Ferdi Le

Hey, ya'll, I need your help! Some of you might know the book "The Big Leap" by Gay Hendricks. It is a very popular self-help book and recommended by Leo in his book list. The book has many very helpful concepts around the topic of Life Purpose. One of those concepts is his "zones" model. He basically argues that everything work-related we do fits into 1 of 4 zones. The purpose of this concept is to eventually spend most of your time in the so called "Zone of Genius". He gives a brief explanation about all the zones, but I think to grasp them on a deep level and henceforth be able to get to the Zone of Genius, it would be helpful to gather lots of examples for each Zone to understand them more deeply. Kinda like we did with the Spiral Dynamics Stages. I will share Gay hendricks definitions of the stages and then would like you to share examples where you can identify yourself in one of those stages with a brief explanation. And I mean not just the Zone of Genuis, because one most understand all the zones. You can also share examples of people that are not you (maybe with some Youtube-Clip or something like that) but it would be great the be rather certain in order to avoid projection. So here are the definitions: The Zone of Incompetence Made up of all the activities we are not good at (others can do them a lot better) The best way to handle most things in your Zone of Incompetence is to avoid doing them altogether. Delegate them to someone else, or find some other creative way to avoid doing them The Zone of Competence You are competent at the activities in the Zone of Competence but others can do them just as well When people are not expressing their full potential, they often get illnesses that have vague, hard-to-diagnose symptoms (chronic fatigue) The Zone of Excellence In the Zone of Excellence are the activities you do extremely well. You make a good living in your Zone of Excellence. For successful people, this zone is a seductive and even dangerous trap The temptation is strong to remain in the Zone of Excellence; it is where your own addiction to comfort wants you to stay. It is also where your family, friends, and organization want you to stay (this is especially true for family fathers who make a good living but actually have passion for something else; the family wont care about the passion because they are too attached to the comfort that comes with the good salary; they dont actually care about his inner fulfillment) The Zone of Genius Liberating and expressing your natural genius is your ultimate path to success and life satisfaction Your zone of genius is the set of activities you are uniquely suited to do. They draw upon your special gifts and strengths

@Leo Gura Has your attitude changed towards "Sperm Wars" and "The Red Queen"? You gave both books 5 stars I think, but they seem to be quite contrary to what you wrote today

Most of the topics discussed here are quite advanced. Be very strategic about what you consume at what time of your life. Leo always advocates acing life before you embark on this deeper journey. Do the basics first, and then come back. You need a sound basis for the advanced stuff. Leo did this as well. He earned lots of money with an Online Business, watched Tony Robbins, did PickUp etc. etc.

Hey Guys, I more and more notice that it gets impossible for me to get triggered or angry at other people. Whenever I encounter or see someone doing sth. I immediately understand where they come from and why I could not be any other way. Not even Sarah Palin really gets me anymore. Of course the more someone would directly hurt me, the less this would apply. But I see the progress. I think its really possible for someone to cut my hand off without me being authentically angry at this person. Of course this will probably take a while still. Do you notice this as well, and would you also think that this is a stage yellow sign? Because I don't feel this overwhelming compassion but its more like my mind puts together all the dots and understand why everything happens and that it can't be another way.

Finish LPC and implement to fuck out of it. It gives you enough theory, inner work and actions steps for the next 5-10 years

@bejapuskas I am trying to distinguish the "emotional compassion" and more the rational systems approach to why not to blame people. Of course these go hand in hand but I sometimes sense a difference between them.

@Joseph Maynor "Process actually is it’s own theory." Thanks for that great quote! Immediately got in my commonplace book

8.1 Today was great! Woke up at 11:00 (7 Hours of Sleep). Immediately worked for 1 hour, did my Meditation&Yoga. I then studied for University and went to the gym. (only very small distractions between). After gym, I went to University and had math. Broke my fast when I got home and ate. Then I worked for another 1,5 Hours and will now go to Sleep at 22:30.

