Mindset

“What’s past is prologue,” is the mantra of the West. Your past determines your future. Who you are now is a product of who you were or what you’ve done. In the past.

If you doubt people view the world this way, listen to them as they tell you about their lives, and their problems. Answer with, “Now what?”

But I’ve had a terrible life and everyone treats me unfairly.

Now what?

People won’t see me for the person I am.

Now what?

I don’t have the relationships I deserve!

Now what?

Watch how angered people get when you say, “Now what,” “And,” and “So what?”

The only way to change your life is to reject the proposition that your future life story is dictated by your past life story.

Now some people with negative thoughts will say, “BUUUUUT” and list some ways that the past dictates who they are. And that’s fine. Leave now, you are squandering my time and yours.

A future-oriented person would say, “You’re right. My life isn’t where it needs to be, and I need to focus on how to change the future.” And yet this so rarely happens.

There is simply no reason I ever should have broken the John Conyers story. 99% of professional journalists who work a media job for their entire lives will never have a scoop like that. Nothing in my past suggested this outcome. And yet it happened. Why?

You cling to the past because familiarity is comforting.

Public speaking is listed as one of a person’s greatest fears. People aren’t afraid of public speaking, they are afraid of what might happen. They are afraid of the unknown. If I told you everyone in the crowd would love your speech, and if you believed everyone would love your speech, you’d love public speaking. The fear is of the unknown reaction of the crowd.

People don’t fear death, they fear what happens when they die. They worry about the unknowns, such as what will happen to their family.

The unknown is seen as more dangerous than the known, and thus people choose to be miserable rather than begin anew, because nothing is as unknown as the new.

How do you improve at life?

A man named Daniel Coyle asks a question that I answered incorrectly:

Question: How much better would you be if you practiced a skill every day for one or two years? Would you be ten times better? Twenty? Fifty?

I expected the answer to be “10” or so. The real answer is your improvement is nearly immeasurable:

You wouldn’t be ten or twenty times better; you’d be immeasurably better. Comparing their skill at the beginning and end of the process is like comparing a Model T to a Ferrari — it’s not an increase; it’s a complete transformation.

Which raises a question: if intensive daily practice is so transformative, then why aren’t we all doing it? In other words, what do these people have that the rest of us don’t? I think one answer is this: they have a willingness to feel stupid. To endure the unique social-emotional burn of repeated clumsiness. And this willingness is the secret foundation of their development.

I once attended a Tony Robbins seminar, and the person said the biggest internal barrier stopping her was the fear of looking stupid. This person had stopped taking risks because she was afraid of looking stupid.

I have looked awfully stupid over the years. Many times. I’ve looked insane at times, too.

And yet I’m still moving forward, accomplishing what should be impossible.

A media person was asking me some questions, and I started asking my own questions, because it’s more fun that way:

“Is there any reason in the world I should be where I am today?”

He laughed. “No, actually there’s not. You should have been out of public life long ago.”

“Why then,” I continued, “do none of you guys asking me how it is I’m able to do what I do?”

 

If you aren’t making mistakes, your game is stale.

Being a white belt in jiu jitsu is great. You suck, and everyone knows it. The problem arises when you get a blue belt. Now you’re afraid of being tapped out by a white belt.

People stop at mediocre because they feel like they have a game, but mastery requires error after error.

My life is like a cautionary tale, but whatever. I keep moving forward and don’t let the past dictate my future.

YOU are allowed to define your identity.

Identity is the story of yourself.

“I am a…” precedes a story about yourself, and yes it’s a story you tell yourself.

“I am a father” contains a story, and often the definitions you use determine the story you live.

We see this most often when people won’t do something because, “I’m just not the type of person who…” This phraseology is almost always used to justify why you won’t take an action that would improve your life.

“I’m just not the type of person who takes risks.” You’ve created an identity based around the story of a risk-averse person. What if you could change that story?

Your identity is often defined, by the way, by your lowest point or greatest mistake.

Did you know Mike Tyson went to prison? I bet you don’t, or if you knew, you forget. That’s not what you think about when you think about Mike Tyson’s story.

