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No music, walking around barefoot, use the urinal and pee, chalk up my hands and bar with liquid chalk, slap myself in the face and thighs and chest and shoulders and back, rack up, focus, scream and unleash valhalla and primal scream then just fucking lift it!
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My new passion.
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To compare your own family with others, this is base.
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A simple way to approach life; think about your endgame, that which your truly desire, and then take a straight line towards it, cut out the middleman!
PHILOSOPHY BY KIM
Essays by KIM
- How to “Improve” Men
- The Art of Virtue
- How to Dominate
- JUST SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES AND WISDOM WITH OTHERS.
- How to Get More Done in a Single Day – MEMENTO MORI PHILOSOPHY
- THINK FOR YOURSELF
- Cruel?
- GO DEMIGOD.
- How to Be Happy: Challenge and Danger Philosophy
- To Become Greater, You Must Become *LESS* Productive!
- Imperfect Beauty
- The Philosophy of Pleasure
- What Interests You?
- Anti Theory of Everything
- Become?
- STRONGER OR NOT?
- Carte Blanche Ideals
- CHOOSE JOY
- Don’t Judge Your Impulses
- On Becoming Less Human
- COWARDICE.
- The Philosophy of Futurism
- PHILOSOPHY IS VALUE-SETTING
- PHILOSOPHY IS NOT LIFESTYLE
- WHY STANDARDIZATION IS BAD.
- YOUR OWN TABLE OF VALUES.
- RETRO IS BAD.
- INSANELY LOFTY THOUGHTS.
- Strive to *Lose* Weight, Not *Gain* Weight
- DIABLO II ANALOGIES FOR REAL LIFE.
- If You Know Your *WHY* You Can Discover Any *HOW*
- Life is Too Short to Be Miserable
- What Consumption Takes Skill?
- OFF THE GRID.
- REALITY IS CRUEL.
- Pain is Information
- WHY REMOVE VULGARITY AND DISORDER FROM OUR EYES?
- AUTOTELIC.
- UNPLUG.
- How to Become a Philosopher
- SUBOPTIMAL IS OPTIMAL
- THE LUST FOR MORE.
- TO DO IS TO BECOME.
- IN PRAISE OF AGGRESSIVE.
- THE PHILOSOPHY OF OPTIMISM
- OUR PHILOSOPHICAL WILL TO EXISTENCE
- Is Hope a Vice?
- MOVE MEAN
- Carte Blanche Ideals
- One Interesting Thought
- What Lasts? What Doesn’t Last?
- A WOUND STIMULATES THE RECUPERATIVE POWERS
- Children & Purpose
- Thoughts on Becoming a Parent
- Where Does Our Desire to Upgrade Come From?
- WE ALWAYS NEED SOMETHING FURTHER TO ASPIRE TO.
- Self-Task Yourself an Awesome Mission in Life
- Differentiation vs Equalization
- My Passion to *Become* Something More
- No Aesthetic or Ethos is Forever
- What is Your Higher Purpose in Life?
- IT WILL NEVER SATISFY YOU.
- How to Decide
- Things You *Want* to Do vs Things You *MUST* Do
- Towards a More Beautiful Mode of Existence and Future
- EXTREME GRATITUDE.
- AMAP (As Much as Possible) or None.
- Why or How Does it Matter?
- The Philosophy of Time and Events
- How *Not* to Resent
- FORWARD LOOKING
- DOMAIN FLEXIBILITY.
- The Miracle of Human Growth
- EXTREME ADAPTATION.
- Why Plan?
- You Don’t Need to Justify Yourself
- The Philosophy of Ego
- True vs False Passions
- How to Achieve Tranquility
- On Making Your Own Philosophy
- The Purpose of Life is to Create New Life
- Think On!
- The Wisdom of Doing Nothing
- Congruency
- My Thoughts on Meditation
- The Philosophy of Purpose
- Emulate Yourself
- Good Fear, Bad Fear
- For the Betterment of Humanity or Just Yourself?
- What you *really* believe in and care for is manifested through your actions (or non-actions)
- Why Culture is Your Enemy
- YOUR EXPERIENCES ARE KING.
- LIFE IS INHERENTLY GOOD.
- Artistic, Physical, and Philosophical Muscles
- All New Experiences are Good Experiences
- What is the Purpose of X?