The idea of having a crystal clear vision and a sense of purpose in life is a very popular one and also highly advocated by Leo. However, since my self-actualization journey I never really created a tangible, and clear vision. I build habits, did research, retreats, psychedelics, meditation etc. etc. but never created my personal vision/ big picture. This is important for me because you can not only utilize such a vision foe motivation but also use it as a "constitution" in order to judge things in life. Should I do this? Should I spend time with that person? Should I go to this college? Should I eat that thing? Should I watch this video? One can answer all those questions with the simple question: "Which decision brings me closer to my vision?" I am also aware that, eventually, I will have to drop even the most authentic vision but I shouldnt be a zen-devil and destroy the boat before I crossed the river. The change in my mind In the last couple of weeks, the intent of creating a vision grew stronger and stronger. All the difficulties I faced in the past (when doing the Life Purpose Course for instance) just seem not nearly as difficult compared to the tremendous impact a vision can have for my life. So I feel more and more ready to battle this task and I think Feburary and March will be the time! What do I plan to do: Getting clear about the vision I have for my career, the field where I can create massive value, the field where working will not feel like drudgery because the work is so aligned with my personal interests. The field where I can actually help people and give my creativity to solve one of mankinds present problems (and there a many ) Also creating a short term vision (2019) for how I want to progress on my personal journey Deciding how every month of 2019 will fit into those plans! Having a clear intention for all those months So what is the intention for January? Like the title says, the hero meets the blacksmith and gets the last weapons for creating his vision! What are those? Studying hard for my college exams! College will be a important thing to question in Feburary and March because it takes so much time and focus, and everything that takes so much focus should be ultra aligned! But in order to fairly judge my current major I need to perform good because if I fail at the exams I will automatically feel negative about it Setting up my mental infrastructure (my self-esteem) In order to create a powerful vision, I will have to be in a state of high confidence in myself and feel creative and visionary. This is only possible if I have a good January, otherwise I will simply not feel creative enough! What has to happen? I will learn from my biggest lesson in 2018 and change my days accordingly. My biggest lesson was that I spent my time not nearly as effective as I could. For instance Economy: Not doing deep research about the system but neurotically look at stock prices Pickup: Not really facing my fears and approach in difficult situation but create a fake Instagram account, watch RSD the whole day and bullshit with my friends The list goes on and on. I basically spent my time in originally "good" areas but focus on the shallow and unconscious parts of those areas (Not doing the emotionally difficult thing, doing the 80/20 rule in reverse) Not applying the things I already know as rigorously as I could/ should (my nutrition plan, my meditation, my addiction war etc. etc. So that will be my focus in January: Acing college, learning from my main lesson in 2018 (and hence bulding self-esteem). Also there are some minor goals like: Taking excellent notes on those videos How to escape wage slavery Distraction - The egos favorite defense mechanism Understanding Ego Backlash Finishing my book about central bank policy Taking one ice bath in a lake nearby Fixing a problem I have with my shoulder So the purpose of this journal is to keep track of all the 31 days of January and keep myself accountable!!!!

7.1 Today was a little better. Woke up at 11:00 (after 8 hours of sleep). However I was not waking up by myself but from the door bell so it is possible that I could have slept even more which would have been annoying. After waking up, I spent some time talking with my sister. She was out of town for 3 months so there is a lot to talk about. I then got some university stuff done (a power point presentation and a little learning). This was, however, not real deep work because I got distracted a lot. In the late afternoon, we went to a resturant because my sister also had her birthday today. Between learning and going to the resturant I kinda wasted the time (dont exactly know what I did anymore but I mostyl ate some food in order to not eat at the resturant). I did, however eat something there nevertheless, which was the first unhealthy meal this year unfortunately. After the resturant I ordered a new mixer for my smoothies and made a great deal! I also talked some shit with my sisters boyfriend and read some stock market news. I also got distracted by a personal issue which created some jealousy. Just before writing this, I took notes on a book for about an hour and will now do my meditation&yoga. All in all, the day was slightly better, but still not good at all

