Will Power

From The Richest Man in Babylon:

“If I set for myself a task,be it ever so trifling, I shall see it through. How else shall I have confidence in myself to do important things? Should I say to myself, ‘For a hundred days as I walk across the bridge into the city, I will pick from the road a pebble and cast it into the stream,’ I would do it. If on the seventh day I passed by without remembering, I would not say to myself, Tomorrow I will cast two pebbles which will do as well.’ Instead, I would retrace my steps and cast the pebble. Nor on the twentieth day would I say to myself, ‘Arkad, this is useless. What does it avail you to cast a pebble every day? Throw in a handful and be done with it.’ No, I would not say that nor do it. When I set a task for myself, I complete it.”

This really stuck with me, I had been meaning to read this book for ages but struggled to get a hold of it; but I am so glad I did. Anyway I feel I only have a few things that I promise to do each day, two of which are:

  • Drink a protein smoothie each day to get my required caloric intake.
  • Write a post (for this blog) every day.

I’m on track so far with the first but yesterday and the day before I didn’t write a post, I have very good reasons to follow this promise I made but I still let myself down. I can put it down to being too busy and not having the opportunity but that is not good enough.

My definition of Integrity is someone who follows through with what they say they will do, everyone else is a joker. Jokers get nowhere in life.

I have to stop being a joker.

Right now

 

2012
03/04
CATEGORY
books
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Light at the end of the tunnel

This session happens to be my last of undergraduate studies, I only have 2 more subjects before I am finished with my accounting degree. This is pretty intense as it will mean entering the real world.

After high school, rather than taking a year off I went straight to uni, mostly because I wanted to finish earlier and because I was pretty over working unskilled labour jobs. Which means I am about to finish while most of my friends will still be studying.

And I am not keen on working at all, I missed out on travelling and still feel way too young to settle down. I feel like I know nothing when it comes to anything (Not literally nothing but I want to learn everything there is and what I know is only the tip of the iceberg), I feel so immature.

That is why I’m travelling when I graduate. To figure myself out and to give myself a chance to create  something amazing.

2012
03/01
CATEGORY
goals
Travel
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Back into it

I went travelling over the summer, it wasn’t to anywhere exotic but simply to New Zealand. As far as I am concerned it is very similar to home. But this was the important bit, because of the similarities it meant that the travelling adventure wasn’t too far outside of my comfort zone.

So for 2 months my girlfriend and I roadtripped the small country whilst living out of the car and tent, we saw as much as we could with what money we had (We were on a shoestring budget) and I am really glad we did it. What I’ve learned from those months was incredible, living without a proper home for that period of time really pushes you. I mean having no reliable internet connection was a big deal in itself.

But now that I’m home I plan to get a schedule going and start working towards better things.

At uni O-week has finished and classes have just started.

That means all my self development goals start today.

2012
02/29
CATEGORY
goals
Travel
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Importance of Accounting

Most people cringe when I mention I study Accounting, the connotation behind it is that you are so boring that the nature of the area suits you. I obviously disagree with this and I had the opportunity to follow IT (a very fun industry) when in high school, so many thought my gift in that area would go to waste.

The reasons behind my choice area of study likely comes from my parents, neither have been to university (Mum was a bookkeeper though) nor does their combined income place us very high on the social ladder ( My whole family went to a public school and I never noticed it was a thing until many students I currently live with mention that they went to selective schools). But we never had any problems with money ever. I guess the result was a subconscious mimicking of my parents spending habits.

This suddenly reached a tipping point when I read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad“. The emphasis on Financial Literacy was huge and convinced me almost instantly that I needed to study that area.

So here I am, I haven’t worked for 2 years since I moved away and living off the measly Centerlink payments has done me fine (Note though, for the previous 3 months I’ve hardly paid rent by being a student advisor for the campus).

It is interesting that I hardly want to be an actual Accountant, although the idea that I could pick up employment super easily in any country once I become a CPA is very attractive.

