Month: December 2022

  • Billionaire Lifestyle Thoughts

    My billionaire lifestyle ideal:

  • A miser is a miserable person

    Don’t associate, interact, talk you, make eye contact, or acknowledge misers, or miserable people.

  • Barefoot Design

    Everyone knows that sex feels best when raw, without a condom. And if one needs to wear a condom, the best condom is the thinnest and the most invisible, to maximize sensations and pleasure.

    Imagine trying to have sex with a really really thick, foamy condom. This would be horrible. This is a kin to wearing really thickly padded foam shoes.

  • GoPro Zen

    An idea for a GoPro camera; the GoPro Zen, no LCD screen, neither in the front or the back. The ultimate video and vlogging tool.

    I suppose I am a genius, because I just checked the GoPro website after writing this, and lo and behold, there’s a GoPro hero 11 mini.

  • Toxic People?

    Or diseased people?

  • Weakness is the Only Evil

    Family drama or any other unpleasant dramas? If you’re strong, no problems. The only problem is that out of weakness.

    If you have demigod strength, nothing can disturb or harm you!

  • Become Elite

    What we all desire

  • Yoga and Weightlifting

    More weightlifters should do yoga, and more yogis should lift weights.

  • The biggest flex is in person

    Either in person, at the gym, at the local coffee shop, at a restaurant, etc. Or some sort of public space.

  • How to Become a More Productive Photographer

    How to Become a More Productive Photographer

    Productive Photography

    Some thoughts on how to become a more productive photographer:

    1. Shoot small JPEG or extra small JPEG. This will give you less paralysis by analysis when shooting street photography, or any type of every day photography.
    2. Strive to shoot 1000 “bad“ photos in a single day. There is no such thing as good or bad photos, all photos are equal.
    3. When in doubt, just shoot it.
    4. Shoot in P, program mode, and just use auto focus. Even if your photo is out of focus, or blurry, it could actually be accidentally beautiful.
    5. Use an in camera JPEG processing setting, like the high contrast black and white mode on the Ricoh GR3X. Other good options include the cross filter process on the Ricoh GR camera, or the classic chrome settings on the Fujifilm cameras.
    6. Strive to walk at least 30,000 steps a day. And just bring your camera along. If you walk 30,000 steps a day and just shoot whatever you see, how can you not be inspired to make photos?
    7. Get inspired in the HAPTIC SHOP. HAPTIC PRESS books, and resources. All open source.
    8. ERIC KIM EXPERIENCES or just attend anybody’s photography workshop, photography tour experience etc. Anything which involves traveling, a foreign place, a workshop experience will always be a productive one. Why? You will step outside of your comfort zone, you will learn new things, you will shoot more.
  • How to Become Insanely Productive

    How to Become Insanely Productive

    How to Become Insanely Productive

    The point of life isn’t productivity, said all unproductive people.

    I am the most productive person that I know. How do I do it? Some techniques and strategies:

