JustTom

Hello dear internet stranger, I'm Tom and I will be documenting my journey to become a genius here. I will be leaving out details as to preserver at least a little bit of online privacy, but I'll try to update the thread with the gist of what's happening throughout the days. Maybe weekly, maybe every three days, however I feel like is appropriate. So the intro: What is a genius From Wikipedia: "There is no scientifically precise definition of genius, and the question of whether the notion itself has any real meaning has long been a subject of debate, although psychologists are converging on a definition that emphasizes creativity and eminent achievement." So pretty much this. When I see a work of a person I admire I think to myself "woah that guy/girl is a genius, I want to be like him". This happens quite often to me. Be it a musician, a scientist, an entrepreneur, doesn't matter. Something made with passion, direction towards improving our world, creativity, innovation and lots of hours of hard work always moves me. The Rant Being very young myself and clearly seeing the infinite space of opportunities the modern world and the human body provides, I want to contribute as well. Not because I should, not because people will applaud me and definitely not because of money. I want to improve our society, help mankind, because deep down I feel like that's what I am. That's my authentic self, it is my way of thinking that differentiates me greatly from my peers. I can't explain it logically. It's just what I feel I am. I feel genuinely happy when I'm on this path. Just like when the lego pieces click together to form the desired shape. It just feels right for me. I truly believe we live in an amazing time in our history and it is very likely that due to near-future technological advances, the human race will be able to skyrocket it's development and 'evolve' to another level. I want to help make sure it happens sooner rather than later and with a little bit of luck, maybe my generation will not have to die of natural causes and will live to see humans go through a revolution like never before. When Elon Musk was young he asked himself: What areas will have the most important effect on the future of humanity? He came up with 5 things: the internet, sustainable energy, AI, genetics and making us a multi-planetary species. I would also personally add nano-technology research to the list(and maybe remove the internet because that one is pretty much a done deal at this point). So he started out with the internet, co-founded paypal, sold it and then moved onto sustainable energy and making us a multi-planetary species with SpaceX and Tesla. And he is pretty much on the verge of nailing those two down within a couple years as well. Easy. It just took talent, tons of courage and most importantly - extreme dedication and ability to work literally 100% of the time. When I say work I don't really mean something unpleasant, he works on his life dreams with passion therefore he doesn't really consider it work. Just like many other geniuses we've heard about. So this is where I want to get. Out of those 5 I take AI because I am currently studying computer science anyway, but also because I personally think it will be the most dangerous OR most beneficial one. I want to develop a sharp mind. Right now it's not too shabby, but far from what it can be. I have an image in my head of a person that I want to become and I know I can become. The brilliance, courage and entrepreneurship of Elon Musk, sharpness, awareness and social intelligence of Eddie Morra from the movie Limitless and the focus on the inner self and self-actualization of Leo Gura. I believe I can bring massive value to the world if I implement the right strategy and take massive action. Which is what this thread should help me with. I'll be honest, in my last three weeks I fell into one of my deepest depression periods, doing nothing but watching reruns of tv shows and reading reddit. Classic. RIght now though, I've dig myself up a bit and I'm ready to go hard. It's time to grow the fuck up. The Plan Essential daily stuff that needs to be done: Wake up at 7:30 Morning Routine - right after waking up, consists of morning stuff + 30mins of meditation Quick workout - 2 out of 6 basic own-weight exercises 16 pomodoros of solid work(30min segments) Bedtime at midnight - read or meditate for 30mins Right now the solid work will consist of only studying(which for me is mostly programming), later in the semester research(neural networks) and after semester I will be laying out my business plan and working on that too. Moreover, I want to become more aware in all situations in life. While commuting, eating, resting, exercising, working etc. I think simply remembering and realizing it does the job for now. Feeling what's happening inside me, or thinking as if I'm another person looking at myself, that's just a way I like to visualize. These goals are the minimum though. Optimally I want to put in a lot more solid work pomodoros if I want to reach world-class level. Because that's what I'm aiming towards now. I didn't used to. I had several of my own limiting factors such as living in a country with a horrendous educational system and poor opportunities for work. Also I used to be focused a lot on music, which I am now decided to put aside. I know I have huge talent for performing as well as composing, but I find other areas to be more important and fulfilling. I will be employing a number of tactics in order to stay on track. Firstly, website blockers to keep me away from procrastination. I have my own comprehensive list of places to ban and never return to. All useless monkey chatter that doesn't help me rest or relax, but rather increases brain fog and makes me want to crave instant gratification. Secondly, the motto that Tony Robbins talks about quite a lot - motion creates emotion. When I feel like shit, it is usually enough to do some movement, to bring some positive energy. "You can't think yourself into the right action, but you can act yourself into the right thinking" - Leo. Daily meditations will also help me raise my awareness of my own mind and help alleviate the need for things that don't make make me happy but pretend to do so. Thirdly, remembering. Along my efforts to stay more aware, I will be trying to remember what I'm saying here, where I want to get, what I want to achieve. It's not that hard, any time I read another article from r/futurology I get goosebumps of excitement. Sometimes there is this fog that engulfs my mind, I can't see anything and all I want to do is not think, this is when I have to recall what I'm about. And lastly, not being alone. I find that whenever I'm with people I am much more aware and 'free'. In seamless control. I don't have to talk to anybody, but just by being in the same room with somebody while I'm working helps me for some reason. It's like I actually act out what I think, I let my authentic self drive me, instead of the monkey inside that just wants to cope out. If I fail, I will post an update here and recuperate. Wish me luck.