“I think about the future.” – Mike Tyson

When a news anchor asked Mike Tyson about the biggest regrets of his boxing career, Tyson said, “I don’t have too many highlights, I don’t think about my boxing career much.”

You don’t look back and reminisce about your boxing career?

Never ever.

Really?

Never. Really. I’m telling the truth. I think about the future.

That’s what the world knows about you, Iron Mike…boxing champion of the world.

I’ve done other things, I’ve done movie, I’ve done television, that’s where I want to stay.

 

How do you practice for life?

What skills do you need to succeed in life?

• If you want to be a comedian, take a comedy class.
• If you want to be a dancer, take a dance class.
• If you want to be a tennis player, take a tennis class.

If you want to be good at life, well, tell people you’re going to take a class about life. Get their reactions.

Life is hard, and yet it’s assumed anyone who wants to learn more about life is weird. How does this make any sense?

When you phrase the question the way I did above, you see immediately how silly it is to suggest that taking a class at life is a bad idea. You see that taking a class on life would be the most import project you could ever undertake.

How would you practice for life?

Practicing presupposes you’re learning a new skill, and to make it in this life you need to stay healthy, develop personal relationships, and earn money.

Most people aren’t practicing at life. They are living the only way they know how to live, which for most people means they aren’t living effectively.

You’d think that someone who was practicing for life would regularly go to the gym, learn more effective ways of communicating and connecting with others, and they’d take courses to improve their skills. What percentage of the population does that describe?

I’m re-listening to How to Win Friends and Influence People.

I’m taking a writing class from Masterclass (not an affiliate, nor sponsored).

Because why?

Because how else will I improve my relationships with other people, and improve my writing skills?

How do you start a new life?

You start a new life by doing something else. Simple to understand and hard to live.

You start a new life by practicing something new every day.

What would your life look like with an hour of concentrated effort on a new life?

Within a year, it’d be unrecognizable.

Why doesn’t everyone who wants a new life start practicing?

Because they’ll look stupid, or feel stupid even when alone. (Go stand in front of a mirror and practice public speaking. I get you’ll feel stupid. Why? No one else is there.)

What is your greatest fear?

Is humanity’s greatest fear the unknown or the fear of looking stupid?

Maybe they are the same fear.

If you want to change your life – to truly take it to another level – get used to both.

There is no shortcut.

You can use some mindset tools to push past them. For example, when life isn’t going my way, I tell myself this is practice for something greater.

This requires a life vision, a belief you are working for and heading towards some place.

Those techniques work, and you’ll still have to get used to waking up not knowing for sure what will happen. And you’ll have to get used to looking stupid, if not now then in the future.

I started doing videos. Some of the older ones make me cringe. The ones that make me cringe are the reason I’m here.

I started writing blogs. Some of my old blogs are poorly worded or outright nonsense. The blog posts that make me cringe led to the book that lets me live.

Mindset. Identity. Story.

What stories are you telling yourself about yourself? How can you change these stories?

She stopped crying the first time I spoke to her. That’s what I’ll always remember most about the birth of my daughter. She recognized the sound of my voice.

We had our daughter in a birthing center, and Shauna used self-hypnosis throughout the process. It makes people angry when we say this, which is why we don’t usually tell people. Sharing what we did not an indictment on what anyone else did. A lot of people don’t seem to understand this, and people take parenting personal. How dare anyone do something differently?

We do parenting (and life) differently in a lot of ways.

“The first time I held my daughter, my life purpose was fulfilled.” This is what you’re supposed to say about parenthood. The truth is that not everyone’s experience is universal, and some people don’t know what to feel the first time you hold your child.

When your newborn wakes up crying, that’s when you know it’s real.

If you’re a thoughtful person, the process of parenthood is surreal. “You mean that’s it? I just take this new living being, strap her into a car seat, and go be a parent?”

Yes, that’s it. Welcome to the jungle.

1. I care if I live or die.

Life has always been about the story. Living or dying is less important than the story. Rush into a violent mob of ANTIFA thugs, get closest to the fire, get pepper sprayed by police, have the most powerful people in the world hate you? That’s not scary, that’s interesting. It’s part of the story. We are all going to die, anyway.

With a daughter at home relying me, I actually care what happens to me.