Anyway the point is that I’m studying for my last of the session tomorrow and have been staring at debits and credits non stop for the whole week.

This doesn’t mean anything until I noticed that now by second nature I know that money can be made so easily and multiplies if you do it right. THIS is why accounting is so important, not because everything revolves around money but because it’s like your life’s gasoline.

If you have enough in your tank you can get anywhere, but having too much just weighs down the car.

So I want to have a full tank at all times (Which can be easily done with any pay rate) that way I can do other things like study philosophy, do martial arts, play sport, program, and travel without having to worry about the financial aspects of forgoing a long term career.

Also I’m yet to experience it yet but I believe by being an accountant you have the knowledge that many business people want (So you get invited into business deals).

To summarise, never having money problems is pretty amazing.

2011
11/14
CATEGORY
books
Financial
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Technological Singularity

Yesterday’s post on the end of the world was rather depressing, and there is a decently sized part of me that believes that we will bring such horrors upon ourselves. However my more optimistic side believes we will actually transcend into a technological singularity. I base the assumption that this is more probable because the people predicting it are physicists and doctorates rather than survivalists and anti-technologists.

This post will be in a similar format, what is the singularity,  the traits of a post-singularity society, how to excel/survive in this society and my conclusion on it.

The idea behind the technological singularity is once we develop our computing power and AI techniques to a certain point (referred to as the singularity) they will become self optimising. This means that robots will be not as smart as humans initially but they will be self aware to the point where they can improve their replaceable components (Most importantly their brain). Combining this with inter-robot digital communication (copying files is faster than being taught something) will mean that their ability to learn will grow exponentially. Soon after they will be many fold smarter than us and improving everything we do in ways we will not understand initially (But this includes improving nano-technology which has the ability to bring humans up to their speed).

Hyper-development of our species will arise and every single problem that has ever occurred will seem simple and insignificant.

Many fear AI development after watching The Matrix and Terminator but they are being irrational because energy creation (from the matrix) will be renewable and infinitely easier from nanotechnology, and, the terminator assumes that they want earth for themselves (They will realise that life in alternate reality is better than physical reality.. plus if they really wanted it we would have no chance and would fall instantly).

Anyway here are the characteristics of a post-singularity world:

  • Physical products and services cost approaches zero
  • Daily scientific developments (probably hourly)
  • Problems such as famine, environmental damage, and power consumption will disappear
  • Immortality (and regained youth)
  • Instant downloading of every skill you ever want.
  • Total Equality (Will definitely be a socialist society)
  • Total connection to everyone at all times
  • Probably no anonymity, unless you want that (Robots don’t judge or care anyway).
Everything physical will be manipulatable and the value of information will sky-rocket.
So the things that will be useful will be creativity and the arts. Not that that will be a problem, you will become totally knowledgeable in every field you ever dreamed of and combining this information will become natural for all sentient beings.
In general you don’t have to worry about anything except boredom, but then again finding fun challenges in alternate realities will probably occupy most of our time.
For any who are curious, the singularity is probably 40 years away.
So in conclusion when I hit about 60 life will change permanently (Most importantly, total reversal of the ageing process). So enjoy your life for the time being, If you are reading this it means you have access to the internet and are in the small percentage of the worlds population that is privileged enough to be on the receiving end of inequality. Inequality exponentially rewards the few (Have you ever partaken in the miracle of FLIGHT for example), so have fun while this lasts.
The only thing to be concerned about is living long enough to witness the singularity, so EAT HEALTHY, exercise, and all that other tough stuff that extends your life as a mortal. Because it would be a shame to miss immortality by only a couple years.
2011
11/13
CATEGORY
Fitness
IT
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The End of the World

My vision for the future is binary (2 options) either we will develop and advance until we reach the technological singularity, or we destroy ourselves in the process. I don’t believe there is any middle ground for these as we are tending towards the singularity (at which point the robots will take over), or our fragile world will collapse and apocalyptic films will become a reality.

