Category: Post Untitled, volume three

WEDNESDAY, 17 NOVEMBER 2010

A short while ago a thought came to me – inspired to some extent by Michael Moore’s documentary film, Capitalism. The thought is about the emergence of a new aristocracy, the increasing decline of middle-class socio-economic stability, and more and more formerly middle-class people whose lives, considered from a certain perspective, resemble those of peasants in the Middle Ages.

Where do I stand in this world?

There was a time when I identified with the working class – or at least my idea of the working class. There was also a time when I expressed willingness to “make peace” with the middle class. Now I say, “Don’t get caught on the wrong side of the line.”

I have spent the last few years learning a thing or two about how your background and your upbringing affect your relationship with money, how it affects how you view “work”, and ultimately how it determines where you end up in this world. I have also learned how difficult it can be to de-learn certain things, and to change your attitude towards work and money.

Nevertheless, I believe in my own ability to improve my life. I also believe any person can improve his or her life if they believe they can, and are willing to make the necessary changes. Finally, a peasant I do not want to be. As regards to the middle class, I believe the dream is not what it used to be a few decades ago.

* * *

Practical implication of the above text: Learn to develop and maintain a half dozen or more sources of income. Work for your own “company”. Only sell your time on a contract basis if you have already established other sources of income, and you are still actually working for yourself – which means, in real terms, the less dependent you are on the person who pays you, and the less of your time is linked to his or her profit, and the less dependent you are on this person’s or these people’s consent and/or approval of how you make use of your time, the better.

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THURSDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2010

21:45

The past few days I’ve been reading through notebooks from the last couple of years. Somewhere – was it during lunch? – a thought wandered into my consciousness about me over-complicating everything that has to do with making money on the Internet; a thought that said there is no way it can be that complex.

Imagine, came the idea as I was pedalling home fifteen minutes later, that whatever you think is difficult is in actual fact easy – not just things related to making money, but things like losing weight and learning a new language.

Think about it: You’ll chastise yourself for only starting with something today. Had you known a few days ago it was easy, you could have had some cash in your pocket right now! You could already have spoken a few phrases of that language you’ve wanted to study for so long! You could already have demolished a brick with those martial arts you’ve wanted to learn!

22:35

First went for a stroll through the local shopping mall to try and recover from the shock – that things are in fact easy! And just because I was in a good mood I decided to stop making negative statements. So, rather than saying, it was not difficult, you’d say (all together now): “That was easy!”

I have since discovered that this transforms something vague into something more concrete in a simple statement followed by a possible solution. An example: Something’s not right with my computer. I have no idea what’s wrong with it changes to: My computer is broken. I should get it fixed.

SATURDAY, 13 NOVEMBER 2010

14:43

“It’s not easy, it’s difficult.”

What is difficult?

“(Answer – that comes down to it being difficult to drive a screw in with your thumbnail.)”

Can it be made easier, say (with a screwdriver)?

“Well, if I have to be honest …”

* * *

EASY does seem to be a very interesting topic. Funny also how much resistance comes up in my own psyche every time I dare consider something easy.

The good news is that these entrenched ways of thinking about things that force you to respond in a certain way when something triggers it – a word, a thought, a situation – can be altered so that your psyche responds differently when triggered.

17:44

Say something is really difficult, or perhaps truly unpleasant. What would I recommend?

I will ask: Can it be made easier, and if so, how? Can I pay someone else to do it for me? Is there some tool or other resource that will make it easier for me? Has someone written a book that explains how to make it easier? Do I need to learn a skill? Where can I find out what I need to know?

SUNDAY, 14 NOVEMBER 2010

Your personality, your particular experience and your abilities all play a role in how “easy” you consider something to be.

Nevertheless, you owe it to yourself to at least consider that something can be easy for you – that it may even already be easier than you think. You may also want to consider training your subconscious to embrace this reality.

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SATURDAY, 13 NOVEMBER 2010

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries provide at least three examples that prove that people are full of crap, at least half of the time.

1. In 1642 the British Parliament deposed the king, and beheaded him a few years later to make sure he doesn’t put the crown back on his head. Again, in 1688 they made it clear that they believed they had the right to choose their own monarch – John Locke’s political theory had apparently summed it up nicely. However, when the American colonies wanted to overthrow the rule of the British Crown and Parliament almost a century later, and even used John Locke’s arguments, the very same British political ruling class would have none of it. One can still to some extent understand the king’s position, but the British Parliament refused to budge: the colonists had absolutely no right to demand independence.

2. As idealistic as the American rebels were in their revolution with “All men are created equal” and “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” they turned around and forced inequality on people of colour that they felt they had the right to own as personal property, and deprived these people not only of their personal liberty but also of any chance of a good life and some earthly happiness.

