Edicts Pt. 1

This is an assortment of edicts I try to hold myself by, as of June 2020. They are inspired by my reading, life experience, and moments of tranquility and clarity. As my conscience “grows”, and I come up with more, I will post installments to this series. Do note that these edicts are not written as admonishments — they serve as a reference — I use them to remind myself of insights I’ve gathered over time. A diary of the conscience, if you will.

Edicts

• Be bold.
• Be strong.
• Be grateful.
• Addict to the right things.
• Avoid catastrophic thinking.
• Don’t look back or reminisce.
• If you want life, don’t cling to it.
• Take advantage of your clear moments.
• Always keep the 30,000ft view in view.
• Don’t take anything so seriously that it loses its worth.

• Be fast and be efficient.
• Have a strong action bias.
• Don’t stop — inertia kills.
• Work. Your legacy will follow.
• Stay in motion and keep running.
• Establish your core principles, and stick to them.
• Look on the bright side of every occurrence.
• Wake up as if you’re meeting Jocko Willink for breakfast.
• If you have to choose, overreach instead of not reaching at all.
• Invigorate your team, so they invigorate you. If not, you will all fail.

• Continually look low enough to find God.
• Don’t question what is right to do. Do what is right.
• Avoid lazy and miserable people — they are dangerous.
• Always take the set of actions that are most likely to make the future better.
• Make decisions with speed and decisiveness, and when you make a decision, keep it.
• Examine where the extreme of any action leads, and proceed only if the extreme is good.

• Live one day at a time.
• Live life like a lucid dream.
• Live permanently in “post-nut clarity”.
• Be grateful to the gods from the bottom of your heart.
• Before you eat something, picture it passing through your digestive system.
• Every bit of free time you get is an opportunity to work. Take that opportunity!
• Be motivated and driven enough to inspire those around you to be motivated and driven.
• Do everything knowing it will come to an end. You’re in a movie, and you’ve got a job to do. Take every step with purpose.

Reminders

• You can do this.
• You don’t know enough to worry.
• The fool is the precursor to the hero.
• Freedom is earned one step at a time.
• Successful pessimists don’t exist, by definition.
• The fewer items that you own, the fewer items own you.
• Discipline is both more useful and truthful than wishing.
• You are the rearranged genetic potential of your ancestors.
• All you have is the present, and what you do not have you cannot lose.
• Salvation begins with you. All religions are just sneaky ways to show you that God and you are one and the same.

Miscellaneous Notes

• Don’t search for meaning unless you’re sure you want it.
• Primates under pressure are magnificent beings. Pressure is a needed multivitamin.
• A wild man can tame himself to live in society. A tame man cannot become wild as easily. The wild man can do both. Be wild.