    1. Intermittent fasting: no breakfast, no lunch, only one massive dinner. And for dinner, beef ribs, top sirloin, bone marrow, beef heart, beef liver, etc. 100% carnivore diet. How is intermittent fasting so good for productivity? First and foremost, you save an insane amount of time. Secondly, you don’t get food coma. Third, you stay mean and lean. When you are in the fasted stage, you are far more focused, and have a keener awareness of things.
    2. No music, no headphones, no AirPods: I think in modern day life, podcasts music etc are the ultimate distraction. Just think yourself; is the purpose of your life to glorify the works of others, or for you to just be focused on your own self and work?
    3. No Reddit. It is hilarious that all these new modern day Silicon Valley folks praise the virtues of XYZ, yet they are all still addicted to Reddit. Quit Reddit. I actually think that Reddit is worse than porn. In fact, my funny thought is in order to become more productive, whenever you have a temptation to look at Reddit, just watch porn instead. Porn might actually be a better motivator than Reddit, which is essentially a bunch of random distractions. At least porn is motivating.
    4. Just do it while walking outdoors. One of the most successful guys I ever met in Singapore, I still remember, he attended my workshop that I hosted with Leica Singapore, and had an M9 titanium, a $30,000 camera, and a .95 Noctilux lens, another $20,000 lens. I asked him how he was so successful, and he told me that he walked around 12 hours a day, doing all of his business meetings on his phones while walking. This stuck with me. I can corroborate with his theory in so far much as when I walk around a lot, I think more, I think better and I am also more productive. My strong feeling is that the future of productivity is iPad Pro, and iPhone. No laptop, no desktop. Laptops and desktops promote for nonmovement. Even if you do a standing desk, it is not good. Standing is better than sitting, but walking is better than standing.
    5. Produce much, publish much. Productivity isn’t becoming an email inbox zero ninja. No. Being really good with email is not productive. When you send an email, you produce nothing. If you check your email for no reason you are a slave. Let us consider, productivity comes from the notion of producing. To produce music, produce beats, produce videos, produce blogs, produce photos, produce vlogs, any form of media.
    6. Think digital and the internet: The path to the greatest productivity is digital and the Internet. With digital creations, your works are infinitely scalable and also, infinitely distributable around the globe. Instantly. Isn’t this amazing?

    Arguments against productivity

    You are not your productivity, said all unproductive people.

    Why are some individuals so unproductive, yet care about their productivity so much? My theories:

    First and foremost, I don’t know if they really like to do what they are actually doing. Maybe they do the work out of a sense of obligation, or self flagellating virtuosity. They believe that their self-worth and their virtue comes from how productive they are.

    Second, I think these individuals are just unwell, sick, or physiologically depressed. Poor health, not enough natural light exposure, they don’t have a tan, they don’t go to the gym, they don’t do yoga, etc. I really do believe that if scholars or thinkers or academics or other creators want to become more productive, they should go to the gym at least once every single day, preferably twice. Even for myself, experimenting with going to the gym every single day, it has actually made me more productive and stronger. Also a new innovation is experimenting with working out twice a day, at noon going to the gym and doing weightlifting, and in the evenings doing CorePower yoga with Cindy. This has been actually surprisingly a very effective strategy, I sleep better at night, I have a more voracious meat appetite, and the next day I am even more productive.

    Third, constraints of the system. They are still reliant on a sort of external system which requires editors, publishers, peer review, etc. This is not freedom.


    Productivity experiments

    1. Uninstall email from your phone, uninstall Gmail from your phone, or your mail app. Instead, whenever you need to use email, just do it on your laptop or desktop.
    2. Charge your phone in a different room at night.
    3. Every day, uninstall at least one app.
    4. When you go home after work or whatever in the evening — turn off your phone completely. If you need an alarm to wake up in the morning, buy a standalone alarm clock on Amazon and put it next to your bed.
    5. If your passion is to create, but you have to spend a lot of time every day in the car, commuting to work or stuck in traffic, just get a GoPro and vlog yourself and your thoughts while driving, just mount it where you put your smart phone.
    6. Don’t own a car or own a home: Hidden with every single type of ownership is some sort of maintenance. The more maintenance you got, the less productive you will be. Why? I would far prefer to make something meaningful, rather than wasting time trying to fix my water heater or plumbing.

    Produce what?

    Truth be told, I don’t think people care for productivity. What people care for instead is money, wealth, fame, legitimacy, recognition, respect, “meaningful contributions” etc. They don’t care to be productive.

    Let us consider, if you want to be productive and produce much, what does it mean? It means that you make a lot of stuff, you publish a lot.

    For example, it is my personal aspiration that whenever you visit the ERIC KIM BLOG, or refresh it, or check the bookmark, you’ll always see and discover and experience something new and fresh.

    Don’t optimize for views, comments, likes etc.

    I am the most prolific YouTuber that I personally know. I think I’m the only YouTuber who uploads several videos every single day, not just one. Certainly the more you upload, the fewer views and exposure you will get per video. Yet, if your real goal is productivity, why do you care how many views you get? I think if you care about views, it is a sign that you are insecure and you are hungry for external recognition and affirmation.

