Dear friend,

Ever since I was a kid– I was always seeking the truth of ‘happiness’. I tried to first of all define ‘happiness’, then figuring out how to achieve it.

illustration kanye Beautiful dark twisted fantasy

My simple idea:

Happiness is doing what you want to do, and NOT doing what you don’t want to do.

I don’t think that happiness has to do with owning stuff, acquiring stuff, or is related with money.

I ultimately think that ‘happiness’ is freedom of action. Freedom of what to do (positive action) and freedom of what NOT to do (negative action).

How NOT to do what you DON’T want to do.

I actually think happiness is mostly ‘via negativa’ (in the words of Nassim Taleb). What we decide to remove, subtract, or NOT to do is what brings us more happiness in life.

99% of people I know don’t like their jobs, or would prefer NOT to show up at work everyday.

I think one of the first steps to happiness-freedom is this:

Become self-employed.

The great thing about becoming self-employed is this:

You decide how much to work, or how little to work, and you can determine when to work and when NOT to work.

Thus, if you want to seek freedom in life, become an entrepreneur.

How to do what you want to do

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This is one of the most difficult things in life:

Figuring out what you really like to do– purely for yourself, for the sake of it.

For myself, I enjoy taking pictures, making videos, writing, writing poetry, making beats, learning, having engaging conversations with friends and family– all for the sake of it!

In other words:

What do you actually enjoy doing– while having fun?

And not only that but:

That thing you enjoy doing– how does it challenge you, develop you, and grow you?

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Ultimately to figure out what you like doing must be self-dictated. Don’t wait around for people tell you what to do. Don’t read books on telling what you “should” do. Determine and dictate what you desire to do with your (short) life.

Flow state

One of the best mental states to be in is a state of ‘flow‘. This state is when you are pushing your creative limits to the maximum, and you are so enraptured with focus, that your ego, time, and self seem to evaporate.

Generally to achieve a flow state– you must be doing something active. In other words, it is difficult to achieve this flow state by doing something passive (consumptive behaviors). Rather, I feel that we can best achieve this state of flow through producing– through what I refer to as ‘producerism‘. The basic idea is this: