Being a Savage (Blog)

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Still Growing

The vast majority of the article was excellent. My main issue was that you said ""I tried to plug myself into a system designed to mold me into a regular job-wielding citizen. But for some reason that system didn’t work for me." after going into depth on your shoplifting.

What came across was my inner suspicions about your motivations. I always get suspicious when people downplay their personal benefits in the actions that they take. Its instinct.

I'd already been on that path for many years previously -- straight As through high school, honors student, captain of Academic Decathlon team, got into one of the best universities (#1 in the nation at the time for my particular major). I worked hard up to that point, but when I began to see where the path was leading, I sabotaged forward progress in that direction (not consciously though).

As for downplaying my personal benefits, I've no idea where you got that from. It seems like you're projecting a bit there. Seems to me that I basically did the opposite of that. Perhaps what benefits me isn't the same as what you find beneficial. Is money a really big motivator for you maybe? Do you consider that a strong benefit? I don't.

It's no secret that I found shoplifting to be exciting and fun. To me that was a more important "personal benefit" than money. Money isn't a strong motivator for me. Surely you can accept there are other ways a person can benefit than just going after cash. Money-wise I was pretty generous, even back then. I didn't think it would be hard to earn plenty of money when I needed it, so my shoplifting excursions weren't financially motivated.

[James81]

Hey Steve,

I wanted to drop a follow up post to say thinks for tipping on me. I got struck with a really awesome idea over the weekend, and it came from my convo with you (and a PM convo with Mounds).

Getting ready to challenge myself in a big way, and I'll be putting up something about it soon (once I get underway with it).

[Fendaril]

Originally Posted by Savage

I'd already been on that path for many years previously -- straight As through high school, honors student, captain of Academic Decathlon team, got into one of the best universities (#1 in the nation at the time for my particular major). I worked hard up to that point, but when I began to see where the path was leading, I sabotaged forward progress in that direction (not consciously though).

As for downplaying my personal benefits, I've no idea where you got that from. It seems like you're projecting a bit there. Seems to me that I basically did the opposite of that. Perhaps what benefits me isn't the same as what you find beneficial. Is money a really big motivator for you maybe? Do you consider that a strong benefit? I don't.

It's no secret that I found shoplifting to be exciting and fun. To me that was a more important "personal benefit" than money. Money isn't a strong motivator for me. Surely you can accept there are other ways a person can benefit than just going after cash. Money-wise I was pretty generous, even back then. I didn't think it would be hard to earn plenty of money when I needed it, so my shoplifting excursions weren't financially motivated.

Although this has nothing to do with your present article, I will ask this question anyway.

You mention before that you had an 'intense' addiction to shoplifting. What did you do to break it? How long did it take before withdrawal left? How long before you were confident of walking past stores without feeling the urge to play 'robin hood'?

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Fendaril

You mention before that you had an 'intense' addiction to shoplifting. What did you do to break it? How long did it take before withdrawal left? How long before you were confident of walking past stores without feeling the urge to play 'robin hood'?

It was several years before I could walk through a typical retail store w/o feeling like I was doing something illegal. Even a couple years after I stopped completely, I'd still automatically look for security cameras, identify plain clothes security personnel, and have other related thoughts in stores where I had no intention of stealing anything. It took a long time to drop those conditioned responses. It probably took 4-5 years to feel that I'd recovered fully.

I found that a better way to deal with boredom was to do what it takes to make sure that I'm challenged, regardless of whether society deems it challenging or not. I also learned to face fears constructively, instead of facing fears in destructive ways, such as pursuing public speaking instead of shoplifting.

Avoiding boredom and seeking excitement can be constructive or destructive, depending on how you channel that energy. Today I channel it into growth experiences and positive challenges.

My biggest challenges these days have to do with my relationships, like parenting my kids even though they don't live with me and being in a long-distance relationship with Rachelle. Those are tough challenges emotionally, but I think they're better challenges than figuring out what to do in the prison yard today.

[Maugrassia]

It took a while for the idea to completely hit me, but I finally realized how it fit me.

If I were to give you my high school transcript (I'm finishing my senior year), you would find A's in one or two classes, and C's and D's in all the other classes. It would show sharper contrast the farther forward you get.