    My personal ambition with videos is to create a video or a vlog which is insanely motivational and helpful to other people, irregardless of who they are. Also, I am not going for numbers. I am going for impact. I would rather radically change the worldview, thoughts, or life of one individual, than create a video which is only mildly interesting to a large base of people. I am seeking my elite spartan 300s, not trying to enlist millions of Persian slaves.

    How many views is enough? 2. Why? If you watch your own video it may count as a single view. If you have two views on the video, it means that at least one other human being has watched and experienced the video.

    What is the point of productivity?

    We praise the avocado tree when it produces many avocados. We praise musicians when they produce much music, and we also praise chickens when they lay many eggs.

    For myself personally, I am the happiest when I am the most productive. That is, I am the happiest when I am producing much, publishing much, etc.

    Therefore my simple formula: in order to become happier, become more productive.

    ERIC


    Productive Photography

    Some thoughts on how to become a more productive photographer:

    1. Shoot small JPEG or extra small JPEG. This will give you less paralysis by analysis when shooting street photography, or any type of every day photography.
    2. Strive to shoot 1000 “bad“ photos in a single day. There is no such thing as good or bad photos, all photos are equal.
    3. When in doubt, just shoot it.
    4. Shoot in P, program mode, and just use auto focus. Even if your photo is out of focus, or blurry, it could actually be accidentally beautiful.
    5. Use an in camera JPEG processing setting, like the high contrast black and white mode on the Ricoh GR3X. Other good options include the cross filter process on the Ricoh GR camera, or the classic chrome settings on the Fujifilm cameras.
    6. Strive to walk at least 30,000 steps a day. And just bring your camera along. If you walk 30,000 steps a day and just shoot whatever you see, how can you not be inspired to make photos?
    7. Get inspired in the HAPTIC SHOP. HAPTIC PRESS books, and resources. All open source.
    8. ERIC KIM EXPERIENCES or just attend anybody’s photography workshop, photography tour experience etc. Anything which involves traveling, a foreign place, a workshop experience will always be a productive one. Why? You will step outside of your comfort zone, you will learn new things, you will shoot more.

  • The Art of the Hype

    How to master the art of the hype:

  • Figure it out once you’re actually in the situation

    To plan, fun scheme something before hand isn’t a good idea. Instead, never plan anything, and once you’re in a certain situation, just do what is natural and feels right to you.

  • 685 POUND SQUAT ATLAS LIFT HOLD

    685 POUND SQUAT ATLAS LIFT HOLD

    685 POUND ATLAS LIFT // HYPELIFTING INSANE LEG WORKOUT BY KIM — ZEN ZONE EYE CLOSED

    7 plates on each side, and a 5 on each side.

    EK TUBE

  • Alpha Theories

    Not who is the strongest, but he who has the most amount of courage, testosterone?

    He who is toughest?

  • CONQUER.

    CONQUER.

    To gain, to seek? To win?

    A thought on my mind this morning is in regards to conquer. What does it mean to conquer, to win, even, the notion of conquering the world?

    First and foremost, conquering your body, and creating the most indomitable body. I believe this is key. For example, yesterday I went to the gym, did some trap bar farmers walks, and also later that day did a weightlifting yoga class with Cindy. At night age a new meat personal record (meat PR) — 2 full racks of beef ribs, and immediately passed out and slept like a god.

    First theory:

    In order to even have the chutzpah to desire to conquer the world, one must become like a demigod in the body.

    It is often said in fitness circles that working out every day, or going to the gym every single day is bad. However, maybe it is a good idea to work out even twice a day? Hypelifting and powerlifting during the day, some more yoga stuff at night, just get a membership at CorePower yoga.

    A simple thought:

    Weightlifters should do yoga, and yogis should do weightlifting.

