How to fix your entire life in 1 day

Yes, one day.

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––– Chapters –––

0:00 You are going to give up, and that's okay
3:20 I – You aren’t where you want to be because you aren’t the person who would be there
8:28 II – You aren’t where you want to be because you don’t want to be there
11:20 III – You aren’t where you want to be because you’re afraid to be there
17:25 IV – The life you want lies within a specific level of mind
22:22 V – Intelligence is the ability to get what you want out of life
27:03 VI – How to launch into a completely new life (in 1 day)
37:12 VII – Turn Your Life Into A Video Game

#newyears #selfimprovement #psychology

0:00 You're probably going to quit your New
0:02 Year's resolution, and that's okay. Most
0:04 people do. Studies actually show that
0:07 it's around 80% to 90% of people quit
0:09 their New Year's resolution. And that's
0:11 because most people don't actually want
0:13 to change on a deep internal level. And
0:16 with New Year's resolutions going into
0:18 2026, people just go about changing
0:21 their life in the completely wrong way.
0:23 And to me, that's sad because if you're
0:25 changing your life, that has to be one
0:27 of the most important things in your
0:29 life, right? That has to be the only
0:31 thing on your mind, you think. But for
0:33 most people, it's just another thing to
0:36 try to do and fail and go back to the
0:38 life they were living. So when people
0:40 try to change their life, what they do
0:43 is they create a New Year's resolution
0:46 because everyone else does, and humans
0:48 want to impress others more than they
0:50 want to impress themselves. We create
0:52 superficial meaning out of status games,
0:54 but they don't meet the requirements for
0:57 true change, which goes a lot deeper
0:59 than convincing yourself you're going to
1:01 be more disciplined or productive this
1:03 year. Now, I'm not here to talk down on
1:05 you. I've quit 10 times as many goals
1:07 than I've set. Many of you have probably
1:09 noticed that. I mean, my face is online.
1:12 The book that I said I was writing, I'm
1:13 not writing it anymore. And I think that
1:15 should be the case for most people. I
1:17 think you should quit more goals than
1:19 you set because how else are you going
1:20 to narrow in on the correct goals? But
1:23 the fact that people try to change their
1:25 life and utterly fail almost every time
1:28 still holds true, and that's
1:30 So much so that the gym becomes
1:33 extremely crowded during January, and
1:35 then by February, it's all cleared out.
1:37 It's a meme. Now, as much as I think
1:39 that New Year's resolutions are stupid,
1:41 I feel like many of you also think that
1:42 they're stupid. I always think that it's
1:44 wise to reflect on your life and change
1:46 direction and do something that you've
1:48 always wanted to do. And what better
1:49 time to do it than now? The other thing
1:52 here is that human nature is kind of a
1:54 [ __ ] and the worst feeling is when you
1:56 make a promise to yourself and then you
1:58 end up breaking it, especially if it's
2:00 over and over again because you start to
2:01 feel helpless. And if you don't know
2:03 what you're doing, you may continue that
2:06 cycle for years on end, always wanting
2:08 to change but never being able to. So,
2:10 whether you want to start the business,
2:12 transform your body, or take the risk
2:14 toward a meaningful life without
2:16 quitting after 2 weeks, I want to share
2:18 seven of probably the most impactful
2:21 ideas that I've ever shared that you
2:23 probably haven't heard before on
2:24 behavior change, psychology, and
2:26 productivity so you can do just that in
2:29 2026. Now, this is going to be
2:31 comprehensive. This is not going to be
2:33 one of those videos that you just watch
2:35 and forget about. I hope you treat it
2:37 like that. This is something you will
2:38 want to save to your watch later, to
2:40 bookmark on your phone, to take notes
2:43 on, and you will have to set aside time
2:45 to think about it. We're going to go
2:46 over six ideas, and then in the seventh
2:48 {quote} idea, it's actually a protocol.
2:51 And what we're going to do is we're
2:52 going to dig very deep into your psyche.
2:55 And if you take this seriously, you're
2:56 going to get quite emotional, and it
2:58 will take about a full day to complete.
3:01 If you do this, your life will change in
3:03 1 day. Now, all I ask is that you
3:05 dedicate your full attention to this. I
3:07 know that you're used to just scrolling
3:09 on social media and watching and
3:10 binge-watching YouTube videos, but it's
3:12 rare that you come across one video that
3:14 just has the potential to change
3:16 everything, and I hope that this video
3:18 acts as that for you. Let's begin. The
3:21 first idea is that you aren't where you
3:23 want to be because you aren't the person
3:25 who would be there. Now, when it comes
3:27 to New Year's resolutions, people tend
3:29 to focus on one out of the two things
3:32 that are required for change and
3:34 success. So, the first is changing your
3:36 actions to make progress toward the
3:38 goal. This is the least important thing
3:40 and what most people do. It is
3:42 second-order. And the second thing is
3:44 changing who you are so that your
3:46 behavior naturally follows. This is the
3:48 most important thing. This is
3:50 first-order. Most people set
3:52 surface-level goals, hype themselves up
3:54 to remain disciplined for the first few
3:55 weeks, then go back to their old ways
3:57 without much struggle because they were
3:59 trying to build a great on a rotting
4:01 foundation. So, if this doesn't make
4:03 sense, let's run through a quick
4:04 example. I want you to think about
4:06 somebody successful. It could be a
4:08 founder, a CEO, a bodybuilder with a
4:11 incredible physique on Instagram, or
4:13 just a charismatic dude who can walk
4:15 into a group and start chatting everyone
4:18 up like it's just second nature to them.
4:19 Now, I want you to really think about
4:21 this cuz this this has to click for you
4:23 in order for you to understand that
4:25 behavior change is changing who you are.
4:27 Do you think the bodybuilder has to
4:30 grind to eat healthy? Do they have to
4:33 grind like everyone tells you you need
4:35 to do, "Oh, you need to grind, you need
4:36 to struggle, you need to suffer" in
4:38 order to eat healthy? Does the CEO or
4:41 the founder have to discipline
4:43 themselves to show up and lead the team?
