benny

@Danioover9000 Good lord man, it was a joke! Yes, everyone, the video is really long. I guess tongue-in-cheek humor doesn't translate well over a forum.

I thought this was really profound and wanted to share A profound purpose is one that brings the collective into closer alignment with high consciousness values - Truth, Love, growth, beauty, understanding, excellence, creativity, etc.

I need a few principles for note taking that will cut my reading time down. I spend wayyyyy too much time assessing text and trying to jot down every bit of info I think is important. I want to get through one book on Leo's book list per week. Right now it's taking me anywhere form 1-2 months per book. What are the principles for quick, effective note taking?

I want to build wealth and achieve financial independence. Just starting to learn about finance, investing, and financial literacy in general. Looking for guidance. Thanks. P.S. I am also open to suggestions outside investing. If, for example, there is some way I could spend the money to deepen my growth in a substantial way, I'm open to those types of suggestions too.

@Gesundheit2 Please say more.

@Leo Gura What's wrong with that?

@Leo Gura I probably wasn't going to go with this option, and this really seals the deal for me. Thanks for your guidance. I've been running this by people in my own life who I really admire and respect. One of those people is my uncle, who, over the course of his career as a serial entrepreneur, has generated vast wealth for himself. Let me run his perspective by you and get your thoughts, if you don't mind. Three points to put the conversation into context: 1. My money is actually already tied up in stocks. I didn't include that information in my initial post because I didn't realize how relevant it would be to the discussion. 2. My portfolio is being managed by a highly reputable manager who works for one of the big investment firms. I was able to leverage family connections to get my foot in the door (i.e. he manages my parent's money, so he took me on despite not meeting the financial requirements for his typical clients). 3. The stocks are in a TFSA (tax-free savings account). I'm not sure if you have something similar in the US, but essentially I can withdraw that money whenever I want without penalty and it is 100% tax free, including any dividends and capital gains I make from investments. From my uncle: · Do not cash out. Stay in the market. You want exposure. · Do not put the cash into the S&P 500. A good money manager is supposed to be able to beat the S&P 500, or any index for that matter · Get my financial adviser to explain his strategy for the next 12 months, then run it by my uncle. · For life purpose o Create excel spreadsheet o Know what resources you need, their cost, and why you need each resource. o Create a budget: what are you going to spend, on what, and when? If need be, you can liquidate part of the portfolio to cover expenses. That's it. Your insight and guidance is greatly appreciated.

Option 6: Put my current savings into an ETF and then work to build an addition 30k to use on LP Pros: I get the benefits of the cash for LP/investing in self and I put myself on track to generate wealth Cons: It will take me roughly 2.5-3 years to generate the 30k. During that time, very little time to invest in personal dev or my LP. I'll also be 29-30 and still not on track with LP. Also, all the work (or at least some of it) that I've done in the LPC will be outdated. I'm writing this as a way of processing my thoughts, but I welcome any insight or perspective.

