Tag: mental health

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Are you fear based or love based?

Here’s the thing. When you decide to go into life, it doesn’t matter what you do, so long as you do it from a place of fulfilment and process. I’ve been harking on this for years.. In 2022, I wrote a series of newsletters and articles that I didn’t publish, but had multiple realisations, only to then get reminded of the extent of what I had written and the importance of sharing it. So here goes.

When you go into life, and decide to go forward towards something, we have essentially two choices. The first, is to reject our present moment, and so we reject the gift within it. The possibility to take action from a place of fulfilment.. I know, I’ve said this multiple times, even in my book… And on the other side… taking action from a place of fulfilment and gift. When we act from a place of fulfilment and gift, what happens is, it fills us up, it enlightens us, it fills our energetic circuits, and shifts us from a place of fear and lack to a place of abundance and possibility. By making this micro shift, we start to fill up our energetic reserves and we start to feel optimistic. This is due to the activity. I’ll explain.

When we strive for a future from a place of lack, we actually project to a future from a place of lack. Our process drains us, so we can only see a future where we’ll be drained somehow. The future cannot be bright. On the otherside, if our process fills us up, we can’t help but be optimistic about the future we’re going towards, because the more we go towards a future from this point of process ( it fills us up ) the better and brighter it will seem to us.

Essentially, we project the state we have from our daily process. If our present state, and ability to accept how we feel and the effects of the process on us, are positive, aligned with our gift, we align with a dream type future which we translate as ‘purpose’.

If our present state – right here and right now – is negative, because we’re not grateful for what we have, we reject our natural gifts, and our process depletes us.. in other words we decide to go to work to get money so that we can be valued or buy things or go places that will value us so that we can be loved… well the inevitable outcome will be that of a hellish future we want to get away from. And the outcome of that will be procrastination, as a result of you not wanting to go forward to that future. You’ll literally undermine your efforts at every turn, no matter how disciplined you are. And even if you don’t undermine yourself and manage to create output… the universe around you, events will happen, which will knock you back into alignment with the track you’re supposed to be on.

Solution to your dream life? Start by feeling well, where you are, by doing things you love, where you are. If you enjoy where you are, life becomes fluid and easy. If you hate where you are, its because you hate how you feel, which is a result of “DOING” what you hate. If you love how you feel, it’s a result of DOING what you love. DUH..

Want help getting financially free doing what you love?
Have a look at this

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The importance of your personal rythme.

“Don’t quit. Never give up trying to build the world you can see, even if others can’t see it. Listen to your drum and your drum only. It’s the one that makes the sweetest sound.” —Simon Sinek

The reason we get into burnout is two fold. Our future is taken away from us, or turned transformed into something limiting. Or we push so much we don’t recover. Eitherway, we end up in burnout. While I’m not going to talk about the future here. I will talk about an energetically sustainable path to riches.

While the whole world fights for scraps of attention or money. I can’t help but ponder.

We’ve essentially removed ourselves from the phyiscal ratrace to put ourselves in a never ending mental ratrace, which is worse because at least when we were working 9-5’s we could disconnect at the end of the day or on the weekend. Now, we’re plugged in 24/7 365.

We’re no longer in a ratrace, we’re in a consensual human pods, just like in the matrix. We consent to spending all our time in front of our screens as we’ve been sold on the idea that working to get financial freedom is okay so long as we give up our mental space and every second of our time to empower social media platforms with our creative genius.

Now, don’t get me wrong, these platforms are great. And if we have the right systems in place, to remove ourselves from the equation so we can experience freedom, these platforms are amazing. BUT, and I say this with emphasis, if we don’t have our own specific systems in place, we’re stepping away from jumping through hoops for a boss, and volontarily jumping through hoops to have financial freedom while empowering social media platforms, no code websites, and so on.

Whats the solution then? Well it’s pretty much in the title isn’t it.. Being self governed by our higher self. Pursuing our northstar, not our goals, but pursuing ‘the thing’ / ‘the state’ in which we shine. You know the one where we become hyper attractive. When we become so magnetic with our presence that the whole world turns to see who’s walking by.

No, I mean, that state of pure internal bliss which comes from following what makes sense to us and empowers us.

A while back, I talked about how our imposter syndrome came from doing what we actually didn’t want to do, but were doing because we were selling ourselves for the money. Well, here’s the thing, as much as money is all nice and good, the great state we pursue isn’t money. It isn’t even what money can offer. It’s purely an outcome we can achieve from anywhere in the world, even in a damp cave if we put in enough effort…

And I believe the recipe, for reaching that higher state of being, the high we get from flow, the feeling of alignment we get from deep work, the high we get from ideation… I believe the framework, is Going at our own speed, abiding to the beat of our own drum, Doing what fulfils us while we advance towards our horizon, and having a clear positive horizon to go towards. I believe that if we have The fuel (what fulfills us), we have the vehicle (what we pour our fuel into. A canvas, Social media, art, music, code…), the speed to maintain quality output without deterioration (going at our own speed/ following our own rythme), and a clear positive horizon to go towards (the desired destination from the accumulation/compounding of our output) then, without a shadow of a doubt, we will have Bliss of journey, bliss of being, bliss of gift to others, and blissful destination.

