40 - EP40 w/ DuLab: Creating Elite Mental Models, Perspective as Creating Potential and Utilising Beliefs for the Best

Sol Brah, what is up?

Yo!

How's it going, dude? How are you?

I'm great. It's a beautiful morning. Sun hasn't come up yet. So, you know, you like to get that early work vibe. It's good. Beat the World. How are you?

Good, man. I'm very good. Uh, it's about 3:30 here, um, in California. Sun's out. I'm just vibing, man. It's a good day.

It's a very— I missed California, that's for sure.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

What up?

What kind of coffee are you drinking?

Espresso, of course. The standard. I don't have coffee any, any other way, really. Yeah, unless it's hot.

You're just drinking that black?

Yeah, yeah. Sometimes I'll put a little honey in it, uh, which is nice. But yeah, no milk, no plant milks or whatever, which everyone listening, if you're drinking a plant milk because you think it's healthier than normal milk, stop. Unless you're making it yourself or it's coconut milk, you know, almond milk, macadamia milk, oat milk, soy milk, they're all like, especially the nut milks, they're just the first run-through of water being washed over whatever it is, the oat or the almond. And basically what you're getting from that is all the dirt, all the pesticides and everything else, the fertilizers washed off the actual thing, and then you're drinking that residue. Do you really want to do that? No, it's not milk. Really bad for you. Pro tip for anyone listening. But do Welcome. Um, you've been on a bit of a wave recently, a tidal wave of, uh, of energy and, and good, you know, high vibration thinking. So, and correct me if I'm wrong, was that after the kind of— you went dark for a little bit? I know you've been working in something big, which I noticed that you weren't tweeting as much, which is great. Obviously, you're obviously putting in the work behind the scenes. But do you think that's kind of raised you to a new level with how you're thinking and awareness and all of that.

Yeah, no, absolutely. So just to give everybody a little background here, I kind of stopped tweeting back in late 2019. So I've been around Twitter since 2018. Um, I would tweet every now and then, but things really started picking up at the beginning of this year, so 2021. Um, throughout all of 2020 as well, um, I went through kind of a rough period of my life. So in 2019, I was still working a 9 to 5. I was in finance. And during that entire period, I was never super sad, I would say. I was just discontent. So I would go through the motions every day in a constant state of flux where I knew I didn't want to do what I was doing, but I also didn't really have a plan or the urge or the inner fire, if you will, to actually do something about it. It was just the level of discomfort that never really pushed me in either direction. 2019, I was like, okay, you know what? I just don't want to tweet anymore. There's no reason for me to be here. I'm just going to work this job here, just go through the motions, whatever. Then in 2020, things got really bad. So this was right before COVID actually happened. I don't really know exactly kind of what the triggers were, but I think in general it was just like a buildup of so much dissatisfaction that I started to just feel really shameful about who I was. I was ignoring it for so many months to the point where one day I would just look myself in the mirror and automatically just kind of hate myself in a way.

Some people do that for years, right? Work with the job that they hate and they're just living this life. So you're like a zombie walker. And I did the same thing, obviously not to the degree, uh, I think you felt. But you know, it's when you're living a life that's not actually what you want to do, like, you can't get away from that inner voice.

Totally, totally. So as I was saying, right, in late 2019, um, I would come home and I would for sure just not be stoked on it. But I would ignore it because I was—

To put it lightly, for sure not as stoked. Yeah.

In my mind, I was like, you know what? I'm getting free dinners here. Like, you know, we have a—

Hey, that's nice though.

It's not bad, right? On Fridays, like, oh, we're getting let out at work drinks. Okay, yeah, you know, this is, this is cool. The thing is, yeah, like I said, I was ignoring it for so long that it just kept building up and up. And as you know, Sol, the more you ignore those kind of nagging— oh yeah, right, it just gets louder. Like, the crack is there, but inevitably you don't know when, but you just know that it's going to completely open up. The flood is going to come in. It's like when you have a leak on your roof, it drips a little bit. It's, you know, all right, this is unfortunate. I don't want my roof to be leaking. I'll probably put a patch on it, whatever. The more you ignore it, the more wear and tear, it's just going to break open one day. And I think that's what happened to me. Again, I don't know what the actual cause was. It was a culmination of just general dissatisfaction, but In 2020, like right before COVID happened, right? Like things just took a turn for the worse. And I would look myself in the mirror and be like, oh my God, like who have I turned into? My life is just absolutely terrible. It's like thoughts started coming up of me as a little kid looking at who I was. I was like, dude, what am I doing here? Like, why am I doing this? And after that, right, I completely lost my ego. Things started happening where because COVID happened, my job security was in limbo. They were making a bunch of restructuring internally. My bonus got shafted as well. So I wasn't getting the money that I expected. I was stuck inside all day as well after remote work, and I just didn't really know what my future held. So I think that was a huge contributor as well. But the shame that I felt from That entire experience truly motivated me to finally take action and figure out, okay, if I don't take action right now, my life is just gonna be absolutely terrible. It's gonna be this way for the rest of my life. What do I have to do today in order to really get myself out of this situation? So it was a combination of just all these bad things happening, feeling this immense shame about myself that truly gave me that inner fire to really figure out how to get myself out of that situation. Situation. So after that started happening in 2020, I just got to work, right? I just tried to find different ways, um, of trying to, you know, make money on my own. I would reach out to anybody I could, but I was super focused for 6 months in 2020. It was the first time in my life where I was that focused and just determined to finally get myself out of that situation and honestly feel like myself again.

Yeah, yeah. That was, um, that's all it takes, right? Like 6 months of actual focus and actually like think about even, you know, how many times you actually sat down and concentrated for multiple hours at a time because you have something that you believe in. Like most people go their whole life without doing that.

Oh, absolutely. And I don't even think, um, you know, 6 months is kind of a tangible number to throw out there, but it's really how bad you want something and how bad you weak your situation is. I mean, that 6 months could be 3 months, it could be 1 month, right? It's really uncontrollable to some extent, um, the actual time frame that is. But I think it's just, it's all about what you are feeling internally and how motivated you are, how bad you truly want to get out of your situation or get to some sort of place where, you know, it resonates with you internally, right? Yeah.