Last semester I made a decree to myself that I would never give up, and I'd try my hardest. I listened to tons of personal development tapes, wrote out an entire journal in completion, yet the report card stood: 1 A (in Japanese 3), all C's, and 1 D (Forensic Science). Obviously, I was fighting a losing battle.

I've lived 6 days a week with my single mother since I was 4 years old (I am 18 now, after January the 26th). She's worked sometimes at 3 jobs at a time, and she works now as a Financial Officer for a city. Working all the time. She just got surgery on her foot, and I'm set to drive her to and from work all of Spring Break.

I can't help but think that it was in this environment that I learned to be the way I am. I play piano and guitar quite proficiently. I enjoy learning languages. I can repeat success literature ad nauseum. To everyone whom meets me, I'm perhaps the life at any party and the best at doing everything they've ever wanted to do. I think it's primarily because I believe in myself so much, know that all possibilities are in my hands, and that I could accomplish anything I could ever want to.

The problem is, I only want to do the absolute minimum for school. I mean, who really wants to spend hours in front of papers and homework assignments? Not this guy. I know that this little bit of Precalculus homework here, and that bit of Physics labs there are not going to help in any sort of way in achieving my dreams, aside from the will to do stuff I don't want to do. I can write paragraphs on the implications of the presence of "Ice 9" in the world (Cat's Cradle, my Vonnegut class) and do everything possible to make sure I suck less than the day before in my Japanese aquiring. But I don't give a $#!+ about calculations, although cool, that have nothing to do with writing some of the best music every written, or becoming a polyglot within months and not years.

I'd say the problem might be the delivery. I'm so numb to equations that I now sit in my Precalculus class and day dream about my adventures in Japan. My nerves are so deadened to writing endless, pointless labs that all that keeps me from screaming is to actually feel a sense of wonder for the Physics and it's implications, and skip out on the calculations.

Perhaps I'm just too afraid to take action. I'm 18 and I should be now this week getting my driver's license. I have never held an actual job in my life, aside from babysitting the children of the lesbian choir, Charus, at the age of 11. After a many-months long hiatus, and after seeing my Japanese student go back to Japan after only a week (last week), I've know restarted my Japanese aquiring. I've just now started applying for jobs in the area and for colleges, far later than my more academic peers. But I figure, at least, I'm starting now. I'm currently searching for lucrative, cheap approaches to studying abroad in Japan for a year, and look forward to saving the $4000 for the Japan trip my school has in June.

I feel in my heart of hearts that cubicle work or cashier jobs are not what I'm looking for. I could probably be running my own business right now, passive-income included. I have declarative knowledge of every single success principle, I guess the problem is the lack of active, process knowledge.

TLDR;

I'm a soldier who listens to the rhythm of a different drummer. The current education system doesn't work for me, but I have to graduate soon. Question is, was the environment I grew up in at any fault?

Thoughts?

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Maugrassia

I'm currently searching for lucrative, cheap approaches to studying abroad in Japan for a year, and look forward to saving the $4000 for the Japan trip my school has in June.

My brother moved to Japan several years ago. He started out teaching English to Japanese people through some program he learned about. His co-workers and his students gradually helped him learn Japanese while he was there.

He did that for a year or two. Then once he knew Japanese well enough, he moved to Tokyo and got a job as a network admin.

Now he lives in Tokyo, he works as a network admin for a law firm, he's married to a Japanese women, and they're expecting their first child in June (so I will soon be an uncle).

This approach might work for you too. You could teach English to Japanese students while learning Japanese at the same time.

[TonyToneTone]

Every time you write something it is SO synchronistic with whatever is going on in my life. It trips me out. Keep up the great work Steve!

[klokkasju]

But if you’re struggling to fit into a system that keeps spitting you back out again, perhaps your path of fulfillment is elsewhere.