4:46 This is actually something my co-founder
4:47 Matt and I were talking about earlier
4:49 about how in our past 9-to-5 jobs, we
4:52 were just the worst employees ever. And
4:54 so when we're going about hiring, that's
4:56 constantly on our mind. What if we hire
4:57 someone who just isn't as passionate
5:00 about what we do as we are? Because to
5:02 us, we just wake up and do the thing. To
5:04 the employee who may not be a fit,
5:06 they're going to completely sabotage our
5:08 business. They're not going to care,
5:10 they're going to get their work done
5:11 late, they're not going to listen, and
5:12 no matter how much I motivate them as a
5:15 founder or I train them to do the thing
5:19 or incentivize them, that type of person
5:21 just isn't a fit and they're not going
5:23 to do what they need to do. It's because
5:25 their identity doesn't match the
5:27 behavior required for our business. Now,
5:31 to you on the surface, it may seem like
5:33 the bodybuilder has to grind to eat
5:35 healthy or they're so disciplined or the
5:37 runner has to discipline themselves to
5:40 go run a marathon or the CEO has to
5:43 discipline themselves to show up and
5:44 work. But the truth is, they can't see
5:47 themselves living any other way. The
5:50 bodybuilder has to grind to eat
5:53 unhealthy. The CEO has to grind and
5:56 force themselves to sleep in past their
5:58 alarm clock or to take it easy at night
6:01 and watch Netflix. And when they do
6:02 sleep past their alarm clock or they do
6:04 feel like they're unproductive, they
6:06 hate every second of it. Just like you
6:09 hate every second of working toward your
6:11 goal because you don't have the right
6:13 identity to match the behavior required
6:16 to achieve that goal. And to some
6:18 people, my own lifestyle seems pretty
6:21 extreme or pretty disciplined. Like when
6:23 I got on a podcast this past year, and
6:26 they're like, "You seem like the most
6:27 disciplined person ever." And I'm just
6:29 like,
6:30 I mean, not really. It's not
6:32 I don't know. To me, it's just natural,
6:34 and I don't say that to contrast it or
6:36 compare it to anybody else's lifestyle.
6:38 I'm not saying my lifestyle's better.
6:40 I'm just saying I simply enjoy living
6:42 this way. Like when my mom tells me that
6:45 I need to take a break or go out or let
6:47 loose a bit, I have to like hold my
6:49 tongue because I don't want to be rude
6:51 or dismissive. Because through my mind,
6:53 I'm just I'm just thinking, "If I
6:55 weren't having fun, why would I be doing
6:58 what I'm doing?" And that's the major
7:00 mismatch. Is people can't answer that.
7:02 They're not doing the thing that's fun.
7:04 They're doing what society told them
7:06 they should do. Now, do not take this
7:08 next sentence lightly because this ties
7:10 it all together. If you want a specific
7:12 outcome in life, you must have the
7:14 lifestyle that creates that outcome long
7:18 before you reach it. So, if someone says
7:19 they want to lose 30 lb of fat, I often
7:23 don't believe them. Not because I don't
7:25 think they're a person that's incapable
7:26 of it, but because there's just too many
7:28 times when that same person says that
7:31 they can't wait to get back to the life
7:34 they used to live. "Oh, I can't wait
7:36 until I can eat this again. I can't wait
7:38 until I don't have to do cardio again."
7:40 And that's the thing. I hate to break it
7:42 to you, but if you don't adopt the
7:45 lifestyle that led to you losing weight
7:48 for life and find a reason with a higher
7:51 gravitational pull than the one tying
7:53 you to your previous ways, then you will
7:55 go back straight to where you started,
7:58 and you can unhappily say that you
8:00 wasted the only resource that you have,
8:02 which is time. When you truly change
8:05 yourself, all of your habits that don't
8:07 move the needle toward your goal become
8:09 disgusting because you have a deep and
8:11 profound awareness of what kind of life
8:12 those actions compound into. You are
8:15 okay with your current standards because
8:17 you are not fully aware of what they are
8:19 or what they lead to. And we're going to
8:21 discuss how to uncover that, but you
8:23 need this awareness first. You need to
8:26 understand your mind. So, that leads to
8:28 point number two, which is you aren't
8:30 where you want to be because you don't
8:32 actually want to be there. To start this
8:34 off with a quote from Alfred Adler,
8:37 "Trust only movement. Life happens at
8:39 the level of events, not of words. Trust
8:42 movement." So, if you want to change who
8:44 you are, you must understand how the
8:46 mind works. That way, you can start to
8:48 reprogram it. The first step to
8:50 understanding the mind is to understand
8:52 that all behavior is goal-oriented. When
8:54 you think about it, this is kind of
8:56 obvious, but when we dig into it, most
8:58 people don't want to hear it. You take a
9:00 step forward with your foot because you
9:02 want to reach a certain location. That's
9:03 a goal. You scratch your nose because
9:05 you want to get rid of the itch. That's
9:07 a goal. Those are very surface-level,
9:09 kind of meaningless goals. And those
9:10 ones are obvious as well, but there are
9:12 greater unconscious goals that are
9:15 creating the subgoals that you're
9:16 working to at all times. You may not
9:19 even realize that sitting down on the
9:20 couch to relax or scroll doomscrolling
9:23 on your phone came from a bigger goal
9:26 that was injected into your mind either
9:29 at birth during conditioning or by
9:31 society by doing something they want you
9:33 to do, or just by your own goal of
9:35 protection or safety or pleasure or
9:37 feeling good that you're just not aware
9:39 of, and you don't think anything of it
9:42 because it's just natural. It's an
9:43 unconscious process. You do it like you
9:46 breathe. You don't even notice it. And
9:47 on an even more unconscious and complex
