Omega

I am in a position where I live at home and am not financially independent. I intend to find some way to generate cash-flow and earn money, and I would like to ask for advice on the most healthy and effective approach to do so in a focused manner. The purpose is to be able to support a more free lifestyle where I can live on my own premises and travel more often. Specifically, it would be perfect if I could work online remotely while I travel the country. First, I present one perspective on money: Money is a social resource whose value is determined by the social consensus. We assign a monetary value to our social exchanges, and thus if we posses $100, we can later withdraw $100 worth of value from society. This is from 'The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth'. Numerous people talk about how money begins to flow effortlessly once you detach from the need or desire to earn money and begin solely to focus on sharing and providing value for other people. However, this mindset seems to contradict the 'earn money'-attitude and leads to my question: What is the balance between doing ‘what excites me the most’ and ‘what I believe provides the most value?’ Can I trust or know that those two things are the same? Seth Godin said that you can have the best product in the world, but if no one wants it, you're out. You need to tailor your work to the demands of others. This means I need to have an idea of what others want before I begin to work. Do you have any concrete advice for how to begin to earn money through the internet? My strengths are analytical thinking and big picture understanding. Real competencies are programming and math. Any advice is greatly appreciated, and thank you for your time.

No, but I would really like to at some point. That or to live in some sort of a dormitory or an intentional community where people come together based on shared values. I think that it presents a great opportunity for mutual growth. A support network of friends with who you trust to discuss your problems without judgement and who can serve as the mirror, the alternative perspective that helps you to unstuck and move forward. Remember to keep a relaxed focus. I understand the fear of transparency, disclosing yourself.

That sounds awesome!

Can people relate to that feeling when you want to do something and finally get yourself together and pursue this something, but am faced with social resistance in the face of which you begin to doubt yourself intensely - is what you fight for even right, good, worthwhile, etc.? It is important to understand that this question comes from a place of great misery, feeling both lost and alien in the world. Paul Chek once said "I'm normal, humanity is sick." Teal Swan touched on the issue, I believe, in her post about authenticity and how the anti-Teal campaigns made her feel like her existence is wrong, "This very train of thinking is what led to my suicide attempts years ago." The situation is that I live at home and am currently somewhat frowned upon by my family. I do remember that topic back from the birth of the forum where the consensus of people stated that they don't share nor tell friends and relatives about their interest in PD, but this is difficult wrt diet, fitness and meditation, among other things. There seems to be a run and retreat mechanism: I will try to implement something or make a change. Testing the waters, momentarily unveiling parts of the facade (that I believe most people create, read 'The Drama of the Gifted Child'), but once scorned sufficiently, I revert. As you might imagine, this causes great confusion and self-doubt. Since early childhood I have sensed a hypocritical attitude in others where they idly aspire to certain ideals (health, success, etc.) - yet simultaneously almost keep others down in their pursuit of those very ideals. And this behavior absolutely baffles me. I don't think there is any point to describe the situation any further. Fill in the blanks. I hope that I managed to convey the gist of the topic that I want to raise a discussion about. How can you possibly work with your parents rather than against them? Does self-actualization work have to be this strenuous?

@Saarah You're right. I should definitely work towards independence rather than being caught up in dilemmas. I do think that there are two sides to this. I agree with the statement that true happiness must be unconditional, yet I still have preferences. [1] I desire to live in a synergistic environment where I feel supported and non-restricted. If growth lies in this direction, I will need to take action to find a new social group and move away from home. [2] Circumstance can't be controlled (at least in the direct sense). It would seem necessary to learn to accept or relate to any situation that I find myself in. The two quotes were mostly meant to illustrate how you begin to doubt yourself in the face of resistance (Teal Swan) yet can be so calm and confident (Paul Chek) even when you know that you are taking the road less traveled, that your decisions are controversial and unpopular. I don't consider Paul Chek arrogant or grandiosely narcissistic, but he recognizes that people have a potential for something much greater which they squander or fail to realize - and be at peace with this. And I couldn't. I really appreciate the responses. They really cover some great points in depth. @Matthew Lamot Can you link to a resource on karma yoga? Is the attitude practice mental or classic yoga, or both?