I read this blog post and thought "uh, nothin to do with me." ..... then two days later it hit me - twice:

1. Regarding my working career, I tried to escape the system and abandon the standard academic-path ... I tried often and hard. I went to different countries, stopped studying at all for years. But wherever I went, my path lead back to the system after a while. And no matter what my last 'escape-trial' was, my bosses welcomed me back each and every time. Even written rules seem to bend so that I can work within the system although my history doesn't meet the official standards. No matter how often I shut the doors in anger, they keep standing wide open again. And every time I am greeted with kindness.
So I accept that my path of fulfillment is in the system. Since the wilderness keeps spitting me out

2. But there is indeed a system which keeps spitting me out: The purely rational "scientific" view of the world. Over 20 years of repeatedly trying to force me into not believing in the spiritual world or anything beyond "well-known physics" were answered by incidents, hints or right in the face punches of the spiritual world. So, yeah, perhaps my path is in accepting that I am not made for a belive system without psychic phenomena.

[LifeFirst]

Originally Posted by Maugrassia

I'd say the problem might be the delivery. I'm so numb to equations that I now sit in my Precalculus class and day dream about my adventures in Japan. My nerves are so deadened to writing endless, pointless labs that all that keeps me from screaming is to actually feel a sense of wonder for the Physics and it's implications, and skip out on the calculations.


Thoughts?

I have good news for you.

You don't have to go to Japan to be fluent in Japanese. You can be completely fluent in a foreign language without even stepping foot into the country.

Think about it, how much money you will save by going to college here instead of Japan.

If you become fluent in Japanese, you don't even need to go to college there. You can just apply for a job right away. If you become really fluent, those guys can't even tell that they're speaking to a foreigner...then what's the point of going to college there?

[Alstar]

Originally Posted by LifeFirst

I have good news for you.

You don't have to go to Japan to be fluent in Japanese. You can be completely fluent in a foreign language without even stepping foot into the country.

Think about it, how much money you will save by going to college here instead of Japan.

If you become fluent in Japanese, you don't even need to go to college there. You can just apply for a job right away. If you become really fluent, those guys can't even tell that they're speaking to a foreigner...then what's the point of going to college there?

It's about immersion. Simply put, you'll learn faster and better if you go to the country where the language is used. You'll learn 100% of the time you're there as opposed to only in a classroom. English is an exception since a lot of people can become ridiculously fluent in it without setting foot in an Anglophone country (looking at you Scandinavia), but English is THE international language and education + immersion is not that hard to get. Not to mention if you learn everything in a University, you will be out of touch with "real" Japanese as well as colloquial language. You'll then struggle when you have to use Japanese in a fully Japanese environment. I learned quickly to partially disregard "proper" language teachings because they teach a very rigid, impractical type of language. I even deviate from the path my teacher sets for me sometimes because I know, based on informal interactions, that the rigid form taught in books and classrooms is only a small percentage of the language.

[invisiblehouses]

I tried to plug myself into a system designed to mold me into a regular job-wielding citizen. But for some reason that system didn’t work for me. It kept spitting me out with an error message.

This was the sentence that really hit home for me. I've been getting that error message for years now, and like an idiot I just kept (keep) trying to plug myself right back in. What's that old saw about insanity?

It doesn't spit me back out as a criminal in this case, but it keeps sending me lame results. I don't know enough about computers to make a good analogy here...sending me to /dev/null/? Whatever...it just keeps coming up "lame result" over and over.

Things are shifting lately...new opportunities that are very aligned with what I feel like should be my life's purpose. Oddly enough, for all my earlier talk about being a writer, what keeps popping up is music. "It's music, stupid. It always has been."

[Savage]

Originally Posted by invisiblehouses

Things are shifting lately...new opportunities that are very aligned with what I feel like should be my life's purpose. Oddly enough, for all my earlier talk about being a writer, what keeps popping up is music. "It's music, stupid. It always has been."

That's funny because when I look at your avatar photo, you look like a creative type to me -- perhaps a writer or a musician. Maybe you'll do both, but one at a time.

[Maugrassia]

In fact my “destiny” was to never speak Spanish. The universe told me in very clear ways, many times, that it just was not my path. My stars were aligned, my luck was forged and the fates had decided that I’d be good at Mathematics and computers, but not languages.

at Why my destiny was to never speak Spanish and how I did it anyway | Fluent in 3 months

Any thoughts? Seems pretty convincing to me. Maybe when the universe is spitting you out, all you've got are your internal convictions. Thought it was an interesting corollary, though I believe fully in the Being A Savage post.

[invisiblehouses]

Originally Posted by Savage

Maybe you'll do both, but one at a time.