9:49 level, we often pursue goals without
9:52 knowing it that harm us, but we tend to
9:54 justify our actions in a way that is
9:57 socially acceptable or makes us not feel
10:00 like a loser. As an example, if you
10:02 can't stop procrastinating on your work,
10:04 you may justify it with the fact that
10:05 you lack discipline, but in reality,
10:07 you're attempting to achieve a goal like
10:10 you always are. In this case, that goal
10:12 could be to protect yourself from the
10:14 judgment that comes from finishing and
10:16 sharing your work. So, it's not that you
10:18 lack discipline, it's that you're afraid
10:21 of achieving one goal, so you justify it
10:24 by making not achieving that goal your
10:26 goal. Another prime example is that if
10:28 you say you want to quit a dead-end job,
10:31 but you stay in it, you may start to
10:33 think that you just don't have enough
10:35 courage or you're not a risk-taker. But
10:37 the truth is is that you're pursuing the
10:39 goal of safety and predictability and an
10:42 excuse not to look like a failure in
10:44 front of everyone you told that you want
10:46 to quit your job. So, the lesson here
10:48 with point number two is that real
10:50 change requires changing your goals. But
10:52 I don't mean setting some surface-level
10:55 goal because the act of doing that
10:56 serves an unconscious goal that is
10:58 actually harming you. That's been ran
11:00 through enough in the productivity
11:01 space. I mean changing your point of
11:03 view because that's what a goal is. A
11:06 goal is a projection into the future
11:08 that acts as a lens of perception, which
11:10 allows you to notice information, ideas,
11:13 and resources that aid in you achieving
11:15 that goal. If that didn't make any
11:17 sense, it's important, but if that
11:18 didn't make any sense,
11:20 that's what point number three is for,
11:21 which is you aren't where you want to be
11:23 because you're afraid to be there. So,
11:26 let's start with another quote from
11:27 Maxwell Maltz. The important thing for
11:29 you to remember is that it does not
11:31 matter in the least how you got the idea
11:33 or where it came from. You may never
11:35 have been formally hypnotized, but if
11:37 you have accepted an idea from yourself,
11:39 your teachers, your parents, friends,
11:40 advertisements, from any other source,
11:42 and further, if you are firmly convinced
11:44 that idea is true, it has the same power
11:47 over you as the hypnotist words have
11:49 over a hypnotized subject. So, that's
11:51 compelling. And what I'm about to share
11:53 with you is even more compelling because
11:55 I've condensed just how you become who
11:58 you are into this series of steps. Now,
12:01 these are not like what happened every
12:03 time, but this is just how identity is
12:05 shaped and formed, which shapes your
12:08 actions. So, if you understand this, cuz
12:10 we're reverse-engineering it right now,
12:12 then we can start to put the pieces
12:13 together to, okay, how do we change our
12:16 identity so that our behavior naturally
12:18 follows going into 2026 or any other
12:21 year. So, this is the anatomy of
12:24 identity. First, you want to achieve a
12:26 goal. Then you perceive reality through
12:28 the lens of that goal, meaning you only
12:30 notice important information and ideas
12:33 that allow you to achieve that goal.
12:34 This is the learning process. This is
12:36 how you learn things. Then fourth, you
12:38 act toward that goal and receive
12:40 feedback that you're progressing toward
12:42 it. Fifth, you repeat that behavior
12:45 until it becomes automatic and
12:46 unconscious. This is conditioning.
12:48 Sixth, that behavior becomes a part of
12:50 who you think you are. I am the type of
12:53 person who {dot} {dot} {dot}. Seventh,
12:55 you defend your identity to maintain
12:57 psychological consistency. We'll talk
12:59 about that more. And eighth, your
13:01 identity shapes new goals, restarting
13:03 the cycle. And if that identity is
13:05 disadvantageous toward a good life, this
13:07 gets very bad very quick. Now, the
13:10 unfortunate reality is that you have to
13:11 break this cycle between step six and
13:14 step seven because you've already gone
13:16 through this many times in your life,
13:18 and it started when you were first born,
13:20 when you didn't even have any control
13:22 over your mind. Because when you're a
13:23 kid, you have the goal of survival.
13:26 That's literally your goal is I'm this
13:29 babbling blob of flesh coming out into
13:31 the world. I don't know how to speak. I
13:33 don't know anything. I don't know how to
13:34 survive. And it's just like, oh my gosh,
13:36 the only instinct is like, I need to
13:39 live. That's not even a conscious
13:40 instinct. That's just the instinct that
13:42 you're born with. And because of this,
13:44 you are dependent on your parents to
13:46 teach you how to survive. Because when
13:48 we think about it, maybe you don't even
13:50 have that instinct of survival, but
13:52 other people around you do. Like that's
13:53 just the natural order of things is you
13:55 have to survive. And so, the thing there
13:57 is that you had to conform. You had to
14:00 conform to what your parents believe,
14:02 what your parents taught you. And your
14:03 parents, unless they broke the pattern
14:05 themselves, they probably have the same
14:08 conditioning or beliefs or ideas or
14:09 values as their culture or their parents
14:13 or their parents' parents or the
14:15 industrial age or all of these goals
14:17 that may not serve you and what you
14:20 actually want. And since the way most
14:22 people teach is through reward and
14:24 punishment, if you don't conform to
14:27 their values and goals, if you don't
14:29 become their child mentally, then they
14:31 may kick you out. They may punish you.
14:34 Well, they will punish you. They're
14:35 going to say, "No, that's not the way
14:36 you do things. You do things this way."
