₿LOG
People who major in business, marketing, or economics seem to only make for good office drones. Very few if any people I know who study business as she became successful self-employed entrepreneurs.
The same goes with people who study MBA— masters in business administration.
It seems that if you study business as a major, you get too stuck in the traditional ways of thinking, which prevents you from innovating in an interesting way.
Because they’re chained to the system?
No memories, no ego, no soul.
To become stronger, you must also become more flexible?
I think strongmen, powerlifters, and weightlifters, and bodybuilders would all usually benefit from doing yoga, yoga like stretches, and becoming more flexible.
Also, we must get rid of the false notion that somehow building muscle makes you less flexible.
Everything you write is just a memo to yourself:
The great innovation of BLACKPINK Lisa, nobody really questions the fact that she’s Thai. Everyone loves her, and no one really questions her race or ethnicity.
Less literal, more interpretive? More artistic.
You know what is best for yourself and your kids.
Perhaps then, the notion of “wellness†is actually better than the notion of “healthâ€.
But what if you don’t want to have more sex? What if you want to conserve your energy?
If you think about clothes, fashion, cars, etc., it is all optimized for you to become more sexy.
But sexiness towards what ends?
What if you desire to become more beast-like instead?
If your goal is to maximize your happiness, best to live in Asia.
What gives you vigor, what robs you of your vigor?
For example, there is a new obesity rising class in Asia, but primarily with the rich and privilege.
For example, Tesla cars are great, and very modern, but not popularly seen as sexy.
Ford is not sexy. Lincoln is not sexy.
Honda is not sexy. Acura is not sexy. Lexus is border. Toyota is not sexy.
Lamborghini is sexy.
Certainly Tesla is the superior car, however, according to society, the Porsche seems much more sexy and interesting.
Either buy the cheapest thing, or the most expensive thing. No in-between things or prices.
Having the privilege and time and opportunity to workout as the ultimate privilege and luxury:
Easier to deadlift 1200 pounds (4x body weight of 300 pounds), than to deadlift 1200 pounds if you’re only 100 or 200 pounds!
In other words, if ultimate strength is our goal, we MUST put on more mass — muscle mass!
My curiosity:
Can I become 200 pounds, all muscle and a 6 pack — all “natty�
Easier for me to deadlift 800 pounds at 200 pounds than to deadlift 800 pounds at 160 pounds (I think roughly my current weight and mass).
Only meat, no carbs.
Somebody who weighs you down, rather than uplifts you.
You can also call them “energy parasiteâ€. If the other person gives you energy, they are good. If they rob you up your energy, they are bad.
First of all, seeking a deeper wisdom and truth for myself, and sharing my journey along the way.
Second, blogging. 80 to 90% of people who discovered me through Google search, Google SEO. I am the master of Google search engine optimization.
Third, I am peerless. There is nobody else like me on the Internet, or even perhaps the world.
Fourth, I am infinitely curious. The older I get, some more curious I become.
Fifth, I have substance. Philosophy is what drives me.
Six, I am an American, America born, and a master of English.
Seven, I grew up without much money, and thus, money doesn’t actually mean much to me. This allows me to be more reckless and innovative.
Eight, everything I do is original. Everything comes from my own mind, rather than just rehashing what others have said. Or even worse, creating a news website that just takes other people‘s quotes out of context.
Nine, I am a personality. I am a natural entertainer and jokester, and I don’t take myself too seriously. I know how to put on a good show.
Ten, I am generous. The more generous you become, the more influential you’ll become.
Become the change which you desire to see manifested in the world!
Never stop innovating.
Remember, fan is short for fanatical. People who criticize you, are actually fanatical about you.
This is how old Donald Trump was able to win the presidency; billions of dollars of free marketing from the “liberal†press.
Therefore, do not fear criticism. It is free marketing for you!
Story Mode
Do you want to be richer, but with less freedom?
Why is everything in Roman characters?
Steam roller. Tank.
If you live in the west, English is more important. If you live in Asia or the east, Chinese/Mandarin is more important.