Fuel x Vehicle x Speed x Destination. = Successful outcome

Our burnout and stress, comes from jumping through hoops to please others, or to abide to market conditions, or to do things for clients without having any personal boundaries, or simply being a slave to money. But the solution, I don’t think, lies in externalities dictating what works and what doesn’t. I believe we have to optain that inner centeredness, our inner compass before striving for anything. Because, its our inner compass which will direct us in the direction of feels best to compound.

For now,
All the best,
Cherokee Goldberg

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Responsibility

Here’s one I’ve found to be terribly painful.

There is no way for us to enter God’s kingdom, if we cannot accept responsibility to be in control for the thoughts that we are thinking.

About 12 years ago an event happened to me. The person who ‘acted’ the event onto me left me we an idea of how to describe him, a bad bad man.

I got out of that situation, and grew, and decided to write books and a blog and blablabla…

11 years later, I meet someone who triggers that exact state of emotion I had so much trouble getting over.

Today, I reach a point of culmination where – perhaps because of the full moon – I comprehend what I’ve needed to do to overcome what I’ve been fighting against over and over, vehemently for the last 5 months.

So, here goes:

My subconscious has been persecuting me with terrible terrible guilt ridden descriptions for the last 5 months. And every time it would, I would refuse and reject the idea because quite simply it has nothing to do with me. After all, I aspire to do good, be great and do what’s healthy and loving… all that, right?

And nearly every day, I’d reach a point where I’d have to go through this debilitating concept. No thanks, I don’t accept that, and never will. It has nothing to do with me!

A few days would go by, and again, as if my entire internal army had decided to conspire against me, to take siege over my sense of inner peace. I started to consider perhaps ending it. Like, why on earth would I want to go through this repeatedly… I can’t get on with work, I can’t focus on my gift, I can’t make progress. I just have to suffer and see everyone else making progress while I go through ‘muck’…

And then, today, I decided to take a different approach. Give in.

Today, I decided to just lie down with my thoughts and emotions.

It’s important to note that, when we decide to face something head on, it loses it’s power.

Anyhow…

When I reached the point where I decided to close my eyes, all I saw was the pitch black view and the discomfort of my heart feeling out of sync. (In reality it was me who was out of sync with it!)

So, I did breathing, I’ve been doing breathing lately.

And I contemplated what my heart was feeling, tried to figure out what I couldn’t feel for months ( actually 12 years I’ve been unable to feel this one thing.. and stuck in the mind…).

And then… it hit me. I sat with the discomfort, and the emotions, and decided to go along with the visions and the verbal persecutions and give in to them. So I accepted to be what my mind told me I was.

Then, in that clear instance, I was let into heaven. My heart opened up, and I realized (It seems I keep on learning this lesson…) it is only by accepting what is that I can do something about it. Even if, in this instance, it’s not actually true. My mind thinks it is, so I have to accept that my mind thinks it is, even if I know it’s not true.

When we accept what is, we can do something about it.

What’s more? When we take responsibility for ourselves, God let’s us in the kingdom. Not before, if we believe we have no power, or that we have no agency over ourselves, then guess what, we don’t get to be in heaven during our stay! God doesn’t want terrorists in heaven, so you have to leave your state of terror at the door! (We all terrorise ourselves with our beliefs, and thoughts and so on…)

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Force vs Inspiration.

So often, we’re told we’re bad because we’re not ‘succeeding’ but what if holding ourselves back wasn’t a form of failure, but a form of success in the face of something others can’t see?

When we feel like shit, its because the thoughts we are thinking feel like shit. And the thoughts going on inside our heads are what create the feelings we have. And the feelings we experience are either good or bad.

And WAAAY too often, we hear people saying “You just have to push through the pain and the fear to succeed.” But we really don’t. Our emotions are guiding forces. And if you Force your way to get what you want, you’ll do that in every area of your life. A forced life vs an inspired life…

When we hold ourselves back, it’s most probably because the dreams/visions going on inside our heads, that we’re unconscious of are so negative, that we don’t want to go towards them. We don’t know how to undo them, so we just figure that preventing ourselves from taking action is the next best thing.

If the thoughts in our heads are positive, and we love where we are going and what we are consuming, the next logical step is that we are inspired. And when we are inspired, the next step is to be excited about the direction we’re going in.

I’d rather someone hold themselves back from taking action if their heads are full of shit, because it means they will reach a degree of success and spew Bullshit for everyone to aspire to.

I’d very much rather listen to someone who succeeds via the inspiration process, simply because they listen to their inner guiding forces and inspired themselves towards what they want to do. That inspiration, leads to an exciting, and enjoyable life.

  • fill mind up
  • saturate in that area
  • have an inspired idea
  • act upon it
  • repeat

Be sure to choose the subject you want to focus on.