- UTILITY.
- Philosophy is a Luxury
- The Attempt is More Interesting than the Result
- Joyfulness vs “Happiness”
- Effectiveness Over Happiness
- Self Actualization
- MAXIMAL ENGAGEMENT
- Life & Pain
- On Living Every Day with No Regret
- Learn as if you’re going to live forever, live as if you’re going to die tomorrow
- Live Every Day Like it Were the Last Day of Your Life
- Self-Determination
- FALSE GRATITUDE vs REAL GRATITUDE
- HOW TO LIVE MORE
- THE UPSIDE OF TRAGEDY
- Satisfaction is a Sucker’s Game
- Supreme Repose
- WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LIFE? According to ERIC KIM
- STUBBORN, FLEXIBLE
- EVERYTHING HAPPENS AS IT *SHOULD* HAVE HAD HAPPENED
- Good Addiction, Bad Addiction?
- What is the Best Life?
- The Philosophy of Thinking
- The Philosophy of Conspiracies
- Conspiracies
- Growth
- Skepticism.
- What Do You Really Want Out of Life?
- Seem or Be?
- Learn Through Pain
- Respect Yourself
- In Praise of Elitism
- Why Independent Thinking?
- I Will Never Die
- Bitter is Better
- The Genesis of Nihilism and Existential Dread
- The Ethics of Personal Enrichment
- Good vs Not Good
- Punished by Privilege
- Abstinence Over Moderation
- Just Leave Others Alone
- You Can Only Critique that Which You Truly Understand and Love
- ERIC KIM Critique of Metaphysics
- Only Trust Philosophers Who Deadlift
- Heuristic: If Someone Talks Shit About Others Behind Their Back, Most Likely They’re Also Talking Shit About You Behind Your Back
- Virtue is a Privilege
- What Are Your Life Goals?
- Honesty
- Why I’m Anti Moderation
- No Spite, No Malice.
- Ascending Life or Descending Life?
- Double Edged Sword
- Ignorance.
- Why I Don’t Trust “Nice Guys”
- Why You Must Share Your Opinion
- Selfish Isn’t Evil
- Wisdom is the Goal
- YOU ARE KING.
- MASTER YOURSELF
- What is “Good” for You is Often what is Bad for You
- Care.
- BITTERSWEET
- ONE REP MAX
- Morality and Ethics is the Snare
- BY HELPING YOURSELF, YOU BEST HELP OTHERS
- Insanity is Good.
- Think Deep.
- PHILOSOPHY IS THE FUTURE.
- Open Mind vs Closed Mind
- ENTHUSIASM IS GENIUS
- Towards a More Critical and Rigorous Line of Thinking
- How to Encourage and a Foster Independent and Free Thinking
- What is the Purpose of Life?
- WHY PHILOSOPHY IS SUPREME.
- Elitism.
- I Cannot Form an Opinion About Somebody Until I’ve Met Them in the Flesh
- ALL GENETICS ARE GOOD GENETICS.
- Happiness vs Freedom
- The Birth of a Hater
- My Way Isn’t the Right Way
- Walking as an Existential Thing
- Why I’m So Tolerant
- Mortal Gods
- THE HUMAN SPECIES
- Why I’m So Skeptical
- Just Follow the Money
- Why Selfish?
- WHY WE CANNOT BLAME OTHERS
- Why Are We So Anti Elitism?
- What Actually Interests You?
- How to Become Yourself
- SELF HATE
- Optimistic Fatalism
- Death is the Ultimate Creative Constraint
- FLUX.
- How to Think for Yourself
- FLESH
- How to Live the Best Life
- Why Live a Life Without Regrets?
- Why Plato Ruined Art and Aesthetics for Us
- Self Respect
- Hypocrite vs Contradict
- Ideals vs Reality
- Spaceship Philosophy
- What is Your Ideal Life?
- MY EXTREME GRATITUDE TOWARDS LIFE AND BEING ALIVE!
- Critique of Utilitarianism
- Don’t Treat Others the Way You Want to Be Treated
- The Eternal Recurrence of Tragedy and Joy in Life
- Elite Asceticism
- Why I Don’t Like Numbers
- Action and Reaction, Cause and Effect
- The Antidote to Nihilism: The Philosophy of Nothingness
- ERIC KIM Notes on Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
- EXPLOIT CHAOS.
