Category: Philosophy

I have been thinking about this subject a lot recently, why do some people seem to live the life of their dreams, and why do others struggle in quiet desperation to paraphrase Pink Floyd?

It actually struck me like the proverbial load of bricks one evening as I was preparing to leave my shop and drive to my home 40 minutes away.

As I was shutting down the various computers and equipment in my shop, I was talking to myself as I sometimes do, envisioning a time in the not too distant future where I was being asked by someone, perhaps a friend or relative, perhaps a reporter (who is inconsequential), how I had achieved what I had achieved (also inconsequential).

My answer centered around the phrase you can have, do or be anything you want, all you have to do is whatever it takes. Now I may be crazy but that just seemed suddenly more true for me than ever before – it seemed zen, it seemed deep.

Whether you watch Golf or not, you have probably heard of Tiger Woods. Tiger ‘burst’ onto the scene a few years ago now, as the youngest person to ever win a Master’s. How did he get there? How did he get to ’suddenly’ become the best in the world? Well, it wasn’t suddenly, he first swung a golf club under the watchful eye of his recently departed Father at age 18 months or something like that. 18 months.

What the gallery and the sportscasters and his agent and his endorsement sponsors did not see was the hours of practice each day. Every day, Every week, Every month. Every year. For the next 20 years.

What seemed to be a ’sudden’ arrival was in fact the only logical result for a plan set in motion fully two decades before.

Tiger practiced each and every day, whether he wanted to or not, whether he felt like doing it or not, whether he could feel the minute improvements in his game or not. His ‘unparralleled natural skill’ was not the result of some genetic gift, not the result of happy coincidence. It was the undeniable effect of consistent dedication to improving on the mechanics of each element of his game, drives, chips, putts.

So how do we apply this little bit of zen-deep thought?

Simple. Tony Robbins gives us something he calls his Ultimate Success Formula, a simple strategy for achieving. 1 – Decide what you want. 2 – Identify what is keeping you from having it right now. 3 – Figure out how to achieve it (the best you know how at the time). 4 – Take massive action. 5 – Notice what is working and what is not working. and 6 – Change your approach as necessary but remain focused on your goal, your outcome.

The key IMO is in looking not at the big goal (be the best golfer on the planet, win the masters, get endorsements, buy a Gulfstream 5 business jet), but rather in focusing on what can be improved on, no matter how incrementally, each and every day; how can I improve my drives today, my short game tomorrow.

So don’t look to be an ‘overnight success’. The wreckage and stress that follows real overnight success such as lottery winners is a terrible lesson in why it is so important to struggle and work, time and time again, to get what want. It is the daily effort, no matter how small, that cumulatively creates meaning for us, that creates value in what we achieve.

By ‘whatever it takes’ I am not suggesting you abandon all morality and ethos. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Doing ‘whatever it takes’ takes real morality, real commitment, real ethics. Doing ’whatever it takes’ means lifting weights in the morning, even when you would rather be sleeping, it is discipline over short term comfort – not sometimes, but EVERY time. Lack of ethics, lack of morality is laziness, not commitment.

So now the challenge is up to you.

• What do you want to have, do or be?
• What is keeping you from having it right now?
• How can you achieve it (the best you know how right now)?
• Take massive action
• Notice what is working and what is not working
• Change your approach as necessary but remain focused on your goal, your outcome, and you WILL have, do and be anything you want

It seems today that fewer and fewer people are willing to stand up for their ideas. Today the spirit of compromise and getting along takes precedent over doing the right thing or of telling someone they are wrong. The argument starts because two people have opposing viewpoints, but what good is the argument if no one is right? The peace makers love to come out and say things like “well neither of you are wrong” but this is a lie. What they really mean is I am uncomfortable with one of you being wrong and one of you being right so I want you to agree that neither of you is wrong.

In Asia this can be called saving face, the idea that to expose someone for being wrong would embarrass them and therefore you should give them an out, a way that they can back down without having their error exposed. While this may seem appealing to you, realize that to say no one is wrong is at best a lie, and at worst an acceptance of irrationality.

Take two kids lost in the forest. As they walk along they come to a fork in the path. There is a sign post and on the ground are two arrows that have since fallen from the post. One of the arrows says Exit, the other says Dangerous Terrain. The problem is there is no way to tell which way the arrows pointed. So the two kids must choose. One chooses the left hand path, the other the right. They argue about which way to go for a long time and it is starting to get dark when a man comes up the path. He spots the two boys yelling at each other and goes to see what the problem is. Soon he learns the situation and tells the boys that neither of them is wrong and instead they should follow him. The man takes them to the left path and they walk for quite some time as the path winds up a rocky trail. The boy who wanted to go left protests but the adult silences him and refuses to listen to his argument. Soon the temperature begins dropping as night sets in and they can barely see. In desperation they march on. Finally after hours of walking and the weather getting worse they find they can no longer follow the path any further, even the ground they had recently covered had been treacherous. As hypothermia sets in the boy who wanted to go right say, “I knew I was right!” The man looks at the boy and says how could you have known? The boy then pulls out a piece of paper from his pocket and says “because the map said to go that way.”

While things are not always so cut and dried it is important to realize that when two people disagree about opposing viewpoints there are only three rational outcomes, either person A is right and person B is wrong. Or Person B is right and person A is wrong, or they both are wrong. But logic tells us that they both cannot be right. So to accept the idea that neither is wrong without evidence is irrational, and to accept that both are right is illogical.

The next time you are confronted with a peace maker trying to end the conflict, ask yourself, what information do I have that the person I am arguing with does not, and what information might they have that I do not. From there you can decide whether you should follow your conviction or concede to theirs’ but do not be fooled into believing that you both are right. In other words, “ Check your Premise.”