Don’t stay in one place forever
Maybe cold turkey is the best method
Increase the pain, shorten the duration
Modern places are all about privacy. Traditional societies are much more public.
If you love a public life, live in a more traditional society
Always on high alert.
Do you want to be known for an aesthetic? Or do you want to be known for you?
You could only truly critique those whom you truly love.
I like emerging things. For example, emerging markets.
Everything has a consequence
For example, if you dress a certain way, you will be looked at a certain way.
Open source as an efficiency thing.
Also open file types, open formats as faster.
Why Cambodia and Vietnam are the future — Cambodia, the median age is only 25!
Kanye is a motivator, blackpink is also a motivator.
I only listen to Kanye and BLACKPINK.
Only merino wool.
Let the links live forever!
To become really really successful, you need a team.
If you don’t want a team, and you want to do it solo, you won’t be as successful. But then perhaps, reaching the apex success is not what’s important to me. Solo independence is what matters the most to me.
Once my Ricoh dies.
Because you’re probably going to live longer than you think.
To me, optimism is the great driver for growth in life. What is it that drives construction projects? Hope and promise of future tenants, and gains.
Or, what is it that I love most about weight lifting? The promise and hope and optimism that I will keep getting stronger.
What hurts us in terms of optimism? I think it is a time thing. We are too much in a hurry in a rush, which ends up stunting our progress and growth.
For example, the ideal is to have indefinite forever gains, and not allow your potential growth or gains to be stunted. I think this is why a lot of capitalists prefer having less regulation, because they do not want their potential innovations and growth being slow down by the government. For example, Elon musk moving the Tesla headquarters to Austin, because the California government tried to close down his headquarters in factory during COVID-19.
Now the ethical question is this:
Should one but the lives of others and their health at risk, for the sake of achieving their grand life mission?
For example, does Elon Musk want the government to get in the way of him sending humans to Mars?
Another thought; is it worth injecting yourself with testosterone, human growth hormones, and steroids, knowing that you will become the greatest of all time, but, be permanently disabled for the next 50 to 60 years of your life? I think not.
For the most part, we are a manifestation of the times we were born and raised in. For example, if you grew up in communist Eastern Europe, let’s say Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, or maybe even Russia, you are probably more likely to be more “realistic“, pessimistic, and fatalist. Why is this? If you grew up in environment where things are insanely limited, and blocked off from the rest of the world, it is only natural to feel this way.
Or, let’s say you are the Vietnamese boat people, and fled the fall of Saigon. Certainly it makes sense that your family will be a little bit more risk averse, when seeking success in America.
First of all, optimism is more of a philosophical thing. Whether you desire to follow it or not is up to you.
For myself speaking, I was born in 1988, in the very progressive and liberal bay area, and being Korean American, I am part hybrid of American individualism, meets Korean collectivism. I like this hybrid. If you look at me, I look Korean. But at the end of the day, my soul is more American.
Therefore the first question you should ask yourself is this:
Do I desire or care to become more optimistic?
For me, yes. Why? I think there is a link between depression and pessimism. I’m not sure which way the arrow goes, or if it is a correlation or causation thing. However, I think it is human nature to desire better days, a more prosperous future.
For example, there is this Vietnamese notion of “chieu khoâ€, which literally means endure difficulty or hardship. For example, watch “The Undeniable Force of Khó Khăn†Filmâ€by Cindy Nguyen.
Certainly with the idea of being able to endure difficulty, pain or hardship is a good one, especially when your family is in poverty, and starving.
“Why increase the sons of Africa by planting them in America, where we have so fair an opportunity, by excluding all blacks and [tawneys] Asians of increasing the lovely white?†– Benjamin Franklin, 1751
America is the land of opportunity. Even though America is racist, it is honestly still probably the best place to find a new opportunity. There are billions of people around the globe who are dying to just get a work or study visa in America.
It is a self selection thing. Consider, if you’re an entrepreneurial immigrant, leaving your own country, out of your own will, to seek better opportunity and growth elsewhere, it is a very optimistic thing. Therefore, the children of immigrants in America, often tend to be very entrepreneurial and optimistic, as their parents were. There might be both a biological and social component; maybe humans who are more risk loving ended up going to America more, and also, culturally speaking you could teach optimism to your kids.