That's funny you say that, because I've also found that trying to do both at the same time is an instant recipe for "Do Nothing For Years."

[Fendaril]

Originally Posted by invisiblehouses

That's funny you say that, because I've also found that trying to do both at the same time is an instant recipe for "Do Nothing For Years."

Try a 30 day trial for both.

[CroMagna]

Hi Steve,

Excellent post. It gives people a lot of hope that they can escape the rat race. It also ensures people that they're not the problem, it's the system they're trying to fit into, the system they keep telling themselves they "should" fit into because that's what they're "supposed" to do, otherwise they'll be poor.

I hate how in life we're first taught to follow directions and conform. In Apt Pupil, Noam Chomsky said that the whole purpose of K-12 is to learn one word, "obey" (no offense to teachers here like James).

Then in univeristy a whole world opens up. I actually didn't learn much at Duke, but I was exposed to a whole world of information once I became depressed and started hanging out on the internet. I was able to try on different religion hats, explore different moral philosophies, and find my calling.

I discovered that I have a passion for empowering people by giving them advice and teaching them how to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. I particularly like liberating women but I also find joy in helping men. I would like to start today.

But the article, alone with the Not Getting a Job one, didn't give concrete advice about how to go about doing this. Where's the Beef?

Are we to all try to start blogs, 99% of which will inevitably fail? Are there any other ideas?

[Fendaril]

Originally Posted by CroMagna

Hi Steve,

Excellent post. It gives people a lot of hope that they can escape the rat race. It also ensures people that they're not the problem, it's the system they're trying to fit into, the system they keep telling themselves they "should" fit into because that's what they're "supposed" to do, otherwise they'll be poor.

I hate how in life we're first taught to follow directions and conform. In Apt Pupil, Noam Chomsky said that the whole purpose of K-12 is to learn one word, "obey" (no offense to teachers here like James).

Then in univeristy a whole world opens up. I actually didn't learn much at Duke, but I was exposed to a whole world of information once I became depressed and started hanging out on the internet. I was able to try on different religion hats, explore different moral philosophies, and find my calling.

I discovered that I have a passion for empowering people by giving them advice and teaching them how to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. I particularly like liberating women but I also find joy in helping men. I would like to start today.

But the article, alone with the Not Getting a Job one, didn't give concrete advice about how to go about doing this. Where's the Beef?

Are we to all try to start blogs, 99% of which will inevitably fail? Are there any other ideas?

I believe we can control whether or not a blog fails. You have to look at perspective. If perspectives are not built around persistence, then we will not succeed. The idea is not to create a blog with the intention of becoming popular. You create a blog because you want to. It took many months of work before Steve even got his blog noticed, and he never intended to get noticed. He just wanted to help where he could. He would still be writing blogs today making $0.

The way you go about doing it is by challenging yourself. You fail 99% of the time until you get the 1% that works, while at the same time not aiming for the 1%.

[CroMagna]

How are you supposed to support yourself off of a $0 a day blog?

[Savage]

Originally Posted by CroMagna

But the article, alone with the Not Getting a Job one, didn't give concrete advice about how to go about doing this. Where's the Beef?

Are we to all try to start blogs, 99% of which will inevitably fail? Are there any other ideas?

Ideas are a dime a dozen.

Details take care of themselves, but only when you're in motion towards a goal.

Every day new details will show up. You won't know where they're coming from. It doesn't matter.

You provide the courage and the willingness to face your fears and get moving. Life provides all the details.

When you stop moving and get scared, the details stop showing up too.

Being needy about details = I'm scared.

I could lay out every conceivable detail, but most people still won't act on them. Details aren't any serious block for someone who's committed.

Needing details means you aren't committed, and if you aren't committed, well... expect nothing but the same.

You're the creator of change. Creators don't need details.

God doesn't say, "But how the frak am I supposed to create all this crap in only 7 days?"

"What? 6 days? You're kidding!"

Stop pretending to be weak. It's beneath you.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by CroMagna

How are you supposed to support yourself off of a $0 a day blog?

You aren't. That's a vision for failure.

But you can support yourself on a $300/day blog fairly well. So that's a better point of focus than a $0 blog.

You get what you focus on. Focus on $0, and you'll get it.