If it's comfortable at the place that you're at, or relatively comfortable, like you have a good paying job, you have a routine, and it's like, it's not that bad, like coworkers are okay, there's not like a massive thorn in your side, then you can tough it out. It's almost worth it to make things worse so that you have the motivation to get better. Because like our biological animal When we have exploited an environment that is good to us and is easy for us to navigate and for us to get food, we have shelter, water, there's not really much motivator to go do something else because, you know, at a biological level, the body tries to conserve energy. So the brain tries to trick you and say, "Nah, dude, we don't need to do that. We don't need to push hard. Like, there's nothing chasing us, you know, we're secure here." So you have to fight against that. And the way to do that is almost to make it like more intentionally worse so that you have the discomfort, uh, to really get somewhere. Really like almost instead of— and your motivator was the shame, I guess, that finally wormed its way into your head so you couldn't ignore it— is to sit with your thoughts. And this is why everyone a lot of the time, like, not many people are meditating. Most people are, you know, numbing their thoughts with music 24/7, drinking on the weekends, uh, whatever it is that they choose as to, you know, stop that voice and that awareness and that, that talk with themselves at all times. Because if you actually sat and listened to the feelings you were, you know, obviously thinking about yourself, then that's very, very confronting but powerful.

Yeah, no, absolutely. And kind of on that point as well, um, what you said about discomfort— things that happened in my life were completely unplanned. The thing is back when all those bad, quote unquote, bad things happened to me, they actually turned out to be the biggest blessing in disguise in hindsight. So in other words, if I got the bonus that I wanted, right? If COVID in general never happened, I legitimately think I still might be in that similar state of mind where I'm just going through the motions, feeling that mild level of discomfort and never really being motivated to make some grand change in my life. With COVID happening, the world was obviously super afraid of it. People started shutting the office down. I was stuck in my room with nowhere to go, and I was forced to kind of stay with my thoughts. Me not getting that bonus that I wanted, right? My job security kind of being in limbo as well with the restructuring. It actually gave me kind of a signal internally too. It was like, whoa, for the first time, like, this has never happened.

You're not safe.

I was like, "Right, like this is not safe, right?" So a culmination of all those factors, it was the thing I needed. And I'm still very shocked that it all happened at once too, because I look back on that moment every single week, honestly, where I think, had COVID not happened, had all those restructurings internally didn't happen, like where would I be? And I don't wanna dig in and question it too much, but I'm just extremely grateful that what I used to believe was the most tragic thing that could have happened to me, you know, would have ended my, my life. I know it sounds dramatic, but it ended up being the one thing I needed, that intense discomfort, to really propel me towards something, um, you know, that I knew that I was meant to do.

Yeah, no, that's, that's so insane. And most of the time it is like that, like these things that we build up in our heads as important to, you know, who we are, and we measure ourselves and we measure our approval of ourselves based on this external factor, you know, life has a funny way of taking away that barrier for you. Um, and when you have that, you know, in hindsight, with all the things that we've gone through and all the things you thought, uh, in your past, you know, you got over it. I think you tweeted this recently. It's like, everything in the past that you've gone through that was really hard, you've got through it. You're here. So this next thing, which you think is the end of the world, just sit with it and be okay with it because you're going to come out the other side regardless and you'll have lessons that you've learned. You'll, you know, you might have met some different people or it's forced you to— you're stronger in a way. Like, that's happened every single time you had a bad situation and then there are good times further down the line. So it's really, you know, it's a double thing, right? Because you understand that your interpretation of the event is actually the thing that's causing you distress and not the event itself, and that you have the power to change to the point where there are no good or bad events. It's your interpretation of it that, that really makes your, um, makes the enjoyment of it. And you can choose to do that. Obviously, there are some situations like the 9-to-5 job, um, which kind of scratch at your core being a bit more But in terms of the day-to-day, good times, bad times, if you find yourself stressed by things and really down and out and thinking about, oh, this shouldn't happen, all of these things which like make people depressed or whatever, you can control that and you can choose to just simply stop feeling and stop— not stop feeling, but like having the feeling, but being like, oh yeah, that, that's a feeling and I can feel that way without being distressed about it. And, you know, without like beating myself up about it because it's just, you know, part of the roller coaster and ups and downs of life.

Yeah, no, exactly. And what you said is so true because it's never the external events that creates dissatisfaction or can be objectively labeled as bad. Things just happen. There's no meaning attached to it. We create our own meaning. So for one person, they could get, let's say, I don't know, fired from a job or something terrible happens at work that leaves them in some negative position. That guy, he could think, oh, this confirms that I'm a failure. This confirms that I'm not good enough, right? He can just kind of sit there and get in his own head and keep going down that negative rabbit hole of, you know, kind of demeaning himself. But you can take another guy and he could legitimately sit there and say, wow, I'm so grateful that they can't see my value. This confirms to me that I am not supposed to be here. This is a perfect opportunity for me to get out there and finally actualize my own values, right? Yeah, same event that happened, just two different perspectives.

Yeah, and you know, I'm big on this. It's like, because we have the power to choose our interpretation of things, literally see everything that happens in any situation as beneficial to you, the way it was meant to go, the plan that God has for you, and, you know, indicative of your total future success. And when you live life from just like this almost golden halo— and that's what it feels like when you get deep in it, it's like you're happy. Anything that happens, you're smiling, you're like cool, that's meant to happen. Even if it's a problem in a business, oh, this is an opportunity to figure out how to run this more smoothly or not have this mistake. You're growing the business and securing it rather than thinking this is a problem, ah, I've gotta solve it. That's two different perspectives of business problems. But in your life with anything that happens, like even like a bird flying past, then you're like, wow, That was such a beautiful message from the universe to me. And the more you do that, I found the more you see the coincidences, which we know now there's no such thing, right? Um, they happen more when you're looking out for them. And some people say like, yeah, well, of course you see them, you're looking, you're looking for them. But that's not like the things that happen when you're looking for them. They're so coincidental, shall we say. Like, there's so much of it that happens, it's like, that can't be just me looking with my eyes. Like, there has to be a second-order effect of that intentional thought energy reverberating through the universe, because that's what it feels like. Have you— do you think the same in terms of coincidence?