Weekly Update: Overall, I did improve, but it's hard for me to call it a success. Most days I did accomplish the minimum goals, EXCEPT meditation. I don't know what it is for me, but I can't get myself to it. I subconsciously don't find it very important, I feel like I don't have much time, so I better start working right now. But in fact, it's more beneficial for me to meditate anyway. Even for practical purpose of discipline. It makes me more focused, it eliminates monkey chatter from my head(at least for a while). Also, I am a bit afraid of falling asleep if I meditate in the morning. But nevertheless, I still should. So for this week, I will try to make this my number one goal. Meditate every day no matter what happens. Even if I woke up at noon and everything was going to shit, just do that one thing. Furthermore, I need to go to bed without my phone or PC on. I tend to watch videos or listen to music while falling asleep. Obvious thing to get rid of as it not only makes the sleep worse, it also makes it 10 times harder for me to wake up in the morning, I don't know why but if I just read a book for a while instead of watching a video in bed, it makes me fresh in the morning. I still got two projects that need to be done in two weeks. I can make it, but time is running out a little bit. Will keep my focus on these two: meditate no matter what and go to bed with a book instead of a screen.

Share the most inspiring stories of successful people. Famous or not, doesn't really matter, but some kind of video vlog, long article or even a biographic movie, whatever you find inspiring and motivating will be fantastic. Recently I've seen a bit of a livestream of a person I admire in many ways doing a celebration of his recent achieved benchmark. Maybe it's because I've been following him for a long time, but I felt so connected and so inspired to become great as well. He talked about what it meant, about his life etc.

This entire album is a musical journey following a genius boy and his struggle to create the theory of everything, while sacrificing many things he holds dear to achieve his vision

The "I am seriously striving to and will achieve this" Category: Build my own robot Help the humanity develop a truly strong, human-level AI in a safe way Live at least till 90 years old and hopefully reverse aging once I help to discover immortality with my AI(I'm actually not kidding) Be able to lucid dream regularly/by will Have kids that will surpass me in intelligence and personal development Create at least 1 music album Merge at least three broad music genres into one(eg. metal, orchestral, dubstep) Visit these countries: Japan, Finland, Russia, Israel Become a genius Build my own studio and a science lab in my house The "Would be super cool but will probably stay in fantasy land" Category: Star in a musical Write a musical and have it be played Establish a private elementary/highschool focused on creativity, brilliance, deep understanding and self-actualization Significantly improve the quality of an existing highschool with an information system or funding of facilities and better teachers Visit an orbiting space station or the Moon or Mars Become a popularizator of science or creative music(Neil Degrasse Tyson style) See a tornado up-close Meet Elon Musk ...I might eventually come up with more and edit, we'll see