    I really do believe that this is the perfect hybrid, between weightlifting and yoga. The more yoga I do, yoga moves, stretching, flexibility stuff etc., the higher all my lifts. Even now, after doing a seven plate atlas hold, or a squat hold, my spine feels like adamantine.

    Workout twice a day.

    Society Connection

    Why is it that I am so much happier and more productive at coffee shops? My joyous interaction with other people, chatting with strangers, natural light, overhearing random conversations, etc. The path to the greatest amount of strength is social.

    The road to the best life is the life with maximum social engagement and interaction. In praise of city living over suburban living.

    Asia is the future?

    America is old, crusty, and stagnant. Instead, we should seek Asia; I find Asia to be the maximally interesting place currently on the planet. Insane amounts of dynamism in Asia, even spending two months in Cambodia, Phnom Penh, I loved it. Also my time in Seoul South Korea, Hadong South Korea, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Saigon, Hanoi, Bangkok, etc.

    Why is Asia so fascinating and why is Asia the future? My thoughts:

    First and foremost, much more carte blanche when it comes to morals and ethics. For example, notions of labor in Asia are different; there is no notion of “dignity of work”, or the notion that you must “treat service workers with respect”. For example, I consider it a personal tragedy that college educated people in America end up becoming waitresses, servers at restaurants, etc. It doesn’t matter if you’re making $60,000 a year, $80,000 a year, $100,000 a year, or even $200,000 a year in the restaurant industry. To me, restaurant work should be reserved for either high school students, college kids, or, people who are not university educated. Essentially, if you are a server, the word server comes from the Latin servus, which means servant, or slave. Slave work is base and degrading.

    Second, the youth. Speaking of Vietnam and Cambodia, because of the personal tragedies, war, death, and genocide, more than 60% of the population is under the age of 30. This is a great sign for a nation, to have more young people than old people. Compare this with America, in which it seems like nowadays, the majority of the population in America is old, diabetic, overfat, sick, and taxing the whole healthcare system.

    Even South Korea, the average couple no longer really desires to have kids. They are like America 2.0, everyone just would prefer to have a dog instead. Or even worse, let us consider Japan in which people are not even interested in getting married anymore. Japan as currently experiencing a quick demise, the demise of South Korea will be slower, but considering that South Korea is essentially a new colony of America, America will continue to protect her investment in South Korea, for Hyundai/Kia, the car industry, as well as the semiconductor Samsung industry.

    Personal conquering

    The great thing about the Internet is that you yourself as an individual are infinitely scalable on the Internet. For example, if you make a blog post, an email newsletter, a video, a Vlog, a podcast, etc., in theory concurrently 1 billion people can consume it at the same time. I still think there is much innovation to be had in terms of solo entrepreneurship, and solo media creation. I truly do believe that media is the future, as it is much more empowering and universal. Everybody loves media. Everyone loves America because of Hollywood in the media industry. Everybody loves YouTube because of all the media personalities. The future is going to be all about you.

    How to conquer yourself

    Things which are essential to conquer include self hesitation, self-doubt, self anxiety, etc. I think the simple solution to this is just adopting 100% carnivore diet, replete with beef ribs, bone marrow, beef liver, beef heart, etc. The more carnivorous and wolflike you become, the stronger and more courageous you will become.

    Second, sleep. To sacrifice sleep is insanely shortsighted, the more farsighted solution is to prioritize sleep above everything. Prioritize sleep over seeing a friend, seeing family, being social, being productive, finishing up your work test, etc. In fact, to become demigod means to sleep at least 8 to 12 hours every single night, like a God. Read the Iliad, even the God sleep at night.

    Third, work out twice a day. Become more social. For myself, the more time I spend at home, the more depressive and anxious I become. Once you go out, see all the beautiful people, chat with people, etc., the less anxious you will be.

    Fourth, stoicism. Become more stoic. This means become more indomitable to fate, or like Nietzsche says “amor fati”, which means learn to love your fate, learn to love tragedy. Personal tragedy should be seen as a strengthening agent, not as a negative one.