- WHY I DON’T BELIEVE IN GENETICS
- Self-Wisdom
- The Future Belongs to the Fearless
- INDIVIDUALISM
- Why Live Forever?
- THIS TOO WILL PASS.
- Why Education?
- How to Become Yourself
- Things Shouldn’t Go Back to the Way They Used to Be
- Why Am I So Cruel?
- The Great Joy of Existence
- Virtue for the Sake of Virtue
- NO DISDAIN.
- INTELLIGENT IGNORANCE
- A LIFE WITHOUT PAIN, DIFFICULTY OR TRAGEDY ISN’T A LIFE WORTH LIVING
- BITTER IS BETTER.
- EXPLOIT THE BEST FROM TRAGEDY AND LIFE
- DISREGARD FOR SELF-PRESERVATION
- PAIN.
- WHAT IF EVERYTHING IS NOT GONNA BE ALRIGHT?
- Tomorrow is Never
- Life is the Ultimate Creative Constraint
- EMBODIED REALITY
- BLACK SWAN
- THINGS WILL NEVER GO BACK TO THE WAY THEY USED TO BE
- What are you *really* afraid of?
- HAPPINESS ISN’T THE GOAL
- Philosophy is King
- Why is Selfish Evil?
- YOU’RE CONSTANTLY IN A STATE OF BECOMING
- ENTITLEMENT A SIN?
- NARCISSISM
- BE BRUTALLY HONEST WITH YOURSELF
- WHY FREE WILL?
- OBEY YOUR OPINION
- EGO IS GOOD.
- WHY IT IS GOOD TO BE INTO YOURSELF
- Seek the Good Pain
- Anti-Perfection in Photography, Art, and Life
- Can You Become an End into Yourself?
- WHY I LIVE
- Why I Hate Decline
- Why I Eat
- Why am I So Positive and Optimistic?
- EFFORT IS ENJOYMENT
- Never Stop Gaining
- TRUST YOURSELF
- A Life of Maximal Personal Independence
- What Do You Desire to Become?
- What Do I Want from Technology?
- Stratified Society
- Do You Love or Hate Reality?
- On the Brian, Body and Mind
- I’m Maximally Happy, Now What?
- Care over Fame
- ACTIVE NIHILISM
- Never Stop Subtracting
- How to Live a Happier and More Epic Life
- A Risker Life is a Better Life
- Only Work on Things You Can Imagine Doing for Eternity
- How to Maximize Your Happiness
- Influence
- The Gladiator Makes His Plans once He Enters the Ring
- Meditations on Meaning in Life
- There is Nothing More Interesting than Human Beings
- Is Hope a Vice?
- EGO
- Why Be Unique?
- Happiness is Metabolism Health and Strength
- You’re the Hero
- Is Productivity a Virtue or Vice?
- Why Do We Prize the Rare?
- The Joy of Uncertainty
- How Should I Best Use My Time and Life?
- A Life Without Pain or Suffering Isn’t a Life Worth Living
- Free or Unfree?
- What Do You Really Care For in Life?
- Anti-Satisfaction in Life
- Why Think?
- The Eternal Return
- Only Do What is Best for You!
- Truthiness
- Why Be Happy?
- Permissionless Living
- In Praise of Unconventional Wisdom
- Become the Change Which You Wish to See in the World
- Happiness
- Beyond Freedom
- Idolize People, Not Stuff
- What Makes You Stronger? What Makes You Weaker?
- Why Hate?
- The Secret of Happiness
- You’re Constantly in a State of Becoming
- Life is about Choices, Not Obligations
- Anti-Nihilism
- First, Do What is Best for You.
- Live Dynamic
- How to Prosper
- Is the Point of Life to Be Satisfied?
- SUPREME EFFORT OF WILL.
- How to Become more Idealistic
- Thrivival 101
- Create Yourself
- Non-Small
- Inspiration
- How to Live a Heroic Life: Dare the Heights!
- Human Augmentation
- Prune
- Happiness: Do What You Want to Do (And Don’t Do What You Don’t Want to Do)
- Avoid Vain (Empty) Pursuits in Life
- Modern Slavery
- Kill the Leeches
- Wisdom Augmentation
- Why We Need Friction in Life
- Straight Line Philosophy
- What’s Your End-Game in Life?