All the best,

Cherokee Goldberg

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When you ‘feel’ low and nothing is working out for you

When we feel low, it’s because we’ve been saturating our focus on things that make us feel like shit. Or, we’ve been focussing on how things aren’t working for us. Or, we’ve been focussing on how we never get what we want.

But the thougts we consume, we also tend to think about. If we decide to eat a chestnut, will there be a carrot or an apple in our stomach to be digested? No. Only a chestnut. So, when we place our attention on things which aren’t fully uplifting and inspiring, these ‘reference points’ become – mediocre- because we have decided for mediocre idea food…

We have to accumulate positive, unplifting, beautiful, joyful, beautiful, references which make us feel – the way we want to feel- and accumulate that way of feeling!

We can’t force ourself to do things, by pushing. We can’t ‘just execute’ it’s not all about the execution. It’s about creating the inspiration before the action. Because action comes from thought. And forced action is essentially ‘I have to force myself to do this, otherwise it won’t happen…‘. But inspired action on the other hand is ‘I’m inspired, I’m uplifted, I’m excited to do this thing, because I’ve been given God like power through my imagination...’

We have to compound our wanted ideas. And an idea is a point of inspiration. So, if we compound inspired ideas, we compound energy too. Which is why the Brilliant writer is always full of energy. Because his sails are full of the life force of ideas from consuming content and information he enjoys.

If we fill oour head up from a point of curiosity and interest and joy, and we consume content that makes us FEEL GOOD, we will ideate on the same level. Which will by extent, creates more and more references – thoughts – about that feel good to think !

Don’t do things out of force. Doing things out of force is action from a place of fear. When we are fearful about the outcome of what we’re doing, example: ‘I’m creating a 100000 €!’ but somewhere we don’t believe in our ability to get it. We will force ourself to take action, and the extent of that is: doing what we hate. Sure we might end up with that sum, but at what extent, we just fucked up our entire journey, and our energy, and now we feel like a piece of shit because we’ve just spent all that time miserably in order to ‘feel good’ when the end result comes along.

But instead, if we decide to Do things from a place of power (when we get inspiration), we get an idea, and it gives us energy. We will be inspired to take action, we will be uplifted, we will be optimistic, we will be confident. Because the action we are taking, is from a place of deep emotional confirmation, because the idea stemmed from within us.

When we start taking action – because the internet guru told me! – we miss out on a vital vital piece of data; our own. If we’re taking information from the outside, from other people, and simply being directed by the flux of data being thrown at us by influencers all over the world, we won’t be doing it from a centered place, we’ll be doing it from a place of misalignement with ourself. Because we’ll be taking action from a place of fear of listening to ourself. And we can’t get what we want in life if we spend ourselves doing what other people tell us do to. We can only get what we want, because we create the ideas of what we want first.

How would I go about doing this?

First of all, forgive myself for being so hard on myself and forcing myself to go through everything I’ve been through. Be grateful for all my body has endured in that forceful state, in that it did really well.

Secondly, I’d now let go of that disfunctional way of acting. And implement a new way. I’d spend my time searching for and accumulating amazing content ( thoughts, concepts, things, music, videos, humour, magazines, pictures, …) that make me feel good when I consume them. Spend my time consuming these things until I get an idea, then start taking action on that idea from a place of emotional certainty. Then, I’d go back to the source of my ideas to draw out more inspiration, and continue down that road until I make enough progress.

Don’t just become water my friend. Become love. Become joy, become free, become happiness, become excited, become optimistic. Let these emotions become you my friend, and the world will open up to you …

All the best,

Cherokee Goldberg

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When things are falling apart, your life is supposed to be a mess.

When you’re going through a transformation, a transitory phase where nothing makes sense anymore, and you have no clue what you’re doing, or where you’re going, and you overhear some random preachy youtuber telling you that you need to ‘stop living in mess’. Take it as a pinch of salt. You’re life isn’t supposed to be picture perfect right now, because you’re going through unknown states that most people would probably repress.

Take consolation in the fact that in the midde of a storm, there will be wind and stuff gets blown all over the place. So, while you’re going through this transitory period where nothing makes sense, nothing feels clear, and your life seems to be falling apart, let go.

Accepting, and letting go, is probably the best you can do, because its being mature enough to see that you don’t have control over what is going on right now and acknowleging that no matter how much you clean your room or the dishes, your mind will still be a mess, until you let go of the material reality you’re fighting against and start to make internal shifts towards cleaning up, organising, spring cleaning what you don’t want, and amplifying what you would love to have more of.

Your life is supposed to be messy, until you get it together. The only notion of control you need is the ability to accept yourself, and making yourself your top priority. You get to shine your full attention on yourself, healing yourself, taking care of yourself, Loving yourself, and building yourself.

When life falls apart, and the way you were living needs to crumble, the more you hold on, the worse it gets. In fact, being rigid and not letting change occur is probably the best way to end up hurt.

‘BUT…’, we say, ‘I need to be in control’.

In control of what? One responds.

The only thing we can control is where we place our attention, how we choose to think about what we percieve, how we interpret the information and … that’s about it really.