2. I’ve become much less impulsive.

Part of my success is due to my risk appetite. I’ll take risks others won’t. Because of this, I’ve had some rewards others haven’t. (And also taken some major lumps. Don’t believe the success hype. Anyone successful has had his or her ass kicked. Repeatedly.)

I’m more risk averse than before. Someone else is relying on me. Of course I stashed bitcoin in her trust fund and 529, so I can still take some risks, and she’ll be more than OK.

3. I care what happens to America.

My feelings on America are complicated. For the most part, it’s over. China is the future. I don’t understand why everyone can’t see this.

The future belongs to those who want it, and we in America and the broader West aren’t playing to win.

On the other hand, I can’t not fight. Having a child is putting skin in the game. You must think beyond yourself. What world are we leaving for your children?

4. I have re-examined my views on the world, and care more than ever about Truth.

Media is my hobby, Mindset is my business. My words matter, and I’ve always wanted to give the best advice and analysis.

Yet my advice is given to adults. If you believe me, that’s fundamentally your choice.

When thinking about my daughter, I constantly ask, “Is this true?” Children follow you. You must lead them. Are you telling them the truth? This process should lead you to re-examine every view you have. Why do you believe what you do? Why do you give the advice you give? Why do you believe you are right?

5. I’m more anti-war than ever.

One day I reached into my daughter’s crib to pick her up. A vision flashed before my mind. Bombs were going off. People were screaming. Parents were crying. A dead mother was wailing as she held her dead child.

What’s it like living in one of these nations we (or our lovely allies the Saudis) bomb?

What’s it feel like knowing you may have the roof of your bomb blown out (or worse) when all you want to do is pick your child up from her crib?

6. I have a new-found respect for single mothers.

I’m an involved parent, and Shauna is super mom, and even one child is…a challenge. I don’t know how single moms do it, and a lot of people will point to some statistics about outcomes, and that doesn’t really help, does it? They know what it’s like.

Indeed, the issues of single mothers is a microcosm of the ethical paradoxes of writing. You don’t want to glorify single motherhood, because that doesn’t help women or their children. But pointing out negative statistics to people who already know the risks doesn’t help much, either.

7. I realized how much of my life was vanity and social status.

While it’s not healthy for a relationship to go straight “Dad Jeans Mindset,” and dress corny and be out of shape, it’s easy to see why some men slip into that pattern. Why do we do what we do? We want to impress others in order to have a mate, and to reproduce, and once that happens, you realize the priority is on your child.

8. I have a newfound respect for moms. 

Before having a child, I’d sort of laugh at the “miracle of child birth” line. How can something that happened billions of times be a miracle? Being a great mom is one of the most important roles anyone in civilization can perform.

9. I realized what a judgmental a–hole I was. (Hint: You’ll do everything you judge parents for.)

If you don’t have kids, take it all in. You know it all. You’ll never give your child an iPad. There are thousands of thing you’ll never do because you just won’t.

Or at least that was me. Now I do everything I judged others for.

(Maybe there’s a bigger life lesson there…)

Parenting, like consciousness itself, will always force you into the paradox of believing you’re important (or else why do anything) without being self-important (no one cares that much, bros).

10. I realized how important extended family is.

Society teaches women to date men who sweep them off their feet, but are those men good fathers? Think about it.

Likewise, most men want to date someone they meet at a bar. Is a party girl going to reform her ways and become a good mother?

You don’t marry a woman you’re passionated for, although passion and love matter.

You’re marrying the mother of your children. (Gasp! My audience is largely male, so chill out with my use of pronouns.)

You’re marrying the grandparents of your children.

When you think about that, you’ll date differently.

Issues of Being a Celebrity Parent.

Some friends say I should never post a picture of my children. Some say this is out of fear and others privacy.

And yet we’ve grown this huge extended worldwide family. Do I hide from the world? She brings great joy to the world, and right now we need more joy.

At some point I may not post pictures of my daughter.

I honestly don’t know.

Being famous is new to me, and we are figuring it out as we go along.

 

For the first time ever, I think about the Google results my daughter will find.