I will talk about my idea for the singularity tomorrow but this post is about the world end situation.

It stems from the truth that all great civilisations fall and we are no different, but due to the global nature of our society few will be spared. Be it from a nuclear winter or a contagion (or zombie whatever) it doesn’t matter, the environment we will have to survive in will be as:

  • Little to no food
  • Survival of the fittest and smartest
  • Constant warring
  • Disease rampant
  • Few isolated communities that struggle to survive
  • Production of anything slightly complex will come to a halt
plus anything else that is bad. It is for the long term so there is no escaping in a bunker or anything.
The only way to survive is to firstly make you and your skill set useful and needed. This can be from creating anything of value for an apocalyptic economy; when you manage to band together and form a small community it means the others have to feed you else they lose a necessary skill. The people who will be needed will be:
  • Doctors
  • Engineers and Craftsmen
  • Leaders
  • Warriors
There are many others, the important thing is to not be less useful than the food they are giving you (Probable cannibalistic nature of society makes this even more scary).
Secondly you need to know how to defend yourself, even with important skills rogues will ravage you to get to anything of value in your possession. With no production of guns or advanced weaponry you need to excel in hand to hand, sword and knife combat and archery.
Lastly you need to physically be at your peak, there is no time to waste on being lazy because you need to prepare your body for the immense shock its about to receive.
I have few of these attributes currently and its a little worrying, but we have a bit of time yet to prepare (I hope).
These should be a minimum for all who wish to survive an apocalypse.
Just to make a note though: The singularity is more probable but knowing all this stuff is an important contingency plan; plus it actually would help one excel in our modern society (who doesn’t want a strong, confident and useful person around).
2011
11/12
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goals
Martial Arts
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Oppositional Identity and Hitler

I found a post on oppositional identity not too long ago which was interesting but nothing too amazing. This post however became moving after a comment my girlfriend made put it into perspective.

Firstly the post talks about people who base a lot of their decisions around being against some entity. They don’t make informed, rational decisions, they only ever decide to argue against it.

This idea became striking when I heard that Hitler would have been known as one of the best state leaders had he not have been the cause of the holocaust, not sure of the exact details but apparently the country was thriving and had low unemployment while he was in charge. I’m not 100% sure how true this is, not having any evidence apart from a verbal statement but it wouldn’t surprise me.

His army was also way superior to ours also, 5 Sherman tanks were needed to take out 1 Tiger tank for example. It is logical to think that this vision in design probably leaked into leading the state.

Also heard it mentioned that he was the first to implement gun restrictions (actually I’m pro guns but I appreciate the fact that it probably advanced society).

The point is everyone has to hate the idea of Germany during the early 20th century, the oppositional identity has become ingrained into our culture.

There is a law on the internet (Godwin’s Law) which states that every argument on-line ends up referencing the Nazi’s. The implied idea is that if you can link your opponent to Hitler, he automatically loses.

Because everything Hitler did was bad (Oppositional Identity).

Oppositional Identities are actually the greater evil in this situation, as an advanced society we should be more inclined to study an opponent such as Germany circa 1940 because they had the strength to stand up to us. Then we can take all the things they did that gave them strength, incorporate them into our society and become a super society.

That is exactly how Genghis Khan did it during the the 13th century, he took every good idea that his opponents had and spread them across his entire empire (from the Philippine sea to Europe in its peak).

I would really like to find a non biased book on the Fascist party and learn their secrets.

2011
11/11
CATEGORY
philosophy
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That Click

Over my short lifetime I have looked into many sports, not as many as I would like I follow through into playing regularly. The most recent of my ambitions is surf boat rowing..

One thing I have noticed and love more than anything is that through the learning curve you get that “Click” in your head.. This doesn’t make much sense because it is something I made up, it probably has a name already, but when you make a correction to your technique and notice improvement.