I experience resistance writing today. But this is, I think, where the growth is! Not just going to Sleep when you are unsatisfied with the day but having to write it down. Again and again and again. Today was not good! I had, like I said yesterday, the whole day free. I woke up at 11:00 (8 Hours of Sleep). I actually wanted to get up at 9:00 but I more and more think that my Body just takes as much Sleep as it Needs. Kinda like a physiological mechanisms that "I" cannot Control. My partents think that I am just lazy and Maybe I am, but I usually have good willpower when it Comes to other Things. I then worked a Little bit, and did Research for an 1 hour. After that I did yoga and Meditation for approx 1,5h. So far so good! After Meditation I called with a friend for 3 Hours. The conversation was very helpful and we talked About so many Things but 3 Hours is a lot of time nevertheless. After the call I had a Long conversation with my mother for over an hour which was also very helpful but the day felt like it was over and I dod not fell as though I achieved as much as I wanted. And this is were Things really went south. My mixer, which I had Trouble with yesterday, broke today completely. So I could not drink my spinach (which is a daily Habit of mine which is extremely important for me). I was also frustrated because now I Need to buy a new mixer for 250$. tried to fix it, find another mixer because I had another one a year ago but wasnt sure if I still had it. I did not found one and was just frustrated. The Frustration grew stonger because it combined with my Frustration About the day and the whole Thing put me kinda in a paralysis. Now it is again 1:00 and I will probably again Sleep way to Long tomorrow. This shit is (going to bed too late, getting up too late) is spreading like a Virus. Instead of having 3 solid work days, I did not much today at all and now have way more pressure for tomorrow. Lessons I will have to be more relaxed About Money. A mixer is one of the most important Party of my infrastructure and it helps me getting in Wonderful nutrients which will have various Benefits. Of Course 250$ is a lot but it is worth it without a doubt! I have to manage my Sleep (even though I really dont know how because I have this Problem since like ever) I have to talk less! And this is not meant in a "motivational speech" Kind of way but much more simplistic. I talked today for Hours (with my friend and mother) and just come to believe that whenever I talk that much, I inevitably create stories and Play ego games. Talking is way to comfortable for the ego. I Need to do more contemplation, Meditation, inner work! But whenever I talk About Things, my ego Always finds some cool Things to say and share and this makes me skeptical. This insight is very Fresh but it just seems that Talking a Long time can easily produces self-deception.

Shinzen Young is great for stage yellow porn (not that he is not beyond stage yellow but the way to explains mindfulness etc.) Yale university has also excellent lectures on various topics

5.1 Today was though Slept until 11:00 instead of 9:00. Only had 9 hours of sleep, which is just 1-2 more than normal but it still felt that half of the day was already over. Even worse, I had a meeting at 1:00 so I did not even have time to do my meditation in the morning which I hate. So I basically went to the meeting, then immediately to work (where I worked 6 hours) and after that, it was already 9pm. I then went staright to the gym and was at home at 11:00pm. Now, another 3 hours went by where I ate my 3 meals and had a conversation with my dad. My stand mixer from kitchenaid also had a problem and it took 20 minutes to fix that. I also some minutes here and there on youtube which has got to stop because these minutes accumulate so quickly. My habits are giong pretty well despite the stress. No Fap Meditation Reading Reviewing Notes Spinach Dark Chocolate Yoga Cold Shower 3x Apple Cider Vinegar are all in place! Still have to do my meditation now at 2am which is annoying because I dont want to do the most important habit in my life when I am tired. The next three days I have close to no obligations and will deep work the shit out of some projects. (maybe even pop some armodafinil) I will: Finish a book I am reading and taking notes on Finish Leos Video "Distraction - The egos favorite defense mechanism" Improve some of my infrastructure Have a strategy call with a friend about an important project Learn math, and economics