Since I've started reading about psychology as a hobby I've become aware of the huge underestimated power that the human mind has. Especially the book Six Pillars of Self-Esteem showed me many ways that a person can change his/her perspective and consequently, their beliefs, mindsets and reality. Just by thinking, believing, we can change almost everything, including biological functions, to certain point. Now I was raised as a catholic and although I believe in God(though different from what any big religions preach), I can totally see how some people can unconsciously use auto-suggestion to convince themselves that during a prayer they are having a deep emotional connection to God. Just by thinking and believing very intensely, that he is there, he WILL be there. In your mind. If you really try, you will eventually feel God even if he's not there. That's how auto-suggestion works. I know this because I used to do this as well during prayer. Once I realized I was doing it, I tried to not do it. But then funnily enough, I realized I can't actually tell between the objective truth and between what I created with my mind, subconsciously. Now, auto-suggestion is also used for good purposes such as visualizations to make yourself feel motivated, affirmations to change your mental image of yourself etc etc., I'm sure you're aware. So how then, can you say that, when you're doing consciousness work - as in trying to see reality for what it is, recognizing emotions in yourself, seeing how thoughts arise in your head, trying to find or rather NOT find your ego - how can we be sure it's not all just auto-suggestion again? Full disclosure: I've never done any consciousness work(just basic meditation). Another way to put it would be this: enlightenment is supposed to be very subjective but pragmatic concept that anyone can try for themselves and is not reliant on faith or beliefs. This is how spiritual people do their thing right? -Scientifically. You have a hypothesis: ego might not exist, reality is MUCH different from what I experience. And you try to verify this hypothesis. But the problem is you verify it with ways that are not objective - therefore you are prone to bias, placebo and suggestion. I'm not trying to "disprove" anything, I am genuinely interested how you avoid this trap and if at all.

Aight. That makes sense. Surprisingly. This was my biggest concern and reason why I haven't done this yet. Really well explained. Thanks folks! Now the last question remains - whether I should sort out more basic things first, such as finishing up uni, finding a strong life purpose and being financially independant. Hm.

Do they even exist? Are any of them good? I'm talking below 50€ per session. I've looked around online but haven't found any.

I do! That's why I made this post - to clear things up and make sure I don't do it the wrong way. I genuinely want to try this but first need to know how. I don't want to get into discussion about objectivity vs. subjectivity. Yeah you filter every single piece of information first through your senses and then through your opinion/experience filters, but that's the point. How do you NOT do that? I mean that's the point of it all right? Let's say you consider yourself enlightened and you know that ego doesn't exist. There is no "you" as an entity, you are just a collection of neurons and other cells that communicate with each other. Now, how do you yourself know that all this knowledge you posses is not fake? How do you know that it isn't all just an elaborate construct of your mind? Afterall, you went into enlightenment to get enlightened. You put thousands of hours of psychological work into this. Can it not be the case that you eventually CONVINCED yourself of all this, instead of actually finding the truth? Subconsciously, if you sit and just think for long enough, this is very possible.

Alright, I'll reconsider. If I was my dad I would 100% say you are Leo's employee and just tried super hard to sell me his product to get a cut. Good thing I'm not though.

The thing is I've seen every single one of Leo's videos Besides that I've read 3 books about psychology and some other articles/Tony Robbins seminars etc. so when it comes to self-help I have all the knowledge necessary. I also tend to watch Leo's vids mostly as entertainment rather than a life changing moment lately. I just need someone to say it straight to my face and hold me accountable. I don't know.. is there new information in the course? I'm a college student in eastern Europe so 250e is actually a lot to me.

What is your average day like? I always love to see idolized people reveal their human-ness. The dirty problems like laziness and doubt that everyone has to deal with. Second: What is your WORST day like? How do you personally get back on track when feeling unmotivated or some other negative emotions?