Alright, so I've spent my morning contemplating this. The way I see it, I have five options. 1. Invest in stocks 2. Invest in S&P 500 ETF, contribute 20-30% of my monthly earnings each month, and let it grow. 3. Invest in businesses 4. Learn about and invest in crypto 5. Invest in myself, my life, and my life purpose Option 1: invest in stocks Basically, the appeal here is that I can leverage family connections to get a highly reputable financial advisor who works for one of the big firms to manage my money. There is also a very small chance of exponential growth. The downsides are (1) I can't touch the money; (2) at best, I can realistically expect 7-10% return annually, which in unsubstantial at 30k; (3) there is an equal, of not better chance of losing some, if not most, of the money; (4) I cannot use the money to invest in myself; (5) can't touch the money for years Option 2: Invest in S&P 500 ETF This is more appealing than option 1. It's much safer, less stress, and, given historical averages, I can expect 8-10% growth annually. The compound interest, coupled with a 20-30% contribution of my monthly earnings each month, would generate substantial wealth in 20-30 years. Also, in Canada, we have something called a TFSA (tax-free savings account). All the money in that account, including all interest and profits, are 100% tax-free. The downside: (1) can't touch the money for literal decades. (2) best case scenario, I'm in my mid-late forties by the time it materializes into anything substantial (I'm currently 27). Worst case scenario, I'll be in my early 60s. (3) There is still some risk and I could still end up losing the money. (4) in 20-30 years, 1-4 million dollars will not be worth as much as it is now. Option 3: Invest in businesses The upside here is potential for high ROI with rigorous due diligence. I'd also be investing in someone and their vision, rather than a stock, which I like. There's also potential for learning a lot about the market sector of the business I invest in. Drawbacks: (1) I'd have to learn a lot about investing in businesses. I know absolutely nothing about it. (2) I'd have to do a lot of homework about the company before investing. (3) this option doesn't excite me. (4) I have no contacts I can leverage to make myself a valuable angel investor. All I have is 30 grand. (5) I don't have a direct impact. The people I invest in are the ones making the impact. (6) Diverts tons of time away from my life purpose. (7) Can't touch the money for years. (8) Could easily lose it all as a naïve investor. (9) I can't help but think of something I learned from Eben Pagan: employee ---> self-employed ---> biz owner ---> investor ---> philanthropist. Seems I'm out of sequence with this option. Option 4: Learn about and invest in crypto Upside: I'll learn about an important emerging technology, there's potential for massive ROI (with lots of due-diligence), and I'll learn a lot about finance and investing Downsides: (1) All of my time is diverted away from LP. All my time will be spent learning about this field. (2) this option doesn't stir me. (3) much less investment in myself - my natural strengths, core competencies, etc. (goes for all options so far). (4) crypto is extremely volatile and there is a high likelihood of losing everything; (5) my life will be devoid of vision, meaning, and purpose; my life will be about money and investing, rather than meaning, impact, and contribution; (6) drastically lower capacity to invest in myself. Option 5: Invest in myself, my life purpose The upsides: (1) I'll have capital to invest in myself and my biz - I can pay for books, professionals who can help me develop my natural strengths and core competencies, coaches, consultants, workshops and seminars, courses, private communities/mastermind groups, therapy, coaching. In short I have much more power to move forward and actualize my life purpose. (2) $$$ for high quality website. (3) Massive personal growth. (4) Enables me to develop mastery in my chosen domain. (5) excitement and meaning in pursuing my life purpose (intelligently and strategically, of course) and having the freedom to move forward. (6) Guaranteed returns by investing in myself and my biz. (7) investing in myself has always paid the highest returns. Downsides: (1) lump sum gradually shrinks; the investment in myself is what would be used to generate value in the long run. This entails greater responsibility because it's on me, which makes this option scarier (this, of course, is how you build a profound life. Taking more and more responsibility for my life has always led to better and better outcomes, and this is an opportunity to take more responsibility. In this sense, this is actually an upside). (2) what if I want to switch directions? Will the money I spent still be of value?

@Hello from Russia Could you elaborate on that? What exactly do you mean by eco-friendly home? What do you mean by systems?

@Leo Gura I hear you. I'm going to contemplate this tomorrow and make a decision. Thanks Leo.

@Leo Gura So courses, workshops, investing in my LP, books, coaches/consultants. Would you recommend anything else? Also, wouldn't the compound interest on a 30k investment in a strong ETF likely pay off big-time in the long run?

@A_v_E Great point. I wouldn't learn a lot by sticking it all into an ETF. Gives me something to think about.

@A_v_E The ETF may be lazy, but it's still a viable strategy. I am focusing all of my time and energy into two domains: Personal Finance and Life Purpose (with the overwhelming majority of my time being spent on the latter). The way I see it, the ETF produces steady growth and frees my time to focus on my work.

@Yarco This was extremely helpful, thank you! As far as bedding, dental, tooth brush, etc. All that is covered. My 30 grand is entirely free for investing. I think I'm going to put all of it into an ETF like you mentioned and contribute a fixed amount of money per month to buy more stock. I'm in this for the long haul; more of a get-rich-slow mentality. That compounding interest is very appealing to me.

From a big-picture standpoint, my life is going really well. I have an awesome girlfriend, great friends, A1 self-care, meditation, as well as a job I have a lot of fun doing. Thing is, I don't know my purpose. I've taken Leo's LPC, and it has helped me gain lots of clarity. At first I wanted to do something like Leo's actualized.org. Personal development helped me turn my life around, and a lot of that was because of Leo's content. I'm still putting together a little project where I speak in front of the camera and talk about a personal dev topic. We'll see where that leads. I know that I'm a strong writer. Words have always come naturally to me. I'm also writing an essay on the same personal dev topic that I'm planning on shooting a video for, just to see which medium I prefer working in, and which one gets better reception from the people I send them out to. My concern with the videos is that I'd essentially just be copying Leo. My concern with the writing is that people don't want to read lengthy blog posts. And how could I even get paid well to write a personal development blog anyway? Then I thought about going back to school and getting my masters so I can become a therapist. I had a traumatic childhood - severe emotional abuse from my NPD father. The attractive aspect of this path is that I have a very well-defined niche that I could derive a lot of meaning from: helping men who grew up with emotionally abusive fathers work through their trauma. That resonates deeply. I just don't know. I feel like I've a hit a bit of a snag and I'm feeling discouraged. It felt good to write this though, and to send it out to you guys.