We are here for the ride, God is in the drivers seat, we are but co-pilots giving indications to God about where to go, what to do, and so on. We are but children sitting in the passenger seat, observing the adult ‘do what we want’, except for when we’re wrong, the adult will continu to guide us towards a better circumstances.

You can have whatever you want in life. You really can. Absolutely anything. But you can’t have it, if the foundation of your Wanting it is based in lack, fear, pain, confusion etc.

Most of the time, we want things because of feelings we aren’t allowing ourselves to feel. Rejecting our circumstances, rejecting our body, jealousy because ‘others have and we don’t’ frustration ‘because things don’t workout the way we want’, self-hate ‘because we don’t comprehend what it is that we’re doing that is holding us back, fear ‘because we don’t know how x, y, z will turn out..’. And so, what do we do? We run towards the exact opposite, we run towards the contrast of what we are feeling in order to ‘balance out’ what we are experiencing. As a way of escape, because we ‘can’t accept’ the way we feel about our present circumstance.

In truth, the answer is Acceptance, letting ourselves take inventory of what is currently going on, what we have or don’t have, where we are, and how we feel about it. Most important, is the internal narrative going on, and the emotions we’re feeling about said experience. Very clearly, what will stick out is our rejection of what it is that we don’t want.

We are holding on, and fighting what it is that we don’t want, as if it will bring us back to ‘when things were good’ or bring us to ‘where we want to be’. This is erronious thinking, because essentially, we’re holding onto a piece of concrete in the middle of a house on fire because that concrete is cool and provides a ‘momentary relief’ to the situation we’re in. Holding on won’t help us go back in time to prevent the fire, and it won’t put out the fire and save us or take us to a nice new home. (Perhaps we might have a home in heaven if we hang on too long, but that’s another conversation…). The only solution, is to let go of that fixed solid thing that can’t change, accept that we need to look at our ‘flamboyant’ emotions that are getting out of control, and perhaps call the firebregade, or even get the hosepipe and start putting the fire out…

So, your life is mess right now. Great! That means, that you get the chance to arrange it the way you want it. It means, you have the liberty to re-create, to re-craft, to re-brand, transform, look back on eveything that you’ve done, all that you’ve accomplished. You can take stock of what you’re capable of, what you’ve learned, what you no longer want, and also you have an excuse to actually change. This is a good thing, it’s freeing.

You don’t have to always see the downside, sometimes you can see the brightside, be optimistic about how everything is going to hell.

When I was in university, I had a superb racing bike, just perfect. Carbon frame, super light, it felt like an exercise Ferrari. It was snappy, it was fast, it was light. And it turned heads. I was really proud of it. I’d worked hard at my first job, and when I left, I decided to reward myself with a beautiful roadbike. But then, one day, the gearbox had a problem, so I had to get it fixed. I took it to the bikeshop, and was told to comeback a week later. I left the bike with the new piece I had ordered, and left the bike guy do his thing. A week later, I get a call. ‘Your bike is ready, you can come and get it.’ Yey! So, I go in to town to pick it up. Everything flows perfectly, it no longer makes the ‘clunk’ noise it did the week before. So, I happily cruise through town on my incredible mecanical steed. Proudly, I accelerate to see if everything was ‘not too good to be true’, and it wasn’t, it was perfect. I then decided to pop into the library to say hello to a friend, so I attach the bike to the bikerack, and walk in to the establishment feeling carefree and renewed. 5 minutes after meeting up with my friend, I decide to go for a coffee, so I head out and to my internal bewilderment, my bike was gone. I looked around, just incase, but it was no where to be found. In that instant, I had been robbed blind. And my tendency to get infuriated would normally have risen to Vesivius Volcano level anger, but in that instant, I just chose to let go and move on. I had a few moments of confusion pop up, but I didn’t even engage the feeling of anger, I just let go and my day went on as if nothing happened.

I say all this, because, it illustrates the fact that some things aren’t in our control, and choosing to get angry would have actually hurt me after something bad happened. By letting go, I actually got to experience a feeling of freedom and release which would then open the door for me to move on flowingly and happily, because it was all outside of my control.

It’s freeing, because it allows you to go towards new things. It allows us to evolve.

We’re not here for the material, we’re here for our internal evolution, our internal experiences, and these experiences help us to shape who we become. From the vantage point of this perspective, we are on a journey to personal evolution towards better internal states. And truth be told, I was always super conscious of that bike, Godforbid I get a scratch or anything… Just like my parents sports car when I was younger, we had this red convertible, and the only thing which became apparent was the rarity and price of the car and how my mum was always worried about not damaging it…

Sometimes an old banger is enjoyable, because we get to be carefree. It’s that sense of freedom which is appealing, not the self-conscious, over-alert, inability to relax because we ‘might’ make a mistake, that’s a form of imprisonment, that’s not libertating, that’s fear inducing. What we want is to feel free, to feel joyful, to feel spontaneous, to be fully in the present moment, in flow with who we are, not one step removed thinking about what-ifs.