4.1 Jesus it is already 1:30. Times flies when you waste it, haha! The day started "ok". Woke up a Little later then I planned, but still did yoga and Meditation after waking up (Meditation only for 22 minutes unfortunately). Then I drank my apple cider vinegar and ate my cinnemon (both to lower resting Glucose Levels). I then realized that I had to do a presentation at University today. It is just amazing how fast you can Change from being Pretty comfortable in you schedule to being completely stressed out. However, I was stressed because I got in stress but I tried to detach from the stress. So I still hurried and ran to the Train, but I did not take it seriously simulteaneously. This was good Progress because the real Problem of being in hurry or in stress is not the stress itself but bein attached to it and taking it too seriously. When you Need a Train, dont be a zen-devil and deliberately miss it but instead run but simultaneously make fun of yourself running to a Train just to be at a Meeting. I then went to for for 5 Hours, got to college, prepeared my presentation and had another "fauxpax". I was actually at the false Building so I had to drive 20 minutes even though I had to present. Again, I hurried but stayed relaxed at the same time! The presentation was perfect even though I did not put too much work in it. Tried to be strategic and it worked! Then it was already 9pm and I went home. I immediately started preparing my Food because I did not want to unnecessarily lose time in the evening. After I prepared my chocolate and blueberries, I was very hungry (after 22 Hours of fasting) but decided to meditate just for a couple of seconds in order to delay the gratification a bit and become less neurotic and more present during Eating (I also appreciate this practice in Christianity where People pray instead of just stuffing themselves with Food immediately). After that I ate my main meal. This time Pasta instead of eggs (because I ran out of eggs unfortunately) and then, lastly, drank my spinach. So far so good! At at 23pm I started to talk with my sister and we actually talked for more than 1 hour. The conversation was very nice but this is still problemetic because know I will only Sleep at 2am and will have tourble getting up tomorrow. Lets see how it goes. PS: It is crazy how fast life goes on! New Year feels like yesterday but already 1/6 of January is over! I have to stay ontrack!

3.1 Today was a mixed, but mostly good day! I slept 2 hours too much which put a little bit pressure in the morning but I still managed to meditate and do yoga and go to college comfortably. There I just spent to time with autodidactism. I learned for my accounting exam. I made good and important progress but in retrospect, I think I culd have been quicker! After that I worked a little (I work online for a blog) and then started to take notes on Distraction - The egos favorite defense mechanism. I only watched 5 minutes until I couldnt help myself but research in depth about Freuds Theory of Defense Mechanisms in general. I think a solid understanding about that willl help me get even more out of Leos Video. After about being there for 8 hours, I went home. Today, I managed my evening perfectly. I eat my first meal mindfully while just looking out the window and focusing on the sensations of the food (dark chocolate and blueberries) and also cooked and ate my second meal (eggs with cheese) mindfully without my smartphone or other input. During this mindful eating, I realised that I still eat way too much food and also that my modus operandi is to chew incredibly fast! I will definetly work on that! After eating I started this journal and wrote for apporx 1 hours. Now I will drink my spinach smoothie, take a shower and go to sleep!

1.1 and 2.1 Unfortunately, I had the idea of creating this journal today so I have to do the journaling for the first two days now! The "new year day" was a pretty decent start into January. I slept until 10am (which were not more than 6 hours) because I made the strategic decision not the "party" the new years eve. I did my most important habits: Meditation Intermittent Fasting Yoga Gym NoPorn I also worked for some time for an important presentation in college. At the end of the day however, I had an annoying conversation with my dad that lasted for almost an hour and kinda threw me of my schedule and took me in a bad energy state. Yesterday was not at all optimal. I got the "reward" from going to bed later the evening before and almost overslept. Hence I had to hurry to class, in which I did not focus but mostly talk shit with a class-mate. This is unacceptable! i cannot spend 3 hours in class without actually following the material. I tried to apply leos concept of "awareness alone is curative" and became pretty aware of what a waste of time this was! After class, I worked an a project, then had a meeting with class mates and after that, watched "How to escape wage slavery" and took notes. The evening was again not optimal. I do intermittent fasting and only eat when I come home, mostyl at 7-9pm. But I often times waste a lot of time during eating my meal and also after my meal because I get fatigue. This is horrible because I sometimes spent time this was, doing nothing really, and even destroying my sleep cycle which then is already the beginning of a bad start for the next day!