I’ve always said wild stuff just to get a reaction out of people. Some call this “trolling,” though I see it as being a “talk show host.” Throw out ideas and see what people have to think.

Now I’ve started to think about the burdens that my children will face, for while CERNOVICH is a strong name, it does come with certain weight.

Where as before I never cared what anyone thought about me, I do care what my daughter and children will think about me.

The balance between speaking my authentic truth and looking out for them….As with so much in life, “We shall see.”

Has being a dad made me soft?
Maybe.

That’s for others to decide.

I’ve certainly become more emotionally nuanced.

And a bit more empathetic.

Maybe more cautious and kind.

But I don’t think I’ve lost my edge.

I still hit the gym, do some boxing training, run sprints, work hard, get too focused and intense, and live the Gorilla Mindset lifestyle.

P.S. As a parent, Gorilla Mind is a major edge, and keeps me super productive. Check it out here.

 

 

 

If you’re a regular reader, I’ll spare you the sales copy for my seminar. (If you’re a new reader, scroll down the page a bit…)

This seminar will be different, because it will contain unreleased material.

It is invitation only, and limited to 50 people.

I will be sending out invitations today to people who have attended a seminar, or expressed an interest in attending a seminar.

Afterwards, I’ll send out invitations to people on the waiting list.

Mindset + Success Seminar

April 7, 2018

11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Los Angeles, California

Mindset + Success Seminar with Mike Cernovich

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to always succeed while others fail? Learn the principles of success by attending Mike Cernovich’s first mindset seminar in almost a year.

Cernovich’s Gorilla Mindset seminars, which he’s held throughout the world, have been well-reviewed, and he will cover principles of emotional control in this seminar.

He will also share new material dealing with success more generally.

There are principles of success you can follow in your life that will rig the game in your favor. After all, Cernovich has been able to succeed in books, films, and journalism, among many other areas. His success isn’t a mystery, as you’ll learn during the Success Mindset segment of the seminar.

This seminar will be limited to 50 attendees only.

We only want the right people in the room, as this is a collaborative process, and I want to be able to answer every question people might have.

All attendees must sign a Confidentiality Agreement.

Five Platinum Tickets are also available.

A Platinum Ticket gets you priority seating at the seminar, although I’ll be honest with you, we are keeping this a small venue, so seating won’t be hard to find.

We will also have a private dinner after the seminar.

We will also have a Group Video Call one week after the seminar to check-in on your progress.

FAQs

Are there ID or minimum age requirements to enter the event?

My mindset seminars are family friendly, and politics free. However all minors must be accompanied by a parent or other legal guardian.

What are my transportation/parking options for getting to and from the event?

Finding parking near the area (Los Angeles) can be tricky. Be sure to arrive early in order to find parking.

What can I bring into the event?

Bring yourself, and wear comfortable clothing. We do not want anyone taking pictures, and everyone will sign a Confidentiality Agreement before attending.

What’s the refund policy?

I don’t want people who make excuses or lie about “my grandma is sick” attending the event, so if you want a refund, request one at any time. Have honor and integrity. Simply ask for a refund and spare me the b.s.

I look forward to seeing you!

Interface is a new advice app from Scott Adams funded start-up WhenHub. When you have Interface installed, you can ask experts for advice, or you can have others pay you for your advice.

Because I think Interface has a lot of promise, and because Scott Adams has been unusually generous to the world, I’d like to see as many of you sign up as possible.

Each Q&A session is 15 minutes long, and that’s only going to cost you $25.

This isn’t going to last, because accepting any one-on-one clients hurts me, as it doesn’t allow me to scale.

If I spend one hour writing or podcasting, I’ll reach at least 10,000 people. The number is higher, and that’s how I actually think about using my time.

“I can reach 10,000+ people this hour, or I can do something else this hour…. ” My time is valued in terms of reach.

How to ask me a question on Interface.

1. Download the Interface app here. 

If you use that link, you get some free tokens, as do I.

I don’t know what the tokens are worth, as this is a new product.

Just putting it out there that you’ll get free tokens, and I will too.

Today starting at 3 p.m. PST I’ll be on Interface.

I’ll click the “Go Online” button.

You’ll find me, call me, and we can talk.