We search for things which we believe will give us forms of pleasure, as a contrast to the fears and pains we experience within. Instead of deciding to find internal harmony, to let go and be in peace, we’d rather take action and force our way towards a fickle and temporary solution.

When it comes time to let everything fall apart, sometimes its painful. And so, what do we do? We cling to ‘what is familiar’, what made us feel a certain way, what comforts us, because of Fear of the unknown. And that’s okay, it’s okay. Because it’s a temporary phase which we pass through, as we become aware of our internal courage, or that by letting go we can feel lighter or freeer, or a tamporary moment in time where we use this ‘crutch’ as a contrasting experience on which we can decide to turn East, North or West. Our experiences provide directional knowledge while we’re grasping in the dark for what lights up our soul. We’re kind of like a ball in a pinball machine, and we bounce of things that aren’t for us, we tense up when we think the ball is about to fall, and we relax when we know the ball is on the right trajectory towards it’s winning horizon.

Letting things fall apart, means that they were put together at some point in time. While asking one’s self, why things are falling apart, one might repond with a ‘perhaps, I didn’t put things together consciously and just accepted to live life, and be as I was told because I didn’t know any different‘. Perhaps, it’s time to let the storm happen, see that the storm is happening because we have expanded and grown out of the previous shell we ‘lived in’ and that we need to now rearrange our life so that we can continu expanding rather than fighting our previous limiting beliefs, lifestyle, life…

It’s a chance, because, we get to look back at all the things we have learned, all that we have done, and build back from the vantage point of having had a vast amount of wisdom and experience. Now we get to build a house and we get to choose every square inch, every color, every scent, every feeling … We get to now play the masters of our universe from the hight of our experience and we don’t have to make hasty decisions based on the outside world, fears, not knowing, and so on. We get to create freely who want what we want to be.

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Self-sabotage is actually an act of Love and self-fortification.  

I think that on some level, as human’s, we’re addicted to pain and struggle. It’s so hard to get to the point where you reject where you are. Especially when you’ve fallen so low because you took ‘the wrong path‘.  

But falling is part of life. You do it, because you already know how to get back up. I think, we just enjoy the journey of overcoming. Because, finding ways of expanding and breaking through stuff is what we enjoy most.

There are no wrong paths though, because the man who has to hike the mountain from the bottom again gets stronger legs and gets to see the beautiful scenary again from a wiser perspective.

We hate it, we hate it, we hate it, because it feels so painful. BUT! That pain is what pushes us to search for answers, it’s what pushes us to become wise. And, don’t we just absolutely Love to share our hard-earned wisdom?

When we feel we’ve somehow obliterated all our hard work, and we absolutely hate ourselves for having taken the wrong turn. It means that with all the hard work we’ve done, we’ve somehow managed to forget to Love ourselves.

Starting again, even if it seems like the absolute end of the world, is actually a chance to be more aligned and more loving with ourselfs this time.

Here’s the trick to this:

  • Accept where you are and take inventory(what do I have? what am I capable of? ‘How bad is it? How can I repair the current state of affairs?’, what do I know?…)
  • Once you’ve accepted where you are and what’s what. And you’ve listed what’s what. You can start to improve yourself by being loving and patient with yourself. See it as a challege, not a problem.
  • Make a clear goal regarding your current struggle and then start chipping away at your ‘mountain’ of work again. Before you know it, you’ll be back near where you were.
  • Cut off from ‘comparison’ and ‘what the others are doing’. That’s fuel for misery.
  • Give your attention to yourself, and only yourself. You are your absolute best friend. Your attention is like spotlight to the seed of your wellbeing.
  • Start from where you are. And let go of the past. You can’t start from the top of the mountain again if you fall down.
  • Do the best you can, with what you’ve Got.

A quick Tid bit of information:

– The original condition or worship, is a « state or condition of worth ».
When you embrace worship, then, your aim is to embrace your real worth :
the divine perfection that resides within you. With a path, we are no longer afraid or worried.  –

So, here’s a few question for you:

  • What is my northstar?
  • What does that northstar feel like?
  • How can I empower/abide by my internal feeling of bliss and grace ?
  • How can I best accept where I am?
  • How can I use my current journey to help other people?

When we fall low, it’s actually so we can rectify, or lead others back up our mountain, because we didn’t lead well the first time. Like a sherpa, you’re called to come back down to base-camp so that you can heal yourself and lead others back up to where you were going to, minus the excess bagage you thought you needed the first time.

All the best,

Cherokee Goldberg

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18 useful points (and a tiny smiley face)

New year, same me, different perspective, new goals.

Before reading anything:

Feel free to interpret this however it will serve you. I’m not a dictator. I don’t impose what I write as a cookie-cutter solution for everyone. What you perceive in this may resonate, it may not. Read between the lines. Take things with a pinch of salt. And if you like something, leave a comment or a thumbs up so I know that I did something to good for someone.

I’ve decided to start documenting my journey, and build openly from 0€ to 1M, so that I can provide value for anyone who is struggling to make money and create actual value online. As well as keep trace of my journey. It’s also good because it give me a form of accountability. 