14:38 And you don't know any better as a kid,
14:40 so you listen. And the thing here is
14:42 that you don't ever actually think for
14:45 yourself. You don't have a single
14:47 original thought unless you can see
14:49 through this. If you have never
14:50 questioned this, then you are not an
14:52 independent thinker. And nobody, I would
14:54 argue, is a completely independent
14:56 thinker. There's degrees. There's a
14:57 spectrum. Now, to take this a layer
15:00 deeper, because we're going very deep
15:02 here, hopefully, once you fulfill your
15:04 physical survival needs, which is pretty
15:06 easy to do, at least in today's world,
15:08 it happens pretty quick, then you start
15:10 to survive on the conceptual or
15:12 ideological level. You may not try to
15:14 protect or reproduce your body anymore,
15:17 but your mind is different. You still
15:19 have that instinct. It just transcends
15:21 to a new level. You don't try to
15:23 reproduce your genes, although you do,
15:25 you try to reproduce memes or
15:27 information or beliefs or ideas or
15:29 values. You can see this everywhere on
15:31 the internet. We're in this mental or
15:33 spiritual war of ideas. Because when
15:35 your body feels threatened, you go into
15:38 fight or flight. When your identity or
15:40 your mental body, so to say, feels
15:43 threatened, you do the same thing. If
15:45 you are heavily identified with
15:46 something like a political ideology by
15:48 the process we just talked about,
15:50 because you probably adopted your
15:52 political ideology from your parents or
15:54 another group that you found online, and
15:56 even if you rejected your parents'
15:58 beliefs, you fell into another set of
16:00 beliefs when you were young that shaped
16:02 your ideas. And if that crystallizes,
16:03 that does very bad things. You can no
16:06 longer think clearly or nuanced or see
16:08 the big picture. And when someone
16:10 challenges those beliefs, you will feel
16:13 threatened. You will feel that stress
16:15 response. You feel emotionally like you
16:18 were slapped in the face. And since most
16:20 people don't analyze their emotions for
16:21 truth, you tend to get stuck in echo
16:24 chambers and just double down on your
16:26 beliefs. The same thing happens if
16:27 you're raised in a religious household.
16:29 If those ideas actually stick with you,
16:32 then you're going to fight and lash out,
16:34 maybe not extremely or physically, but
16:37 in defense at people who are challenging
16:40 you. I grew up LDS. I grew up Mormon. I
16:43 saw this firsthand every single day, and
16:45 it just didn't make sense to me. When
16:47 you ask a question to a leader of the
16:49 church, they just like go through this
16:51 regurgitated script of things that
16:54 didn't make sense to me. Now, that's
16:55 nothing against that religion or any
16:57 religion. I actually now enjoy viewing
17:01 different perspectives online. I listen
17:03 to a lot of Christian content. I listen
17:04 to a lot of atheist content. I'm not
17:06 identified with either side because that
17:08 prevents me from seeing truth. And
17:09 lastly, this same thing happens not for
17:12 politics or religion, but for
17:14 everything. For your job. Do you
17:16 identify as a lawyer? Do you identify as
17:18 a gamer? Do you identify as someone who
17:21 would not take the actions to the life
17:24 that you want to live. Now, point number
17:26 four. The life you want lies within a
17:28 specific level of mind. Because the mind
17:30 evolves through predictable stages over
17:32 time. We've talked about this many
17:33 times. People love this subject. It's a
17:35 freaking mind-blowing subject. But when
17:37 you're born, you're like this little
17:39 survival sponge that just soaks up as
17:41 many beliefs as it can to survive so
17:43 that you can feel safe and secure. And
17:45 if you don't be careful, you can easily,
17:47 very easily, get trapped in one of these
17:49 stages. And this has been documented
17:52 thoroughly through models like Maslow's
17:54 hierarchy of needs or Susanne
17:55 Cook-Greuter's nine stages of ego
17:57 development or uh Christopher Cowan and
17:59 Don Beck's spiral dynamics. These have
18:02 each built on top of each other and
18:03 evolved and become more comprehensive
18:05 and apply to multiple domains. And while
18:07 it's not completely like
18:09 pinpoint accurate all of the time, it's
18:12 a big picture. It's like orienting
18:14 generalizations. So, we can at least see
18:16 the patterns and identify them. And
18:18 since I've talked about this so much,
18:19 I've talked about it in my Human 3.0
18:22 newsletter, which is more like a like a
18:24 cornerstone article that I think
18:26 everyone should read. I'll link to that
18:28 in the description. It's pretty long,
18:29 but it's thorough. If you If you want to
18:31 understand
18:32 how to achieve anything in your life, I
18:34 think I dissected it quite well there.
18:36 But let's go over the 80/20 of this just
18:38 so you get a refresher or you understand
18:40 what we're talking about so we can move
18:42 on. If you've already heard this, just
18:43 understand that repetition is important
18:46 for important things. So, stage one of
18:48 development is the impulsive stage where
18:50 there's no separation between impulse
18:52 and action. It's black and white
18:53 thinking. As an example, a toddler hits
18:55 when angry because the feeling and the
18:57 behavior are the same thing. Stage two
18:59 is self-protective where the world is
19:01 dangerous and you learn to look out for
19:03 yourself. Like how a kid learns to hide
19:05 report cards, lie about chores, and
19:07 figure out what adults want to hear.
19:09 Stage three is conformist where you are
19:11 your group and its rules feel like
19:13 reality itself, which is like someone
19:15 who genuinely cannot fathom why anyone
19:17 would vote differently than their family
19:19 or group or would have a different
19:21 religion. Stage four is self-aware where
19:23 you notice you have an inner life that
19:25 doesn't match the exterior. So, it's
19:27 like sitting in church and realizing
19:28 you're not sure you believe what
19:30 everyone around you seems to believe,
19:31 but not knowing what to do with that
19:33 feeling yet. That is me in my past.