    For example, all of my personal scars has made me a stronger and more epic person. If I never experienced personal tragedy or sadness in my life, I think I would be a lot less interesting of a person, and also a more fearful one, and also a weaker one. Because of the difficulties I experienced as a young child, it made me a stoic even from the age of 11 onwards. By the age of 12, I already felt like a grown man.

    That which attempts to destroy you will actually end up strengthening you

    I don’t believe in the idea of conquering other people, or conquering other nations. To me, it is a waste of energy, time, and physiological effort.

    Instead, better to conquer paralysis by analysis, indecision, self-doubt and fear, fear of the judgment of others, etc. What I desire is for you to become more free, more open, more courageous, more risk loving, etc.

    What bold new fates await you?

    The thought at hand!

    Conquer on!
    ERIC


    Conquering Experiences

    EK CONQUER EXPERIENCES:

    1. Conquer Fear in Boston
    2. Conquer Innovation in Berkeley
    3. Conquer Zen in HADONG SOUTH KOREA

    Conquer the holidays

    This holiday season, a fun idea; ask other people to not give you anything, and also consequently, tell others to not expect a gift from you. The best holiday gift could just be a FaceTime call to a dear friend, family member, etc. Better yet, offered to take them out to a nice dinner, are you Korean barbecue, Fogo de Chão, etc.

    Even for myself, the nicest present from somebody would just be $100 worth of beef ribs from the Costco business Center.

    Gift experiences to others, if need be. Go with your friend and treat them out to a massage, you pay. Or, if you really care about your nieces and nephews, instead of buying them a toy or gifts, to spend the day playing with them, keep your phone at the house or in the car, this should be the best gift of all.

    The gift of 100% undivided attention.

    Also, starts taking a friend to the gym, and pay for the gym membership. Or take a friend to yoga, and pay for their yoga membership.

    The gift of health. Even just go with them to CorePower yoga and gift it to them.


    More thoughts

    1. Weightlifting barefoot is supreme
    2. Atlas Lift — simply holding an insanely amount of heavy weight on your shoulders is a really good exercise, and strengthening workout. Atlas never skips leg day. Every day is leg day.
    3. Following the instructor, we’re having “proper form“ is for suckers. Just do whatever you want, whatever the instructor says or does is simply a suggestion, not an imperative.
    4. Becoming demigod is a noble goal.
    5. From a marketing or branding perspective, perhaps to just transfer your name into a monogram, or an abbreviation is a good idea. For example, ERIC KIM is now EK. Restoration hardware is now RH. Calvin Klein is CK, and Louis Vuitton is LV.

    More thoughts on blog.

  • Suggestions vs Imperatives

    Suggestions vs Imperatives

    Everything in life is a suggestion, not an imperative. Nobody could force you to do anything against your own will.

    Even in America, the way that the law is structured is that nobody could ever force you to do something against your own will. The only thing you must do in America is pay your taxes, this is an imperative. Beyond that, everything else is fair game.

    For example, if you’re doing a workout class, note that anything that the instructor does, everything they tell you to do is a suggestion. You have the choice and the power of whether to do it or not, whether to just go out for a water break, or just do “micro” reps, and “cheat”.

  • Barefoot Weightlifting

    Barefoot Weightlifting

    It is best to lift weights barefoot, why? Maximal engagement and connection with the ground.

    For example, if Hadthor deadlifted 501 kilograms barefoot, shouldn’t you?

    Go barefoot when doing any form of extreme weightlifting/powerlifting/hypelifting — deadlift, squat, squat hold, atlas hold, atlas lift, rack pull, etc.

  • The Atlas Lift / Hold

    The Atlas Lift / Hold

    I have a fun theory and interesting innovation; I call it the atlas hold. Basically the notion is that you just take the maximum amount of weight on the squat rack, and you just try to unrack it with your shoulder and your legs, and just see the maximum weight you can bear on your shoulders. The reason why I call it the atlas lift is because it is like Atlas; carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

    Or a squat hold.