So far I’ve found these points to be of use to me.

Driving factor

This being said, there are many ways to make money online, though it is brought often to my attention through the people I encounter, and through my reading, that attempting anything solely for money just does not work. In fact, whenever money is the driving factor, I most always obsessively burn myself out because nothing else matters. And ‘else’ does matter. 

I confirm this through my own experience; over and over I’ve encountered failure after failure. Not because I’m not hard working, but because after a while, I lose interest, I lose the drive, and my focus fizzles out. I move on to the next, and lose interest all together in anything related to the project. Why? Because money isn’t fulfilling, it’s rewarding, and reward doesn’t fill you up, the fulfillment you get during your process does. And I believe it’s Steve Jobs who said that ‘the only way to do great work, is to Love what you do.’

Some people can do things solely for money, though I’ve found that money can never be a decision factor for me. I like money, I enjoy using money, and I enjoy all the things I can do with money. Though, at the end of the day, it is a tool, something to help you (be, do, achieve, render service, have… etc). Money doesn’t fulfill you, especially during the process of acquiring it. At least it doesn’t for me. 

I’ve found that, if money is at the top of my decision pyramid, all of my core values aren’t as important as money and I become corrupted (corps-rupture = cut off from the intelligence of my body) and end up going down silly paths. In fact, without values, one becomes a wh*re for money (excuse my French) and all of our important values get thrown out of the window. Hence why we live in a society where most of our social media is based on hype and click bait. 

Define Values

So, it becomes increasingly important that one define their values first and foremost and then strive with the framework of those values as invisible guiding forces. If we stray away from our values, we most often find ourselves doing anything, and anything doesn’t necessarily allow us dignity, or a constructive lifestyle. 

I’m a big believer that the process and standards we impose on ourself is what we impose on others. So, if we stress ourselves out and whip ourself into action; guess what, we’ll most likely do that to others. So, self-love becomes quite important too in the achievement of one’s financial success. 

And come to think of it, I can’t allow myself to start this journey with you by saying — as I said earlier on — I’m going from 0 to 1M. Sure, that’s a nice vision to have. But it doesn’t drive my actions, and it can’t drive my actions. It does give me an indicator of scale, of importance, of the value of my work, and impact I have on helping others. This is what I can see within the 1M reference. 

Process

The larger the number, the more pressure I put on my creative process. But, we human-beings are not coal, we don’t transform into diamonds. I’m all for pressure and steel forges steel and all that but, when it comes to quality, I like the approach of a local butcher my father introduced me to many years ago. Let’s call him Mr.D.

Mr.D was a butcher and farmer who believed that the quality of the meat he sold to his clients was directly affected by the quality of the lives his animals lead. A stressed cow produces stressed meat. An unstressed cow however would produce a tender meat. So Mr.D decided to let his cattle roam free the entirety of their lives, right up to the very last second where he’d drive one up to the back of the shop only a few hours before displaying it to customers. 

What I take from this, I apply to my creative process. The quality of the input of information I consume, is defined by the intention and quality of my state and mental process, and the result is that a quality input, and a quality process produce a highly valuable output of information/solution/production that has served me well. And this, I intend to continue doing. 

What the 1M reference doesn’t take into account is personal fulfillment, enjoyment, the quality of the journey, the value of my work, attention to detail, how much effort will go into providing something that people want. The personal side of the venture. The joy I take in discovering a new fact, or ideate a new solution. 

When people lose interest and / or fulfillment on a job, they move on. This is why, being aligned with what we enjoy is of utmost importance. Which brings me to my last year. 

Understand your nature.

Since September 2022, I decided to go back to school to become a Full stack developer. And since this period, I have spent the majority of my time reading, testing, applying code. While it does have upside, and it can be helpful to produce solutions. I also saw a lot of downside to learning code. 

I saw my mental clarity become scattered, my handwriting started to slant backwards, my ideation flow became ebbed and because I’m an auditive primary (vakog) less words = less expression, my thought process became less fluid, and I became less and less clear about how I am feeling, what my intuition is telling me, as well as losing interest in being in front of a computer screen at all. 

And for a writer, or at least a creative dreamy ideator like me, this means feeling dead. Sure, I could write code, implement control structures, automate outcomes and add Api’s to things. But at what cost?! Because, my sole purpose to learn code was to get a job that could provide a stable income, I was doing it for money. Not necessarily because I ‘loved it’. 

Straying from your nature will produce anti-productive outcomes

Another thing I’ve observed with ‘doing something we don’t like’ is that when our daily process is spent doing something we don’t enjoy for the purpose of money, we end up seeking forms of pleasure and instant gratification that we wouldn’t normally have to if we were fulfilled by a work well-done. I believe the quote is to ‘live a life we don’t want to escape from’. 

We can’t live a life we don’t want to escape from, if we spend the majority of our day focused or thinking about something which isn’t what we truly want. And so, the inevitable solution is to find what we love to do. 

Connect the dots.