@ProblemSolving I understand that experience is only a function of perspective - and perspective can change. However, this resistance seems very real. Like certain actions will unmistakably provoke certain reactions and I have to relate to or work with those reactions. Tying in with what @FindingPeace said: It isn't in my nature to give up on my pursuit of growth. Thus I am 'trapped'. I am dependent on the financial support from my parents. I live in an environment in which I cannot conceive of a possibility where I can develop integrity. The things I would like to do, my authentic opinions, the 'real' me, none of this would be accepted, and the facade has begun to feel restraining, smothering. It is within my power to say fuck all: I follow my own agenda. While still open to hear other's suggestions, I could act from a place of autonomy, but such a move would be very, very ill received. There is such a conflict about what directions to go in. I feel like that if I don't follow through on the intellectual insights I gained from this PD-material then this is a personal failure - I let myself down. If I am really subject to black and white thinking (how?) it would be really helpful to get a concrete third perspective that explains how I am perhaps not trapped at all.

I'm a huge book lover and read at least one book a week. I found when I scanned the reviews for books that I may read that the current score system is inflated and does not convey much information about the quality of the book: 38 of the 71 rated book scored 10/10. I understand that no one on this forum will post reviews of books that they consider 'meh' or unhelpful for others, but if you, as a reader, use no other criteria to determine if a book is worthwhile to read than the fact that it appeared on a PD-forum with the tags 'transformative, must-read' then you quickly end up with an overwhelmingly long reading list. How can one effectively sort through the endless list of books available and prioritize which ones to read? The reader can state a purpose or problem whose solution is sought in the book. An author likewise states a purpose for his book and ideally the purposes of the reader and author align. Additionally, the reader can also take into account what others have said about that book, and similar books. You see that we now have two criteria to rank the quality of books. How effective was the implementation of the book's solution to your problem? How great is the quality of the book's solution compared to solutions presented in similar books? Rating inflation can be okay, but the average score in any rating system from 1-10 really shouldn't be higher than 5, even in the context of a collection of otherwise 'exceptional' books. I propose that any book reviewer follow something like this form: Why did I read the book? How did the book match up to my expectations? [Optional] Summary With Leo's rating system for the list of top self-help books and the published book reviews in mind, we could use this scale: 0-2. Excellent and concise. Highly informative. Possibly less practical or relevant. 3-4. Result generating or paradigm shift. Points highly resonate with the reader. Radical and insightful perspective on the subject. 5-6. Transformational or life-changing. Profound understanding or insight is realized. 7-8. Unparalleled. 9-10. Beyond unparalleled. Notice that every single score is positively defined. 'Awful' books simply wouldn't be mentioned on this forum in the first place, except possibly to signal that a popular book is a waste of time to read. Ratings are greatly biased; The reviewer must come from a place where the book is intelligible to him. Examples: [5/10] Shadows Before Dawn [8/10] The Book of Not-Knowing [5/10] Integral Spirituality [4/10] Spiritual Enlightenment, the Damnedest Thing [6/10] The Path of Least Resistance [3/10] So Good They Can't Ignore You [4/10] The Kyballion [2/10] The Four Purposes of Life [2/10] The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth [3/10] The 4-Hour Workweek [7/10] The Power of Now

Very good point. The scale that I proposed is radically open which I believe is good because an open scale allows exceptional works to stand out. Every score represents a different tier of value that can gained from the book. I haven't come across a book that I will rate 10/10 and thus can't describe the qualities of such a book. Should a great book be rated 0/10? Well, not all books are rated, let alone reviewed. (I can't say that I have ever read a book that has truly 'transformed' my life and may not even legibly rate a book highly according to my own scale. But books have certainly challenged my worldview and beliefs and the writings of Peter Ralston/Eckhart Tolle speak to me on another level.)