I have to admit something I am not proud off. I have done something in the past that I am ashamed of. I covered up something and denied something that I should not have. The stain of this is hard to erase. Someone accused me of being ego driven and I denied it. That’s right I did the unthinkable.

In fact I did it without thinking. When they charged me with being ego driven I took it as a criticism because society had conditioned me to think that way and by sheer indoctrination I denied something I should have proclaimed with virtue. I want you to stop and think about this for a minute. Achievers are often criticized for their ego, but it is the ego that drives people to achieve. Without ego what would you be but a passive bystander waiting to follow the crowd?

Your ego is what allows you to follow up on your perception of your worth. Without it you would think that everyone else’s ideas were as good as your own. While it is possible that others may have good ideas or even brilliant ideas one must also realize when to take a stand and tell someone else they are wrong.

Egoism is the idea that rational people do what is in their own best interest. In fact, it isn’t rational not to behave this way. The road to one’s happiness is enlightened self interest. But society doesn’t want you to learn this. They want you to believe that you have a duty to live for others, that other people’s happiness and welfare is important and your own is not. This is something you cannot allow to taint your thinking. This irrational thought is like a chain around your neck and it will weigh you down and place you in the position of slave to the whims of others.

I have no defense for my own moment of irrationality. When accused that I always thought I was right I denied it. But isn’t it rational that if you believe something that you would think you were right? If you didn’t why would you believe it in the first place? But you see this accusation isn’t simply to assign guilt, it is a clever ploy to get you to play by the rules that others lay down for you. If you accept their accusation by defending yourself you are trapped and you have given up your power.

Nothing would ever be created if someone had never said I think I have a better way, or I have an Idea. The key in this is I. The concept of I, is the concept of ego. It is the concept of individuality. When someone accuses you of acting superior they are attacking your ability to outshine them. The worst thing is for these people to face is that you might indeed be superior to them. But if you fall for their trick, you may end up denying reality itself. The reality being “I am better than you, for the simple fact that I decide to be”

So my penance for this crime against myself and against my self-worth is to share it with others so they will never fall for this insidious tactic used to try and shame those who have ability, those who have knowledge, and those who have ambition. If someone accuses you of acting superior to others do not deny it by social convention, prove it. If someone asks, “why do you think you are right”, know that your knowledge and experience, your dedication to rational thought and logic, have given you the right to say “Because I am!” And if anyone dares suggest you should be ashamed of your ego, ask yourself why you are even listening to that sniveling creature at your feet.

Check out Anthem by Ayn Rand to see the inspiration for this article.

The Prime Individual is the person who seeks to reach their full potential and takes control of their own success and achievement. The reason I started this site was to seek out these people. To give them a home and a place where they could find people of like mind. This web community is not for everyone, Just like Galt’s Gulch was for those who identified with John Galt’s philosophy so too the people who join our forum should be those who have the philosophy of achievement and success. Those who know that success is to “Be Prime”. The good thing is it is you who set the standards for your life. You have set goals and have sought out your own ideas of success and achievement If you have decided to be an excellent chef then you belong here, if you have worked to develop yourself in the academic arena you belong here, if you have chosen simply to make your life better, to strive to improve you belong here.

Do not come here to talk about how unfair the world is to you, we will not listen. Do not come here to make excuses why you cannot achieve what you set out to do, that is not our concern. The only thing that grants you the right to be a member of this community is your dedication to improving your condition. This place is a community of the mind and of action. Success can only come from the use of both. Achievement is the result of action and the application of your mind. If you believe that the universe will bow to your will simply because you wish for something then you do not belong here. We have no use for someone who can only wish for what they want. Those who corrupt the term “manifest” by believing it comes about through intention do not belong here. They have forsaken their abilities, they have forsaken their reason and motive power.

Our lives revolve around our actions not our intentions. Just like the saying “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” so too is the road to misery and mediocrity paved with inaction and wishful thinking. In all endeavors of their undertaking, the Prime Individual aspires to greatness, not for others, not for recognition of the masses but for himself. The Prime Individual knows that the way to make a better world is to make himself better. He sets his course not on a star but on a concrete and tangible goal that he has set by logical and rational thought. It is through his efforts that the goal is reached. He does not sit back and wait for the unthinking universe to create his destiny. He instead designs his destiny by right of his action and achieves what he sets out to do.

But the Prime Individual also knows that action without thought is useless. One does not seek success by looking busy, one does not rise from mediocrity by shuffling papers or cleaning ones desk. The Prime Individual rises to greatness by cleaning one’s mind. By organizing it to think rationally and logically. They know that for achievement to be attained one must know what they are setting out to achieve. They know that success is not achievement without effort, that very phrase is a contradiction in terms.

By using your mind, and harnessing your abilities you have earned the right to be here. We welcome you, we support you, we commit to help you in your struggle to achieve your desires. Do you want better relationships with your family? We will help you. Do you want greater financial success? We will offer our ideas and feedback. Do you want to overcome an obstacle in your path? We will help to devise a plan.

It is our goal to create the greatest collection of successful men and women anywhere. We ask not only for your participation but for your help. Not only for our sake but for those individuals who are struggling to be Prime. Those who have not found us, but desperately want to. Those who have searched in vain and found only groups who preach success but offer only motivation and small talk. Those who know that people should not be rewarded for what they say they are going to do, but that reward is reserved for those who actually are doing it.

It is my hope that you will share this site and this vision with those who have set their own path, who may feel that they alone are the only one around them with purpose and the drive to achieve. This site is for you and it is for them. It is for those who understand that The True Secret is ACTION!.