    The reason why this is such an interesting and innovative concept is that in order to unrack the weight, you still need to push up with your legs. Thus, it is a formidable leg and thigh workout. And by just holding the weight on your shoulders, it will build up your whole body strength. For example, after doing my epic seven plate plus Atlas hold/squat hold, I felt it in my wrists, my shoulders, my traps, my back, my spine, my hips, my thighs, even my feet.

  • Should I Workout Twice a Day?

    Should I Workout Twice a Day?

    I say so! Hypelifting during the day, yoga at night! Just get a local gym membership and a CorePower yoga membership.

  • How to de-domesticate yourself

    Do you want to be the wild wolf, or, do you wish to be the happy sheep?

  • Interesting People

    If you were at a coffee shop, and you over hear people talking about somebody, consider it a good sign for that person. For example, at the local Philz coffee shop, and I overheard two guys talking about Elon Musk, and a guy who used to work for Elon Musk at Tesla.

    Therefore, we can identify Elon Musk as an interesting person, as he has talked about, even when he is not around.

  • Use your own personal interest as the metric of interest

    For example, if you’re reading something, and it bores you, let that be a signal and a sign that it is not worth you.

  • Curate Care

    Unlimited compassion and care for the whole world is self tyranny:

  • How to Conquer the World

    How to Conquer the World

    Is this what each man seeks?

    Nietzsche mentions Plato, in which he said something like, “each man would desire to become the master of all men.” Nietzsche asserts that this ethos in spirit should be made anew.

  • Text-Forward

    Text-Forward

    Always prioritize text.

  • Which Car is the Biggest Flex?

    Which Car is the Biggest Flex?

    The loudest car? And the most expensive and flashy colored one? And the most unusual doors?

    Still probably a brightly colored Lamborghini aventador or any car with the scissor doors.

    Or still, the biggest flex is to just walk around downtown topless, no shirt on. Show off your demigod physique.

  • Media Thoughts

    Media Thoughts

    Why media is the future:

    Medyos— with + me.

    A simple thought; media is just sharing yourself with others. I like the idea of being a solo media entrepreneur, that is, you create a cult of yourself, and everything that you do create and publish is all by you, about you, through you. At the end of the day, it is all about you.

    CULT(URE)


    Why is everybody so fearful or reticent to talk about themselves, or to just do things themselves?

    I have some theories; first and foremost, it seems that it is a moral ethical issue. Moralistically speaking, it is considered a sin or advice to talk about yourself. For example, the common word “selfish“, is akin to the word evil.

    For example, if you tell other people to “stop being so selfish“, is that considered a good thing or a bad thing?

    The cult of you

    Let us consider the most dominant video platform out there, YouTube. Tube as in TV, you as in you. The basic idea and just of YouTube is that it is TV all about you.

    Even twitch, was initially known as justin.tv, I believe it was just a live stream of this dude named Justin and all of his mundane life activities. Imagine the Truman show movie.

    Why it is good for you to go solo

    I don’t like the idea of gate keepers, or anybody holding you back from anything. I like the idea that we can do anything we want without having anybody stop us.

    For example, I truly despise the notion of having an editor or a publisher get in your way. If I have a certain idea thought or something, I hate the idea of having anybody have to “approve” it, before publishing it. For me the ultimate freedom is being able to publish whatever I want, however I want, whenever I want. And also how frequently I want.

    And this is the ultimate freedom of the Internet, websites and blogging, etc. No more gate keepers.

    Yet, the pitfall that we fall into is that it seems that nowadays people don’t really care about freedom, they care more for popularity and “success”, money, fame recognition, followers and likes, etc.

    All you need is 300

    How many followers, subscribers, is enough? I said 300 is sufficient. Why? Imagine King Leonidas and his elite spartan 300s. That is all you need.

    What kind of media should you create?

    Anything and everything. For example, just go pro or document your every day Monday in life activities. Whether it be eating, working out, or just share your thoughts on anything.

    It seems that in today’s world, more media is better than less media. Simply put, more is better.