@Vincent S That's a beautiful sentiment. Thank you! The thing is, I have a deep conviction that I will figure this out. I believe in myself. Even when I was a teenager and in my early 20s, and I had all these issues, I still had a deep conviction that I would live a successful life. Six years later, with steadfast dedication to the work, I have, to a very large degree, done just that.

I definitely want to to help people. I became a certified coach and I have coached roughly 100 hours with a variety of people. I get some gratification from the work, though I don't know if I'd say it "lights a fire" inside me. I like the idea of becoming a therapist and using EMDR to help men work through their traumatic childhoods, but there's a difference between liking the idea of something and actually enjoying it. Again, I love to write. I'd say it's my signature strength. The thing for me is that over the course of six years, I used self help and therapy and unwire a multitude of toxic habits, break a number of addictions, overcome serious OCD, become socially confident, develop a rock-solid friends group, get an awesome girlfriend, clean up my diet, establish a regular exercise routine, create a strong work ethic, and much more. This has easily been the most profound journey of my life (and the most rewarding) and I want to help others achieve these kinds of results as well. That's the impact I want to have. The question is: how?

Hi. I'm going to give a bird's eye view of my current life circumstances and I'd love to hear people's perspectives on how I can continue to move forward constructively. I think it could be a powerful exercise and potentially provide some valuable insight and guidance. Thank you all in advance for taking the time to help me. I'll break my life down in terms of domains (e.g. relationships, health, career, etc.). I aim to keep it short, so no walls of text you need to wade through General info I'm a 26 year old male (27 next month). Born to an upper middle class family. Only child. Independent now and making my own way in the world. Came from an abusive background and was really fucked up because of it (deficit in all domains of life, depression and anxiety, low self-esteem, etc.). Through five years of concerted effort to grow and turn my life around, I've made massive progress. The results are written out below. Relationships (familial) Very close relationship with my mom. I lucked out. My mother is one of the best people I know. Incredibly positive, incredibly supportive. Incredibly loving. She's awesome. My biological father is toxic stage red/orange. Has a short temper, verbally and emotionally abusive. He can also be attentive, loving, and supportive. He lives on the opposite side of the country, so my relationship with him, prior to going no contact 6 months ago, was conducted over the phone. I haven't seen him in 3 years, I haven't spoken to him in six months. It causes me a lot of pain because, naturally, there's a part of me that wants my father in my life. He isn't always awful, but when he is, he's truly awful. I suspect he has narcissistic personality disorder. I'm currently reflecting on whether or not I want to reconcile. Relationships (platonic) I have 3 friends and a few acquaintances (who are friends of my friends). I'm super close with my best friend. We love each other and we're at the point where we openly express it. He has my back and I have his. I'm incredibly grateful for his friendship. My other two friends aren't as close, but they're still good friends and I enjoy their company. I'd like to add 1 or 2 more good friends to the roster. I consider myself pretty confident and outgoing, generally speaking. I wasn't always that way and it took a lot of work to get there. Relationships (romantic) Used to be absolutely clueless. had one long-term relationship from 18-21. It was super toxic and co-dependent because we were both really insecure. Discovered pickup at 22, which I dabbled in for a couple of years (on-again-off-again). Went on between 150-300 dates from 22 to now (you stop counting after a while). Have probably slept with about 50ish women (again, stopped counting). Only 2 or 3 of the women I've dated ever expressed interest in being exclusive. I turned them down because I felt I'd be settling. Most of the women I've dated I've fucked it up with within 1-8 weeks of the dating phase (avg. week 2 or 3). Was recently seeing a woman for a couple of months and things were going really well. She's currently in Japan for the summer for work, so that's on ice. I am currently doing a deep dive into this area of my life, doing 3 cold approaches Monday-Friday. Sometimes I slack off and don't approach though. My target is 2000 approaches. So far I've done 111. I'm also reading How to Be a 3% Man by Corey Wayne. I've also studied how to have amazing sex, which has translated into incredible experiences in the bedroom. I credit @Leo Gura, in part, with his videos on sexuality. They really helped me become conscious of how to fuck a woman properly. Thanks, Leo! Finances and business I have 30 grand in the stock market. It's being managed by a very well-regarded financial advisor. The only reason he took on my portfolio is because he manages my mom and step dad's portfolio. I'm well below the minimum networth this guy usually requires, so I'm very fortunate. I have about 4 grand in cash and that represents my living money. I've been collecting government assistance since March of 2020 since being laid off from my job as a server due to covid. During that time, I acquired my life coaching certification through iPEC, as well as my personal training certification through ACE. I have hired a business consultant who specializes in helping coaches build full-time coaching practices and I'm doing the work to build my practice each day. I've also been applying to all the gyms and fitness studios in the city to get work as a trainer while I build my practice. Currently have 2 paid clients as a coach; nowhere near paying my bills (which are already pretty modest, given my frugal lifestyle), but it's a start! Health I exercise at the gym 4 days per week, not counting all the walking and biking I do (I do not own a car; can't afford one right now). I'm a vegetarian. All my meals are whole foods (and organic, where I can afford it). Tons of veggies, fruits, oats, eggs, almond milk, almond butter, brown rice, lentils, chickpeas. I look great and I feel great. I'm 5'9, weighing in at 150lbs. I also get 7-8 hours of sleep per night, meditate every single morning for 20 minutes, and express gratitude for 3 things in my life every morning. Mental health Overcame my pure obsessional disorder (subtype of OCD) with CBT and personal development. Still have OCD but now it's just for cleanliness and order, which doesn't cause any distress. Also get depressive episodes and anxiety. When I'm happy and in a good place, I'll feel on top of the world. Happy periods vary in length. When I'm depressive, it can be very taxing emotionally. Depressive periods tend to last 4-8 weeks, and then I feel really happy for a while. Typically my depressive episodes are catalyzed by some sort of stressor in my life. Need to go to therapy and work this stuff out. Productivity I wake up early (6:45am). Sometimes I lay in bed until as late as 7:30am. This is a self-control issue I want to get handled. I work in block time. 3 blocks for 2 hours each. I take every Saturday off, and every second week I take a two-day weekend. Hobbies Guitar, archery, cooking, hiking, and writing. Writing, as I continue to build my business, will become a central component of my life purpose and will be more than just a hobby. Addictions Don't drink, smoke, or do hard drugs. I smoke marijuana once every couple of months. I've also recently started taking psychedelics again after a five year hiatus, this time for personal growth. I intend to do them 2-4 times per year. I do not watch porn. I do not drink. I don't drink coffee. I don't have social media (except FB for business). Don't smoke cigs. I have a web browsing addiction. I can also distract myself with daydreams when I should be working. I've made huge progress in developing focus and continue to work on it. And that is my life in a nutshell. If you have any questions, insights, etc., I'd love to hear what you have to say.