I want to improve my fitness and one component that I intend to work on is the ability to sustain high intensity exertion for several minutes, in particular wrt running and karate. I currently practice karate 5 hours weekly, weight train 3x10-15 min followed by flexibility training and follow a paleo diet. I occasionally bike or go for a long, low-intensity run, just because it feels nice. Last week, I completed a beep test with a resultant VO2-max of around 54. VO2-max is certainly one measurement that is increased with higher fitness. How can I best increase my VO2-max? I realize that I lack terminology and knowledge within the field of sport science. A pointer to any quality resources for proper, effective training and health maintenance is greatly appreciated. Don't necessarily even post a training schedule. The Internet has plenty of schedules. Teach me the principles to create my own schedule! I am open towards supplements and biohacking.

Trustpilot does something similar, but their cash flow strategy would not be appropriate for ReviewedByConsensus.com, if a community is to be build around the site, I think.

You talk and talk about formatting, layout/presentation, and all this 'improvement', marketing/niche stuff. (I try to generalize the discussion.) What exactly are you trying to accomplish with ReviewedByConsensus.com? Urgh.. This.. There are so many aspiring life coaches... We can't all be self-help gurus. The problem is that while the information may be important to share, aspiring coaches primarily pass on information with a lack of originality. Don't reinvent the wheel by writing all those articles. Sure, if that is what drives you, go for it. I think that your focus with the site is too scattered with written Wikipedia-style articles on self-help material, 'fun'-quizzes plus forum/consensus-reviews. However, customer reviewing for self-help METHODS, not necessarily the material - not "recommendations of 'best, most life-changing' self-help courses". YES! I like that idea very much. We need statistics in personal development. What methods ACTUALLY work? E.g., what lucid dreaming methods produce the most results the most consistently? Results dependent on personality types, etc.? We need something more tangible, numbers, graphs, pool results - not dismissing subjective, emotional ratings. More transparency and possibly formula-orientation, tossing out my ideas, allowing people to judge value/effort, grounding personal development in worthiness of pursuit. (Up till now, I have mostly just read batches of diaries and biographies, trying to understand common challenges, pitfalls, success principles, etc.) Did you learn to code and subsequently quit your job to start that website? And do you really intend to earn money through your website through general, non-specific, random, affiliate marketing? Please reconsider that. I hope that this feedback will be useful Maybe raised new ideas?

Moving out is not necessarily meant as in burning the bridges, I understand, but cutting the ties. This is just scary. Any confrontation will create intense emotional responses. It seems like cutting the ties is equivalent to burning the bridges. In my case, does your advice really apply without financial independence? If the ties are toxic, yet keep me from falling, is it still advisable to cut them and throw yourself out there?

Yet another aspiring personal development/life coach. I run no business and am not a life coach and can not give feedback on how to build a business/marketing/finance, etc. However, I am a follower of PD-material - in particular your target audience, I presume. Would I follow your material? I might check on you in the future, just to see if you make progress During the past two months, you have uploaded 116 videos that have gained a total of 192 views on your YouTube-channel. In your introductory video, you introduce quite a few concepts: Life purpose, passion, victim mentality/responsibility and awareness, among others. The causality by which you state many profound insights and distinctions seems to assume that the viewer is already an insider, already has experience with PD and the associated terminology. I suggest that you reconsider the strategy that you deploy to realize your life purpose. Especially consider your ideal quality/quantity ratio. You realize the value of PD and intend to share this wisdom with the world, and you have probably articulated your life purpose impact and decided that video is your medium. But who exactly do you wish to influence or impact in what way?

