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.
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
- Conquer Fear in Boston
- Conquer Innovation in Berkeley
- 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
- Weightlifting barefoot is supreme
- 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.
- 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.
- Becoming demigod is a noble goal.
- 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.