Learn from the master stoics:
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Marcus Aurelius
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Social Skills
How to improve your social skills:
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Why?
Something I believe deeply in is the future for social skills. Why? First and foremost, the prime consideration for humans is social. Without having other embodied humans around us, nothing is worth it.
This is where modern day capitalism and consumerism is weird; rather than putting the emphasis on other human beings, it puts the emphasis instead on objects, nonhuman things. For example, we become obsessed with watches, cars, clothes, homes, etc. But the ultimate goal is instead, direction maximize our real life face time with other humans.
Even zoom is bad. Why? To communicate with another human being that is not facilitated in the flesh is jarring.
Even something that is interesting in regards to other human beings men and women, when I see them on the screen, versus in the flesh. Why in the flesh you could see subtle things like height. Height matters.
For example, you could see pretty girls on Instagram or social media, or showing off their body parts. Yet, if you see them in real life, and they are very short and small, like 5 feet tall, or 4 foot 11, it is different. Even Aristotle once said, ”Is there such thing as a beautiful small woman?” Or for men,
Short men are never a threat.
For example, I am very fortunate that I am quite tall, around 5 foot 11 if I exaggerate. Realistically I’m more 5 foot 10, maybe 5 foot 10 1/2. But I always like to round up. I think in Korea I’m 180 centimeters, the golden standard.
At the gym, I don’t really care if anyone is more buff or muscular than me, as long as I am taller than them, I still feel dominant.
Why does height matter?
Something that I have realized is there is a link and a connection between height and social class. Richer and more affluent people, higher class people tend to be taller. More poor working class people, or recent migrants are immigrants tend to be short.
Why is this? My theory:
In the past, there was an evolutionary benefit to height.
For example, not always but often times taller men tend to be bigger and stronger. Therefore, a woman would find a tall and strong man as more powerful and strong and beneficial.
Even for men, a trend that I see is that shorter men, or even medium sized men like the idea of marrying and having children with really really tall supermodels.
Therefore my theory:
A lot of short men tend to have a lot of money, and have the ability to attract really really tall super model women, and therefore their children and future generations of children keep getting taller and taller.
How to stand taller
You cannot change your height, but, you can change your posture. To stand upright, tall, shoulders back, chest up, chin up.
For example, even a lot of taller guys who are very very tall I see hunched over, with very poor posture. This looks very unattractive.
I also have another theory is that naturally, when your testosterone and muscle mass is high, and your body fat percentage low, your body will actually naturally assume a more dominant, upright posture.
Even another funny thing that I say is in regards to ego; when I see my testosterone insanely high, when I’m about to hit myself up before a one rep max, let’s see my 940 pound atlas lift, and my half legging compression short short tights are rolled all the way up, exposing my bare demigod thighs, and also my compression shirt is rolled up showing off my midsection and my nipples, and I am in the zone, other men around me… I see their egos deflating. When your testosterone and ego is high, and other men witness this, maybe it is a zero sum thing in which their ego also deflates.
Actually, maybe this is false. Instead, maybe only insecure men find me as a threat to their own masculinity. My new friend at the gym Taylor, insanely buff dude, always congratulate me after a successfully heavy lift. Theory:
If you are a self-confident man, and you witness great feats of strength from other men, you will always congratulate them, rather than feeling small.
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How to Become a More Powerful Photographer
At the end of the day, perhaps it is photography which is my Archimedes lever. I am just so insanely good at it, it is intuitive to me, and also, I am endlessly fascinated by it.
A random musing on my mind when I was just randomly driving, what is this:
It isn’t more money, more wealth that we desire, but more power.
For example, whenever you see somebody in some sort of really big SUV, the sports edition, let’s say a BMW X6M, what they are trying to really do is assert their power and dominance. However, does driving a powerful car make you more powerful? It might make you feel more powerful, but does it make you more powerful? No.
I think I got it figured out; the reason why Americans love cars so much is because they are democratic. A car is like your external avatar, and you could assume any sort of avatar you desire, as long as you’re willing to spend the money on it, whether it be purchasing it in all cash, financing it, leasing it, renting it, etc.
For example, when you see people in some sort of high end muscle car, what is it that they desire to assert? Their manliness, their dominance, etc. However, a fun activity I like to do is whenever I see some people driving a high end sports car, I’m always curious to see who the driver is. Typically, I see them trending to be kind of younger men, trying to look hard. Or sometimes old fat dudes.
The reason why I think cars are so cowardly is because typically, even if you drive a really really loud sports car, a hyper car, a Lamborghini, a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, some sort of high-end muscle car, it looks like the trend is that everyone tints their front windows so dark, almost to limo. Therefore you cannot even see who the driver is. And they also tend to drive with sunglasses on, and often a hat. So you really cannot determine their identity.
I asked my friend Don Dillon, whether we are more interested in the car or the driver, and he laughed and told me, “of course the car!”
Be hidden or be seen?
Thus the strange paradox:
We want to show off, be loud, assert ourselves and our ego and our dominance, yet, we want our identity to be anonymous? And we don’t want other people to look us directly into the eyes?
