Life Goal: Achieve the Greatest Amount of Power Possible:
What direction do you desire to steer in life?
To a certain extent, having some life goals are useful. Perhaps better than saying a “goal”, we should say it is a direction in which we are striving towards.
A simple idea:
Make the goal of your life to achieve the greatest amount of power possible.
Some practical ideas:
- Maximum muscular strength: What is the maximum deadlift, squat, or dumbell press you can achieve before you die? What’s the strongest you can become physically? Could you one day achieve a 400 pound squat? A 500 pound deadlift? A 150 pound dumbell press?
- Intellectual strength: What is the maximum extent you can develop your mind? To build up the most logic, self-determination, and intellectual power? To come up with new, brave, and innovative ideas? To master your own mind and psychology; to become the hardest Stoic.
- Artistic strength: To accumulate the most ideas and artistic powers. To create the most epic artworks, that the world has never witnessed yet.
Power
For myself, self-power is the ultimate goal. It ain’t about superimposing your power upon others. It is about achieving the maximal personal power within yourself– you as an individual.
That means with physical strength, don’t compare how strong you are with others. Just strive to supersede your own perceived limits, to test your strength to the maximum. Just because Eddie Hall has deadlifted 500 kg doesn’t mean that you need to lift that much. But the goal is:
How strong can I possibly become?
Mental and physical power
This is the weird thing: us moderns care more about mental power and “productivity” than physical power.
In ancient Greek times, ultimately the most prized attributes were a combination of the mental and physical; boldness and brazenness in battle, and clever cunning when dealing with enemies (Odysseus and the Cyclops).
But I think this is what us moderns seek:
Let us do the minimum amount of physical exercise to maximize our ability to work more, make more money, and get smarter intellectually.
Thus, 90% of our focus is given to the mental (and monetary) development, only 10% focus on physical development.
But perhaps we should try to tip the scale the other way; let us give MORE emphasis on the physical; to give more credence to muscle than mental strength. Because muscular strength is easy to demonstrate:
Can you physically lift that 400 pound barbell off the floor, to your waist level?
Here physics don’t lie; you can either lift it, or not.
Yet with mental strength; the measures of “smartness” are subjective.
This is my simple theory:
If you become physically stronger, you will also become mentally stronger.
Why? Because:
- With more muscular and physical strength, you will have improved metabolism. With better physical metabolism, you will of course have improved mental metabolism and performance. You will have more energy and less lethargy.
- With more muscle mass on your body (and less body fat), you will appreciate your body more from an aesthetic perspective. You will admire your body, and feel less desire to admire physical things. For example, if you love the way you look when you’re naked in a mirror, why would you care what your car, clothes, or things look like? Why have a muscular sports car like a Mustang, if you’re already physically intimidating? Don’t be the fat guy in the Ford Shelby; not cool.
- With more physical prowess, you will feel more of a beast, and thus feel more self-confident. Thus, you will be able to take bolder risks in business, entrepreneurship, and your personal life. Also increased confidence to approach potential sexual partners, or take bolder risks when approaching potential business partners.
As a formula:
Increased physical strength -> Increased everything else.
To what end?
I was watching the documentary of Conor McGregor, and found interesting:
In their universe, money doesn’t really have much value. More important is focus on training, and getting stronger.
Thus, the idea I was contemplating was:
If we lived in a society without money, what would we strive towards or value?
For the ancient Greeks (before there was a monetary system), they delighted in battle, war, and showing off their physical prowess. They delighted in conquest, exploration, and displaying their strength; in the pursuit of immortal glory and “imperishable fame”.
I don’t mean to invoke ancient greek values to say they are ultimately the “correct” or the “best” values.
I mean to say that you must ultimately dictate your own values in life, and studying ancient cultures and societies is useful to know that there are many different models when it comes to morality, ethics, and values.
Never stop striving to become more.
Augment yourself,
ERIC