Oh no. Yeah, like, what you said just now is absolutely spot on. And it took me kind of going through that rough period, that cycle of a super low value, uh, value followed by like a very, um, exorbitant high. Just kind of going through that cycle firsthand with skin in the game to make you really realize, hey, all these things had to happen in perfect order in order for any of this to happen. If even one part of that was not the way that it was, or, you know, it didn't happen, like, I wouldn't be who I am today in this exact position right now. So having to go through that cycle, it really made me realize everything that happens, just, you know, kind of lighten up about it, right? Don't take anything so seriously. It's like there's so many things that could be interpreted as bad, but because I've gone through so many bad things and in hindsight realized how all those fit together in order for me to get to where I am today, nowadays whenever anything quote unquote subjectively bad could happen in my life, I sit there and I actually am thankful for it because like you just said, it gives me that opportunity to really practice how I view things, practice my interpretation of events, and just continuously condition my subconscious in order to always look for the good in things. So, you know, something bad happens in business or whatever, right? Some difficult conversation comes up. In my mind, it's okay, this is an amazing opportunity for for me to just continue growing, practice my emotional intelligence, practice my tension control, right? And by viewing it that way, you just know, yeah, this thing happened, but someday in the future, like, this is all going to make sense when you look back at it. Don't worry, man, you know, just enjoy life, chill, and just try to improve everything.

Yeah, that's the life philosophy. If you really want to simplify it, enjoy, chill, and just try and get better each day, and, you know, everything else falls into place. I liked what you said because when you have— it's outcome independence, right? With anything that happens, you're just going into it with a positive attitude, something to learn, to test your strengths, you know, figure it out, and just a new experience of life. And that's the beautiful thing. So you don't really— you're not so attached that, oh, if we don't get a $10K revenue, you know, my life is over. Ah, you know, it's like You're just going in and what is this mindset again of like, if you see any result as a win, then you're going to be more chilled. And the more chilled you are in the situation because you're not stressing about the outcome, the better you perform. So the higher your chances of your outcome. So really it's this huge self-fulfilling prophecy in that you believe you're going to— or you believe everything works out for good. No matter what. So you're just in that flow state more and more, just kind of, all right, you know, I'm not freaking out, I'm not getting upset by the day-to-day. So your energy at a resonant level is a higher vibration, attracting better things and, you know, higher vibrational things into your life. And it's— it really is— a lot of people don't use this connection, is that the mindset change, you know, it sounds cliché, whatever, The mindset change comes first and then the things that are like that higher level, you know, more success or whatever that follows.

Right. Yeah, no, exactly. And that's, I think the thing is it's twofold. So what we just said right now, right. It's just whenever things come up, always finding a way to kind of condition your subconscious to view it in a more positive light and make it seem like this is meant to happen. And this is a growth opportunity. I think the second aspect of it, which has helped me a lot personally, is being surgically aware of what my actual priorities are in life. So I know exactly what to care about and what not to care about. So for me in my life, I never set, uh, or I never set goals in the sense that they're purely tangible. So what I mean by that is I'll never sit in there and I'm writing down like, okay, what do I want to accomplish this year? Right? My mind, I'm not saying I want to hit whatever, $10K per month in revenue. I want 10 clients, right? It's never really like that.

Yeah.

For me, I don't base it off of people. I base it off of intangibles. So I have principles in my life. I have values that are very important to me and I kind of split them up amongst 3 different categories, which are wealth, health, and relationships.

Boom.

So within wealth, it's not I want to hit $10K per month, it's I want to have the mental freedom in order to not be stressed out by a boss, right? I want to have the mental freedom to be able to go out to dinner with a friend on a whim just because I have time. I have that freedom, right? Um, same thing with— yeah, same thing with health. I want to wake up every morning not having any bodily pain, right? I want to be able to walk around and just feel very light on my feet, right? Not feel lethargic at all. Relationships, you know, I want to be surrounded by love, etc., right? Notice how all these things are not tangible. They're just general kind of principles to keep in mind for how I want to structure my life. So by being very aware of the, you know, the principles that are very important to me, if anything happens tangibly, I mean, it doesn't affect those principles whatsoever. It's like whether I make 5K or 10K or 15K, it's just a number on a screen. And yes, it's okay. It's like, wow, I'm not gonna be so torn up over this, you know. I'm not gonna be so, um, so sad over what happens because 15K versus 5K, great, that's a 10K differential. But at the end of the day, I'm going home, I'm sleeping at night feeling extremely proud of, you know, the life I've crafted for myself. I'm still surrounded by much love. I have so much freedom in my life. I'm never gonna starve. It's just being thankful and grateful for, you know, upholding those values and having congruence between how you feel internally and, you know, what you're showcasing externally.

100%. And it, it kind of is like you want that— you want your outside to reflect your inside values, but how you live usually comes with that value change. Like, if you don't value health wealth, relationships as much, uh, then you're going to be more prone to— or even if you've never like just concrete, concretely thought about it and had at least some framework, you don't have to have specific goals but like have some framework of how you want to live your life, then you're much less likely to actually pursue it, the type of life that gives you those freedoms. You don't know what you're working for, you're just kind of drifting around, you know, on the hedonic treadmill going out and, and not really focused in one kind of direction. That's just as dangerous as having the, you know, the wrong values and everything. So that is super important for anyone to figure out. Like, literally, notebook. What do I, what do I love in this life? What do I want to do more of? What do I want to do less of? And, and really nut it out, because if you don't have that, I, I would say you're the same now. It's like, now, if even if there's a business opportunity if it's going to take away from your other two values, then you don't do it, right? It's saying no to things as well, right?