The big differentiation: if you’re an immigrant, you came to America of your own free will. If you’re a refugee, you just didn’t want to die, and therefore, ended up in America or somewhere else, simply to avoid death, persecution, or imprisonment.
This is why certain people who are born in a certain nation, and do not really remember their immigration story end up being so shortsighted; if your family is escaping death, do you really have a “choice“, to go somewhere? No, unless you’re brain dead.
When you’re escaping death, or potential death, this is a must, a necessity. No choice.
One of the good things about America is that to some extent, if you succeed in K-12 education, and high school, you could get into a good college or university, which will help with your social upward mobility. The tricky thing is if you were born into the projects, and all of your friends are drug dealers, and your parents are drug addicts, your chance and opportunity for upward growth is certainly hugely disadvantaged.
My analogy is this: if you started life at level zero, with no weapons, money, hit points, etc., versus if you were born in life at level 99 with all of the mythical weapons, who is probably going to succeed more? Probably the second person.
Then, in America, some intervention is good. Then intervention of helping at risk youth, find more creative outlets, and opportunities to learn computer programming, get in college and get out the hood is a good one. Even when I think about my personal experience, there was a certain part in middle school, in the eighth grade, where a lot of my friends were joining gangs, doing drugs, selling drugs, and engaging in violent things. One of my great gratitude for my mom is moving to a nicer place, where I was no longer exposed to those bad things.
Which makes me think, maybe the best form of parenting is via negativa; not to give your kids a “good†education, or to expose them to “good thingsâ€, the best type of parent simply protects them from bad influences, bad environments, bad kids etc.
Pessimism is toxic. If you think about pessimism like COVID-19, if you spend enough time in close proximity to somebody with Covid, certainly you’re more likely to catch Covid.
Perhaps the same things with pessimism. If you live in an environment, or around people who are constantly pessimistic, they will negatively affect and poison you.
Even for myself, I found that actually, emotionally and socially I am very sensitive. And that even the smallest hint of negativity and toxicity from others affects me in a bad way.
Therefore financially, this is where I like me and Cindy living on their own, to avoid negative family influences.
I am the great heart bringer of optimism. Why? I see it practically from a result of my scars from the past, but also, through my own pragmatic reasoning.
First, the optimistic march of technology. The iPhone pro keeps getting better, and, more and more people are able to financially access it. Also, photography keeps getting greater. The Ricoh GR 3X, at around 900 bucks, is a quadrillion times better than my old canon DSLR. And about 100 times smaller and lighter.
Also, the upside of Google, Google Docs, Gmail, Google products etc levels the playing field for everybody. For example, how easy it is for any business to create a Gmail account for email, use Google Drive to share and host files, and also use Google photos for unlimited free storage.
Also, at this point, Wi-Fi is essentially free. It is almost impossible to not find free Wi-Fi somewhere.
And also getting a phone plan is pretty cheap now, even in America, I like T-Mobile. Or in developing parts of the world, getting a Sim card is quite cheap.
Social media, Facebook, etc. is a trap. It seems like currently, the least bad social media service is telegram, which allows advertisement free, and surveillance free communication between users, and also, being able to start your own channel. Even here in Cambodia, everyone uses telegram, over WhatsApp and Facebook messenger.
Now this is how people get trapped by Facebook, which owns WhatsApp and Instagram, etc. It is so easy to start an Instagram, and follow the path of just accumulating more likes and followers, and eventually selling your own products, we’re getting advertising deals. This is a trap.
The far more robust method is starting your own self posted website. Via bluehost.com, and purchasing and paying for your own domain.
However, to a lot of the developing world, even spending $10 a month is too much. Note that even here, a full-time restaurant worker might only earn $100 USD a month. They cannot afford $10 to spare.
Then perhaps, a good idea for the future is this:
Create some sort of service, or platform, which allows new users to create their own self branded .com website, for free. Perhaps initially it could be supported either by advertising or wealthy donors, but at least they have their own .com domain.