Again, go download Interface at this link, and we’ll talk soon!

Once the world became obsessed with Donald Trump, I did what it seems like few others who write about Trump have – I read his books, and this included The Art of the Deal. Although Art of the Deal was entertaining, like most books in the genre, it’s too vague to be applied to real life.

One section that stuck with me was “A Week in the Life.”

Trump kept a diary of his daily and weekly activities, and it blew me away how busy he stayed. It also shamed me. Why wasn’t I working harder?

I had good reasons for my time-management plan. Too many people have spazzy energy and lack focus. The problem most people have is doing too much, and not staying on task.

Most people are busy for the sake of being busy, and aren’t focused on 80/20 (Pareto moves).

I stayed on task, perhaps to a fault, and this slowed my growth. I needed to take a more Trump-like approach, and increase deal flow.

I focused on building up several properties at all once:

• Team took Facebook page to 400,000 likes,
• Produced feature-length film on free speech,
• Funded and produced second film,
• Held Gorilla Mindset seminars,
• Launched an events business,
• Supplement and Lifestyle company,
• Built a media presence,
• Etc.

My productivity increased, and that’s without a doubt because of Trump’s book.

The downside to A Week in the Life is chaos. 

A lot of people freak out by what’s happening in Trumpland, and I’m not here to change your mind on that. (Cernovich.com is apolitical and is about mindset, lifestyle, and winning at life.)

Chaos is part of a high deal flow lifestyle. For example, the first manufacturer for Gorilla Mind had to be fired. This set production back by 7 months.

When you have a lot of projects ongoing, you don’t always know every detail about what’s happening, and that can lead to some confusion, and is stressful for most people.

Most people in life want certainty. The irony is that certainty is another word for undiversified. Your one job or business is certain? It seems that way until you lose it. Life isn’t certain, and the way to mitigate uncertainty is to diversify your assets, income flows, and mindset.

Those who demand certainty find it frustrating to work with me. “I don’t know right now,” and “We will figure it out” are mantras I live by.

Where some see chaos, I see an OODA loop:

The OODA loop is the decision cycle of observe, orient, decide, and act, developed by military strategist and United States Air Force Colonel John Boyd. Boyd applied the concept to the combat operations process, often at the operational level during military campaigns. It is now also often applied to understand commercial operations and learning processes. The approach favors agility over raw power in dealing with human opponents in any endeavor.

Cernovich does not have any large billionaire backers, yet look at what we have accomplished. This is because we are agile, we move fast, we don’t have fixed plans, we respond to changing battlefield conditions.

To apply the OODA-loop in your own life you need to have the right mindset.

1. Observation. Sharpen your senses. Practice your skills of observation. Go for walks where you simply listen and watch. You will be amazed at what you see. Birds chirping. Couples feuding. Strange chalk marks in alleyways. Listen to your mind when you see something. Pay attention to the world around you.

2. Orientation. This is the big one. It means always striving to improve yourself be it through reading new books, listening to podcasts, or learning new skills. To orient effectively you must train your mind to recognize patterns, understand history and psychology, and even know your enemy.

3. Decision making: this one just comes with time, and with mentorship. This is why training schools exist in the military, or practice for sports teams.

4. Action. You need to strengthen your body. Lift weights. Get in shape. Eat right. Practice breathing. Everything described in Gorilla Mindset. This way your body and your mind will be prepared once you decide to take action.

Be ready to take your lumps and losses.

Trump’s companies plead bankruptcy a few times, although how many times is subject to debate. While some see these bankruptcies as evidence poor business acumen, others seek the bankruptcies as what you’d expect to find on a successful businessperson’s balance sheet.

Here is a basic math problem:

You do three deals of equal value, that is, you invest $100,000 in three businesses.

Deal 1. You lose all of your money and the business files for bankruptcy.

Deal 2. You lose all of your money and the business files for bankruptcy.

Deal 3. You make a 10X return.

“This loser pled bankruptcy twice,” is one way to characterize what happened. Another interpretation is that you have a net profit of $800,000. Both interpretations are true, which is yet another reason that much of what you read is simultaneously true and false.

Human nature loathes a loss, and most can’t take the L and charge it to the game.