- Create Your Own Happiness Today
- Desire Both Pain and Pleasure in Life
- Try the Impossible
- SELF-RESPECT
- Anti-Social Extrovert
- Never Blame Anybody But Yourself
- Human Flourishing
- Simpler, Not Better.
- How to be Free
- Embrace the Extremes
- Cultivate Your Own Culture
- COURAGE.
- Thrivival
- Inner Power
- How to Live a Purposeful Life
- My Definition of Happiness
- Why Change is Good
- Why Work?
- How to Live the Happiest Possible Life
- The Two-Pronged Approach to Maximize Joy in Your Life
- You Always Have Another Option!
- INFINITISM
- Never Stop!
- What is Your Self-Directed Purpose in Life?
- Live Today Like it Were Your Last
- Do You Photograph to Live, or Live to Photograph?
- ARTIST-PHILOSOPHER
- Live Life to the Fullest!
- In Praise of Selfishness
- Why You Must Be a YAY-SAYER to Succeed in Entrepreneurship and Life
- Why I Love Walking
- Live Life Like a Video Game!
- Simple Luxuries in Life
- Treat Your Life Like a Fun Experiment!
- Only Prove it to Yourself
- You Don’t Always Need to Feel Joyful to Live a Fulfilling and Meaningful Life
- Life is Too Short to Be Bored!
- Money Cannot Destroy Boredom
- How to Find Inspiration in Life
- Why You Must Ignore Haters to Succeed and Win in Life
- An Active Life is a Happy Life
- My Simple Joys in Life
- Never Stop Striving
- How to Motivate Yourself in Life
- How to Be Optimistic in Life
- How to Dictate Your Purpose in Life
- In Praise of a Dynamic Life
- PURPOSE.
- How to Enjoy Life
- Photography Therapy
- How to Conquer Regret
- Take Your Play Very Seriously.
- How to Prosper
- Memento Vivere
- Destroy in Order to CREATE
- Trust Your Body More Than Your Mind
- Make Photos to Make Meaning in Your Life
- Seek Knowledge, Not Information
- The Purpose of Human Life
- How to Overcome Impedence
- Why I Love Death
- How to Be Centered in the Eternal Now
- How to Be Happy
- Why Do You Care What Others Think of You?
- Why I’m Happy
- Why?
- Why I’m So Prolific
- How to Reduce LAG in Life
Masters of Philosophy »
Personal Philosophy »
Stoicism »
- How to Be a Stoic Street Photographer
- How to Use Photography as Self-Therapy
- How to Free Your Soul From Disturbance
Zen Philosophy »
- How to Be a Zen Street Photographer
- Zen in the Art of Street Photography
- How to Find Tranquility in Your Photography
Life Lessons »
Learn more: Start Here >
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Only do things which you are insanely passionate about!
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After over 14 years in the game, some thing I’ve discovered about photos on the web; they are very fragile.
A simple tamperproof solution: make video slideshows of your photos, host them on videopress.com on your own blog via the Jetpack plugin or on YouTube.
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Just follow your gut.
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Hitting a new personal record PR in any of your given lifts, especially if you were uncertain of the potential outcome … pure euphoria!
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The reason why I never buy anything isn’t because I am somehow a virtuously frugal person. No, it is because I am so insanely picky. Nothing is good enough for me.
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Even men who desire to procreate and have children, what is it that they want? More power.
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I think this whole modern-day notion of modern-day men trying to chase women is perhaps a more modern romantic capitalist consumerist one. Great men of the past, didn’t really care for women much.
What did men of the past desire? They desired more power, more battle, more glory!
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The best design is that the more worn and torn it becomes, the more you like it.
For example, the charm of an old car with dents and chipping paint. The upside of inheriting old stuff which is already beaten.
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Things I wish I knew as a first time parent:
- Sleep train your kid as early as possible. Ideally five months. The best technique is just let your kid cry it out.
- Goat milk is superior to cows milk.
- At an early age, feed your kid bone marrow, the food of the gods.
- Never ever ever ever ever let your kid watch YouTube. Uninstall it from your phone and your iPad.
- GarageBand on iPhone and iPad is one of the most virtuous instrument apps you could let your kid play with.
- Let your kid watch videos of themselves, on your iPhone Photos app.
