I am obsessed. | TheRedPill

There's no talent here, this is hard work. This is an obsession. Talent does not exist, we are all equal as human beings. You could be anyone if you put in the time. You will reach the top, and that is that. I am not talented, I am obsessed.

— Conor McGregor

Until recently I thought I suffered from depression. Perhaps that explains all my failures: why it took me 8 years to finish college, why I failed at multiple careers, why my ex-wife left me, why I still live with roommates in my mid-30s.

Fuck that. Depression? It's gone. It no longer exists in my world. I'm just not consumed enough with my own mental health and self-improvement. The desire is not there, not fully. I'm not obsessed.

I'm building my own business, or so I say. And yet often I procrastinate tackling important tasks to grow my biz. I'd rather sleep a little more, go out for drinks, waste time on Youtube or Tantan (asian version of Tinder) or just space out. I'm not obsessed.

What am I willing to sacrifice to reach my goals? Chasing pussy? Most of my friends? Alcohol? Following my sports teams? Plans on adopting a dog or two? If I am having a hard time letting these go, then I'm not obsessed.

McGregor, like all self-made men, practice an unconscious self-value. Why do they work so obsessively? Because they are worth it. It's not even a fucking question to them.

Honestly I have not tried hard enough in my entire life because I never saw myself being worth the struggle. I just cried and whined in my half-assed hardships, like everyone else. I have not been my own mental point of origin.

Maybe McGregor's quote can be discounted because of survivorship bias. "Mistaking confidence for competence" is already a huge mistake I made in one failed career. But I'm running out of time. If I can't change now, it will never happen.

I am obssessed, because I have to.

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Arie_R 9y ago

Talent really is a thing. There are people who will never be able to become a doctor, scientist, lawyer, professional musician or artist because they just lack the innate abilities needed for this (intelligence, creativity, problem solving skills etc). There's only so much you can learn. So although hard work and commitment are necessary in order to become successful, they are not enough. If there's no talent, you'll never make it.

Maybe you should do some soul searching to think of what you really want out of life. What sort of lifestyle suits your personality? Maybe an amazing career is not for you but instead an ok paying mediocre job is fine so you can spend your spare time on your hobbies/passions?

TomFoo 9y ago

I disagree that talent is important. Refer to u/Solpig 's comment.

At my age I don't do soul searching, at least not on what I'm doing with my career/occupation. I've done that twice in the last five years, the recent one thanks to my ex-wife leaving me. I don't want to be settling in a new path yet again when I turn 40, which isn't far away. Full fucking speed ahead now, now, now.

The next time I do have to take a break and consider a big change is when I consider selling my current business.

[deleted] 9y ago

I switch careers at 35. A I-know-nothing-about-this-but-Im-going-to-do-it-anyway career change. I knew it would take two more years of school before I could enter the job market and this discouraged me at first and I thought I was too old to start over. Then I thought, retirement age is 65 and will probably be 70 by the time I get there... Thats 30 fucking years. Thats almost as long as I have been alive! Thats a long fucking career! There is plenty of time.

If you want to do something, DO IT! Fuck how old you are, fuck what your parents/friends/wife say, fuck the 'you have to own a home by 32' mentality... Get obsessed and do it.

butter_coffee 9y ago

Depression is a waste of time. When I got out of it, I dedicated myself to work; school work, hobbies, lifting whatever. No point in hemming and hawing about my feefees; if you want to do something in life you might as well be the best at it- because why not be the best? You only get one life.

LordThunderbolt 9y ago

You have never truly dealt with depression then.

[deleted]

TomFoo 9y ago

I read somewhere an older actor gave a piece of advice to Shia LeBeouf about drinking (or more accurately over-drinking): "Life is too short for that shit." That one hit Shia hard and he began to change around them. Supposedly.

Life is too short for being hungover once a week, or even once a month.

Life is too short for being depressed and not going out, taking risks, challenging and disciplining yourself.

Life is too short for constantly marinading in your failures.

NeoreactionSafe 9y ago

The first thing you must do is "Game" your own history.

You never failed.

What?

No... you never failed...

Instead you "learned a great life lesson".

You were lucky enough to endure hardship.

Happiness is not for guys like McGregor because that's too comfortable and his obession wouldn't hold any strength if he dribbled "Happy Feelz" all day long

The Happy man achieves nothing.

Depression comes from chasing Happiness.

TomFoo 9y ago

In a way it's dualistic, isn't it? On one hand I failed and I can accept that. Failure is conclusive. It means something ended, then naturally I can move onto something else, something new.

Failure is a great teacher. Without it I would have never learned. If I embrace the lesson and come out on top later on, that past failure wasn't really a failure, was it?

You were lucky enough to endure hardship.

That is one hell of a line.

sergeantbbbbs 9y ago

I kind of feel like i loosely intellectually iunderstand this but i don't COMPREHEND it. I haven't internalised it yet.

NeoreactionSafe 9y ago

Chasing Happiness makes you Depressed.

It's like a force field preventing you from movement:

https://youtu.be/1OF5bXlJnfI

...better to just live life and accept ups and downs as they come.

gear54 9y ago

There's no talent here, this is hard work. This is an obsession. Talent does not exist, we are all equal as human beings. You could be anyone if you put in the time. You will reach the top, and that is that. I am not talented, I am obsessed.

I'm not entirely sure I agree with this one. I mean, can we really be sure that we are all equally good at everything 'at the start'? Surely some people MUST have some pre-disposition to certain activities.

The simplest proof here would be genetics that affect muscle build-up and therefore will affect, for example, your chances in the UFC. Or that little heart defect that you got at birth which will prevent you from ever flying a plane commercially or otherwise professionally. Those are all physical things, but mental equivalents probably exist too.

There's no denying that success is mostly hard work, but saying everyone has equal chances is just delusional.

TomFoo 9y ago

but saying everyone has equal chances is just delusional.

Logically, you have a point. Practically, I don't care.

I don't care if the dude next to me has an equal chance of building a company that generates $100 million+ USD per year as I am attempting. I only care about my own success.

Once I'm there I will gladly help those who are already helping themselves. Again, logically that doesn't make sense, but practically it does. You can't teach drive.

That is what I see as the essence of this sub. To be your own man and your own motor, to be your own purpose, and to succeed is becoming The Exception.

The Exception is The Alpha.

Sir_Distic 9y ago

To some extent I agree. You could be more obsessed with playing basketball than any human ever has and still not have the talent that Michael Jordan had. Certain things like sports and others require talent to reach the highest levels. I don't care how much you obsess.

Now business, your body, and most other aspects of life don't require talent over obsession. But you can succeed with obsession.

LordThunderbolt 9y ago

That's the thing, Jordan didn't have talent, he worked hard. He's said it many times: People praise him for skills and shots made and moves and wins, but they never saw how many times he missed shots, losses games, failed skill moves, trained in the gym etc. You think he's just naturally that great? No! He just loved the sport enough to be obsessed with it. It's the same for Einstein, he never claimed to be a genius. He acknowledged that his skills came from long hours of practice and obsession with mathematics. He was more willing to stay on a mathetical problem for much longer time than other people. And I firmly believe in that.

Talent is our ability to do something. Skill is how well and how precise we can execute our talent.

You could be talented af but just as lazy, you'll barely get by. You could have zero talent but work extra hard, and you'll crush your goals. Nothing trumps hard work.

broketsuu 9y ago

Thank you so much. After I switched majors to art I've been working tirelessly to become competent. I don't draw like I used to because I've gotten discouraged I'm not where I want to be. I needed this post. Thanks OP.