Oh, absolutely. It's— I've done that countless times throughout this year too, where I've been given very upfront opportunities where all I had to do was, was say yes, and I probably would have made like an extra, what, five figures or something, right? Yeah, it's great. That's more money, but What is that taking away from?

Yeah.

Does this align with my personal value system? Does it align with the principles that I find important personally? And if the answer is no, you have to have the courage and the self-respect to just reject it. That's why it's so important because you don't know what to say yes or no to. You don't know how to properly spend your time if you don't tangibly write down, this is exactly what is important to me. This is exactly where my time should be spent.

Yeah, and it's, it's interesting, right? Because things like that where we're, let's say, tested to see if, if we really are about that life, are about the life that we want to create. When we make those hard decisions to say no, or something that on the surface looks good and easy, it's almost like you're rewarded with the next level, especially if it's like a shady thing, right? You know, I'm sure we've all had those opportunities where you can do something, you know, you don't really feel right about it in your gut. But those opportunities where you, you know, you stick to your moral principles and you say no to them, or it's just a tough decision that, you know, might stress you out at the time, those are the things which you can view as karmic tests from the universe to kind of unlock the next level. And the same with stress and the same And same with tough times. It's like, again, it's another mental tool to think about, is that when you're going through tough times, it's like, all right, this is the training grounds, this is the, the trial, the test that I have to go through. And on the other side is going to be a higher level and a higher existence of life. And you have to earn that, whether it's like studying more, lifting more, meditating more, you know, you can view those as, as tough times in a way, but you know, as we know, you can enjoy everything. But those times are the ones where you come out the other side, you know, stronger and better off. And it's just viewing everything, all your hardships like that, rather than, you know, this, this weird dissonance and where everything's hard. Like, I think that's very important, right?

Right, exactly. I really like what you said about having that perspective of it being a karmic test because at the end of the day, if you are living in a way that's very aligned with your morals, your personal principles and your values, what I've found is for me personally, I actually get this insanely intoxicating high once I acknowledge that I made a decision that aligned with my principles. Like if something happened and I was offered an opportunity, but that opportunity was going to take away from things that truly were valuable to me. If I say no, I actually will take a walk later that day and just think about it. And I'll just be like, wow, I did that. I'm going to pat myself on the back. And it causes you to just respect yourself more and more. That's how you build up that self-respect, that self-love. And you just keep sticking to your guns and you just um, do things that are who you are, right? To put simply, that's how you truly create that level of self-love internally.

So there's two things that's like— Jordan Peterson puts it really well when he says, um, well, he's talking about your kids. He says don't let your kids do something which makes you hate them, you know, as it's like a parenting thing. But you could apply the same principle to yourself, like don't do things that make you feel bad about yourself because, you know, like, you have to treat the relationship with itself like, okay, I'm this observer, I'm the awareness, uh, I can force myself to do things, you know, discipline, do the right things, make the right decisions. And when you don't do those things, you rightly are disappointed in yourself. And if you do that over and over and over, then that's not really a good place to be. You're not going to have much self-worth, you're not going to think you deserve good things because because you're not putting in the work. And that's part of the other thing, it's like when you are working hard and putting in the reps for things, you think, you know, I've done the work, I deserve this, I want this, I've put in the effort. And when you believe that you're worthy of something, you believe it's going to happen to you, you believe that you've succeeded, it's just waiting for time to catch up, then everything else starts to happen on the outside.

Right, right. And so many people, I think the blind spot here is from a third person point of view, they can call out every flaw in another person. They can look at someone who's constantly saying, I want to do XYZ, but isn't doing it. They'll sit back on the sidelines and be like, wow, look at this guy. Like, he can't ever stick to anything, right? But the thing is, they're doing that to themselves every single day. It's just, it's not conscious, but yeah. It's— you will start to understand people a lot more. You will understand why they do the things they do. You'll have more empathy in general too, which is a whole different topic we could talk about. But yeah, it all starts from treating yourself with respect. It all comes back to just following your guns, treating yourself with respect, and you'll just view, you know, everything in life in completely different lights automatically.

Yeah, well, I think, you know, if you want to talk about the kind of stages of these changes and the same kind of spiritual path that everyone follows, right? Let's break it down a little bit. Is when we are kind of in the lower vibrational emotions— jealousy, anger— we get angry at things that happen in our lives, we are upset that we don't have the success that other people have, we're scared of actually trying. We attack others, we try to bring them down because we see something in them which we— it's like a pastime, right, amongst people. But you talk shit about professional athletes, other people, business makers. Like, you always think of a reason why they've succeeded and thus makes your lack of success in whatever area it is feel better to yourself because the ego has been triggered and that person, it makes you think of yourself. It's like, why couldn't I do it? But that's not conscious. What's conscious is, and what you feel is like the anger you see that, or the jealousy. And so you see a guy that's ripped and you say, oh, he's probably not got a job, or, you know, he's a gym junkie that has no friends. Like, that's, that's one of the, the common ones. Or seeing professional athletes, it's like, you didn't get that in, you fucking loser. Like, You're like, are you serious? You're sitting on the couch, you've got a little, a little beer belly, and you're like micromanaging this pro athlete, uh, who's on the other side of the world that will never know that you even exist. Like, think about how pathetic that is at a base level. And when we are in those lower vibrational, less conscious states, um, that's, that's a common one, is attacking other people. So the first kind of thing you should be aware of doing is like monitoring, why am I talking shit about other people? Why am I putting down other people? And just stop that entirely. So that's like the first level. What's the next level for you? What's that process like?