The Sunk Cost Fallacy. The Misconception: You make rational decisions based on the future value of objects, investments and experiences. The Truth: Your decisions are tainted by the emotional investments you accumulate, and the more you invest in something the harder it becomes to abandon it.

You have to know when to get out. When? (See the OODA loop, above.)

You’re also going to get a lot of hate from critics and losers when you take a loss.

Your mindset must be to take the long view, and realize your life isn’t fixed at any given point. Don’t let the haters and losers get to you, and don’t be seduced by the fans. Keep moving forward!

My favorite quotes from The Art of the Deal.

On responding to haters. “My people keep telling me I shouldn’t write letters like this to critics. The way I see it, critics get to say what they want to about my work, so why shouldn’t I be able to say what I want about theirs.”

On instincts. “One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you’re generally better off sticking with what you know. And is the third is sometimes your best investments are the ones you didn’t make.”

On media. “Contrary to what a lot of people think, I don’t enjoy doing press. I’ve been asked the same questions a million times now, and I don’t particularly like talking about my personal life. Nonetheless, I understand that getting press can be very helpful in making deals, and I don’t mind talking about them.”

On self-promotion. “The most successful painters are often better salesman and promoters than they are artists.”

On negotiate. “My style of deal-making is quite simple and straightforward. I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing and pushing to get what I’m after. Sometimes I settle for less than I sought, but in most cases I still end up with what I want.”

The Art of Stress Management.

In all of the talks I’ve given, no one has asked me the one question they should ask.

Whether you love me or hate me, no one seems to wonder: How do you do it all?

Even if you assume I’m evil, don’t you wonder…How is he so good at being evil? (I’m actually a kind-hearted person, but assume I’m a villain. Maybe you could use my methods for your own purposes?)

There are many nights when Shauna says to me, “I can hear that your eyes are still open.”

I am under tremendous stress, and simply could not function at my level of productivity without all of the stuff I’ve written about for you:

• Binaural beats,
• Wim Hof Breathing,
• Good sleep (article forthcoming),
• Abundance posture poses,
• Gorilla Mindset Techniques.

It is also hard to play at my level without nootropics, which are over-the-counter supplements that can enhance focus.

I’ve tried them all, and recommended many over the years, including Neuro-1, alpha GPC, and many others.

It took me four years to find a formulation to fight my lifestyle, and that’s why launched Gorilla Mind.

When I wake up first thing in the morning, I take 3 capsules of Gorilla Mind and have some iced coffee (no sugar).

I work for several hours before needing to eat or have a break.

Gorilla Mind contains a lot of familiar supplements like Tyrosine, which is a precursor to neurotransmitters and hormones. According to WebMd:

Research shows that taking tyrosine improves mental performance under stressful conditions These include cold-induced stress or noise-induced stress.

Memory. Research shows that taking tyrosine improves memory during stressful conditions. These include cold-induced stress or multi-tasking.

Improving alertness following the loss of sleep. Taking tyrosine helps people who have lost a night’s sleep stay alert for about 3 hours longer than they otherwise would. Also, early research shows that tyrosine improves memory and reasoning in people who are sleep-deprived.

If you’re on a tight budget, taking a caffeine tablet / shot of espresso with 1,000 to 3,000 milligrams tyrosine can be a major boost. (Gorilla Mind is a premium product and at the top of the market, so it won’t offend me if people don’t use it.)

During college I’d drink some espresso and take a bunch of tyrosine powder, which is cheap to buy online at Amazon or at most stores. Vinpocetine is also cheap and effective. I would stack some vinpocetine with Alpha-GPC, as the Alpha-GPC can make the effect last longer.

Gorilla Mind also contains Dimethylaminoethanol, which according to WebMd can improve exercise performance. I’ve found that, for me personally, it boosts the mind-muscle connection, and I have much better workouts when taking 3 caps of Gorilla Mind.

You can pick up Gorilla Mind here.

Or not.

These products aren’t for everyone. A lot of people don’t like supplements, and that’s totally cool.

Gorilla Mindset has nearly 1,000 reviews on the main Amazon page, and is suitable for all ages and genders.

Buy your copy today.