I strongly believe self-acceptance is the way to go. I don't personally know anyone with this issue, but I think it should be totally fine, in today's society, to live without the sex change, even if there was a developmental error during the first few months of the pregnancy. Why not just.. accept who you are? Why go through a fairly dangerous and forceful chemical change in your body just to match some dogmatic roles that the mainstream propagates? If you're a homosexual feminine guy who likes flowers and romantic movies, I see no reason to cut your chest open and punch in two blops of syllicon. Just live your life however you want to, live by your values, not by what other people tell you. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something, but the fact that someone can be born one gender and feel like another is NOT the sole, nor the most important reason, why people get a sex change. I think it's a much deeper psychological problem that has nothing to do with having or not having a penis.

@RyanSubconscious After some more reading I decided to try out exactly your stack. Managed to order it all 100% legally without prescriptions and for a very good price too, One of the perks of living in central Europe. Any advice on dosage? After/before food, preferred time etc.? Should I always get enough sleep or does it help with short-term sleep deprivation as well? I am going to read a bunch more until it arrives anyway but I'm just curious about your personal experience, since it has been so good.

Wait, Powder City can ship prescription drugs just like that? Noopept for example I'm sure is prescription-based in most countries. Don't they just stop the package at the borders and return it?

@InternetPoints Most of the racetams need a choline source supplement in order to work properly as I've heard. That's Alpha GPC for OP. Maybe that's not the problem, but might be. EDIT: Source: http://nootriment.com/aniracetam-choline-stack/

I have great friends but we rarely go out with new people. I study IT so the social dynamic of 90% men makes it just empty and boring. I am looking for high energy people with interesting views or different opinions, but don't know how to find/contact them. Because of this I rarely meet new girls which is a huge problem on itself. I am not shy or quiet, but this is a consistent issue for me. Tips?

There are some great recommendations, I'll add two new ones: Gattaca Dystopian world, where the parents can choose the genes of their child to make him/her perfect. Your DNA is the most valuable thing in the society, the stronger it is, the higher is your social status. One man was born naturally and wants to compete with genetically superior people with discipline, hard work and determination. Don't watch the official trailer, it's full of spoilers. Gifted Hands Regardless of what you think about Ben Carson as a presidential candidate, his story is extremely inspiring and shows you the potential every single person has in this world, no matter how deep in shit he starts in. There are strong religious themes, but I don't think that's the main point at all. HIGHLY recommended for high school/university students. Mr. Nobody I literally JUST watched this movie. It deals with the theory of multiple dimensions and timelines. What is you? What defines you? How do you make choices? Do you make them at all? I think @Leo Gura would love this movie.

@RyanSubconscious I would try the shit out of this if only it wasn't all US/Canada only. Mind elaborating on your stack a little bit? What is the difference between aniracetam and piracetam for example? And why have it there at all if you take noopept, which is a piracetam derivative? How important is Sulbutiamine?

It is because of the way your body reacts to light. Darkness prompts the production of melatonin, which makes you sleepy and morning light the production of norepinephrine, which is responsible for the "fight or flight" reaction. Obviously there is more to it, but that's why it's ideal to wake up at around 7. In general you will feel better. I know I do. As long as it's the "morning" I think it's fine. I've had days I went to sleep at 5am, woke up at 13-15 and it sucks.

Not all learning happens consciously. In fact the vast majority of things you know, you didn't choose to learn. Forgetting a dream is the same as forgetting a movie you watched but wasn't interested in. Fair enough if you don't want to believe it, but there are lots of cool and practical ideas in this area, I would suggest reading further, hopefully texts from someone more knowledgeable than me~!

Here is the thing though: all a dreams is, is just a collection of thoughts. You could call it an illusion, but the same way you could call your perception of reality in waking life an illusion. It's just that when you sleep, you get little sensory input so your brain reconstructs reality based on your memories, feelings and perceptions. That being said, you can't get to know what it feels like to be in a tornado because you haven't been in one. But to think thoughts in dreams don't affect you is the same as saying thoughts in waking life don't affect you. Here is what I'm getting at: the process by which the brain learns new information is not fully understood, but we know that when you do an activity over and over again, the brain behaves in the same certain way - when you play the guitar, the connections that are being used for it are being strengthened(as in more neurotrasmitters are being produced between brain cells). It's the basic principal of the body - what you use is what gets stronger. When you think about playing the guitar though, the brain reacts in almost exactly the same way. You imagine it, you use the same brain connections, you get better. Learning is actually purely psychological phenomenon. Your fingers don't learn, it's only how you rearrange your brain matrix. You can do it physically, unconsciously, or force it with thoughts. There are numerous experiments showing this. The most crazy one is a study with body building. People that simply think about working out during the day, imagine their muscles growing and their power increasing, build muscle mass faster than those who don't, with the same exercise time and routine. You can question the objectivity of those studies sure, but I personally have experienced this with other things as well. When you dream, when you think, you rearrange your brain so that it is more efficient at thinking that way. That's learning.