3. After their defeat against England in 1763, the French were itching for revenge. The French King Louis XVI and his advisers believed the American rebels’ struggle against their colonial masters provided the perfect opportunity. “Let us support the rebels in their revolution against King and aristocracy!” decreed the king, and shoved another chocolate eclair into his mouth. However, little more than a decade later, French rebels were pulling on the gates of Versailles, and revolution was permeating the air in Paris. “How dare they?!” muttered the king in the direction of his panicked advisors, and wondered what had happened to the cream cake.

And, now that I think about it, there is a fourth example.

4. The revolutionaries in France were fired up with idealism and zeal for liberty, equality and fraternity in 1789 and the years immediately following the revolution. But was this freedom intended for the ordinary worker in a tannery or the peasant in the countryside? “Don’t be ridiculous!” some of the leaders of the revolution would have thought in the safety of their private quarters (at one point it would have been risky to make such declarations on a street corner in Paris). Did the equality and fraternity parts stand a better chance? Could the ordinary man and woman who owned no business, professional title or property get excited about the revolution? They could certainly get excited in the beginning, but disappointment wasn’t far behind. Despite some noble declarations, the revolution, at the end of a long and bloody day, was aimed at broadening the aristocracy. “It’s our turn to live well!” a member of the newly empowered bourgeoisie would have hissed through his teeth at his servant, before commanding another glass of wine.

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TUESDAY, 10 AUGUST 2010

This has been coming on for several months. A week or two ago I wanted to make a note of it: The Truth.

The Truth is vibrating subatomic particles. This – this is the real, end-result-after-you-have-stripped-away-all-the-rest, as-real-as-real-can-be truth.

What we think and what we do within this “Uber” Reality become our reality, our lives.

MONDAY, 23 AUGUST 2010

A happy person is a productive person – and not necessarily the other way around.

FRIDAY, 27 AUGUST 2010

Your reality is, to a large extent, what you DECIDE it is.

“That’s true,” someone will remark absent-mindedly.

Then, one day, it hits like a brick wall.

WEDNESDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2010

I think I am busy learning a lesson. It has to do with the whole business of me trying to make money on the Internet since 2006. It’s also clear that I am not done with the learning yet.

The lesson is this: I must stop trying to convince people I know better, and that my way produces faster and better results. Sometimes I have absolutely no clue what I’m talking about, and if I pretend I know more than I really do, I am only setting the table for my own humiliation. I simply must be more modest.

THURSDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER 2010

Since 2006, I have had only one thing on the brain, one obsession, one project: to make money from home.

I get the idea, though, that there are parallel story lines. One is about renewed self-discovery. Another one is about practical training. The cherry on the cake is a story line that says all my adventures (or lack thereof) since 2006 have been the best thing that could have happened to me as a writer.

MONDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER 2010

“That’s what learning is … not whether we lose the game, but how we lose and how we’ve changed because of it and what we take away from it that we never had before … losing, in a curious way, is winning.” ~ Richard Bach, writer of Jonathan Livingston Seagull

MONDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2010

I sometimes get tired of “this”, and wish that “this” can to come to an end.

What is “this”? Trying to make money, and suffering the consequences.

There is a version of my life where I spend most, or more than half of my productive hours on writing projects: Personal Agenda, the rest of the 2004 material, the 2005 material and everything after, new material, poetry, BrandSmit.NET, the English site, the marketing of my projects.

But first I would have to get past “this”. One of these days …

TUESDAY, 26 OCTOBER 2010

“Money is not a scarce resource for which you must struggle on a daily basis. Money is an abundant resource that is constantly in circulation.” (Repeat every day until you believe it.)

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THURSDAY, 3 JUNE 2010

20:58

A question: Do I like people?

Preliminary answer: I think I like people; I just tend to keep them at a distance.

21:49

This is an interesting question.

To make money by selling things to people, you would have to be aware of their needs, their fears, their dreams, their desires, their pain, and their problems. Then you would have to consider how you can help them get where they want to be, or get away from where they do not want to be. You’d have to consider how you can help them fulfil their dreams, relieve their pain, or solve their problems.

Of course, you want to make money in the process, but I think that you will find if you offer real solutions, people will be eager enough to pay you – as long as you offer real value.

Can you make money by selling solutions if you do not really like people? Certainly anyone can add one and one together and figure out that there is a market for something, and figure out how they can give that market what they need or want without necessarily having any particular feeling for people. But, I think the whole process might just be easier, and maybe even more sustainable if you do recognise the individual person in the “market”, and if you have empathy or understanding for his or her hopes, and fears, and desires, and needs.

THURSDAY, 24 JUNE 2010

Most of my ideas, thoughts and notes these days are about making money. Now, talking about making money would be boring were it not for the light it shines on who and what you are, on how you position yourself in the world, on your relationship with other people, and on your historical relationship with, and view of, money.

FRIDAY, 23 JULY 2010

Don’t expect the path to financial independence to be intellectually stimulating. The most successful projects, the most profitable income systems may be extremely boring, with activities that can hardly compare to a good historical documentary or a stimulating argument or conversation. Let there be no doubt: Making money can indeed bore you to death.

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