    Why? With digital media, it seems that people have a voracious appetite, and there is really no limit to how much media a person can consume. Let us consider the average modern-day man, who listens to podcasts, listens to music, watches movies, watches TV shows, watches TV series, etc. Let us also consider the apple AirPods phenomenon; the new frontier of sound, audio things.

    Also let us consider the fact that traffic is getting worse and worse. This means, more and more people stuck in a car, wanting to listen to something to entertain them during their hateful commutes and time stuck in traffic. It seems safety wise, audio, podcasts are safer to listen to while driving then having to watch videos while driving.

    Just do it all

    So the question is, what kind of media should you create?

    I said create it all. No limits to your creative expression. I see the best way to think about it is create things in a spirit of fun and experimentation, and just have fun with it. Don’t take it too seriously, don’t get too caught up with editing, etc. Create media that you would like to see.

    For example, something that’s really interesting to me is trying to figure out the behind-the-scenes of peoples day to day behaviors and activities. I’m curious about how people eat, and what they eat. Thus, I started to do some GoPro videos of me eating meat, what I call my meat meditation.

    Also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen any vlogs on people talking about more philosophical topics, ethics, etc. Thus I started to create more Vlogs of me talking about philosophy, stoicism, etc. as a means to create information and knowledge that I wish I had access to when starting off.

    It’s not really a big deal

    I am not quite sure why people take what they create so seriously. They strive to make it so nice by editing it so well, maybe it is a byproduct of our K-12 educational system, or even our college education. We strive to make things tiptop perfect, editing it to please some sort of third-party intelligent constipated reader, etc.

    Hilariously enough, I make my living from blogging, vlogging, etc. Yet, I have extremely poor grammar, “writing style,” etc. Yet, out of all the people that I know, I am the most successful blogger and vlogger that I personally know. Also the one with the most money in the bank.

    The origin of inspiration and motivation

    I cannot speak for you, but I could speak for myself. What is the origin and the root of our inspiration and motivation?

    For me, it is fun, adventure, play, etc. I am personally driven by curiosity, and I like to be able to delve deeper into ideas which are personally interesting and meaningful to me.

    For example, whenever I blog about something that I am interested in, as I’m blogging and while I’m blogging, I gain deeper inside to the topic at hand. Blogging as a form to flesh out my own thoughts for myself, and the upside is I could also share those thoughts with others.

    I see blogging as meta-thinking. Same for vlogging.

    Therefore, blogging and vlogging is great because you’re killing two birds with one stone. It benefits yourself, and it also benefits others.

    Criticism?

    You know you’re successful once you have people start criticizing critiquing you etc. Consider it a good sign. For example, nobody ever publicly criticizes or critiques somebody who is boring. Boring people never get talked about.

    Also, boring people are never hated on either. Thus, it seems that the root of success is to actually seek to become more hated.

    Philosophically speaking, I think hate is just love in disguise, via Nassim Taleb Bed of Procrustes.

    Anti-comments, anti-stats

    I have never gotten a useful comment in my whole life, whether positive or negative. For example, certainly nobody likes getting negative comments, but also, the funny thing is that positive comments can actually hurt you more. Why? If somebody gives you a positive comment on some thing, it trains you to create more things that will get you more positive comments. Thus the road to mediocrity.

    The most robust way to deal with things is either disable comments on your blog or website, disable comments on your YouTube channel, etc., or, if the platform doesn’t allow to disable comments, just don’t read them.

    Also stats. Statistics are depressing, they are not motivating. Thus, disable stats on your own website, and also, refuse to look at them.

    What is the point of media?

    The bias in modern day society is that people just want to do things in order to make a lot of money. If that were really the case, better to be a plumber, they can easily make $200,000 a year. But do you want to be cleaning somebody’s poop for a living? Probably not.

    For me, creating media is my passion and my soul project. It is what I am best at, which is effortless to me, and also fun and interesting. I never need to be motivated to create something, because I just create what I’m interested in. If you live a life full of inner motivation for yourself, isn’t this the best life?