Right, right. So I think a lot of it is having to go through a lot of difficult times that really test you. Like you said, there's karmic tests and passing those karmic tests in order to truly understand why you make the decisions that you do. So, you know, let's say that something bad happens to you subjectively and you get driven into the ground a little bit, right? You turn to drugs, you turn to alcohol, whatever it may be, but you overcome it, right? In your own unique way. Looking back on what you did and how you overcame that, it really makes you think, wow, okay, I know exactly what drove me towards drugs. I know exactly why I did that, et cetera. So when you see other people kind of falling under bad habits or whatever it may be, you can truly understand kind of what they're going through because you went through it yourself. The problems happen when some guy has never really went through anything that tested him, never really was aware of any difficult situations, and he just kind of, you know, existing in a state of just, um, unconscious, he's sleepwalking, to put it lightly. And when he sees other people doing things that may be unideal, the first thing in his mind is, oh, look at this guy, what a loser, what a cuck or whatever. But at the end of the day, he doesn't have the awareness because he didn't go through anything nearly as similar as what this other person may have gone through. So when you go through just struggle in general, when you go through difficult times, you automatically acquire that empathy and that added awareness where you can look at people You could say, okay, like, this guy, he's doing this, but it doesn't say anything about his, like, inner character necessarily. It's like, this is how he's coping. I was in a similar position as him before. It's like, I pray that he's able to figure it out in the end, but I'm gonna sit back and just view this from an objective lens of, hey, he's going through his own thing. I've gone through something similar. Like, let's, you know, let this guy figure out on his own. I'm not going to say anything. If I do care about him enough, maybe I'll nicely kind of I've like given some suggestions on how I did it, etc. But yeah, at the end of the day, it's about going through something with your own skin in the game so you can truly see how you evolve, so you can see how other people have evolved or are able to evolve.

Yeah, so it's the difference between— we unconsciously, we judge others by their actions, but we judge ourselves through our intentions, right? That's a very important important difference to make. We see other people do things and we make assumptions. Another thing that you shouldn't do ever— do you make an assumption, and then because of that assumption you have an emotional reaction, and then you go down this thought pattern of like, oh, why did he do that? That makes me angry. I should have said this. And then you're, you're, you're just acting out this fake emotionally distressing scenario in your head that's like— I'm speaking to yourself, and, and that's just like If you find yourself making an assumption, stop. Anytime you make an assumption about why someone's late, why someone said something, why they did something, you can make a negative assumption which you then get upset about, or you can make the assumption, you know, the positive assumption that, oh, that person cut me off in traffic, uh, he's not a dickhead, he didn't do it intentionally, he probably didn't see me. All these things that we can assume the best of people. So make the assumption that they're doing their best, because they are. Most people are actually doing their best all the time. And, you know, obviously there are bad apples that, that do things that require some level of harsh response in some situations, but they're few and far between in terms of daily life. And like getting upset at your partner or family members, you make assumptions and then you get upset about them when and you can just assume that they're doing the best thing rather than, you know, taking it personally. And you, you think, oh, they did that because of me, and oh, I'm important, so that's bad if they attack me. And like, that is, you know, it's the issue of self-importance, of the ego. And when we can reduce our level of self-importance, then everything else in our life kind of follows in a positive way. When we take away the me, me, me. I'm this thing that needs to be defended and, you know, made feel special.

Yeah, exactly. Like, for example, in the past when my life was pretty even keel, right? Like, I didn't go through that many struggles. I would respond kind of negatively, or I would think kind of negative thoughts whenever people would do things that I interpreted as disrespect. So For example, if somebody were to kind of leave me hanging, right, and not text back super quick, they'd take like 3 days, they're just very kind of inconsistent. Yeah, immediately I'd be like, dude, like, screw this guy, what's he doing, right? Like, are you kidding me, right? But the thing is, like, after I went through that period of my life where I was just extremely unhappy and, you know, my life wasn't where I wanted it to be, I thought to myself, it's like, in that state of mind, the last thing I want to do is respond to some guy who says, hey man, how's it going, right? Like, I feel shame about myself. I don't want to reveal to him and just throw that on him and be like, oh man, like my life is terrible right now, etc. So the easiest thing for me to do is to not respond, right? And like, genuinely, I just couldn't get myself to respond given that awareness I had at the time. Right, it was just avoidance. But after I surpassed that and I overcame it, right, looking back, I'm like, okay, I know exactly why I didn't respond. So in the future, when other people don't respond to me now, like that's the default assumption I'm thinking. It's like this person could be doing this because they're going through something. They just don't have the awareness or capacity to maturely respond right now. It's okay. I'm not going to demean him. It doesn't affect me whatsoever. I'm going to keep moving on with my life and just living it the way I want. But at the end of the day, it's like they'll probably figure it out too. They'll probably learn this lesson at some point in their life in the future. But it's not my responsibility to demean them, kind of like put them down over it, speak my thoughts. It's like, if I want to say something, I feel like it's important, I will, but I'm not expecting them to say, oh yeah, you're absolutely right. If they come back and they're like, dude, bro, chill out, or whatever, it's like, hey man, all right, I did my part, but end of the day, it's all up to you. You can do whatever you want, but I'm not gonna— like, the important part is I'm not going to interpret that situation as this guy is giving me the runaround, he's not responding to me, he's making you wait, it's a power trip, whatever it may be, you know. So yeah, it was just me having to go through a situation where I could kind of relate to it for me to truly understand what are these potential reasons for why he could be doing this.

Empathy is at its heart, and being able to put yourself in the shoes of another person and realize that, you know, these things that we take offense to, they're not real. None of it's real. And the, the heaven or hell mindset. It's like you can go through life, um, if you're living aligned with your moral values, if you're making positive decisions that increase your health, wealth, relationships, you know, you haven't done anyone wrong, uh, so you sleep well at night, you know, you don't— you, you eliminate these issues that you are usually the cause of anxiety. You might have anxiety or depression because you know the way you're living your life is shit. Like, that's a fact. It's like, we can— it's not just negative thoughts for no reason, you know? It's that little voice, and I'm speaking from experience. It's like, when I've, you know, not done the best that I could have, you know, everyone knows what their potential is. It's this intangible thing which everyone has an innate sense of. Like, what is my true potential? Am I living up to my full potential? And I don't think anyone lives up to what they're— at least what their idea of 100% potential is, you know. Everyone thinks that, and I don't know, maybe it's like comparing yourself to this unrealistic perfection ideal that when you strive for something like that, even if you don't get to it you're gonna do well. But there is a level of fulfillment of your potential where you know innately, like, okay, I've done, I've done well today, you know, I did what I needed to do and it's all possible and I feel good about it today. I've worked hard. And then you sleep like a baby. And there are those nights where, you know, you just had like a waste of time day and you let yourself give in to your biases or whatever it is for you. Where you think, "Mm, I didn't live up to my potential today." That gives you that level of dissonance, and you can kind of completely eliminate the source of those negative thoughts by performing better in your life.

