30 Days To X

The days keep changing, will you?

Fight Club: a retrospective

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“You met me at a very strange time in my life.”

– Narrator, Fight Club

You’re sixteen and you know something is off. There’s a big election coming up, after it takes place “nothing will ever be the same.” Or so everyone says, you secretly doubt that anything will change. Your friends get excited for video games, Jersey Shore, clothes, and high school drama; you don’t care about any of those things. All the adults in your life get excited over the news, politics, and social circle drama; you wonder if they ever actually outgrew high school.

You don’t want to have to go to college. You don’t want to have to get a job. All you really want out of life is to do your own thing. Unfortunately, everyone you know thinks otherwise. You wonder if you’re the only person who realizes how frivolous and stupid most “socially acceptable” behavior really is.

One day fate hands you a book. You’ve never seen it before and you know nothing about it. You are aware that someone adapted it into a film, but you’ve never seen it. The most you know is that the plot involves underground boxing.

“This might be good,” you think. Going to the cash register, you shell out eight dollars. You now own Fight Club, the most influential book of your life.

In anticipation of my birthday, I decided to re-read all of the books that had a profound impact on my teenage self: Fight Club, Teatro Grottesco, The Game, and Think and Grow Rich.

In retrospect, only two of these books withstood the test of time. And neither one was Fight Club. I still enjoyed the book, but I enjoyed it as a story; not an ideology. When I first read Fight Club I was an angry kid, I knew something was wrong with the world and I wanted seek vengeance for it (note: the most “retribution” I ever got was shooting up a couple of things with my paintball gun. I sucked at being an anarchist). I wanted destruction, and Fight Club gave me the “okay” to do it. Four years later I can look back and realize what an idiot I was. Having hobbies and building something is far more rewarding than whatever quick thrill “getting back at the man” can provide.

While the book isn’t as meaningful to me now, it’s impact from the first time I read it has still carried over to the present day. I’m a lot more frugal than my younger self was. I’m perfectly happy with doing my own thing. And I’ve developed a taste for more “alternative” writers and bloggers like Jonathan Frost, English Teacher X, and Matt Forney.

From where I sit now, Fight Club gets a very reluctant recommendation. It’s still worth reading, but the magic is gone.

You play, they pay

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“Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.”

– Alan Watts

Yesterday my second challenge paid off in a way I would have never expected. I got hired to do some web design for a local business. Six months ago I couldn’t have imaged earning money by making websites. Even when I started to learn programing, back in February, I never thought I’d make money at it. I just wanted to have fun and learn something new.

On my way home from the job I had an epiphany: as long as you do something you’ll be successful. It doesn’t matter how stupid or abstract your hobby is, people will still pay for it.

Do you like lifting weights?

Between personal trainers and fitness authors, there are millions of people who earn a living from their passion for exercise. Men like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mark Rippetoe have built empires off their love of the iron.

Do you like picking up girls?

Eben Pagan, better known as David DeAngelo, holds an all-time earning of 134 million dollars from his Double Your Dating franchise. Other pickup coaches, like Owen Cook and Neil Strauss, aren’t hurting either.

Do you like doing drugs?

Hunter S. Thompson, Seth Rogen, Terence McKenna, Wiz Khalifa, and every 60’s rock band; have all turned their love of getting high into a lucrative business. I don’t recommend developing a heroin addiction in hopes that you can monetize it, but I think that an eBook or blog about drug fueled adventures has potential.

Do you like telling jokes?

If you’re funny, the world is yours. George Carlin has been immortalized as an almost god-like figure, all because he could make people laugh. Even if you don’t want to do stand up, you can still profit off your sense of humor through writing or voice work.

If you have a passion, pursuit it. There are a million ways to make a living. Most of them don’t involve pushing papers around a cubical.

P.S. For those wondering, I liked Python so much that I decided to start learning several other languages as well. HTML and CSS being one of them.

Challenge 3: closing thoughts

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“Come ride with the Gucci man, I’ll take you club hoppin.”

– Gucci Mane, Club Hoppin

Saturday sees the end of my third challenge. And, to be honest, I’m kind of glad it’s over. While I met all my goals and did have a lot of fun along the way, I’m actually pretty excited to stay in and catch up on some reading. Since you can probably already tell that I have mixed opinions about my past month, I’m going to weigh out the pros and cons of doing this challenge.

  •  Pro: The first week of this challenge was awesome.