I don't know about numerology.. Daily horoscopes in newspapers and such stuff is clearly not grounded in truth, written by non-experts who exploit the Barnum effect. Too much dramatization. I want an intelligent discussion about numerology Allow me to begin with presenting a couple of thoughts on the subject. Firstly, our base 10 number system and the symbols '1', '2', etc. are arbitrary. The predictions from numerology has nothing to do with the numbers themselves. We only use numbers to describe phenomena. The question, then, is: Which type of phenomena may most accurately describe us as individuals? To what extent are we co-creators or responsible for our reality? I am very open to the possibility that reality reflects who we are, in a more ultimate sense. What I mean by this is that our geographical location, surroundings, personal attributes (name, birthday, personality), parents, etc. may not be random. If this is the case, then either: 1) The nature of our existence transcends life. Some force outside this lifetime has (had) an impact on this lifetime. 2) An entity outside of ourselves has (had) an impact on our existence, in particular this lifetime. 3) The particular environment that we are born into influences our lives in a holistic manner. The first two cases imply some sort of pre-birth intention. Numerology/astrology seem to be based on the uncovering and analysis of this intention and its correlation to our lives. Teal Swan claims that we come into this life with an intention to understand some aspect of ourselves. Dan Millman is enlightened and writes about numerology in his books. (According to his system, my life path is 35/8 ) Why do you dismiss numerology as BS?

The story thing. I dropped out of high school a couple of months ago. A time of introspection followed where all I did was basically karate, reading and thinking. I failed to find what I looked for - meaning and joy. Now I am learning web development. What I have been most passionate about is math, something that I just always liked. Activities that I was not exposed to through school or family, yet pursued and developed a passion for, are mainly game development and karate. How I came to pursue these activities.. I am attracted to the values honored in karate, and I played lots and lots of games as a child. Follows naturally.

Please consider: Some people like math, others detest math. The pleasure, the drive, that passion which you seek from doing an activity is not inherent in the activity itself. It comes from the meaning that you impose on the activity; Passion is an epiphenomenon. And you can change the meaning that you assign to different activities. Have you ever noticed that as you immersed yourself in an activity, you began to enjoy the activity more? This means that you have no inherent, or pre-existing, pre-determined passion. I propose that it isn't just futile or highly ineffective to search, given your current values, likes/dislikes, etc. for 'your passion' (which is work that you enjoy and find satisfactory?) - the search space is infinite, and thus you can never be sure to have found the perfect occupation. You need somehow to be okay with settling for your current, specific options. Notice also that you relate to work in an egocentric, 'what can the world offer me?'-way, the passion mindset as described by Cal Newport. Once you stop the search for passion, you will be able to adopt the craftsman mindset, 'what can I offer the world?'. You may want to read 'So Good They Can't Ignore You'. Stop trying to find the right work, and begin merely to follow opportunity.

I never found 'a reason' to do anything My search for motivation ended in vain; Through intellect, I never found 'justification'. Yet, I still feel an urge to realize my potential, become that which I can become. And so I do, just because that is what I happen to intent. To change the course of your life, choose one of two basic methods: 1. You can direct your energy and attention toward trying to fix your mind, find your focus, affirm your power, free your emotions, and visualize positive outcomes so that you can finally develop the confidence to display the courage to discover the determination to make the commitment to feel sufficiently motivated to do what it is you need to do. 2. Or you can just do it. -Dan Millman However, resistance is still very real. You should read 'The Path of Least Resistance'. It is the best book on creativity, or motivational frameworks, that I have ever read. Seek to gather principles for how to more effectively create that which you intent to create.

I don't and have virtually never lied. I never lie and am generally very straightforward. If I do something wrong I take responsibility, and I don't identify with the mockery or scorn. I would definitely lie in any scenario where I deemed it either personally convenient, or more compassionate. White lies to children (e.g. dead people go to heaven, Santa Claus exists, psychos are just confused; their motives aren't pure 'evil') don't justify as such a scenario. Yet, I don't go around proclaiming truth. I hide a lot of information. People may exert their Free Will not to know. But if a child asks a question, I tend to either dismiss the question or answer based on my true beliefs. I am able to notice which people tend to be more capable of honesty; A life filled with continuous lies and illusory schemes devised by authority seems to derive one from the capacity or tools necessary to cope with reality. There are no consequences within the safe and sound constructs of lies, and thus one takes an inappropriate approach to reality. As a child, I was absolutely driven insane by the moral fallacies and irrational behavior demonstrated by authority. I would argue that you either continue to live the lie, or experience the pain of the lie's dissolution later. I just don't get the point. Like, really, why do you lie? Please illuminate this for me.