[LifeFirst]

Originally Posted by Alstar

It's about immersion. Simply put, you'll learn faster and better if you go to the country where the language is used. You'll learn 100% of the time you're there as opposed to only in a classroom. English is an exception since a lot of people can become ridiculously fluent in it without setting foot in an Anglophone country (looking at you Scandinavia), but English is THE international language and education + immersion is not that hard to get. Not to mention if you learn everything in a University, you will be out of touch with "real" Japanese as well as colloquial language. You'll then struggle when you have to use Japanese in a fully Japanese environment. I learned quickly to partially disregard "proper" language teachings because they teach a very rigid, impractical type of language. I even deviate from the path my teacher sets for me sometimes because I know, based on informal interactions, that the rigid form taught in books and classrooms is only a small percentage of the language.

Just because you go to the country doesn't mean you'll be fluent.

OK, let's say you do go to the country. And you can't speak the language, then everyone else will know that you're a foreigner. Therefore, they will either ignore you, speak English to you, or speak real slow and use simple Japanese....right? Then what the hell is the point?

You go to work in Japan, you come home, and you start browsing the internet in English, you watch Japanese TV, can't understand a thing, you can't stand it, you go to the video store and get some American films and watch them in your house...what's the point?


With the technology and with the internet today, you can immerse yourself in ANY language without going to the country. There are millions of Japanese websites that uses real Japanese, millions of Japanese videos on Youtube where they all speak real Japanese at normal speed. You can order Japanese novels online, you can order Japanese movies, download Japanese anime...blah blah blah...you can listen to Japanese on your ipod, you can create the Japanese immersion enviornment yourself without going to the country. In a couple of years you're fluent, you goto the country and you understand everything. People ask you how you did it you tell them and they're shocked.

That's what I'm talking about.

[Alstar]

Originally Posted by LifeFirst

Just because you go to the country doesn't mean you'll be fluent.

OK, let's say you do go to the country. And you can't speak the language, then everyone else will know that you're a foreigner. Therefore, they will either ignore you, speak English to you, or speak real slow and use simple Japanese....right? Then what the hell is the point?

You go to work in Japan, you come home, and you start browsing the internet in English, you watch Japanese TV, can't understand a thing, you can't stand it, you go to the video store and get some American films and watch them in your house...what's the point?

That kind of scenario is only true for people who (temporarily) move to a foreign country and are too lazy to learn the native language. The kind of person you are describing is someone who doesn't want to learn Japanese, or whatever other language. Obviously you will not learn a language if you don't want to or make any effort to do so.

Originally Posted by LifeFirst

With the technology and with the internet today, you can immerse yourself in ANY language without going to the country. There are millions of Japanese websites that uses real Japanese, millions of Japanese videos on Youtube where they all speak real Japanese at normal speed. You can order Japanese novels online, you can order Japanese movies, download Japanese anime...blah blah blah...you can listen to Japanese on your ipod, you can create the Japanese immersion enviornment yourself without going to the country. In a couple of years you're fluent, you goto the country and you understand everything. People ask you how you did it you tell them and they're shocked.

This kind of approach is fine and very conductive for language learning, but a person with the kind of drive to do all that would learn at a supercharged rate if they were to just visit or live in the country of choice. You can become fluent the way you described, it's possible, but it would just be completely inefficient to try and learn any language to fluency without real immersion*, it will take many years and probably decades. Exceptions do include languages similar to your own like Japanese-Chinese, Swedish-Norwegian, Polish-Russian, Dutch-English etc. For languages that have no relation whatsoever like English-Japanese, you're not going to learn it to fluency without real immersion. In the end, spending the money to go to that country is more efficient in terms of time and money. It's true that you don't have to spend a penny to learn one from home, but the time spent devoted to that endeavour will be disproportionate.

*I call it "real" immersion because if you have to go to a lot of effort to expose yourself to a particular language, then it's not immersion.

[Maugrassia]

LifeFast's point was that being in the country doesn't matter. Most of the foreigners in Japan know little to no Japanese. If you can find a way to survive without Japanese, you'll find it.

I advise doing what he's saying, although it is expensive for me. I'm finding a job so I can save money for said stuff, and for future expenses.

But!