WordPress seems to be doing currently the best job at providing free website blogs with wordpress.com. But it is through that annoying sub domain, which is yourwebsite.wordpress.com
The more robust is the.com domain, which can just be your first name lastname.com, or your firstnamelastnamephoto.com
For example, I own erickimphotography.com, and on top of that, built eric kimphotography.com/blog
And also in around 2017, Cindy shelled out about 1000 bucks to purchase erickim.com for me.
Domains, and.com domains are the future. I actually see.com domains as digital real estate, and digital real estate becoming very very important.
Perhaps even into the future, the .NFT or .crypto domain will be useful.
Difficult to talk about optimism, if I cannot pinpoint where you are from, or you live. However, if you’re an American, essentially at this point every single American, regardless of how rich or poor you are, can afford an iPhone pro. Apple has essentially became its own bank, and I think you could finance an iPhone pro for about 30 to 50 bucks a month. Effectively all Americans can afford this.
Now there are other things that are aspirational, like buying a Lamborghini, buying a house, etc. However, these are not essential, but superficial.
Therefore, the Internet is the future. Your own self hosted domain, server, website, is the future. If you have access to this, the Internet and you are the ultimate optimism.
My simple solution: do “one rep max†deadlifts at least once a week. I recommend using a trap bar or a hex bar if your gym has it. If they do not, just use the straight bar and use sumo style. For your heaviest lift, just use the mixed grip and chalk.
The reason I do not recommend using a weightlifting belt or straps is that it is a crutch, and will hinder your future development, as those certain muscle groups will become less strong. For example, a lot of people are afraid of hurting their lower back, but if you use a trap or this is no problem. The reason I love the trap bar is that it puts almost no stress on your lower back, only about your mid back.
And also, if you want to become stronger, you need to improve your grip strength. Using straps for your hands and wrists might help you in the short run, but will prevent you from building your tenacity and grip strength.
If you find yourself chronically depressed, or pessimistic and strive to become more optimistic I suggest think via negativa.
For example, experiment cutting out weed, alcohol, sugar, carbs, vegetables and fruit.
Instead, just eat red meat (beef), and bitter green herbs (kale, spinach, etc).
Standing desk over sitting desk.
Also, more random walks outside to clear your mind. Leave the phone at the desk.
I think media is bad for our health. Amazon prime tv, Netflix, Apple TV, Spotify, podcasts, etc.
Why?
It pollutes your mind with too much noise, which hinders your own thinking.
Even music can be a huge distraction.
What to do instead? Hit the gym without music or your phone. Or go on a simple hike. Or walk around the block. Or drive somewhere which allows walking — gasp, even the air conditioned mall! Or the outdoor mall (I love the Irvine Spectrum Outdoor Mall). Anything which allows for bright sunshine, walking, and physical movement is good.
Your friends, your family! Better to spend money to meet a friend at an expensive restaurant than stay at home all depressed.
If this sparked any interesting thoughts, or even 1% more optimism, feel free to republish, share with a friend, or translate into your own language! All my email newsletters are open source.
Also discover open access digital books, education and products in ERIC KIM SHOP >
ERIC
My new favorite city in the world:
For example, upload your videos first to your own VideoPress video library on your own WordPress website rather than YouTube.
Or creating things FIRST for your own website and blog, then sharing it later or reposting it elsewhere.
Also, perhaps in life — best to always prioritize yourself. Over your wife, kid, etc. Because if you take care of yourself, everyone else will flourish as well. Popular notions of self-sacrifice for the sake of others is a net negative for others.
Currently, the MacBook Air has the newest M-series processor. Also it is by far the lightest laptop, what should be the ultimate concern.
And now, there is not too much of a differentiation between the processing power of a pro laptop, versus an air laptop.
In fact, the real “pros“ will probably have a very very powerful desktop processing machine at home. Not a laptop. Therefore, a powerful MacBook Pro is more of an aspirational thing, rather than a reality.
Feeling strong, versus being strong?
Or, feeling powerful, versus being powerful?
What is power anyways? Power is your personal ability to enact change and movement in embodied reality, whether physics or other human beings.