My school experience can be summarized as follows in terms of 'success': Brilliant results > Conformist reprimands > Average results > Spark of aspiration > Brilliant results > Dropout I relate to what you say as I used to be straight A and extremely competitive within multiple of the academic Olympiads. Then in my second year of high school, I completely lost all motivation in an existential/spiritual depressive, nihilist critical way. What I have come to adopt is a very care-free, detached relation to motivation or outcome. I don't do very much, and I don't care very much about very much anymore, anyway. This leads to a feeling of restlessness. I would also be interested in any further advice.

See ya in the fall then I do not see enlightenment as an end goal. I foremost agree that self-mastery is the first step. However, I am not sure that it is necessary to separate service-to-self and service-to-others. In much the same way that it isn't necessary to separate enlightenment and transformation, if you have read 'Pursuing Consciousness'. I take a very integral approach to personal development. After the LP-course, I formulated a life intention (to grow and catalyze the growth of others). You may notice that with this intention, a positive feedback loop will be created; As I grow, I am better able to catalyze the growth of my environment and as they grow, they won't hold me back as much. Most of this is theoretical speculation though, I have yet to apply much of this in my own life... The future is bright!

Sure. Methods to cultivate motivation as in creating the desire to realize something Frameworks to understand the origin and dept of motivation For me, this discussion boils down to 'why do anything?' Was that not bound to come on a forum like this? Gotta ask end-of-the-road questions. This discussion took the usual, methodological, 'willpower-overcome-resistance' direction.

Please clarify your question. Really, there are several possible (and interesting) perspectives to motivation. Be more precise. And @99th_monkey I don't you that you can just dismiss a lack of motivation with 'why not?'. This certainly never sparked me into doing-mode or magically solved my procrastination issues - 'why not do homework?'. I can come up with good reasons (dropout xD).

I see you are interested in sleep science Optimizing sleep is important. Me - I sleep on plank pine. For the past three months, I have slept on the floor. (I take out a sleeping bag as a mat; My parents shouldn't know that I don't use the bed..) You sleep way, way better on the floor. I feel more energized and dream more vividly. Actually, it just happened that I slept in my bed the last two nights (memory foam mattress, no pillow) and here is my experience: I felt an uneasiness, being unable to relax properly. Frequently turning. I woke with a feeling of tension in my body. The best bed is no-bed. Our body is designed to sleep on the ground with our spine, our skeleton supporting our weight. When we sleep on a soft surface, we collapse and our weight is supported by the skin and our muscles. This inhibits muscle restoration, among other things.

I spontaneously quit 5 years ago, because I felt that TV was a pointless and mindless activity. I felt consumed, used to watch, maybe 1-2 hours daily. Benefits? Eh, idk, never thought about it. I guess I have more time and freedom. Trying to quit a habit is a push mechanism, negative motivation. I wouldn't suggest that you try to find motivation in anything resembling a cost-benefit analysis: Here are the benefits of quitting TV, here are the disadvantages. I do watch moving pictures on the Internet (no ads) whenever I feel like it. I have watched Lost, Gold Rush, Marvel, some anime (non-flat characters) and the occasional documentary.

When confronted with polarities that obviously need to be balanced in order to live well (homeless/toxic wealth, reactive/mindless, dogmatic/indecisive, being/doing, etc.), I have never liked to idea of dividing activities in time, e.g. Now I 'do' a little being, and now I do a little doing. As the others suggested, aim for the middle way - an integration of both polarities. Make your everyday life your meditation.