Right, right, totally. And as I'm sure you know, and I'm sure a lot of my followers know as well, I'm never going to kind of, you know, sit down and tweet out, "This is how you should live your life." this is what you need to do. I don't like that word need because everybody has different goals, everybody has different loves, different wants, whatever it may be. The important part here is you just have to sit down and just be completely and honestly transparent with yourself, right? Drop your guard, drop your ego, and just take it seriously. What do I want my life to look like? What is actually important to me? How do I want to exist? And you wanna be very aware of what those things are to the T. And as long as you are doing things congruently every single day, that'll get you more towards the accomplishment of those. Again, like you said, you're never gonna probably hit that 100% image of what you wanna be, but as long as every day you can go to sleep at night saying, this is what I rep, this is how I wanna live my life, I don't care what anybody else says. This is me. Like straight up, this is me. And today I did things and I got closer to that goal. You do that every single day, it's gonna be very, very difficult to ever feel like depression or anxiety. You wanna just treat it as if you were in a video game where you set your own kind of like final boss. And as long as you're going through that quest every day, slaying demons proverbially, you are, you're good to go, right? Like, wrap yourself, man. Like, life is so short. You never want to live in a way that other people tell you how to live. It's just being honest with yourself, setting that vision, so to speak, and just getting after it.

100%. And I like what you said about slaying proverbial demons. Our demons, you know, there's a side of people, and, you know, I don't know either way that say demons are actual things, you know, different beings, not in this physical world, that, you know, it can affect what we see in the 3D. But there is also a metaphorical version of demons. Uh, let me say how that guy has his demons, you know, don't worry about him. They are these mental thought patterns and loops that people can get stuck in, whether it's shame regret over something they did in the past. You know, he has his demons because he, you know, fucked over his best friend 20 years ago. He's never been able to forgive himself. Those are demons that we can, through living in accordance with our moral guidance, just completely, you know, slay. And if each day you do well by people, then you're not going to have these demons that attack you. And I think it's It's part of our innate moral guidance and like the voice in your head. People punish themselves more so than, you know, any judge or court in the land would. You know, it's like they judge themselves for something that happened 10 years, you know, some failing in themselves where they didn't rise up to the situation. Think about how many times you've like ruminated over something that's happened in the past over and over and over and over again. And right, I think being aware of the— the— it's called the inner judge, the judge that judges other people when they do things and judges yourself over and over again. So you have to be aware that this is a mechanism that your mind will, uh, it— like, even if you did fuck up back then, and like, you know you fucked up any further time wasted by being this regretful, sad, angry person, that as well is an— is an another failure. You're not like—

exactly—

beating yourself up about things and punishing yourself doesn't help anyone. It doesn't help you. It doesn't make that thing in the past not have happened. All it does is take you away from the present moment now, the present moment which could be used for sincere appreciation, gratitude, helping other people. Like, if you really want to feel some level of repentance or, you know, happiness about something in the past, like, use your time now to help and be better than that previous version of yourself. Because exactly, if you're not doing that, then it's this, like, you might as well think about the fact that you're punishing yourself and punish yourself for that. So this horrible loop. And the, the first thing I kind of— to kind of break that is like, forgive yourself. Forgive yourself for what you did in the past. You were doing the best at that current level of experience that you had and willpower. And there are these things that knock us out of, out of kilter, which are actually what we needed to change positive trajectories. We just don't know it at the time. But forgiving yourself and forgiving other people and, and not seeing everything like— not seeing life as this constant thing where you're being attacked, right?

Right.

Because you're not.

Exactly.

Nothing's personal. Yeah.

And this is easier said than done, and I'm still trying my best to kind of, you know, go into this mindset here. But what I said earlier about treating your life as if it was a video game, if you are able to do that you are probably in the top 0.001% of people to ever exist. Because think about it, if you're playing a video game, if you die in the video game, you like, you know, lose your coins or whatever it may be, you don't care. You respawn, right? And you keep playing again. You can spend hours in front of the computer screen and just getting after those missions and eventually trying to get to that final level or whatever it may be. But in real life, notice how the slightest thing that happens, it can cause people to completely give up. It can cause people to dwell on it for years and years and years. The thing is, life is really not that different from a video game.

Yep.

It's all about how you view it. And if you are able to sit down and just view everything that comes to you, everything that happens, just you playing this grand game where you will have what, like 80, 90 years to play it? Why would you rationally spend any time dwelling on something when you know that this thing just happened to you? You didn't die, right? You can always quote unquote respawn and just start over whenever you want. But the more you kind of just think about this and condition yourself to view life in this way, I mean, that could solve so many problems.

Yeah, it takes away the seriousness of it. Going back to what you said before, it's taking everything seriously when it's a video game. And the analogy is so, so good for so many ways. And it could be, right, could be a simulation if we go into that. Um, you know, it's about finding the mental model which gives you the best results, uh, in this life. Now, for whatever reason, positively thinking something increases the chances of you, um, exhibiting that, or that thing happening, or those conditions, uh, kind of unfolding in your life. So for whatever reason that happens, input that into your mental model through which you interface with the world. Because, you know, if it is a simulation, there are different— let's say, you know, we're talking about like thought tricks to kind of improve your mindset, like that's a line of code if you want to think about it that way. And when you can download the right lines of code into your life, into this video game, so that you make more money, so you have more friends, so that you, you know, you're confident you can do this thing or that thing, then life gets better. It doesn't matter why that happens. It doesn't matter, like, really, you know, why things happen as much, because ultimately, like, a lot of the stuff we'll never be able to figure out why. Like, we have a fairly limited limited perceptions and senses as humans. So it's about curating intentionally the mental model through which, when you view events and through the things that you do, gives you the best result and levels of success for what you want as your morals and, you know, what you value in life.

