sticks together it will create the fire for them. It won't. There are no guarantees in life, the only guarantee you have is death. And that's coming for you no matter what. So what do you do? Do you give up, read another blog post hoping this one will give you the magic to create fire, or do you try rubbing two sticks together frantically.
It might have helped if you had some guidance on creating fire, but the first man to create fire didn't have guidance, and your brain is far more advanced and superior to the early Homo Sapiens - in fact YOUR official classification is Homo Sapiens Sapiens - a subspecies of Homo sapiens since you are a being that knows, and you know that you know. So that jungle you are transversing should be easily conquerable if you took the time to understand all that is possible.
And unlike being dropped in the wastelands, you have access to all of mans' knowledge at your finger tips - the internet, if you are reading this transmission, then you are sitting on ALL of mankind's collective knowledge - with all that in perspective, are you telling me, that you would rather join the 99% that can't be bothered to make a little fire?
Is fear going to hold you back forever? If you can't stand on your own, then you're paralyzed, so something is stopping you dead in your track. Maybe you've never worked hard for anything in your life, and don't want the misery that comes with failing - the problem is you are exchanging it for another misery of the "What If?" nature... That's even worse.
Surely if you have all of mans knowledge at your finger tips, and you have the shadow council willing to guide you - how can you fail? There is still a way, if you completely half-ass your approach.
It's impossible for a man to grind 6 months straight on a problem, day in and day out, night after night, and not solve said problem, unless you simply aren't capable of learning. Like riding a bike for the first time, you're going to fall off. You're probably going to fall off dozens of times before you eventually figure out balancing and braking.
I like re-reading a lot of my favorite books, and when I'm unsure of something I know exactly which one to go to in order to re-energize my core and re-tune into what I must become. My #1 book for this is "The Book of Five Rings", every scenario in life can be metaphorically understood in one of Miyamoto Musashi's lessons.
Riding a bike or starting a new venture:
"It may seem difficult at first, but all things are difficult at first."
Overcoming obstacles:
"Maintain the spirit whenever you cross swords with the enemy."
"In battle, if you make your opponent flinch, you have already won."
"You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain"
Becoming a better you at whatever you are doing by moving forward each day:
"Today is victory over yourself of yesterday. Tomorrow is victory over lesser men."
--
So why am I re-reading to this book on a weekly basis? since I know if I can clear my mind, I can bend it to any level possible and find a solution to any problem. There is a specific part in the introduction of The Book of Five Rings that underlines all of life, which I want to decode for you:
KENDO AND ZEN
The Way of the sword is the moral teaching of the samurai, fostered by the Confucianist philosophy which shaped the Tokugawa system, together with the native Shinto religion of Japan. The warrior courts of Japan from the Kamakura period to the Muromachi period encouraged the austere Zen study among the samurai, and Zen went hand in hand with the arts of war. In Zen there are no elaborations, it aims directly at the true nature of things. [All natural things are made of pure energy - grind] There are no ceremonies, no teachings, the prize of Zen is essentially personal. [Everything you learn is done to make you better and create a better understanding for your forward journey] Enlightenment in Zen does not mean a change in behaviour, but realisation of the nature of ordinary life. The end point is the beginning, and the great virtue is simplicity. [Simplicity is key to All] The secret teaching of the Itto Ryu school of Kendo, Kiriotoshi, is the first technique of some hundred or so. The teaching is "Ai Uchi", meaning to cut the opponent just as he cuts you. This is the ultimate timing ... it is lack of anger. It means to treat your enemy as an honoured guest. It also means to abandon your life or throw away fear. [That last paragraph was critical, the way you go about anything cannot contain anger, but pure steadfast focus. If you have to give your life - which is also a metaphor for giving more then 100% towards your goal, then that is what you must do.]
The first technique is the last, the beginner and the master behave in the same way. Knowledge is a full circle. The first of Musashi's chapter headings is Ground, for the basis of Kendo and Zen, and the last book is Void, for that understanding which can only be expressed as nothingness. [The student and master come full circle - a master who was truly mastered any subject approaches every opportunity like a newbie. But he has developed the technique to fully engulf whatever new opponent or obstacles in his way.]
The teachings of Kendo are like the fierce verbal forays to which the Zen student is subjected. Assailed with doubts and misery, his mind and spirit in a whirl, the student is gradually guided to realization and understanding by his teacher. The Kendo student practices furiously, thousands of cuts morning and night, learning fierce techniques of horrible war, until eventually sword becomes "no sword", intention becomes "no intention", a spontaneous knowledge of every situation. The first elementary teaching becomes the highest knowledge, and the master still continues to practice this simple training, his every prayer. [Doubt and misery will always cloud a newbie. That is why they practice for thousands of hours at their craft. Once you've done something for a thousand hours, it becomes second nature to you - sword becomes "no sword" since your arms and your sword are no longer two items, but function as one unit. Intention becomes no intention, since you naturally know what to do in every instance - even if it's not clear to you consciously. Most importantly, even the master continues to practice even the most basic training - there are no days off when climbing to the top, but even after you get to the top, you have to continue sharpening your skills, your sword, yet be in the newbie mentality to see the changing tides of affairs in your industry. And no, there is no shortcut to the thousand hours, that's life.]
Now I know most of you are still not going to understand most of what I explained, but a part of you understands it subconsciously.
In life you are going to fail - I've failed hundreds if not thousands of times. But you learn from each failure. You can't let the fear of failure which is inevitable hold you back from pushing forward in life.
All lessons have been taught, the only thing left is grind, if you really want it, you will do it, but if you look around and are satisfied with your shelter, fire, and food, then well you'll come up with excuses and stay exactly where you are at. But if you want more - everything is readily available for you for the taking, after all you have all of man's knowledge at your finger tips, it's just now about putting the grind towards it. - And when I mean grind I'm not talking about 30 mins a day or a week toward something, cause if you have the fantasy that the 4 hour work week is making people money and you just want passive income or just have someone write you a check, you can go and sign up for welfare and foodstamps for that experience, just don't complain in 20-30 years from now, that you should have jumped and took the chance when you could have.
And now like being dropped into a barren wasteland, the CC9 are left to their own devices and we'll see how far they truly will go. You can tell the people that made it and want it bad enough, cause they are grinding without guidance, since in the end the only true guide is the fire from within. The grinders are updating their journals, and showcasing all the failures and pitfalls along the way. I think about guys like Calamari hitting 20K visitors in a single day, Badya hitting 5K visitors as a natural, and you can see the hunger and the pain, but most importantly you can see the progress and the improvements over and over and over. What do they have in common, the grind, it's real.
No one is going to hand you anything guys - you have to take it, and with traffic leaks you are literally taking people's traffic that they've nicely niched out for you on their platform. And as you can see traffic is the easy part - easy being relative, cause now it's about finding profitable monetization routes and finding the best traffic sources for each monetization avenue available to you.
Till next time...
(Yes the dojo is still open, now it's just about monitoring and journaling each CC9 individual's progress and seeing how far they can go until they've simple can't go any further)
But I haven't had a late payment in years, and this year alone I've paid 1/3 of all my debts off. Trying to close them out by year's end.