- When going on road trips, in the car, or on long flights, in the early days, always put on at least two diapers.
- Don’t buy the cheap diapers. Spend the extra money and buy Pampers.
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Probably the best modern-day book I’ve read in the last 10 years is Antifragile by Nassim Taleb. The basic gist is this;
When things threaten to destroy you, how can it be used as fuel to make you stronger?
In case you missed it
What does it mean?
Essentially the basic idea is that in life, painful, bad, even violent aggressions from others are not to be avoided, but rather, maybe even desired.
For example, if somebody ask for interacts with you in an aggressive, negative way, consider it as a good thing; after the incident, you have become more robust, stronger, and more impervious to outside aggressions.
Let me give you example. About a week or two ago at the gym, I was doing my typical atlas lift and a random guy asked me, how much longer I was going to be. Realistically it might’ve been 20 minutes, but I didn’t want to rush myself so I added some buffer. I told him, around 40 minutes. As a result, he started cussing and cursing and saying that what I was doing was “fucking ridiculous.” Fortunately because I was having a good adrenaline rush from doing my lifts, about five minutes later I calmly approached him and asked if he wanted to working with me. He shook his head, and said he wasn’t interested.
Moral of the story: that incident in which somebody acted bad manners towards me, I actually responded with very good manners. As a consequence, I no longer fear any negative interactions at the gym. If anything, I am quite proud of how magnanimously I was able to respond to such a petty encounter.
Stoicism is the way
Stoicism isn’t a perfect technique, but it is certainly useful. I think in the context of manliness, and becoming a “real man”, I think stoicism is one of the best ways to become stronger.
There are lots of different stoic techniques and stoic tips.
Essentially, the basic gist:
When in doubt, delay reaction.
I suppose I am pretty dedicated to Stoicism, after all, I did name my first son after Seneca.
Becoming more invincible to fate
The new topics and directions is combining stoicism, street photography, and entrepreneurship to life:
- June 17th, Saturday, 2023: DOWNTOWN LA CONQUER YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY AND LIFE
- July 15-16th: ERIC KIM SAIGON VIETNAM TRAVEL STREET PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIENCE 2023
- Oct 14th (Saturday) PHILLY CONQUER STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
Essentially, I believe that street photography is the supreme form of photography, as it requires the most courage and guts.
One rep maxing
Another way to become more anti-fragile or essentially to become stronger is through the one rep max school of weightlifting. The basic notion is this:
What is the maximum weight, you can lift successfully, once, even moving the barbell half an inch?
Note —
- One rep max atlas lift: 925 pounds
- One rep max rack pull: 810 pounds
- One rep max floor benchpress: 595 pounds
Antifragile emotions
This is another big thing. It seems nowadays, everyone is too hyper sensitive. This means,
Do not say, do, or interact with me in such a manner that there is even a .001% chance I might take it the wrong way.
For example, it seems that in modern-day times, it is not permissible to talk to strangers, to make small chat, to approach strangers, to joke, offend people, joke around, etc. Also it is not permitted to make eye contact, smile or say hello.
I say,
It is better to risk a social interaction, even if there is a 99% chance of a negative consequence.
For example, in my every day life, I am surrounded by very unpleasant people. Yet regardless, I am ruthlessly friendly. I will always ask how they are doing, even if 99% of the time they might snub me in a bad way. But I say fuck it, better to be courageous and friendly than to be cowardly and standoffish.
No Fear
Just loaded up my Texas squat power bar at the gym, 925 pounds in total, that is nine plates, 25, and a five pounder taped on top. The interesting thing:
No fear.
The goal?
To me, courage is everything. Curiosity and courage actually mean the same thing; couer means heart. Same also goes with curate.
Whenever I max out the barbell, attempting to lift over 900 pounds, people are always befuddled and ask me why I do it, what the purpose of it is, etc. I never have a quick enough or witty enough response. Typically I just say,
To fulfill a personal curiosity.
The personal curiosity of the limits of a human body, my human body, how much I could lift, without taking steroids etc.
But perhaps, a better way to think about it is actually, I do it as a means to conquer fear. To me a perfect lift is a lift in which your approach it, give it your all without any hesitation or fear.
In fact, I believe that 99% of street photography is simply conquering your fears. To not let hesitation get in your way.