I just had a very strange and scary experience and kinda want to share it. Couple hours ago, I watched a movie called Requiem for a Dream. I dont want to spoiler anything, but the movie put me in a strange mood of high awareness. I watched it in my room which was pretty dark. After the movie was over, I went to the bathroom which was very bright and looked in the mirrow. This already felt pretty intense. Kind of like when you are on LSD and change the room and you strongly experience the energy shift and the 3-d nature of the room becomes more clear and visible. I actually felt like on a small LSD dose. However, this did not last very long because my sister came in. After that I just contemplated and read some stuff on the Internet about the movie. Right before going to sleep, I was just skimming the forum a little bit to distract myself. I then read @TheAvatarState post and this heavily elevated my already heightened state of awareness. It ialso ínspired me to meditate. I somehow had the intuition to meditate on the theme song of the movie I watched earlier. For these who dont know the song, it gets more and more intense and is just a master piece of art. So I put on my noice cancelling headphones and started meditating on the music crossed legged on the ground. Immediately it was an extremely intense experience. But it got more and more intense as the music progressed. The song actually builds up and then kind of has a point of release. So as the song got more and more intense, I experienced crazy emotions. First my body began to shake heavily and then I had an extremely strange thought. Actually it was not a thought but more something I was seeing and could not stop unless I opened my eyes. Kinda like a movie in your mind which you a forced to see. What was I seeing? I was seeing myself dying and extremely distrubed family members running to me, completely devestated trying to talk to me and keep me alive. Me body reacted heavily to this and I almost screamed. I did not last to the climax of the song because it got too intense and I was too scared. I instead opened my eyes and had this really intense awareness. It again felt like opening your eyes after looking at closed eye visuals on lsd. I dont really know what to make out of this experience but just wanted to get it of my shoulders for some reason. Good night and thanks for reading

Hello, I plan to do my second Vipassana course at the end of the year. The first time went relatively well. The only problem was that my legs and back hurt a lot. Do you know any good yoga or stretching routines (maybe 20-30m per day) that would help to sit with less pain with crossed legs Thanks!

I contemplated this trip for some time now and want to share my main insight/ "action step" with you. So on LSD I realized that my ego is an illusion. This leads to a very neurotic and needy perception of reality (always judging everything based on my self agenda). The problem is that the western lifestyle is just like this huge Ego-Feast. So its pretty hard to simultaneously be aware of the illusion of the ego and live in a western country (from my current perspective) So the logical step for me would be to become a monk. Because when you think about it a monk lifestyle pretty much does not require an identity. You just eat, sleep and meditate. There cant be much of a illusion because you (as a monk) spend almost all time just being conscious But this right now is not really an option for me (various reasons but porbably courage issues) So I asked myself: How can I implement this? How can I not just "go back as usual? And my main insight is (besides meditating more etc.) to just not take my ego seriously anymore. I still have to live in a society and do various kinds of things but I want to try to always be self-aware of the fact that all these issues my ego takes to fucking seriously dont have to be that way. Instead of actually being pissed when the traffic is bad, I want to laugh about my ego actually wanting to be pissed about such a banality. So basically being self-aware of "my egos life" and seing it as this extremely funny comedy. Of course this is just my perspective as of right now and my views can very likely change. But I contemplated a lot and this was what felt best for right now (lets wait what Lucy will tell me next tme )

Hello, Couple days ago I took about 500mics of LSD. I took LSD before but this was by far the craziest trip. I started after 20 minutes with some nice visuals and more intense body sensations. Then the trip got more and more intense. I know about enlighnment and ego-death from a intellectual perspective but was not actively trying to achieve those states. The trip just went without me controlling anything. What happened was that alot of "concepts" I just normally take for granted completely collapsed. For instance the concept of family seemed to be a complete illusion. My family members in my mind did not seem different anymore to any other people. I kind of left my identity and realized that an "ego" is pretty much a prison but when exposed an complete illusion. It suddenly was so fucking obvious. We dont actually exist!!!! It was so obvious that it was actually funny. The mere look on my passport caused laughter. We actually have IDs for our egos! What a joke! Also Actualized.org seemed so silly. This forum! We debate and write so much about the most obvious thing! Or VIpassana retreats. People meditate 10hours to see the most ovious thing there is! My question: How can one live with such insights in everyday life? Because everybody expects you (consciousness) to be your ego. Ego life just seemed soo silly. So how can enlighned being live while taking themselves seriously. From my state: Everything just seemed like a lie an illusion and fucking ridicilous. I somehow left that state after a while and got into a rather uncomfortable phase of the trip. It lasted around 15hours but is not relevant for now.