It happens so often during the early adoption of a new activity and drives a persons craving to become better.

I raise this point because it happened during today’s training session, we were going about normally and I’m having a break on the beach watching another crew launch. I see that they finish the leg stage of their strokes really early.. I think okay I’ll try that. And boom! suddenly my strokes are easier to keep in time.

And that was all it took, speeding up one little thing.

I read somewhere that the difference between a beginner and an intermediate weightlifter is once you reach intermediate you no longer make quantifiable gains every session. After the beginners learning curve these “Clicks” become less and less frequent, and they become more and more valuable. So much to the point that you can only find these gems after long periods of mindless practice.

But its a positive feedback loop, the passion for the sport drives your discovery of these gems and the discovery of these gems drive your passion.

Then you get into a routine, your weekly hour training session becomes so much fun you pick up a few more hours. Next thing you know you are there 2 hours a day and doing additional activities like weight training to speed up your development.

At this stage you have to decide whether to go professional, dedicate your life full time to the activity and find the impossibly hidden final gems. The opportunity cost of this often is too large however, your career can’t be pushed to the side. But later in life you regret not following it..

In The Talent Code there was a quote from a tennis player, I can’t for the love of me remember who but he said this:

“If I miss 1 day of training I notice, If I miss 2 days my wife notices, If I miss 3 days the world notices”

This describes the dedication required to maintain the top level of anything, any less and the competition overtakes. Its interesting that If you look at top level soccer players they have to compete against everybody for the most prestigious spots in the worlds favourite sport, the result is the craziest level of achievement and skill (to an extreme not found in other sports). Anything less than perfect is not good enough. They need to be genetically superior, be incredibly lucky and on top of that put in 200% all the time.

and it all starts with the one mental “click”.

2011
11/10
CATEGORY
goals
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Evidence of Job Searching

Recently I made a post on Job Searching.. this really is beginning to show in every day life for me.

In the college dorms where I live my whole group of friends including myself became residential advisers, essentially we get super cheap accommodation for making sure people don’t break things. This wasn’t always the case, the last friend in our group applied for a position next year and he was forced to compete for one of the rare spots left for males.

The moral of the story was he got in, I’m not saying he isn’t going to be an amazing RA but we definitely pushed hard for him to get it (note: I had a little help getting in as well).

I feel a little sorry for the guys who applied that didn’t have this advantage except then I think of all the graduate and intern jobs I interviewed for but fought uphill to get nowhere.

The world is tough for people with no proven skills, that is why networking is so important. I have a couple books on my shelf to read about this and I am beginning to believe that the rich get richer because they have an amazing network to rely on.

Connecting is so crucial and I wish I was one of those natural conversationalists who excel at it.

2011
11/09
CATEGORY
Business
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South Africa

South Africa seems to be the bottom end of the world. Few living there are able to get out of poverty because they are living above their means simply by eating and staying alive. Worst of all the aids and malaria kills the middle age leaving only the weak elderly and sickly young.

I feel someone needs to go through the place, pump it with the medicine to combat these ailments then come down tough and unite the whole continent like Genghis Khan did in Asia during the 13th Century. Next build trade routes and supply lines to allow for growth.. I’m assuming a military campaign it wouldn’t be too difficult, the place is in ruins.

Then it should be possible to rebuild the place.

The problem with the supply lines is the difficult terrain and lack of ocean borders for cheap ocean shipping. Again like Genghis Khan, extreme use of Horses (or Camels/donkeys whatever) would be an amazing trick. The Mongols used them for travel, milk, meat. Flooding the place with these guys would do so much good.

I actually don’t know enough about the poverty in these countries for my opinion to be worth anything but the foreign aid isn’t working at the moment and is acting like a money sink. Time for drastic action!

Also just randomly I think I want to read more military treatise.

And I need to get back into Kendo.

2011
11/08
CATEGORY
Martial Arts
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