In order to succeed, I’ve found that we must connect the dots looking back and define a theme. My theme is [Ideation, writing, speaking, creativity] verbal expression/ communication. If I disconnect from that, I will feel a lack of enlightenment. I must read every day in order to write every day, and I must write in order to have clarity of mind. And in order to speak well, I must have clarity of mind and references of ideation, which come from reading and writing. 

This is the paradigm I must live in. If I don’t apply it, it becomes my prison. If I do apply it, it becomes my liberation. But either way, it seems to be the only path which I can travel which fills my soul, and gives me the clarity and energy to do anything and everything else. 

Without food and words, life isn’t really worth living. Love comes and goes apparently, but food and words must be daily. 

Deliver Value to others

I’ve found also that in order to succeed and do well in business, one has to wrap the entire business around two points. The first is to make that business customer centric. The second is to be in love with the process of delivering results to that specific customer. And I believe that if we have both ingredients, it hightens the probabilities of achieving a successful business. 

Use contrast to understand yourself and see life more clearly. 

Over the last few years, I decided to go experience as much contrast, difficulty, and even pain and embarrassment as possible. (Bear with me, there is a method to my madness). In order to create the fuel which would propel me towards achieving the pleasure I wanted. 

When I left high-school (2012, a good number of years ago now..), I observed that I was ambitious, but I had no drive, no motivation to make money. I was good at everything else in life, but money was not my strong suit. And I needed money to afford living a lifestyle that would attract the woman I’d want to be with. So, I devised of a plan to suffer and create references that I’d never want to ever experience again, in order to fuel me towards the desired outcome I dreamed of having. Drive is defined by an axis of Pain and Pleasure. 

Now, enough about me already.. How do I intend to succeed? 

Discover your zone of Genius / Strength

When I was younger, I noticed that I could do really well in one specific area; sports. I hated school, mostly because I rejected all authority (as an aftermath of rejecting the example my father lead), but I had a lot of energy to apply. So, I became the football captain and striker, I worked obsessively to run faster, and I’d train over and over until I could put the ball where I wanted. And so on… Okay, nothing special yet.. Then, I started to notice that because I was doing well on the team, I started to do well with the guys on the team. And because I did well with the guys on the team, this transfered to my social too, so I started to do a lot better with women because I could lead men. (I think lead is a strong word for a kid who could put a ball in a net, influence might be more appropriate). 

Doing well, and focusing on my strong suit, allowed me to develop confidence. This confidence allowed me to become more popular. And that popularity, allowed me to shine who I was. Now, I all of that was based on physical prowess and the fact I peaked in high-school and seemed to have some sort of a clue of how the world worked. I didn’t, I simply understood how to work social situations to my advantage, like most students in school… Doing what was trendy, standing out, and being loud somehow, but also a little vulnerable. but I digress.. 

Focusing on my strong suit, allowed me to Shine. And in my ability to shine, I became attractive, outgoing and popular. So, that is a success for a student, who wants to be liked by his peers.

Focussing on my strong suit / what comes naturally to me, and going all in on what only I can do, in addition to finding a pain point to provide a solution only I can provide due to my strong suit, will allow me to produce a high output of value overtime, without too much fatigue. Because at the end of the day, its all about consistency and compounding of value. 

Be the Master your own narrative. Be selective of who puts what in your mind. Define your own future.

Which brings me to determining, What empowers you the most in the world? The information related to solving your present/current pain point. The one which will enable you to 10x yourself. The insight that will help you define the next clear step and direction you need to take.

As human beings, we are interested and curious about the future, but we’re not able to determine it clearly. We love predictions and astrology and even the doomsday theories we imbibe when we listen to .. any random youtuber today, about “how the end of the financial market..” or how “AI will put an end to.. and you’ll get left behind…”. The point is, we focus on these ‘alert’ messages, because we want information about how to go towards the future without encountering death. We need to prevent death. 

Though, when we’re preventing death, we’ve already lost the game. 

Hone the present day

You see, the most important thing to note is that, if someone else is telling you how the future is, they are dictating not only the future you will go towards, but they are robbing you of the power to take action in the present. Without a compelling future to go towards, we are robbed of the gift within the present moment: the possibility to take inspired action to build towards that future. 

So, it’s my understanding, that if we reject the future, we will also reject our present, which prevents us from doing anything of value. 

In contrast, I’ve understood through my own experience, that we must START where we are. When you choose the state you are currently in, and accept it. You can start working towards where you want to go with the thing you want to evolve.

  • Start where you are mentally, find where you are on your internal path.
  • Start where you are physically, what weights can you lift and grow your muscle with here, not the heaviest you can lift, but what can your muscle comfortably support.
  • Start with where you are emotionally, what are you feeling right here and don’t repress it.
  • Start where you are financially, what do you have and how can you BEST use those finances for the best impact Right now? Instead of wanting more to do what you can already best start.
  • Start out where you are health-wise
  • Start out where you are relationship-wise.
  • Start-out where you are business wise, start with what you’ve got and do the best you can.
  • Start out where you are spiritually.
  • Start out where you are habit-wise.

