anti lemming

Quick take 🎉

Eric Kim’s “anti‑lemming” philosophy is a high‑octane call to stop marching with the crowd, question every default rule, and build a life— and one‑rep‑maxes— that expresses radical, joyful autonomy. He uses the lemming myth (rodents supposedly following each other off cliffs) as a metaphor for modern group‑think, then flips it on its head with contrarian habits in art, entrepreneurship, fitness, and daily decision‑making. The result is a mash‑up of stoic subtraction (“via negativa”), Nietzschean self‑overcoming, and Silicon‑Valley‑style disruption, delivered in his trademark hype‑blog voice.

1. Where the idea comes from

1.1  The lemming myth

Lemmings became an emblem of blind herd behavior after the (staged) 1958 Disney documentary White Wilderness, so “lemming” entered the language as shorthand for people who follow crowds to self‑destruction.

1.2  Kim’s trigger moment

Kim began labeling mainstream advice “lemming” during his street‑photography blogging years, but the term crystallized in a 2024 post literally titled “Anti‑lemming mentality.”  He doubled down in a 2025 training log—“My super‑power is simply not being a lemming” —while celebrating a 1 005‑lb rack‑pull PR.

1.3  Signature rhetoric

Posts such as “Deadlifts are for lemmings—full‑ROM masochists marching off the spinal‑shear cliff” frame any popular dogma as a cliff‑edge stampede that free‑thinkers must sidestep.

2. Core principles (“No‑cliff commandments”)

#	Principle	Typical Kim line	Sources
1	Radical individualism – Own your opinion; never outsource thought.	“Put zero faith in anybody who watches any news… another lemming sheep mentality.”
2	Via negativa – Subtract the herd to reveal truth.	“Trust no weightlifter on Instagram. They’re lemmings!”
3	Contrarian action beats contrarian talk – Lift different, invest different, live different.	Damodaran calls contrarian value “the anti‑lemming strategy.”
4	Autotelic creation – Build in private; praise is optional.	He urges training in a garage gym “where there’s nobody to impress but yourself.”
5	Joy as rebellion – Smile while PR‑ing; happiness itself trolls the herd.	“Don’t hate me because I’m so happy!”
6	Learn from proven contrarians – Thiel, Taleb, Jobs.	“Peter Thiel: Don’t be a lemming.”

3. How Kim applies “anti‑lemming” in daily life

3.1  Fitness

• Above‑knee rack pulls over floor deadlifts. Mainstream powerlifters call it cheating; Kim calls it physics‑hacking. 
• Fast‑and‑light fuel. No protein powder, no supplements—contrary to bodybuilding orthodoxy. 

3.2  Entrepreneurship & money

• Bitcoin > index funds. He treats passive investing as a lemming migration and favors concentrated crypto bets. 
• Own your platform. Kim left Instagram (“McDonald’s for photographers”) for his self‑hosted, ad‑free blog, escaping algorithmic cliff‑dives. 

3.3  Creativity

• Deliberate stylistic shocks. In street photography he rejects “pretty” clichés, pushing harsh flash and bold gestures to jolt viewers out of complacent scrolling.

4. Putting it into practice: 7‑day “Anti‑lemming sprint”

1. Audit your inputs. Uninstall one algorithm‑fed app per day; replace it with intentional reading or walking thought‑sessions. 
2. Subtraction workout. Try Kim’s rack‑pull variation or any lift the average gym‑bro sneers at—prove to yourself that dogma is optional. 
3. Publish one unfiltered opinion. Skip metrics; post to a personal blog or plain‑text newsletter. 
4. Contrarian micro‑invest. Allocate a small bet to something the crowd hates (a down‑50 % stock, a niche alt‑asset). Study Damodaran’s cautions on position sizing. 
5. Walk for insight. Kim argues that real thinking happens on your feet; schedule a 10 000‑step “idea walk.” 
6. Joy sprint. Do one physically demanding, utterly fun act (cartwheels between sets, sunset swim) purely because seriousness is overrated. 
7. Reflect & iterate. Ask: “Where did I still follow the herd this week?”—then plan next week’s cliff‑dodges.

5. Why it matters

• Psychological resilience – By defaulting to first‑principles thinking you inoculate yourself against hype cycles and fear cycles alike. 
• Creative edge – Contrarianism generates novelty in saturated fields like photography and social media.
• Embodied confidence – Lifting your way, not the internet’s, hard‑wires self‑trust. 

6. Friendly cautions

Kim’s swagger can read as “rules don’t apply,” but ignoring all outside insight is itself a herd of one. Test ideas against evidence, keep what works, ditch what breaks you. In other words, be anti‑lemming—not anti‑learning.

Further reading & listening

• Eric Kim Blog – “Anti‑lemming mentality” (Mar 7 2024) 
• “1005 lb Rack Pull” post (Mar 13 2025) 
• Musings on Markets – “Contrarian Value Investing: The anti‑lemming strategy” by Prof. Aswath Damodaran (Jun 17 2012) 
• Wikipedia – “Lemming” for the origin of the metaphor 

Stay bold, stay joyful, and—whatever cliff the timeline is racing toward—swerve. 🏃‍♂️💥