19:36 Stage five is conscientious where you
19:38 build your own system of principles and
19:40 hold yourself accountable to them. So,
19:42 like leaving your family's religion
19:43 after careful study and adopting a
19:45 personal philosophy you can defend or
19:47 building a career plan with clear
19:48 milestones because you believe the right
19:50 efforts yield the right results. Stage
19:52 six is the individualist stage where you
19:54 see that your principles were shaped by
19:56 context and start holding them more
19:58 loosely. As an example, realizing your
20:00 political views have more to do with
20:02 where you grew up than objective truth
20:04 or noticing that your ambitious career
20:05 goals were really about earning your
20:07 father's approval. Stage seven is the
20:09 strategist stage where you work with
20:11 systems while aware of your own
20:12 involvement in them. So, it's like
20:14 leading an organization while actively
20:16 questioning your own blind spots or
20:17 engaging in politics knowing your
20:19 perspective is partial and shaped by
20:21 bias you can't fully see. Stage eight is
20:23 construct-aware where you see all
20:25 frameworks, including your identity, as
20:27 useful fictions. So, it's like holding
20:29 your spiritual beliefs metaphorically
20:31 rather than literally. It's knowing that
20:33 the map is not the territory or watching
20:35 yourself play the role of founder or
20:37 thought leader with a kind of gentle
20:39 amusement. I've done this a few times. I
20:41 don't know if I'm fully construct-aware
20:43 because with these, they're like tools,
20:45 right? They're like lenses. If you're
20:46 stressed, you're going to regress into a
20:48 more conformist stage or more survival
20:51 stage, so to say, because you're going
20:52 to feel more threatened. But, I think
20:54 that people mostly operate within, like,
20:57 uh uh
20:58 80% of their life within a specific
21:01 level. And that level slowly increases
21:03 over time with certain aspects or
21:05 domains of their life branching into
21:07 other levels. And stage nine is the
21:10 unitive stage where separation between
21:12 self and life dissolves. As an example,
21:14 work, rest, and play feel like the same
21:16 thing. There's no one left who needs to
21:18 become something. Just presence
21:20 responding to what arises. Now, the
21:22 spiritual people out there will hear
21:24 this and praise the ninth unitive stage,
21:28 but we have to understand that all of
21:30 these are like tools in the toolbox.
21:31 They're lenses of perception. They're
21:33 not necessarily better than one another,
21:35 but they're larger, higher, more
21:37 inclusive than one another. They're more
21:39 complex. Sometimes the highest stage,
21:42 being at a unitive stage, doesn't allow
21:44 you to solve a certain problem or make
21:46 progress in a certain area of your life.
21:48 But, the thing about the higher stages
21:49 is that you have all of the lower stages
21:51 as a tool in your toolbelt so that you
21:54 can tap into them or pull them out when
21:56 you need them from a higher perspective.
21:58 Now, for most people watching this, I
22:00 would assume you're between levels four
22:02 and eight, mostly. So, those who are
22:04 closer to eight and watching this are
22:06 doing so as like a refresher or just to
22:08 pass the time. But, those who are closer
22:09 to four, you may not know what you want
22:12 out of life. You feel like you're meant
22:14 for more, but you can't make sense of
22:15 everything yet. But, that's a good thing
22:17 because there is a pattern. There is a
22:19 way to move through these stages and get
22:22 closer to the life that you want. So,
22:24 that leads to point number five, which
22:26 is that intelligence is the ability to
22:28 get what you want out of life. And we'll
22:30 start with this great quote, "The only
22:32 real test of intelligence is if you get
22:34 what you want out of life." That's the
22:36 classic viral quote from Naval. Now,
22:39 there is a formula to success. One
22:42 ingredient is agency, which we just
22:44 talked about in the last video. One
22:46 ingredient is opportunity, which many
22:48 people like to mistake as privilege
22:50 because they lack the other ingredients.
22:52 And the last ingredient is intelligence.
22:54 So, if you have high agency below
22:56 opportunity, it doesn't matter how
22:58 likely you are to act toward a goal
23:00 because it isn't a goal that will bear
23:02 much fruit. If you have opportunity and
23:04 agency but low intelligence, then you
23:06 will never be fully able to benefit from
23:09 that opportunity. Now, we've talked
23:10 about agency, but in terms of
23:12 opportunity, I can't really control your
23:13 physical location. I can tell you to
23:15 move, but that's a big ask. That's up to
23:17 you. But, if you don't see the
23:20 opportunity in the digital world or on
23:22 the internet that's right in front of
23:24 you, I don't know what to tell you. If
23:26 you want to realize what that is, go
23:28 watch any of my other videos. So, with
23:30 that said, in this video, I want you to
23:31 focus on what intelligence is in the
23:34 context of those two other gradients and
23:37 of the context of this video.
23:38 Cybernetics comes from the Greek word
23:41 "kybernetikos", which means to steer or
23:43 good at steering. It's also known as the
23:46 art of getting what you want. That's
23:48 when we apply it as like a a frame for
23:50 viewing the world as a human. For a
23:52 machine, it's just an intelligent system
23:55 that course corrects toward a goal. It's
23:56 like AI. It actually is the original
23:59 word for AI, but somebody, I forget who,
24:02 didn't like the word cybernetics, so
24:04 they changed it to artificial
24:05 intelligence. So, if Naval's definition
24:07 of intelligence is to get what you want
24:10 out of life, then cybernetics or
24:11 understanding it helps you do it that
24:13 much faster. So, what cybernetics
24:15 illustrates is the properties of an
24:18 intelligent system, which is to have a
24:20 goal, act toward the goal, sense where
24:22 you are, compare it to the goal, and act
24:24 again based on feedback. It's trial and
24:27 error. It's experimentation. It's a
24:29 scientific process. But, there's a key
24:31 point here that most people miss. You
24:34 can judge intelligence based on the
24:36 system's ability to iterate and persist
24:38 with trial and error. A ship blown off
24:40 course that corrects towards its
24:41 destination. A thermostat sensing a
24:43 change in heat and turning on. The
24:45 pancreas in your body excreting insulin
24:48 after blood glucose spikes. So, what
24:50 does this have to do with getting what
24:51 you want out of life?