When we can accept where we are, first and foremost, we can decide to empower what we have and appreciate what we have. When we reject where we are, what we have, we can’t use it to our advantage, we can’t build on it, we can’t grow it. We must start from where we are. If you can start from where you are, you have control. You don’t have control or power over something that is out of your reach.

Community

I’ve gone at it alone, a lot. Simply because I needed to make a lot of mistakes, and test a lot of things quickly. Though, once those things are over, one tends to feel somewhat isolated. And success isn’t supported by isolation, its supported by networking. We succeed as part of a community we participate in. Even if its simply being seen, witnessing someone elses presence can be a huge determiner of how well you perform. Being around other entrepreneurs and solopreneurs is a massive game-changer, and saves you a tremendous amount of time. Not to mention that it keeps you accountable to live up to your word.

Join a club, have a team

When, I was younger, I played soccer on the local team. I didn’t think much of it back then. All I knew was that I practiced a lot, and put in a lot of personal hours on the side. Though, with retrospect, being a part of a whole like a soccer team is valuable. It gives you a standard to perform at. On your own, you are at the mercy of even the wind blowing in a direction. When you’re surrounded by a team, you are within a structure which imposes a certain form of conduct, and expects you to live up to the same goals. So it’s important to be around other people, even if you don’t necessarily have the same values, who have a a similar goal to you. You’ll become alies in mutual success.

Having a clear and meaningful vision.

Lack of vision is probably the most painful state. Because nothing is clear and everything is anarchy. In order to make sense of anarchy, one must have a point to aim for, otherwise one gets swayed and caught within the disorder of what is passing at that moment.

Having a clear vision is also motivational. It helps give meaning to the actions and process we enact while going towards it. If the outcome is a meaningful vision, then the journey towards that vision will be all the better. Taking action, simply because it fulfills the steps layed out to achieve an outcome which has no meaning to us is worthless. And what is more, detached from our internal journey we travel while we work. So a meaningful vision is fulfilling as much as it is useful.

Enjoy the journey.

For the past 10 years, I’ve killed myself to produce outcomes, reach achievements and so on. But.. Living in a future which would never come. This is a draining way to live life. And what’s more, we miss out on the present life we have, while waiting for a better situation which could potentially never arrive. That, in my view is a waste, and I suppose I could say its ungrateful to God for the present circumstances given to us. If we truly appreciate what we have, then we also appreciate our present moment and time enough to optimize how we experience them and what we do with them. Living for the future is ungrateful of the present, and also if that future is taken away, your sense of meaning goes too.

Another thing; when you enjoy the journey, you are in joy. And when you enjoy yourself, it makes your experience worth living. Being in stress all the time wrecks havoc in your health, or at least your health takes a toll. Having faith in the journey and enjoying what is in front of us is beneficial.

Choose appreciation and Gratitude over impossible standards and complaints.

When we appreciate what we have, just like in trading when an asset appreciates, we grow what we have. Or at least we grow the reference of what we have within our internal kingdom; the mind. Being grateful for what we experience, for what we have, and for those around us, grows the amount of references/seeds we have within.

Embrace what is in front of you.

For the longest time, I rejected what was in front of me. The people, the environment, pretty much everything which wasn’t what I didn’t want. And so, I disempowered myself as a result of rejecting what was around me. Everything around us can be considered a block to build with, and if we’re so stubborn as to believe that the grass is greener somewhere else, then you never water your own circumstances. Its with gratitude that we grow our current circumstance, and we’re able to make use of everything that is around us.

Ex: I need to go to silicon valley in order to be around the best in the world. But, if I actually look around, there are startup incubators around where I am. There are successful people here too. There are opportunties here, and great people to network with. And whats more, if I don’t succeed here, why do I expect to succeed there? I’m simply saying I need a better looking building and people in order to be able to achieve what I can achieve here anyway if I put my limitations and blockages to bed.

I think its Walter Wattles, in The Science of being Great, who said that: one must do a great job where one is, and only with a certain frame of mind can one grow out of ones circumstance.. That one will find ones personal mediocrity in every circumstance, until one becomes great where he already is. — I hope I’m correct, although I’m quoting from memory, I read the book a long while ago…

Breathe.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. There’s no point getting yourself into a heart-attack by trying to have over night success, because everyone else is applying this AI tactic… Your boat won’t leave without you. Or as is said in Conversations with God, you can’t fail. You may take a detour, but you will get there at some point. Just don’t give up.

Take a break and breathe from time to time. Contemplate everything you have achieved. Witness the beauty around you, or if it is lacking, imagine something beautiful. Turn on some classical music, or a tune that elevates the mood.

Sometimes, doing more work isn’t the solution. Taking a step away to see the picture clearer later on is.

You aren’t subject to VC’s, no one is on your back expecting an elevated return (hopefully). March to the sound of your own drum, and listen to your own rythme. After all, we’re not in school anymore, the only person who takes care of us, is us. And if you don’t respect yourself enough to slow down once in a while, no one else will.

If you don’t have a plan for yourself care, someone will have a plan for you, and that doesn’t look healthy.

🙂