Hi friend, I need your help!
I would love to know if you’re looking to improve focus, procrastination, overwhelm, or anxiety, especially if you have diagnosed or suspected ADHD.
Reply with the word “focus” + anything about ADHD. I have something fun coming up for you.
Society has brainwashed you.
That you’re stuck to one career for life. That millions of dollars will solve all your problems, and get you the respect you’ve always wanted.
That the “typical” way of living is the “correct” way of living.
The default settings can have obvious benefits. However.
Most people don’t grow beyond the defaults.
Your current perspective is simply a combination of what information you’ve processed so far. Life experiences, learnings, and a touch of genetics.
If you want a life custom-fit to you, it’s time to re-program what you know.
The Brainwash Method
Step one to believing something new is AWARENESS.
During my last 6 months as a software engineer at Meta, I spent every free minute brainwashing myself into what I now fondly call—
Delusion.
I devoured my favorite online writer’s “Personal MBA book list” on lunch breaks. Designed my own “curriculum” and wrote online in the evenings.
I studied.
After a while, these “impossible” lifestyles seemed much less impossible. These people were simply running a different mental program from the people I knew.
Beyond the 5 People You Spend the Most Time With
They say “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
But now we have the Internet.
Pick 5 people you admire (alive or dead), and what specifically you admire about them. For example:
x person’s writing style
y person’s action-taking lifestyle
z person’s visual aesthetic
Study how they operate to achieve that admirable quality. Not just their success outcomes, but their behind-the-scenes.
How they think:
If they wrote a book, read their book. And the books they read.
If they put out content, read/watch their content. And the content they follow.
How they act:
Watch the actions they take. And the way they have practiced those actions.
This applies to any outcome they have that you want. A skill, career, relationship, body, mindset, etc.
Give yourself homework. Do mini-experiments to validate their methods.
Copy, But With a Twist
About a decade ago, a funny trend happened in the tech industry.
First Uber (founded 2009) took off. Then, for the next decade, everyone in Silicon Valley began pitching their new startup idea: “Uber for blank.”
Around the same time, we got:
Airbnb (founded 2007) - Uber for housing
Instacart (founded 2012) - Uber for grocery shopping
TaskRabbit (founded 2008) - Uber for task completion
Lyft (founded 2012)- Uber, but pink
Before Uber, there were other peer-to-peer sharing services.
Everyone is just twisting what already exists.
Collecting elements from diverse places, and recombining them into something original.
Let Your Authenticity Emerge
Nobody has created an unconventional outcome, company, or life out of thin air. To find your own authenticity, you need inspiration from others.
Use your list of 5 people as a starting point.
Brainwash and copy.
Absorb the thought processes and methods you like about one person, remove what you don’t like about another.
Repeat.
In an attempt to copy perfectly, you will fail.
Through failure, and what you keep and discard—that’s where you’ll find, you.
Hi friend, I need your help!
I would love to know if you’re looking to improve focus, procrastination, overwhelm, or anxiety, especially if you have diagnosed or suspected ADHD.
Reply with the word “focus” + anything about ADHD. I have something fun coming up for you.
Chat again soon!
— Kat