Yeah, no, exactly. And I think viewing life from that more free-flowing, open-minded perspective too, it's it's very beneficial because you're not wedded to any one path or one idea, right? It's like, okay, I want to do XYZ, it has to be this way, this has to be the path, this path fails, I'm screwed, or whatever. I go through life without ever attaching myself to any one path. For me, like I said, going back to my principles, what I value under the wealth category is I want freedom to be able to do whatever I want at any second of my life. The money only contributes to that. Whether that's me bringing in $100K per year, $500K per year, $1 million per year, whatever it may be, the number isn't important. I'm not too, you know, hard set on whatever number I make per year. That doesn't stress me out whatsoever. But by me kind of detaching from that number altogether and focusing on just this general idea of freedom, and flowing through life, like my brain automatically starts to identify opportunities in order to contribute and, you know, further supplant that freedom that I already have. And, you know, for me, I would say just from a pure objective level, right? Like the money that I make right now, I would say that it's, you know, top 1% of anybody in the world. you know, the US, whatever, like my age bracket. And I honestly didn't view it as that crazy of an achievement. Like I never look at myself and think, oh, I'm the shit. Like I'm built different. I did this. It really wasn't that difficult for me because I woke up every morning just enjoying life and just viewing things with gratitude. And when I started doing that, I don't know how the universe rearranged itself, but You just kind of have to trust that it does. But people start coming to me and saying, hey, man, do you want money? Yeah, I have this opportunity for you. Let's explore it. And my curiosity naturally draws me towards that. I'm like, oh, yeah, absolutely, man. This sounds pretty cool. Let's see what this could be. Right? Someone invites me out. Yeah, absolutely. I'd be down to go out and just party for a little bit. Why not? Right? Just living life where it's like there's no restrictions. No like, oh, I have to do this, have to do that. Like, you just expose yourself to so much potential luck, and it's just up to you. Just whenever that luck comes, you're like, oh, why don't I just capitalize on it? Okay, let's do this. You still have to put in the work, obviously, and quote-unquote grind, but it's not difficult. It's not like, oh dude, this is the worst thing in the world.

It's like, dude, I'm just playing the game. Yeah, exactly. And I want to go a little bit more into wealth, I guess, because It's a big one. Like, it facilitates freedom. And if you— unfortunately, that's our system at the moment. You want to make your life the best version of that it can be is you need money. You know, that's— it's these tickets that we all use. And, you know, if you're not— money stress being one of the biggest stress, like the stress of not knowing if you'd be able to pay your rent next week. Um, you know, I've been there and it's not good. Like, you can't really think about anything else. Um, so So you need to exploit your environment and get enough money so that you're, you know, you have everything sorted, the bills are paid, you've got good food, you have the freedom to do what you want. And that's kind of like if you want the freedom to go travel somewhere to another country and not worry about the bills, like that's another level of freedom that you have to attain a certain level of money for. But I think it's great that when you release your attachment to earning X amount then what that does is signals to your subconscious that, yeah, I can get X amount of money. It's not a big deal. And when it's not a big deal to you, it becomes easier to earn. And it's, it's a weird thing. And again, how does the universe, uh, particularly, you know, set things in motion? So when you first start doing money affirmations, you get another job opportunity next week. Like, Okay, like, it doesn't seem, um, logical, and it's not really, but it does work. And people have said that to me. And, you know, when you, when you go and think, money flows to me easily and effortlessly, it does. And okay, cool, why does that happen? When you have the beliefs that that's possible, then you live life understanding that whatever path I'm going down, whatever opportunities the universe presents me with If I follow them with that intention, with the knowledge that, you know, money will work itself out, that it does, like you said, these things, these opportunities just seem to pop up in abundance.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like you were repeating affirmations to yourself all the time, right? Like to a lot of people it can sound kind of corny, but no, I genuinely believe in the power of those affirmations. The thing is, you just sit there and repeat those to yourself every single day as if it was like a checklist or a chore, that's completely different, right? Nothing's gonna be accomplished that way. But the reason for the affirmations is to feed your subconscious with a genuine belief where you have no doubt that you are going to make money. You can sit there, right? Get to a point where you sit there and look yourself in the mirror, confidently say out loud like, I'm going to be rich.

Yeah.

And if you don't feel any hesitation, right, you get to a point where, you know, your body is just completely aligned with that method of thinking. It's just the entire world opens up to you, right? Automatically you're going to be noticing opportunities that a rich person would notice. You'd be thinking more as if you were a rich person, even if your bank account doesn't showcase that. It's the belief, it's the, um, just kind of that internal radar, if you will, to just see those opportunities as they come and capitalize on it, right? It's about feeling that you deserve something, feeling that you already are that person internally despite the fact that you may not showcase it externally yet, but just having the confidence that, hey, as long as I keep this belief and I stay focused, it's going to happen no matter what.

It's a form of magic, right? I was saying before, like, whatever the coincidence thing, Whatever you look for, you will find. And people think it's the other way around.

Yeah, exactly.

You know, they think life is this thing that they're reacting to and things happen to them, and, you know, they're not looking out for the positivity and the good things or the opportunities. And when you do look at the world as, you know, opportunities will come to me, um, you have the belief that these things are going to happen. For, you know, again, the mental model. Believe something is going to happen and that it is going to come your way, and then you start to see that thing. And whether you view it as, now I was consciously aware, and before I was just not looking for them— for all intents and purposes, you've got to look for something first, and you can kind of look out for things before they happen, and then they start to happen. And it's this crazy, you know, video game cheat code almost that you want to improve something in your life, you can simply believe that it's going to happen, repeat it over to yourself, you know, make the steps and put yourself out there, and it'll happen. You know, it's, it's crazy to the degree that that happens, and it seems like magic, really, because, you know, some people it is, right?