24:52 Everything. Acting, sensing, comparing,
24:55 and understanding the system from a meta
24:56 perspective is fundamental to high
24:58 intelligence. High intelligence is the
25:01 ability to iterate, persist, and
25:02 understand the big picture. The mark of
25:04 low intelligence is the inability to
25:07 learn from your mistakes. Low
25:09 intelligence people get stuck on
25:10 problems rather than solving them. They
25:12 hit a roadblock and quit. Like a writer
25:14 who fails to build a readership and
25:16 quits because they lack the ability to
25:18 try new things, experiment, and figure
25:20 out a process that works for them. To
25:22 think that there isn't an effective
25:23 process you can create is verifiably
25:26 false, no matter your limiting beliefs,
25:28 hence being low intelligence. We're
25:29 actually going to talk about why artists
25:32 hate AI so much in a future video. I've
25:34 been planning that one and doing a lot
25:36 of research on that one. And don't get
25:38 your panties all in a bunch just yet if
25:40 you're an artist, but
25:41 usually
25:43 from what I've seen, it's just pointing
25:45 to this definition of low intelligence.
25:46 Now, high intelligence is realizing that
25:49 any problem can be solved on a large
25:51 enough time scale. The reality is that
25:53 you can achieve any goal you set your
25:55 mind to. This isn't something that can
25:57 be disproven within reason. Intelligence
26:00 is realizing that there is a series of
26:02 choices you can make which lead to
26:04 achieving the goal you want. You
26:06 understand that ideas are hierarchical
26:09 and that you can't go from papyrus to
26:11 Google Docs in one leap. Even if the
26:13 goal is impossible right now, you simply
26:16 don't have the resources, which may be
26:18 invented over the next few years, to
26:20 achieve that thing. So, what I'm saying
26:22 is most of your excuses for not
26:23 achieving a goal is a sign of low
26:26 intelligence. I'm sorry. Because you
26:27 have more than enough resources. You can
26:29 buy freaking ChatGPT for $20. Even
26:31 though I don't like ChatGPT, you can buy
26:33 Claude for $20. Now, when I talk about
26:36 goals, this is what I'm talking about.
26:38 I'm speaking from the lens of teleology
26:41 or the Greek cosmos with a K, which is
26:43 that everything serves a purpose, that
26:46 everything is a part of a greater whole.
26:48 Goals determine how you see the world.
26:50 Goals determine what you consider
26:51 success or failure. You can try to enjoy
26:54 the journey or enjoy the process, but if
26:56 you pursue the wrong goal, you will not
26:58 enjoy it. Your mind is the operating
27:00 system for reality. That system is
27:02 composed of goals. For most people,
27:04 those goals are assigned to them,
27:06 programmed like lines of code in your
27:08 psyche. Go to school, get a job, get
27:10 offended, play victim, retire at 65. A
27:12 known path that doesn't work. So, to
27:14 become intelligent, you must reject the
27:17 known path, dive into the unknown, set
27:19 new, higher goals to expand your mind,
27:21 embrace the chaos, and allow for more
27:23 growth. Study the generalized principles
27:25 of nature and become a deep generalist.
27:28 That leads us into point number six
27:31 perfectly, which is how to launch into a
27:33 completely new life in one day. Now, I
27:35 wrote this tweet a few years ago and it
27:37 just went it popped off. I wasn't
27:39 expecting so many people to actually
27:41 resonate with this. And it was the best
27:43 periods of my life always came after a
27:45 period of getting absolutely fed up with
27:48 the lack of progress I was making. So,
27:50 how do you dig into your mind? How do
27:52 you become aware of your conditioning?
27:54 How do you reach profound insights and
27:55 truths that change the trajectory of
27:57 your life? The answer is through the
27:59 simple, but often painful, act of
28:02 questioning, which is something that so
28:04 few people do. And you can tell by how
28:05 they speak or give their thoughts on a
28:07 specific topic. It's like you're talking
28:09 to a TV or the news or the most popular
28:11 social media posts. Questioning is
28:13 thinking and very few people do it. So,
28:16 I want to give you a comprehensive
28:18 protocol that you can use to reset your
28:21 life every year or whenever you feel
28:23 like you need to. And this protocol
28:25 consists of questions which will tie
28:27 together into the form of a a list of
28:30 things that you can just focus on. Now,
28:32 this will require a full day to
28:34 complete. It's a full day. I need you to
28:36 take your time and actually do this. I'm
28:38 asking you one day to change your entire
28:40 life. You will need a pen, a paper, and
28:43 an open mind. Now, when I observe the
28:44 patterns in people who successfully flip
28:47 their identity, it happens rather quick
28:50 after this build-up of tension or
28:51 disease. Now, specifically, I've noticed
28:53 three phases that most people go
28:55 through. So, you need to go through
28:57 these phases as well. Phase one is
28:59 dissonance where they feel like they
29:00 don't belong in their current life and
29:02 become sufficiently fed up with their
29:04 lack of progress. Phase two is
29:05 uncertainty. So, they don't know what
29:07 comes next, so they either experiment or
29:09 get lost and feel worse. And phase three
29:11 is discovery where they discover what
29:13 they want to pursue and make six years
29:15 of progress in six months. Now, I say
29:17 that before going into the questions
29:19 because you need to understand like how
29:21 it feels, how to know. You need the
29:23 feedback as to whether or not what
29:25 you're doing is correct because most of
29:27 the time that feedback, those three
29:28 phases, aren't comfortable. You're not
29:30 immediately just going to be like, "Oh,
29:31 yes. Um I feel so hyped and so motivated
29:34 right now." You're going to feel the
29:35 opposite, and that's the good sign.
29:38 That's also a sign not to try to mask
29:40 that up by scrolling on your phone or
29:42 getting that next quick hit of dopamine.
29:43 So, part one of this protocol happens in
29:46 the morning. You're going to do this
29:47 first thing. And this is for
29:48 psychological excavation, where we're
29:50 going to uncover what our vision for the
29:52 future is and our anti-vision for the
29:54 future is to create a frame that we can
29:56 operate within. Because that's the
29:58 thing. First, in order to change, we
30:00 need to create a new frame or lens of
30:02 perception or who our identity is going
30:05 to be that we can like put on as this
30:08 shell. We can shed our old shell like a
30:10 crab or a lobster, get into a new one,
30:13 and then grow into it until that too
30:15 tight and then you reach that point of
30:16 distance like this doesn't feel right.