This question has been on my mind for a while. I think most people, with true determination and reasonable intelligence, can grow and reach high levels of personal growth. Then there are factors such as character and genetics. On the one hand, It's a trap to blame "bad genes" on one's poor results in life, and on the other hand, someone with down syndrome simply doesn't have the same capacity as an "able-minded" person, and can therefore not hope to reach the same levels of growth. Then there's strength of character. Personal development involves heavy emotional labor and a lot of discomfort. Are some people fundamentally unable to stomach this? Are they simply too weak, and are therefore incapable? I know there are people who are unwilling, but that's different from unable. Do you believe there are people with a fixed character that makes them too weak to do the work? Or do you think any able person can gradually build the strength to do the work, if they make the choice? I believe most people can. But I also believe most people won't. What are your guys' opinions on the matter?

What are the principles? I know not send more than 2 or 3 back-and-forth before setting a date, but what other guidelines are helpful to follow?

I need some resources that will help with this. I can't begin to explain how frustrating and disheartening it is to have a beautiful woman in bed with you, only for you to blow your load within 30 seconds of penetration; often, in my case, right away. What has worked for you? What books/products would you recommend?

Hey everyone. I've been reading up on the different dose ranges for magic mushrooms (micro, museum, moderate, large, heroic), and all the guidelines I've seen have been in terms of grams consumed. Does anybody have a guide in terms of mg? I bought a chocolate bar and each piece contains 250mg of psilocybin. I'm looking to take a moderate dose. I've done many 3.5gram mushroom trips when I was younger, but I was doing it for recreation, whereas now I'm doing it for personal growth. I want to take a large enough dose to have a solid trip, but I don't want to overdo it. I'm 5'9 150lbs. I'm thinking of starting at 1500mg and I can increase from there, but looking for suggestions also.

@The0Self Thanks for your help!

@The0Self Ok. I equated the two. My bad.