Moving to the country does provide necessary drive to pull out all the stops, if you make the visit short. It's not the temporary travelers really, it's the people that get there and know they could survive with out Japanese for a long while.

I'm making sure I do both: get the media, move to Japan for a significant time.

[momo313]

Originally Posted by Savage

Ideas are a dime a dozen.

Details take care of themselves, but only when you're in motion towards a goal.

Every day new details will show up. You won't know where they're coming from. It doesn't matter.

You provide the courage and the willingness to face your fears and get moving. Life provides all the details.

When you stop moving and get scared, the details stop showing up too.

Being needy about details = I'm scared.

I could lay out every conceivable detail, but most people still won't act on them. Details aren't any serious block for someone who's committed.

Needing details means you aren't committed, and if you aren't committed, well... expect nothing but the same.

You're the creator of change. Creators don't need details.

God doesn't say, "But how the frak am I supposed to create all this crap in only 7 days?"

"What? 6 days? You're kidding!"

Stop pretending to be weak. It's beneath you.

Your recent form of communication on the forums has been succinct, concise and powerful. You communicate much more Power and I'm keenly looking forward to seeing this in the upcoming info product.

[Asten]

Originally Posted by Savage

Details take care of themselves, but only when you're in motion towards a goal.

This is a concept I'm just recently starting to realize and see in my own life.

When you actually set yourself in motion and are 100% committed to a goal--the details completely take care of themselves. Stuff starts showing up and making it possible. Remove doubt, and the path to the goal flows like it was always there--and maybe it was. It's kind of unnerving when it happens.

I didn't really synchronize with this blog when I first read it (parts of it, but not the whole idea), but after reading the replies here, I'm starting to see where the system is spitting me out. It's completely shifting my perspective.

[CroMagna]

Originally Posted by Savage

You aren't. That's a vision for failure.

But you can support yourself on a $300/day blog fairly well. So that's a better point of focus than a $0 blog.

You get what you focus on. Focus on $0, and you'll get it.

Steve, you have a way with words. But professional bloggers are few and far between, and blogging for a living seems woefully unrealistic.

[carenkh]

Originally Posted by CroMagna

Steve, you have a way with words. But professional bloggers are few and far between, and blogging for a living seems woefully unrealistic.

I believe Steve used blogging as an example because the person to whom he was replying used blogging... the point isn't the blogging. He could have said, "Focus on a $300/day lemonade stand, rather than a $0/day lemonade stand".

[CroMagna]

Originally Posted by carenkh

I believe Steve used blogging as an example because the person to whom he was replying used blogging... the point isn't the blogging. He could have said, "Focus on a $300/day lemonade stand, rather than a $0/day lemonade stand".

Ok, gotcha

[Savage]

Originally Posted by CroMagna

Steve, you have a way with words. But professional bloggers are few and far between, and blogging for a living seems woefully unrealistic.

Is it more realistic to live like the desperate masses? Or is it simply more pathetic?

Do what makes you happy. When you're happy, you can get away with being extremely unrealistic. Life will bend over backwards to fulfill your desires.

You're creating your life right now. You can create a lame and boring one. Or you can create a happy and fulfilling one.

If you think the happy and fulfilling one is unrealistic, then that thought is pathetic and needs to go. It is not a thought that will create happiness and fulfillment.

A better thought is: I'm going to do what makes me happy, and no force on earth can stop me. Rar!

Is that thought unrealistic? No, for a creator it's simply a statement of fact.

[Fendaril]

Originally Posted by CroMagna

Steve, you have a way with words. But professional bloggers are few and far between, and blogging for a living seems woefully unrealistic.

Yes Steve does have a way with words. He has tried many a time to help people set up their own income-generating blogs, failing each and every time, like a horrible college student.What does that tell you? It tells you that people's brains are so molded by external influences, that they have auto-piloted themselves to not accomplish anything they want.

They get stuck on their limiting beliefs:

"I can't do it"

"It's too hard"

"It's goona take to long"

This is why only 1% of blogs succeed. 99% of blogs are run by the general masses, being led by their brainwashed minds, subconsciously leading them to failure.

Thankfully, Steve and other good people have come up with a solution that could help people in your situation.

Site Build It

They do everything for you. All those details you can't figure out.