Happiness & The Art of Production
From my own experience I've found the greatest tie to my happiness to be based upon my productivity.
Imagine you body and mind are a factory.
Factories are not meant to be dead and derelict.
A factory is made to create & produce.
A factory producing content, products & results is a successful factory.
A factory that does not put the equipment & manpower it has at it's disposal to work is depressed and derelict.
The vast majority of the time a reader or friend finds themselves in a rut or a downward spiral it can be linked to just this.
They're not chasing any goals, they're not building anything.
They themselves are the derelict factory.
Their unhappiness is tied to their constant consumption & lack of production.
They're consuming, consuming, consuming.
When you're the consumer you're never happy because it's never enough.
You always demand more, more, more.
Be it the newer model of your car, another season of that TV show you're watching or an update on your go-to blog.
Marketing tactics will attempt to convince you that by purchasing (product or service) you'll unlock a never-ending supply of happiness.
That's all BS.
The hedonic treadmill is never-ending.
Switch From A Consumption Mentality To A Production Mentality
We were all producers in ancient times.
Food... shelter....water...
If you were lazy and spent your days consuming you likely didn't have many left.
You'd die.
Today things are different.
You can get by living a life of constant consumption.
I’d go as far as saying living a life of constant consumption is encouraged.
No one wants you to stick out by going above and beyond what is expected of you.
Life is an easy sail as the essentials are taken care of there’s no need to go above and beyond.
Consume your paycheck, consume your social media feed, consume TV shows, consume clothes, cars and everything in between.
This consumption mentality leads to a life of unhappiness.
If you want to build momentum, happiness and results you must first begin by resurrecting that factory.
Begin Building Momentum With Small Productive Hobbies
Cease your consumption based hobbies.
Stop binge watching Netflix.
Stop refreshing your social media news feed every 10 minutes.
Stop sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for Conor McGregor’s next twitter tirade.
"But SJ, I enjoy doing all those things!"
Consumption based hobbies may provide slight momentary satisfaction, but in the long run they’ll provide you with nothing, and why should they?
You must create and produce.
Start building momentum by changing your hobbies.
- Instead of watching old UFC events begin learning moves and practise them on a heavy bag.
- Instead of reading reviews of products you're interested in buying opt to write reviews on your experience with things you already have.
- Instead of buying supplement after supplement begin testing and making new protein smoothie recipes.
- Instead of watching start reading.
Aim to to bed a little bit stronger and a little bit smarter with each passing day.
You must provide value in order to get something in return. Be it a feeling of accomplishment, happiness, a following or financial gain.
"But What Should I Produce?!"
A Jaw Dropping Physique
Your body is a reflection of your mindset. A strong, iron willed, dedicated man will have an outer appearance that reflects – an iron forged physique.
Fitness websites, celebrities and essentially any company profiting from fitness, health or the lucrative weight loss niche will use big words, insane protocols and unnecessary tools and methods to confuse you into buying their product to supposedly achieve that physique.
Don’t buy into it.
A fantastic physique is built utilizing 2 principles and 2 principles only. These are how I built my physique and I regularly get accused of steroid use on my Instagram progress photos, so you can bet on these 2 principles yielding you extremely noticeable results!
Progressive Overload
Increase the reps, weight and time under tension on your compound exercises including the squat, deadlift, bench press and military press with each and every workout.
Read more on progressive overload here.
Caloric Manipulation
Tailor your diet to your goal. Weight loss will require a caloric deficit and mass gain will require a caloric surplus. Unfortunately you can do both at the same time – this is why it’s crucial that you have a goal – otherwise your diet will be all over the place and you’ll waste time gaining no mass nor burning fat.
A Monetized Information Based Business
Do you have extensive knowledge of a sport, hobby, industry or interest? Package your knowledge into an eBook, video course, series of webinars or start publishing a blog.
Create easy to follow, attractive content that’s free from fluff or BS.
There’s thousands of courses on how to play a guitar, how to lose fat and how to build confidence so market saturation should not be of concern if you have solid knowledge and experience, put your own spin on it and package it all together ensuring presentation is top notch.
That’s what I did with my book, F.U. Fat – having spent years figuring out what actually does work when it comes to burning fat and getting shredded versus all the bullshit out there I spent several months pouring my knowledge and experience along with references to studies and the like to back up my words.
I’ve walked the walk and my product gets results, unlike the plethora of generic courses created by internet marketers that’ve never sold a copy because they’ve never stepped inside a gym themselves.
If you plan on building a business with information products you need to actually know what you’re talking about. If you don’t know what you’re talking about it shows.
A Physical Product Based Business (Based On Trends!)
Look for trends, find out what people are looking for, how much they’re willing to pay and fill the demand while retaining a profit. I started my first business at 19 years of age because my friends and I were unable to find any bodybuilder style stringer singlets in Australia, a few weeks later I received my first shipment of 36 custom printed singlets from Thailand that I ponied up $256 for and scaled up that business over the following 2 years.
As supply overtook demand and prices decreased (making stock harder to move) I exited the gym clothing niche, when your proverbial well (niche) dries up instead of wasting your precious time trying to scrap the bottom of the barrel find a new well (niche).
This ties in with the ever popular Charles Darwin quote “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
Remember...
Men were born to be builders, from ancient times to the modern day this trait remains unchanged… our grit and resolve on the other hand has, in ancient times building was often out of necessity, a life or death style of scenario.
Today men are lazy.
We're able to get by spending the vast majority of our time consuming, but that's not where a sense of happiness and accomplishment are found.
Get producing.