Hello, Yesterday I experienced something that I still cant really figure out. I had a nice evening with a couple of friends. We eat dinner, played some table tennis in my friends garden and just enjoyed ourselves. My friend then came up with the idea of smoking some weed and what followed was the most intense trip I have ever had in my life. My experience thus far: I smoked weed multiple times with vey little effect on me I took LSD twice (100ug and 400ug) and had nice but not too intense trips I meditated every day for 2,5 years When I took LSD I always prepared my trip very carefully (meditating for 2 hours, not eating, being very positive, clean safe room etc.). Yesterday however I did none of these things because I did not consider weed do have an real psychedelic effect. I eat a lot of food, my mind was pretty wild and I was not at all prepared for a trip. Then I took a couple of very deep smokes and immediately felt more relaxed. I totally lost touch with the sotuation and did not notice my friends anymore. I sat in my chair and started doing some Vipassana Meditation because my body snesations were so intense. I felt an extremely warm sensation in my stomach which after a couple of seconds became an extremely stong pleasure sensation. I experienced what I would think of Heroin to be like. I probably looked like someone who just smoked Heroin because I was just sitting, totally relaxed with intense pleasure. This lastes for probably a couple of minutes. After that I began to have more intense closed-eye visuals. My body began to dissolve and my body-sensations were just waves in a vast cosmos of nothingness. I did not experience my body nor my identity anymore. But then this strong sensation in my stomach came back. It was not comfortable anymore. Imagine a sensation that is so intense that you just cant hnadle it anymore. And to more I let go, the more intense it got and until it exploded into nothingness and started again. This lastes for another 30 minutes until I then had to throw up multiple times and slowly got better. My question: How the hell can such a tiny amount of weed (!) create such an intense psychedelic experience? Did anyone of you experience anything like this on weed?

not necessarily. One of greens dangers is being too idealistic and "lazy". More discipline is definately part of transceding to yellow

@stevegan928 of course it is not that simplistic. To clarify my thoughts: -Green is generelly interested in spirituality, divine love, shakras etc. But a lot of green people just want to take psychedelics and go to a festival or do a 30 minute group meditation sitting and then spend hours singing kumbaya -Yellow is of course also into non duality etc. but has the big picture understanding of how hard it actually is to liberate your mind. During vipassana retreats, the techer SN Goenka always proclaims how important it is to "work diligently" and he says one must meditate 2 hours for the rest of his life etc. My view: Green people want to deny the amount of hard, rigirous work it takes to really advance onesself. And the woman in the video is basically just complaining that the silent meditation is too difficult This is basically the way to transcend to yellow. You take the love, compassion, goodwill and empathy from green but combine it with discipline and systems thinking Would love to hear your thoughts

This is Green negatively reacting to yellow. She is obviously interested in spirituality and love but not willing to approach it with "hard and serious work"

Hello, after listening to Leos most recent videos, I got very interested in Spiral Dynamics and am currently contemplating what stage Angela Merkel is at. I am from germany and if some of you from the US have not noticed, we have a huge ongoing debate about immigration. So you can argue that Merkels policy is green but then I wonder if she is actually green, just because her INTENTIONS are. Because green people know wha consequences their actions have, and as I will point out, they are not actually as good as it may sound. What the perspectives would be: Green: Merkel and co. are actually just extremely compassionate and really think that letting so many people into Europe without slightly vetting them would make their lives better and improve Europes society (to solve the demographic problem). BUT: The policy actually doesnt help anybody It does not at all change the root problem which is environmental destruction and the complex situation in Africa It creates a huge danger for Europe because most of these immigrants come into the country without being vetted It eventually will be very destructive for Europe because most of these immigrants are heavily blue (Muslim fundamentalists) and blue also has the desire to take over societys who do not believe in their "absolute truths" (you can see this with Saudi Arabia financing mosques in Europe) and the at least Germany is already changing very rapidly month by month. So of course Europe is heavily orange which is not very evolved but this Islamic blue will take us back decades (close to medieval europe). Some jews are alrwady leaving France because they are the first target of the new blue attacks By sending messages to Africa etc. that Germany will take all refugees and that there is no such thing as a contingent, she is encouraging all the young men to leave their familes und get in huge danger An Islamic Blue Europe will not be able to invent new methods to protect the environment etc. I could probably come up with much more So Merkels policy could sound extremely green and loving and kind but if you look deeper seems just destructive to me (not great systems thinking). So what stage would you say her policy is? DISCLAIMER: This is not xenophobic or nazi talk. Not at all. I am a heavy supporter of changing problems for all people in all countries. But this policy IMO is not solving anything but creating much damage