Murdered out Teslas?
Another trend I’ve seen a lot in Southern California is people buying black on black on black Teslas. It could be a “murdered out“ Tesla Model Y, 3, X, S, etc. also a new trend with the black license plate with a yellow lettering, and also the trend for people to apply a matte black wrap to their cars, making it look like some sort of stealth bomber.
The hilarity is whenever I see people step out of their Teslas. I’ve actually seen a lot of men with murdered our Tesla model Y’s, complete with the black license plate and yellow lettering, typically they tend to be skinny fat Asian American men, often with a baby or some kids. And also I think it was my friend Elsa Morgan who told me that in the bay area and in Silicon Valley, a Tesla model X is essentially a glorified minivan for men, who still want to feel masculine, without the stigma of driving a minivan.
My funny thought is better to just fully lean into it; if I buy a new car, it will just be a white Honda Odyssey.
Back to photo
Let’s take it back to photography. What is it that we desire in photography, and out of our photos?
The first I think is we want more power and potency in our photos. The photos we make is our artwork. And what is our artwork? Or artwork or almost like our children; they are some sort of external manifestation of ourselves.
Show me your photos, and I can see who you are.
The aesthetic of the photographer is often a reflection of themselves
For example, my aesthetic. I much love extremely high contrast, black-and-white photos, complete with a lot of grit and grit. Perhaps this is some sort of reflection of my own personal mentality of things.
Physiological power and photography
Another big thing that I’ve noticed; I can only effectively review my photos, when I am in great superabundant physiological health. For example, if I only slept two hours last night, certainly I would have no power nor desire to review my huge backlog of about 10,000 photos. However, today, I am great physiological health, I have lots of energy and power, and therefore I was able to quickly review through around 7 to 8000 photos.
Therefore, I think it is critical for us photographers to gain more physiological power. This includes going to the gym, going to yoga, doing hot sauna, taking icy cold showers, sleeping 10 to 12 hours a night, and during the day, allowing yourself to drink both green tea and black coffee. I like green tea from Hadong South Korea, and either arabica coffee from Ethiopia or just robusta coffee from Vietnam.
Also, I think the best way to gain a much bigger physiological rush is through one rep max lifting. Do this with atlas lift, rack pull, one rep max farmers carry’s.
Photo assignments
- A new discovery that I found is that you could actually build a very robust WordPress.org blog through Amazon web services, through Amazon lightsail. I did this after my website went down as an experiment, successfully registering erickimphilosophy.com — and apparently you can also do this through Google cloud too.
- Get an iPad Pro, the 11 inch, and just review all your photos as small JPEG‘s.
- Upload your best photos to arsbeta.com
- Take your camera with you everywhere you go, and always have it in your front right pocket. Also shoot photos from your car, safely when at a stoplight, when at a red light.
- The other day Cindy showed me this interesting new Photoshop AI completion image tool. I thought it was very cool. However, ultimately I discovered that at least for us photographers, we just like making photos! There is no end of photography.
Power up your photography
Become a more powerful photographer:
- DOWNTOWN LA CONQUER PHOTOGRAPHY AND LIFE June 17th
- CONQUER VIETNAM SAIGON – July 15-16th
- CONQUER THE STREETS OF PHILLY, October 14
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Other things on my mind
- Ultimately, I think it is health and well-being that we seek. Not to own or drive a more expensive or a luxury car. When in doubt, just hit the gym.
- The more I think about it, the more I think that homeownership is a scam. For example, even if you fully pay off your house, or, you buy it 100% in cash, often times in California property taxes can still range from $1500 a month to $2000 a month! Also, I am starting to think that condos are also a strange thing; having to pay an HOA, a homeowners association fee, every month forever, also seems like a trap.
- My personal pride is that I have never spent more than $2500 USD on a car. Even my last car, the one I currently drive, a 2009 Hyundai sonata which I inherited from my mom for free, I got it for $0 and 00 cents. It cost me about $2000 to fix it up at the mechanic, and another thousand dollars and registration fees, and more or less I have a brand new car for only $3000! I think that anybody who buys a brand new car, seems like a foolish decision. Considering that even a basic car nowadays cost $30,000 USD, doesn’t it make more sense to simply use your money on going to the gym, lifting weights, and buying meat?
- I have a theory that it is not protein, but consuming dietary cholesterol, like the dietary cholesterol in beef liver and beef organ meats, which acts as a natural steroid to promote your muscle growth.
Things to ponder
- Why Money?
- Why Save Time?
- Why Manliness?
More constant questioning on EK BLOG
Share the turbo!
If this gave you any interesting turbo thoughts, feel free to forward this to a friend!
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Power ideas
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Philosophy by KIM
Greater dangers and risks, the more beautiful and glorious life!
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How to Become a More Powerful Photographer
At the end of the day, perhaps it is photography which is my Archimedes lever. I am just so insanely good at it, it is intuitive to me, and also, I am endlessly fascinated by it.