Research suggests otherwise. Read chapter 8 or 9 in the book World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LaBerge. He is the head of the Lucidity Institute and the first one to officially scientifically prove lucid dreaming. Research from other psychologists and neuroscientists points to the same findings. Thoughts are much stronger than they seem. I can't think of any research papers right now, but if you still disagree I could look into it.

I'm going to copy what I wrote in a different thread: Besides LITERALLY feeling like a wizard the first time you pull this off and being extremely fun, there are therapeutic applications. I have a panic fear of deep water(newborn childhood trauma) and a couple times in my lucid dreams I did try to swim in an ocean. I did feel fear, but I didn't care because I knew I couldn't get hurt. And when I did it I felt so fucking amazing I actually started laughing from happiness in my dream so hard I woke up still laughing. Next time I was near deep water I felt much less fear. Another use is to revise or practice. You can't learn anything new in a lucid dream because you have no new information coming to your body, but you can combine and revise old information. Doesn't work with text most of the time(super hard to read), but playing a guitar? Absolutely. Practice speaking before an audience? Talking to girls? Martial arts, painting? All of these can be practiced in dreams with significant improvements in waking life. Stephen LaBerge's book has these experiments included. Also, music imagination flows like a river, I can imagine full-blown symphonies with a hundred instruments and compose with my mind. If your dream recall is really spot on, you can remember the compositions and write them down in the morning. This is mind-blowing to me. As for consciousness work, I don't know. The concept of spirituality is very new to me and I haven't really talked to my subconscious yet. But if you are imagining having a conversation with your hidden self, you might be disappointed - from all the stories I've read it's mostly random storylines(as in the dream "plot") and sentences. EDIT: the two threads got merged by mods, huh.

It's an amazing phenomenon. I've fallen out of it recently because I'm going through a bad period with lower consciousness - which is important for lucid dreaming. In fact the most important one. There are tons of techniques how to do this, but the bottom line is be aware. If in waking life you notice just how things feel, details on objects look and so on, you will notice that in dreams too and that's when sometimes you realize something is out of place. Uses: Besides LITERALLY feeling like a wizard the first time you pull this off and being extremely fun, there are therapeutic applications. I have a panic fear of deep water(newborn childhood trauma) and a couple times in my lucid dreams I did try to swim in an ocean. I did feel fear, but I didn't care because I knew I couldn't get hurt. And when I did it I felt so fucking amazing I actually started laughing from happiness in my dream so hard I woke up still laughing. Next time I was near deep water I felt much less fear. Another use is to revise or practice. You can't learn anything new in a lucid dream because you have no new information coming to your body, but you can combine and revise old information. Doesn't work with text most of the time(super hard to read), but playing a guitar? Absolutely. Practice speaking before an audience? Talking to girls? Martial arts, painting? All of these can be practiced in dreams with significant improvements in waking life. Stephen LaBerge's book has these experiments included. EDIT: Also, music imagination flows like a river, I can imagine full-blown symphonies with a hundred instruments and compose with my mind. If your dream recall is really spot on, you can remember the compositions and write them down in the morning. This is mind-blowing to me. For anyone that wants to try this: just keep a dream journal and record your dreams everytime you wake up. Literally the first thing, if you can't remember any, just sit on the bed for a couple seconds and try to remember, then write "I don't remember any dreams" and try again next morning. This way you build dream recall, which is crucial. Then you might look into techniques like MILD, WILD and WBTB.