What do we regret?
I think I’d like, typically our biggest regrets or regrets related to cowardice, or fear. For example, you wanted to ask that one girl out on a date, but, you were afraid of getting rejected, and you never did. Or you were fearful for asking her to get married, and you never asked, because you were fearful.
I know for weightlifters, powerlifters, people like me who enjoy doing one rep max lifts, I think the biggest regrets we have is when we want to lift a certain weight, but fear and hesitation gets in our way, and instead, we lift a lesser amount, afraid that we may “hurt“ ourselves.
However, an interesting thing that I’ve learned is the fear of hurting yourself is actually a good motivator to force you to focus.
For example, now at the gym, I’m laser focused. I don’t fuck around. I don’t rush my warm-up routine, and I’ve also been going harder in my warm up, stretching, yoga routine before I lift.
Greater danger, greater fates
I forget if it is Heraclitus or Democritus who said this, but essentially the gist:
In life, the more that a man attempts, risks, and exposes himself to danger, the greater his legacy and fate.
Fortuna adiuvat Fortis, the tattoo on the back of John Wick. The basic ideas that lady Fortune favors those who are strong, brave, and maybe perhaps a little bit reckless.
Foolish versus wise fear?
There is some fear which is wise. For example, I am fearful of dying in a texting while driving accident, and therefore I never text message while I drive, let alone ever text message. I have all notifications turned off on my iPhone.
Also, with Seneca, I let him do superficially do “dangerous“ stuff, but when it is actually really really dangerous, I tell him. Fear of critical or irreversible injury to Seneca is a fear which is wise.
What is entrepreneurship anyways?
I think “to entrepreneur” should be seen as a verb. To risk, to attempt. Even the modern day notion of an essay, comes from the French assay, which literally means attempt. When you write a written essay, it isn’t some storehouse of irrefutable truth. Rather, it is an attempt for you, the writer, to gain a deeper truth about something.
Success or failure is trivial
For example, what do you think about king Leonidas and his spartan 300, they are not remembered because they beat the Persians, but rather, their courage.
Also interestingly enough, in the Iliad, in the duel between Achilles and Hector, Hector knows that Achilles is the superior fighter, and also, Achilles is a demigod, whereas Hector is a mere 100% human.
However, Homer puts both Achilles and Hector on equal footing. In the eyes of Homer, both fighters, irregardless of their lethality, are both seen as equal.
Your life?
I think modern-day life, it may not be fear which holds us back but uncertainty. For example, last summer before me and Cindy went to Phnom Penh Cambodia [thoughts on Phnom Penh Cambodia vlog], I was simply a little bit on the fence, I didn’t know if it would be good or bad. I was may be a little bit indifferent.
Therefore the simple heuristic;
If something is even a little bit marginally interesting to you, or might be interesting, just do it.
If I think about my travels, I don’t think I’ve ever really had an experience in which traveling was a “net negative” experience for me. There has always been good which comes out of every travel experience, irregardless of how difficult it might have been, or some annoyances along the way.
For example, going to South Korea last year, I got massively annoyed by all of these backwards Confucian moralizing and ethics. But, much good came out of it, because it forced me to do a deep dive on the history of Confucius, Confucian teachings, in order to undermine it.
Often things which make you angry can be very productive.
Your life goals?
I think honestly speaking, I am the most encouraging person that I know. Even my mom said it was a dream of hers that I became some sort of motivational speaker or something.
Even when I think about my workshops, my passion and my goal is to encourage every single participant in person who attends. To not be a nay sayer, but to be an enabler.
Other people?
I have a theory about modern-day society and capitalism and consumerism; it is all predicated on making you feel small and inferior, and the promise of capitalism and consumerism is this:
If you work really really hard, and earn enough money, you can buy your happiness, your self-worth, your self-esteem through cars, jewelry, things, homes and possessions, commas and zeros in your bank account etc.
For me, what are my greatest enjoyment is going to the gym, simply going there as a sociologist, and analyzing people, their behavior, their speech patterns, etc.
Something I have discovered is when people tell you to be “careful“, they are simply crowdsourcing their own fear onto you.
For example, when people first started to see me Atlas lift over seven plates, eight plates, nine plates etc. even the really really strong guys would tell me in a hushed tone—
… but be careful.
