Forged by fire

Everything you want is on the other side of the fire

“Here is a rule to remember, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not ‘This is misfortune,’ but ‘To bear this worthily is good fortune.’” - Marcus Aurelius

The past year has been a rollercoaster. The good times are fun. The bad times suck. But the hardships create growth that I would have never had and made me a better person that I would have never been. For that, I am grateful. Here are the top things I learned in the past twelve months:

1. Seek hardship

   1. Struggle is the price of growth - the only way to consistently and repeatably grow is to put yourself in uncomfortable positions consistently and repeatably

   2. In the darkest moment, always remember you are harvesting the seeds of a new you

   3. A great clip of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unironically wishing pain and suffering on his audience

2. Ruthlessly unblock yourself

   1. Find the root cause of your problem

      1. The things that plague us mentally are often symptoms not root causes

         1. The physical analog is if you get sick all the time, you can treat each sickness with DayQuil or you can fix your immune system - only one is sustainable

         2. Playing whack-a-mole solving symptoms is a never ending goose chase that will drive you insane

      2. Ask yourself “why?” until you get to the root cause of your problem - be honest with yourself

         1. For example, why do you struggle with public speaking? Is it because other people have some intrinsic skill that you don’t or did you experience something in your past that you are holding onto?

         2. Understand the things from your past that affect who you are

   2. Attack the root cause ruthlessly

      1. Once you understand the root cause, it is a simple (not easy) problem solving exercise

      2. Iterate over and over until you find out how to solve that root problem

      3. Be open to trying new ways of getting unstuck (eg. psychedelics¹). There are a lot of awesome tools out there that have the power to change your life

3. Sustain a habit by making it embarrassingly easy

   1. For example, set a 1 minute meditation daily goal

      1. It is embarrassing not to succeed at this goal

      2. Eventually the habit becomes a non-negotiable part of your routine

      3. You can increase duration later, just get your mind used to the consistency first

   2. Excellence is a habit, you have to prove it every day

4. Increase the slope of your line

   1. Your starting place is unrelated to the outcomes you achieve

   2. Where you are now doesn’t change the action you can take today

   3. All you can do is increase the slope of your line

      1. Focus on increasing your growth rate and consistency. Be 1% better today and let compound interest work for you, to the tune of 37x improvement in a year

      2. If you 37x yourself every year, you won’t even remember where you started

5. Push past what you think is possible

   1. You are (two and a half times more) powerful than you think

      1. David Goggins has a concept called the 40% percent rule: When your mind tells you that you are done and can't go any further, you are only at about 40 percent of your actual capacity

      2. When you think you are done, you are just getting started

   2. I wrote more about pushing your mind in it’s you against you

      It's you against you

As I reflect on my own lessons of the past year, I can’t help but appreciate that life’s toughest moments are the ones that shape you the most. In fact, these moments are the first steps toward becoming the person you want to be. It’s the start of a beautiful cycle: hardship, self-awareness, and rebirth. So next time you’re feeling down, remember — you’re in the process of forging a new you. Embrace it, and emerge as a champion.

1. If you are interested in psychedelics as medicine, I recommend reading This is your Mind on Plants. It is a fascinating history of humans’ exploration of mind-altering substances and why some are widely accepted (eg. caffeine) and others are widely stigmatized (eg. mescaline).