Totally. That's the thing too, that, that's what makes it kind of, uh, kind of wondrous as well, where, I mean, who knows what the actual reason why things happen to you, right? Like, it could very well be magic. It's unexplainable. Nobody has any tangible proof that it isn't magic. But yeah, if you go through life just thinking, yeah, like, if I do these things and I affirm to myself that, like, I'm rich, and just live life open-minded, if you just think in your mind, like, this is a product of magic, right? Like, how fun does life become? Yeah, you know, like, life becomes so just amazing because you're like, wow, like, like magic is going to happen every day just knowing that like you're going to be given fortune. It's just, it's such a good way to just do life and stay optimistic and positive.

Yeah, and you can also see everything as, you know, out to get you, and that's unfortunately what most people I would say are stuck in, is that they are, they think life is unfair and they think only bad people get rich, and they think only, you know, douchebags get ripped at the gym. And if, if you— if that's your default mental model, what you look for, you will find. And you'll see more people like— you'll be going through life in like an angrier state, so people are going to be more likely to be rude to you. And, you know, it's, it's that reflection of your outer world that is a reflection of your inner world. And that can be good or bad things. And it's just a question of, you know, all these things that we talked about, um, that make life better, even if it's not necessarily the most logical path. And I think that that's, you know, the spiritual journey for everyone. And anyone that's successful, quote unquote, uh, to some degree has all realized the same thing. And, you know, if you want to be successful, just do what successful people are doing. You're no worse than them, they're not different to you. All they— I said probably the main thing is that they believed it was possible, and then they took a chance and did something that is almost like an offering to the world of saying, like, I believe in this, I'm going to take this chance. And I think you've tweeted about this before, it's like the idea of risk and how it's like risky to take a business venture, or the default, the default version of, you know, it's risky to take something or do something outside of your 9 to 5. But the real risk is complete— like, the riskier thing is living your whole life not knowing something was possible because you never tried, and not having these rich experiences of life that everyone has access to as long as they you know, work a little harder and try these things out. Because when you try and actually like take the plunge and stop being fearful of the outcome, then that in itself is the thing that brings you the benefit in life.

Totally, totally. I think you can even separate it further as well to tangible risk and intangible risk. So let's use an example here. Let's say some person is afraid to start a business, even if in his mind he wants to and he knows it's probably a good decision for him. Like, he's afraid because in his mind the tangible risks there are losing money, right? Losing, you know, a job title, whatever it may be, right? There's so many tangible risks in his mind, but what he doesn't take into account are the intangible risks of emotions such as regret, right? Just a deterioration of trust in yourself, et cetera. Because if somebody rejects something due to a tangible risk, what happens is they feel good in the short term. They're like, yeah, I have more money today, right? Like I have more XYZ today. But what they don't understand is 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, whatever it may be from now, there's an intangible risk of completely feeling, you know, depressed. There's an intangible risk of living a life where you constantly are kept up at night wondering what if, right? These are things that they're not visible, but they still exist. And I think a lot of people need to just take into account the intangible and intangible side of every decision.

100%, man. That's what I love about you is because you're spreading that knowledge, and it really is like What I love about Twitter is you can tweet a line of code, if you will, that people can then download into their own reality and it makes their reality better. And it's just a little bit of knowledge, it's a little mental trick that you then build into your mental software that, you know, has a follow-on effect magnitudes of order bigger than just, you know, a few words in a tweet, which, you know, I like that about Twitter. I love that about you because you're sharing that message and the energy that you put out is so needed. And, you know, that's why we've come to have this beautiful conversation on the SoCasts, my man. So thank you, Doolab, for joining me. I'll get this up today. But before we go, what are you working on? If you are able to speak about that, because I know it's going to be pretty big.

Yeah, no, I'm happy to share. So what I'm going to be coming up, uh, coming out with, um, hopefully next week but definitely before the end of the month is I'm actually creating a DeFi fund, um, launched to the Money Squared community. So how this is going to work is we are going to be taking AUM, which is assets under management, we will be trading that money through a very proprietary and quantitative algorithm that nobody has access to. Um, I know it sounds kind of like woo-woo a little bit, but, um, truly we've been working on this for the past 6 months. This algorithm has been built over 3 years. It's been tested, um, through both, you know, bear and bull market. I'll explain everything in a thread, um, which will just give you all the details and stuff. But yeah, I think this is a way to just help everybody get some crypto exposure when they have no real idea what they're doing. Because there's people out there who are always promoting like, oh, this is the next hot meme coin. You know, these are fun. There's very high potential for you to make a lot of money doing it, but the associated downside is obviously that it could go to nothing in— oh yeah, as we both know. Oh yeah, I mean, we're rug legends, man. It's not our first time at the rodeo.

You win some, you lose some.

Exactly. So we're basically, you know, we're taking a bet here, and I'm sure a lot of my followers do as well, that crypto is here to stay. Right. We all think that for the most part, ETH is going to continue increasing in price, and we're very, very early. The whole world doesn't even know the extent of what crypto truly is. And if we can give people an opportunity to kind of get in early, have us kind of manage their money and give them a higher return than just putting into the S&P 500 or something and getting like a 3%, 5% return, then everybody wins, right? And yeah, with full transparency, the way that we make money for trading that money is we take a very small fee once a year off of all the AUN that gets deposited with us. So, um, there's a synergistic relationship there, but, um, I think it's something that's never been done on our side of Twitter before, and it's going to make a lot of people happy for sure. It's going to set a lot of people up for, um a financial future that they never really expected in the past. So yeah, very excited for this, man. You'll see it in a week or two.

Amazing. I'm super excited as well. I'm sure it's going to be a great thing knowing you guys behind the scenes. So I want you to get in on that. Follow Du on @TheDuLab at Twitter.com, right?

Yes.

Cool. You can find you there. So, all right, that'll do us. Thank you so much, Du, and thank you for listening, those at home.

Yeah, no, absolutely. So I really appreciate, uh, every single time we get to talk, man. Love, uh, love the conversations. Thanks for taking the time to, uh, listen to some of my ramblings. Beautiful rest of your day, bro.

Thanks, man. You too. Bye.

All right, take care.