When people tell me this, essentially what they are saying is,
I would never attempt that, because I am afraid that I would hurt myself if I tried.
Simple lesson: when other people crowd-source their fears onto you, it is simply a signal that they are the cowards, not you.
Now what?
I think in life, the best way to live is to always have something greater to aspire towards. For example, it is the joy of the weight lifter to indefinitely increase his or her one rep max, in any given lift. Also it is the joy of the entrepreneur to keep innovating, taking on new ideas, new creative paths, new risks.
This is where a lot of people are foolish; they dream of the day that they could cash out their Silicon Valley unicorn for $1 billion, and then just chill on the beach for the rest of their lives. No. The true entrepreneur perhaps would actually never sell their company; For example, mad respect to Mark Zuckerberg for not selling out Facebook. The deep regret of Instagram and WhatsApp founders to selling to Facebook, and also the regret of the oculus founders for selling to Facebook.
Missionary or mercenary?
One good framing that I got from Peter Thiel in 0 to 1 is figuring out whether other people are missionaries or mercenary’s. Missionaries do it because their soul is in the game (Nassim Taleb), mercenaries simply do it for a fat check and a bonus and a salary.
In fact, the truly great entrepreneurs in history like a Steve Jobs and Elon Musk were actually quite ascetic.
For example, Steve Jobs lived like a weird homeless person, and even Musk first built x.com with his brother, sharing the same office space, sleeping in sleeping bags, showering at the local YMCA, and feeding himself on two dollars a day with nothing but hotdogs and spaghetti. Maybe this is where Kanye West is a bad entrepreneur; I think he cares too much for expensive and fancy things.
Legacy?
A lot of philosophers have thought about this, but the more I think about it, seeking immortal fame amongst mortals (Heraclitus) actually seems like a good idea. Why? Granted that you have kids, legacy and your fame after death is the only thing which could outlive you, and aid future humanity.
I think deep down, all humans are altruistic to a certain point. Thinking about legacy isn’t really considering your fame and notoriety after death, but rather, how your life has impacted those who are currently alive, and also people who are not yet born.
What are you capable of?
See what you can do, become or achieve with EK:
- June 17th, Saturday, 2023: DOWNTOWN LA CONQUER YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY AND LIFE – New!
- July 15-16th: ERIC KIM SAIGON VIETNAM TRAVEL STREET PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIENCE 2023 – New!
- Oct 14th (Saturday) PHILLY CONQUER STREET PHOTOGRAPHY – New!
Fear conquering consulting
Email Eric [at] EricKim.com
Now what?
- Portable thinking: I still strongly believe that a semi nomadic life is probably the best approach of living. Therefore, never buy, purchase, invest in anything which is not portable with you. For example when you travel and live abroad, you can’t take your house, you can’t take your Tesla, you can’t take your Lamborghini etc. This also means that with your devices, make sure they are super portable.
- Why bitcoin is the future, not Ethereum: the new BRC-20 ordinal theory with Bitcoin — the new ethereum killer. Don’t trust anything built on top of the Ethereum network. Further skepticism towards chainlink.
Now what?
- Chat GPT is cool, WHY APP ZEN OF ERIC KIM is better. Chat GPT is like a very efficient Google. Why app, Zen of Eric, is more interesting because it forces you to do the thinking in philosophizing, not amalgamated intelligence scraping off of Google. I think for now Google is safe, because it has been embedded within chrome, and Safari, and it is now in official verb. But, maybe as open AI, ChatGPT continues to expand, google will become less and less useful. Bad News For Google.
- I think the future is social spaces. For example, building new gyms which are social experiences, and also let us consider the massive success of an Irvine spectrum, in terms of all the foot traffic they can get.
Antifragile technology?
The new thoughts:
- Building an anti-fragile website or web platform?
- Can chain.link be used perhaps to facilitate more anti fragile things online, via the blockchain?
- CRYPTO THOUGHTS
Forward the turbo thoughts!
Feeling a little bit of wind in your wings? Feel free to forward this to a friend or family member who could use the turbo!
START HERE // BOOKS // WORKSHOPS
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The best way to become more anti-fragile in the context of weightlifting is simple; only do single repetitions, one rep max lifts.
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There is always a hidden catch, and often the catch is very expensive, metaphorically and or literally.