30:19 I'm not supposed to be at this point in
30:20 life. I need to get out of my shell and
30:23 find a new one or create a new one. So,
30:25 that's what we're doing. Now, I'm going
30:26 to go through these questions. I suggest
30:28 that you write them down, screenshot
30:30 them, do whatever you can so that you
30:32 have them ready tomorrow morning when
30:34 you actually do this or just come back
30:35 to this video and skip to this point and
30:37 create a calendar event or a reminder so
30:39 that you actually do this. And I'm just
30:41 going to run through these questions, so
30:42 pay attention. What is the dull and
30:44 persistent dissatisfaction you've
30:46 learned to live with? Not the deep
30:48 suffering, but what you've learned to
30:49 tolerate. What do you complain about
30:51 repeatedly, but never actually change?
30:54 Write down three complaints you voiced
30:56 most often this past year. For each
30:58 complaint, what would someone who
30:59 watched your behavior, not your words,
31:02 conclude that you actually want? What
31:04 truth about your current life would be
31:06 unbearable to admit to someone you
31:07 deeply respect? So, those questions are
31:09 meant to make you aware of the pain in
31:12 your current life. So, now we need to
31:14 turn those into what I call an
31:15 anti-vision, which is a brutal awareness
31:18 of the life that you do not want to
31:19 live. That way you can use that negative
31:22 energy when you need it to aim in a
31:25 positive direction. So, these are the
31:27 questions to come up with your
31:28 anti-vision. If absolutely nothing
31:30 changes for the next 5 years, describe
31:32 an average Tuesday. Where do you wake
31:34 up? What does your body feel like?
31:36 What's the first thing you think about?
31:37 Who's around you? What do you do between
31:39 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.? How do you feel
31:41 at 10:00 p.m.? Now, do the same thing,
31:43 but for 10 years. What have you missed?
31:46 What opportunities closed? Who gave up
31:48 on you? What do people say about you
31:50 when you're not in the room? You're at
31:51 the end of your life. You lived the safe
31:53 version. You never broke the pattern.
31:55 What was the cost? What did you never
31:57 let yourself feel, try, or become? Who
32:00 in your life is already living the
32:01 future you just described? Someone 5,
32:03 10, 20 years ahead of you on the same
32:05 trajectory. What do you feel when you
32:08 think about becoming them? What identity
32:10 would you have to give up to actually
32:11 change? What would it cost you socially
32:14 to no longer be that person? What is the
32:16 most embarrassing reason you haven't
32:18 changed? The one that makes you sound
32:20 weak, scared, or lazy rather than
32:22 reasonable. If your current behavior is
32:23 a form of self-protection, what exactly
32:26 are you protecting and what is the
32:27 protection costing you? Now, if you
32:29 answered those truthfully and if you're
32:31 in the right chapter of your life,
32:33 because if you're just at the beginning
32:35 of your own book, but this helps you
32:38 reach the climax, you still have some of
32:40 a journey to go on. This may not
32:42 completely apply to you just yet. But if
32:44 it does, then you will feel this deep
32:46 sense of disgust or disease or just you
32:49 don't feel right. You have to do
32:51 something. So, now we need to orient
32:53 that energy in a positive direction. We
32:55 need to create a minimum viable vision,
32:58 because a vision is like a product. Your
33:00 product doesn't start out the best. It
33:02 starts out unclear and with time and
33:05 practice and experience, it gets better
33:07 and more polished and more people like
33:09 the product. So, there's three questions
33:11 for your vision. Forget practicality for
33:13 a minute. If you could snap your fingers
33:15 and be living a completely different
33:17 life in 3 years, not what's realistic,
33:19 but what you actually want. What does an
33:21 average Tuesday look like? And use the
33:23 same level of detail as question five
33:26 from before. What would you have to
33:27 believe about yourself for that life to
33:29 feel natural rather than forced? So,
33:31 write the identity statement, I'm the
33:33 type of person who {dot} {dot} {dot}.
33:35 What is the one thing you would do this
33:37 week if you're already that person? So,
33:39 you're going to answer all of those
33:41 questions first thing tomorrow. That
33:43 leads into part two, which you're going
33:45 to do throughout the day and this is
33:47 going to interrupt autopilot. It's going
33:49 to interrupt how you're currently
33:51 unconsciously living. Because those
33:52 journaling exercises are cute, but we
33:55 want real change. And frankly, that's
33:56 not going to happen unless you break the
33:58 current unconscious patterns that are
34:00 keeping you the same. So, throughout the
34:02 day, I want you to contemplate on
34:04 everything that you wrote in part one.
34:06 You should just think about it, right?
34:07 Question Let questions trigger questions
34:10 and thoughts trigger thoughts. It's like
34:11 a meditation on a mantra. You're You're
34:14 thinking about your vision and
34:16 anti-vision and you're just letting
34:17 ideas spring to mind. You're not getting
34:20 distracted by today's tasks or scrolling
34:22 on your phone or whatever it may be. And
34:24 beyond that, I don't want you to forget
34:26 to contemplate. So, what you're going to
34:28 do right now is you're going to go on
34:30 your phone or on your computer and
34:31 you're and you're going to create
34:33 reminders or calendar events with these
34:36 specific questions listed inside the
34:38 reminder or calendar event. At 11:00
34:40 a.m., what am I avoiding right now by
34:43 doing what I'm doing? At 1:30 p.m., if
34:46 someone filmed the last 2 hours, what
34:48 would they conclude I want from my life?