    A formula

    Spend 90% of yourself blogging, writing things out in text, or just using iA Writer and markdown to voice dictate your thoughts. Why? Text has better longevity than video, is much more easily indexable, searchable, and accessible. Video is great, but video has many downsides. For example, Even with modern day algorithms, to decipher all of the words that occur in a video is still a difficult task, even for YouTube and Google text and sound recognition.

    Also, lightness. A text file is a few kilobytes, whereas even the smallest video is hundreds of megabytes. Even in today’s modern world, Internet speeds, download speeds, upload speeds, and bandwidth is still a huge problem. Even the promise of 5G is weak; 5G is not real, it is fake 5G. You almost never get 5G anywhere, maybe the only place you get it is in South Korea. But in America, I feel like we are just restrained to either 3G or 4G.

    1 billion blog posts, 1 billion photos, 1000,000,000 videos?

    There are some things in life you can control, and some things you cannot. One thing you cannot control is how rich you will become. For example, even if I used all of my effort, heart and soul, to become a trillionaire, I may never attain it. However, focusing to create a lot, this is actually something which is attainable.

    But isn’t quality more important than quantity?

    I think the thought that “quality” is more important than quantity is a weak modern notion. Even in ancient Greece, I think Epicurus actually wrote at least 300 or 400 books in his lifetime. That is a lot.

    My personal thought is there are academic and scholarly types who are unproductive, and they look at productive creators with petty resentment and envy. They wish that they could be productive, and prolific, and therefore, they have created that aphorism that quality is better than quantity. That they believe that their quality is superior than the other person’s quantity.

    However, even in show business, there is the saying, “Your best film is the last one you’ve produced.” or, “You’re only good as your last book.” This means, you always want to be modern and recent. That, you always want to keep producing, creating, publishing.

    For example, even Google search: they prioritize freshness. That is, they prioritize the information which was created most recently. There is a recency bias.

    Now what?

    Start your own solo media empire today.

    Go solo.

    Own your own platform. This means, you must pay for it. The rule of thumb is this; if it is free, you don’t own it.

    If you use Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, etc., you are partaking in digital sharecropping. You are an Instaslave.

    Even, don’t put faith in YouTube. Sooner or later, your account will probably either be removed, banned, or inaccessible, etc. Even with my Facebook and Facebook Fan page, I have long forgotten the credentials for it, and I can no longer access it. Access denied.

    Instead videopress.com — via the WordPress.com premium jetpack plugin plan. The simple thought is this:

    Could you upload sexually explicit videos without having it flagged or removed?

    This is the secret to platform freedom.

    Web platform

    Bluehost.com and WordPress.org — this is the key.

    To create your own open source media empire, own your own digital domain, and also your own digital tools.


    Make more media, consume less.

    I like the idea that you could spend 99% of your effort, time and energy creating media, and only spending 1% of your time energy and force consuming media. Certainly we must have inspiration from somewhere else, however, we should limit it. Better to draw upon instead from your own life experiences, your own lived experiences, etc.

    Now what?

    1. Just write something, and post it to your blog.
    2. Just record something, and upload it to YouTube.
    3. Start your own podcast with anchor.fm — insanely easy.
    4. Create your own platform. For example, Arsbeta.com as my brain child.

    Make more, be more

    MAKE WITH EK:

    1. BOSTON
    2. BERKELEY
    3. HADONG South Korea

    EK WORK


    More thoughts

    1. Entrepreneurship by KIM
    2. Modern Photographer

    More in EK SHOP


    Sources of inspiration

    1. Ancient Greek philosophy. The best philosophers to read are the ones who came before Socrates, the “pre-Socratic‘s.” This includes Heraclitus, Democritus, etc.
    2. The Iliad
    3. Nietzsche — The Will to Power as one of my favorite books.
    4. Movies and cinema: the matrix, the movie 300, John Wick, fight club, etc.

    Or anything on EK BLOG


    Thrive on!

    If this sparked even one interesting thought within yourself, forward it to a friend!

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