I love 5G and fiber optic insanely fast Wi-Fi! In praise of South Korea:
Having fast Internet, is a double edged sword; on one hand, it can motivate you to kill time, faster and more efficiently, or it can motivate you to create more and share more and publish more, without bounds.
Every potential upside has its own corresponding downside. Therefore, if you want to extend the upside ever further, you must also correspondingly create the corresponding downside.
Greater fates, greater rewards (Publilius Syrua).
Perhaps this is the reason why having coffee and caffeine increases your upside, but also decreases your downside. But ultimately this is worth it, onto human greatness.
Treat things as if they’re disposable.
For example, I don’t think we should baby our phones so much. The greatest joy I have of getting the newest iPhone SE is that I just bang it around, scratch it, without any concern.
Then perhaps the greatest flex is to just own the brand newest iPhone pro, no case no cover, and just give yourself free rein to scratch it up, and bang it around. Why? Honestly probably you’re not gonna own it for more than one or two years.
For me, the greatest joy I get in life is feeling a sense of progress. I feel the most depressed or sad when I feel like I am backtracking on my progress, or getting weaker.
For example, my greatest joy is to feel incense my strength ascending, especially with my deadlift and physical power. I am the most sad and depressed when I feel like my physical strength is waning, and that I’m getting weaker.
Then perhaps the best mode of action and advancement in life is to just put yourself in a position in which you will not backtrack. In other words, best to think of very very slow indefinite gains, rather than quick gains, tomorrow marred by huge setbacks.
This is how bodybuilders and powerlifters who use steroids, testosterone, human growth hormones, etc. are very shortsighted; if you put yourself in a position where your body can no longer naturally produce testosterone, you are in a very bad and fragile situation. Better to be a Jay Cutler who is still swole, rather than a Ronnie Coleman, who is now essentially permanently disabled. And no matter how many human growth hormones, stem cell therapy’s, money and medical expertise, Ronnie Coleman will never be strong again.
My personal desire to go harder is this; I want to greater and more epic challenges.
Apple made a very very interesting strategic decision this year, giving privilege to the processor speed and newness of the iPhone Pro, when compared to the normal iPhone. Assuming that the newest processor is the best processor, and that the processing power and speed of a device is the most important thing, then, it does seem to make sense to just get the newest iPhone Pro.
Frankly speaking, I hate the weight of the iPhone pro. Even the smaller one. However, assuming that the newest iPhone Pro has the best processor, the best microphone, battery life, brightness, etc., it seems worth it.
Also, if you are a creator, and publish things on the Internet, and if having the newest devices will give you an edge, then, financially find the newest iPhone pro makes sense. Also, if you are a creator, and publish things on the Internet, and if having the newest devices will give you a edge, then, financially find the newest iPhone pro makes sense. Best to not own a car, and not buy a car, and just buy the most powerful digital publishing tools.
Also, not to buy a house or own a home, and just live in a hotel instead.
Would you rather be 100 pounds, and deadlift four times your bodyweight, which is 400 pounds, or would you rather be 200 pounds, and dead lift 800 pounds? Probably the second.
However, what is better, being 200 pounds, and deadlifting four times your body weight which is 800 pounds, or would you be 300 pounds, and the lift four times your body weight, which is 1200 pounds? Maybe the latter.
However, would you actually want to be 300 pounds? Assuming if you have a six pack, maybe.
Some mathematical thoughts; even buying the brand newest iPhone pro every year, which is $1000, is only $30,000 over 30 years. This is like the price of a Toyota Camry.
Or, assuming you buy the cheapest Tesla model 3, no options, you’re still probably dropping at least $50,000 USD. That is a lot of money. Even one of my very successful Silicon Valley friends, one of the big shots at Facebook, is probably the most successful friend I know and have, who is around my age, he even told me that the reason why he didn’t buy a Tesla electric car is that they’re too expensive. He opted to buy an Audi Q3 instead. Also, the recharging times are too slow.
Therefore, when it comes to economic life decisions, maybe it is good to think longer-term, at the year, decade, or 30 years plus time span.