I had more fun during those seven days than a lot of people did over the course of a month. I met some cool and interesting people (as well as some complete weirdos), I jumped outside my comfort zone, I picked up quite a few girls, and I made new friends.

  •  Con: The first week was awesome, the second and third weren’t.

This decline had more to do with thrill wearing off than actual difficulty. If anything the first week was the hardest, the later weeks were just repetition. Saying some clever line that snags a girl’s phone number is fun the first time, doing it every day is boring.

  • Pro: I went to a bunch of clubs and bars.

Despite the fact that I don’t drink (and aren’t even legally old enough to anyway), I prefer going to clubs over attending house parties. This challenge gave me a great excuse to go out to venues every weekend.

  • Con: I went to a bunch of clubs and bars.

Contrary to what rap music taught me, nightclubs really aren’t all that. Filled with roving packs of desperate dudes and hordes of attention seeking party girls, clubbing quickly drained my intelligence and patience. While I know it sounds like I hate clubs, I actually had a lot of fun going to them during the first two weeks. After that, their novelty simply wore off and I started getting annoyed with them. I’ll still go to these types of places in the future, but I’ll do so more sparingly.

The most accurate club photo I could find.
  • Pro: I learned the value of going out during the day.

Guess where the bro swarms and Ke$ha imitators can’t be found? That’s right, anywhere that’s not illuminated by strobe lights. Upon realizing that I could talk to people during the day, I pretty much dropped my nightlife schedule. Not only did this save me money, but it also spared me from duck faces and pseudo-Alpha males. I also noticed that people during the day time are much more approachable. Girls were more responsive when I’d talk to them, and guys were a lot friendlier.

Looking back I had a lot of fun, I learned how to balance work with play, and I became more outgoing. I also used my new found social skills to deliver a knock out presentation, and to seek out new business opportunities. What I learned from this challenge was incredibly valuable to me, and I plan on continually using my social abilities to further advance myself. Also, all whining aside, I actually did have a lot of fun going out and meeting new people. If you’re ever looking for a way to break out of your shell, I highly encourage you to try this type of challenge.

The guide to being miserable

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“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.”

– Wayne Dyer

Self improvement is hard. It’s also time consuming and risky. Fortunately, those who fear the commitment of bettering themselves now have an alternative:

The guide to being miserable

By following these incredibly easy steps, you too can become miserable. Unlike success, misery takes next to no effort and can be had instantaneously. Without further ado, I present you with several simple tips to making your life that much worse.

1. Over consume.

Make sure to fill every waking moment with some form of external stimulus. Watch movie marathons, spend hours in front of the television, and obsessively play video games. Although you’ll eventually begin to develop a vague sense that you’re wasting your life away, you can easily drowned this thought by upping your dosage trashy TV. If you aren’t spending at least half your day being entertained, you’re doing something wrong.

Couch-potato
Real winners never leave the couch.

2. Never create.

Don’t read books, lift weights, learn another language, play music, or start a blog. These types of endeavors take time, something that you “don’t have.” Between television and video games, your day is already booked.

3. Doubt yourself.

Even if you get the urge to do something meaningful, you should realize that there’s some chance that you might fail. Rather than focusing on the positives, make sure to fixate on whatever risks there may be. After a few days of deliberation, declare the opportunity “too dangerous,” and return to your previous ways.

4. Never take action.

Assuming that you’ve properly followed steps 1 – 3, you shouldn’t ever reach a point where taking action is possible. If, by some chance, you do see an opportunity, make sure never to pursue it. Taking advantage of a situation sounds like work, and work is to be avoided whenever possible.

5. Fear failure.

Don’t just fear this possibility that you yourself will fail, but make sure to remind others that their plans could go awry. Is a co-worker going on vacation? You’d better inform him that there’s a good chance terrorists will blow him up. Is your friend starting a business? Don’t forget to warn him about the economy. Everyone will be grateful for your “wisdom.”

6. Do the minimum.

It’s 4:59 on a Friday afternoon and you’ve got an inbox full of unanswered emails. Sucks to be whomever sent those messages, because you’re out the door. Remember, the only people who get promotions are nerds and the boss’ family. There’s no way that you’ll get ahead anyway.

Good luck, I’ll see you at the bottom.

That feeling of achievement

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“The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent.”

– Arnold Schwarzenegger

I spent my Spring Break working on a project.

I stayed in on St. Patrick’s Day so that I could finish most of that project.

I was up until 2 am last night, finalizing some minor details.

Now I’m done.

I’m taking the day off to celebrate, see you tomorrow.