34:50 At 3:00 or 3:15 p.m., am I moving toward
34:53 the life I hate or the life I want? At
34:56 5:00 p.m., what's the most important
34:58 thing I'm pretending isn't important? At
35:00 7:30 p.m., what did I do today out of
35:02 identity protection rather than genuine
35:05 desire? A hint here, it's most of the
35:07 things that you do. At 9:00 p.m., when
35:09 did I feel most alive today and when did
35:12 I feel most dead? Now, part three,
35:14 you're going to do in the evening. This
35:16 is for synthesizing all of the insights
35:18 that you got throughout the day. And
35:20 this is how you enter a season of
35:21 progress tomorrow or the next day. So,
35:24 if you follow that process, then I would
35:26 be pretty surprised if you don't have at
35:27 least one profound life-changing insight
35:30 that you came to. So, now we need to
35:32 make those known, integrate them into
35:35 who we are, and act on them to begin
35:37 solidifying a new level of mind or new
35:40 stage of development. So, here's the
35:42 questions that you journal on in the
35:44 evening. After today, what feels most
35:46 true about why you've been stuck? What
35:48 is the actual enemy? Name it clearly.
35:51 It's not circumstances, it's not other
35:52 people, it's the internal pattern or
35:54 belief that has been running the show.
35:56 Write a single sentence that captures
35:58 what you refuse to let your life become.
36:00 This is your anti-vision compressed. It
36:02 should make you feel something when you
36:04 read it. Write a single sentence that
36:06 captures what you're building toward
36:07 knowing it will evolve. This is your
36:09 vision MVP. Now, lastly, we need to
36:12 create goals. We need to make this more
36:13 practical. We have all the big picture
36:16 motivational intrinsic motivation stuff,
36:18 but how do we actually act? And again,
36:20 these aren't goals that you set for the
36:22 sake of achievement. These are lenses,
36:24 macro and micro lenses that you can put
36:26 on at a certain time to experience the
36:29 mind of that point of view and to notice
36:32 the right information and to do the
36:33 right actions. When you're really
36:34 narrowed in on the daily task, then you
36:37 don't really think about anything else.
36:38 You just do the task. But when you're
36:39 really zoomed out to the level of your
36:41 vision, then you think about so much.
36:43 You have this unbounded uh creativity.
36:46 So, three questions here. Your 1-year
36:48 goal or lens. What would have to be true
36:50 in 1 year for you to know you've broken
36:52 the old pattern? One concrete thing.
36:55 Your 1-month goal or lens. What would
36:57 have to be true in 1 month for the
36:59 1-year lens to remain possible? Now,
37:01 your daily goal or lens. What are two to
37:04 three actions you can time block
37:05 tomorrow that the person you're becoming
37:07 would simply do? Now, that was a lot. I
37:10 hope that was helpful, but we have one
37:11 last piece to lock it all in. Stick with
37:14 me here. So, point number seven is turn
37:16 your life into a video game. We'll start
37:18 this with a quote from Mihaly
37:20 Csikszentmihalyi. The optimal state of
37:22 inner experience is one in which there
37:24 is order in consciousness. This happens
37:26 when psychic energy or attention is
37:28 invested in realistic goals and when
37:30 skills match the opportunities for
37:32 action. The pursuit of a goal brings
37:34 order and awareness because a person
37:36 must concentrate attention on the task
37:38 at hand and momentarily forget
37:40 everything else. So, you now have all of
37:42 the components that lead to a good life.
37:44 But now it may be helpful to organize
37:46 all of those components into a coherent
37:48 plan. So, now you're going to pull out a
37:50 new piece of paper and you're going to
37:51 write down these six things.
37:53 Anti-vision. What is the bane of my
37:55 existence or the life I never want to
37:56 experience again? Vision. What is the
37:59 ideal life that I think I want and can
38:01 improve as I work toward it. 1-year
38:03 goal. What will my life look like in 1
38:05 year's time and is that closer to the
38:07 life I want? 1-month project. What do I
38:10 need to learn? What skills do I need to
38:11 acquire? What can I build that will move
38:14 me closer to the 1-year goal? Daily
38:16 levers. What are the priority needle
38:18 moving tasks that bring my project
38:20 closer to completion? Constraints. What
38:22 am I not willing to sacrifice to achieve
38:24 my vision from the ground up? Now, why
38:26 is this so powerful? Why is are are
38:28 those six things so powerful? Because it
38:30 most people it just sounds like more
38:32 self-help productivity mumbo jumbo.
38:34 Because those components literally
38:35 create your own world. And if you are
38:37 meant to pursue that hierarchy of goals
38:40 at this stage in your life, you will
38:41 have no other option but to become
38:43 obsessed. You will feel the pull to
38:46 something greater. You will not see
38:47 anything else as an option. In essence,
38:49 you turn your life into a video game.
38:51 Because games are the poster child for
38:53 obsession, enjoyment, and flow states.
38:55 They have all the components that lead
38:57 to focus and clarity. So, if we reverse
38:59 engineer what those components are, we
39:01 can live in a state of deeper enjoyment,
39:03 less distractions, and more success.
39:05 Your vision is how you win, at least
39:08 until the game evolves. Your anti-vision
39:10 is what's at stake, what happens if you
39:12 lose or give up. Your 1-year goal is the
39:14 mission. This is your sole priority in
39:16 life. Your 1-month project is the boss
39:19 fight, how you gain XP and acquire loot.
39:21 Your daily levers are the quests, the
39:23 daily process that unlocks new
39:25 opportunities. Your constraints are the
39:27 rules, the limitations that encourage
39:29 creativity. So, you can think of all of
39:31 these as just this concentric set of
39:33 circles, like a force field that guards
39:35 your mind from distractions and shiny
39:37 objects. The more you play the game,
39:39 right? Because this isn't going to be
39:41 super potent the first time around. The
39:43 more you invest energy into this into
39:45 building or adopting this frame, the
39:47 stronger the force field becomes and
39:49 soon enough it becomes who you are and
39:51 you wouldn't have it any other way.
39:53 Thank you for watching. If you enjoyed
39:54 this video, please subscribe to my
39:56 newsletter where I send out long letters
39:59 on behavior change, psychology,
40:00 self-improvement, business every week.
40:02 Link to that is in the description.
40:04 Subscribe for the next video. Thank you
40:07 for watching. I really hope it was
40:08 impactful.
40:09 to a good 2026. Bye.