a good lesson

‘set your own boundaries, or someone else will set them for you.’

long ago, there were two boyhood friends who went on to live completely different lives.

the first boy had become a rich & powerful minister of the king.

the second boy had become a humble monk, living off rice & beans.

one day, after not seeing each other for many years, they reunited on the road.

both of them were happy to catch up, but the rich man couldn’t help but notice the tattered robes & begging bowl of his old friend.

trying to be helpful, he said

‘my friend, if you knew how to serve the king, you wouldn’t have to live off rice & beans.’

to which the monk replied,

‘if you knew how to live off rice & beans, you wouldn’t have to serve the king.’

-

that’s the spectrum.

those are the two extreme lifestyles that all of us land somewhere in between.

& even though you might see the monk as the wise, ‘enlightened’ one in this story, let me ask you a question:

whose life is more similar to yours?

or in other words,

if you say you value ‘the little things’ in life as much as the monk does — time with loved ones, helping those in need, etc. — do your actions align with that?

i mean sure, none of us cater to any real kings anymore.

but is that because we all chose to live like monks?

or is it because our king is just different now?

for most of us, money is the new king.

all of us are quick to say that ‘money can’t buy happiness’ or ‘it’s the little things in life that matter most’ — & i agree.

yet, how much of your day is spent doing those ‘little things?’

how much more time do you spend serving the new king — working for money?

let’s say you make $25/hour working from 9-5.

that means, for at least 8 hours every day, your actions suggest that you value the things you say you care about at less than $25 per hour.

i mean, you literally signed a contract agreeing to that fixed rate for your time.

‘you’re full of shit liam! there are bills to pay & i have to put food on the table. it’s not that simple.’

again, i agree — i have bills to pay too!

my point here isn’t to say you’re doing things wrong.

my point is that we need to be very honest with ourselves about what type of life we’re really living, & whether it’s worth the cost we pay for it.

because here’s the thing — every choice we make in life comes down to one simple question:

is it worth it?

the monk decided that having a peaceful life made living off rice & beans worth it.

the minister decided that being rich & powerful made serving the king worth it.

both of them are right.

that’s because when you put aside the fear of other people’s judgement, there are no rules on how you ‘should’ live your life — because you’re the only one that has to live it.

so let me ask you this:

if nobody else in the world could judge you, would you be living your life the way you do now?

would you be willing to spend hours of your day mindlessly watching videos, just so you can feel entertained in the moment?

or would you rather do the boring work to learn a new skill & create something out of nothing?

would you be willing to spend thousands of hours away from your family at work, just so you can afford that shiny new car?

or would you rather drive a shitbox & get that time back?

would you be willing to spend $200 on a new outfit, just so you can have something better to wear?

or would you rather spend an evening making a new memory with your family?

i don’t think one side is better than the other here.

i’m just saying that it’s up to you to decide what’s worth it.

because the reality is, if you aren’t crystal clear on what truly matters to you in life, how could your actions ever align with those things?

whether you think it was the monk or the king’s minister who lived a better life is up to you. i really couldn’t care less.

the only thing that matters is how they felt about their lives.

the same thing is true for you.

i think we all serve a ‘king’ in some way.

but the good thing is,

we get to choose which one.

‘set your own boundaries, or someone else will set them for you.’

some things i learned

1. how to know if your partner is ‘the one’
   if someone told you, ‘i can tell how much you love yourself by the partner that you’ve chosen,’ how would you feel? would it be a compliment or an insult?

2. we tend to get more frustrated with little problems as the big ones are solved
   this is known as ‘prevalence-induced concept change’ — aka the Tocqueville Effect. basically, our brains move the goalposts of what counts as good or bad, right or wrong, purple or blue, etc. as the frequency of each option changes.
   
   for example, people were shown pictures of purple & blue shades & asked to categorize each picture between the two groups. their choices matched the distribution, which was about 50-50. then they did the same thing, but the prevalence of blue dots would be decreased as the trial went on. & guess what? people labelled dots they previously identified as purple as being blue instead.
   
   some controversial real world examples:
   - with less racism now, ‘microaggressions’ became a thing
   - with lower child mortality rates, ‘helicopter parenting’ became a thing
   - with less sexism now, ‘mansplaining’ became a thing
   
   in short: when something bad becomes rare, we redraw the line so we still see about the same amount of it.

3. walking increases creative output by around 60%
   honestly, i didn’t need a Stanford study to confirm what i already know is true: going for a walk is by far the best way for me to get new ideas, & it’s not even close. it’s nice to know that there’s some research to back it up.

cool stuff i found

1. even if you don’t care about beatboxing, you have to watch this
   i used to think beatboxing was cool. then i grew up. & until now, i didn’t care about it (or think about it) at all. that was until i saw this video of how far it’s come since i last checked it out. it’s so good, you’ll think it’s fake.

2. probably the craziest garage project i’ve ever seen
   some guy built a custom CNC machine (i.e. a computer-controlled precision saw) in his garage from scratch for about $500, & he’s using it to build a catamaran boat that would normally cost $1,000,000. what might be even crazier is that he plans on sailing around the entire world in it.
   what have you created this year? lol

3. lads trip to Mongolia, anyone?
   i saw this video of people grass sledding in Mongolia, & it looks sick. here’s a pic if you’re too lazy to click:

   

   like, how cool is that?

alright, that’s all i’ve got for you this week!

i’ve been making some big strides behind-the-scenes with my YT videos that i’m so excited to share with you.

one huge revelation has been how important it is to batch up tasks when it comes to consistently producing good content.

there’s a reason every big creator does it.

so now, instead of flip-flopping every day between choosing ideas, packaging, scriptwriting, shotlisting, filming, editing, & posting (in that order), my days are looking simpler than ever.

so like, one day i can choose 3-5 video ideas & make titles + thumbnails for all of them.

then in the next few days, i’ll write all of their scripts.

then i’ll make a rough shotlist for each of them, & i’ll have a few designated filming days to get all my footage.

& after that, i’ll edit & post them one at a time.

it might sound obvious, but there are ton of prerequisite skills i’ve had to learn to handle each of those things at the same time — & i’m still learning!

every one of those steps could be its own full-time job, lol.

right now though — maybe for the first time since i set my mind on making a living from this creation stuff — i feel like i’m getting ahead instead of catching up.

it’s a nice feeling.

anyways, thanks for sticking around & always showing up here!

i know i say it all the time, but just the fact that you took the time to read something i made means the world to me.

i hope you got something out of it.

go make yourself proud this week!

~ liam (:

PS — if you haven’t seen my free list of 10 books that changed my life yet, get it now! people seem to be loving it.