A random musing on my mind when I was just randomly driving, what is this:
It isn’t more money, more wealth that we desire, but more power.
For example, whenever you see somebody in some sort of really big SUV, the sports edition, let’s say a BMW X6M, what they are trying to really do is assert their power and dominance. However, does driving a powerful car make you more powerful? It might make you feel more powerful, but does it make you more powerful? No.
I think I got it figured out; the reason why Americans love cars so much is because they are democratic. A car is like your external avatar, and you could assume any sort of avatar you desire, as long as you’re willing to spend the money on it, whether it be purchasing it in all cash, financing it, leasing it, renting it, etc.
For example, when you see people in some sort of high end muscle car, what is it that they desire to assert? Their manliness, their dominance, etc. However, a fun activity I like to do is whenever I see some people driving a high end sports car, I’m always curious to see who the driver is. Typically, I see them trending to be kind of younger men, trying to look hard. Or sometimes old fat dudes.
The reason why I think cars are so cowardly is because typically, even if you drive a really really loud sports car, a hyper car, a Lamborghini, a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, some sort of high-end muscle car, it looks like the trend is that everyone tints their front windows so dark, almost to limo. Therefore you cannot even see who the driver is. And they also tend to drive with sunglasses on, and often a hat. So you really cannot determine their identity.
I asked my friend Don Dillon, whether we are more interested in the car or the driver, and he laughed and told me, “of course the car!”
Be hidden or be seen?
Thus the strange paradox:
We want to show off, be loud, assert ourselves and our ego and our dominance, yet, we want our identity to be anonymous? And we don’t want other people to look us directly into the eyes?
Murdered out Teslas?
Another trend I’ve seen a lot in Southern California is people buying black on black on black Teslas. It could be a “murdered out“ Tesla Model Y, 3, X, S, etc. also a new trend with the black license plate with a yellow lettering, and also the trend for people to apply a matte black wrap to their cars, making it look like some sort of stealth bomber.
The hilarity is whenever I see people step out of their Teslas. I’ve actually seen a lot of men with murdered our Tesla model Y’s, complete with the black license plate and yellow lettering, typically they tend to be skinny fat Asian American men, often with a baby or some kids. And also I think it was my friend Elsa Morgan who told me that in the bay area and in Silicon Valley, a Tesla model X is essentially a glorified minivan for men, who still want to feel masculine, without the stigma of driving a minivan.
My funny thought is better to just fully lean into it; if I buy a new car, it will just be a white Honda Odyssey.
Back to photo
Let’s take it back to photography. What is it that we desire in photography, and out of our photos?
The first I think is we want more power and potency in our photos. The photos we make is our artwork. And what is our artwork? Or artwork or almost like our children; they are some sort of external manifestation of ourselves.
Show me your photos, and I can see who you are.
The aesthetic of the photographer is often a reflection of themselves
For example, my aesthetic. I much love extremely high contrast, black-and-white photos, complete with a lot of grit and grit. Perhaps this is some sort of reflection of my own personal mentality of things.
-
BOOK NOTES
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Photo Book Reviews »
Below are my favorite photo books:
- Josef Koudelka: Exiles
- Josef Koudelka: Gypsies
- Dan Winters: Road to Seeing
- Alex Webb: The Suffering Of Light
- Robert Frank: The Americans
- Martin Parr: The Last Resort
- Trent Parke: Minutes to Midnight
- Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Decisive Moment
- Photographers’ Sketchbooks
75+ inspirational photography books »
If you want a quality-education in street photography, I recommend either buying, borrowing, or browsing though some of the books below. Books that are bolded are some of my personal favorites.
- Magnum Contact Sheets
- Magnum: Degrees
- Magnum: Stories
- Mark Cohen: Grim Street
- Street Photography Now
- Bruce Davidson: Subway
- Bruce Davidson: East 100th Street
- Diane Arbus: A monograph
- Helen Levitt
- Lee Friedlander: Friedlander
- Elliott Erwitt: Personal Best
- Richard Kalvar: Earthlings
- Andre Kertesz (Editions Hazan)
- Robert Frank: The Americans
- Garry Winogrand: Public Relations
- Garry Winogrand: Figments from the real world
- Garry Winogrand: The Animals
- Bruce Gilden by Stern Magazine
- Bruce Gilden: A Beautiful Catastrophe
- Bruce Gilden: Haiti
- Bruce Gilden: After The Off
- Bruce Gilden: Facing New York
- Bystander: A History of Street Photography
- Joel Meyerowitz
- Jun Abe: Citizens
- William Eggleston: Chromes
- William Eggleston: Guide
- William Eggleston: Before Color
- Stephen Shore: Uncommon Places
- Daido Moriyama: The World Through My Eyes
- Alex Webb: Istanbul
- Alex Webb: The Suffering Of Light
- Jeff Mermelstein: Sidewalk
- Walker Evans
- Fred Herzog: Photographs
- Vivian Maier
- William Klein: Contacts
- Joel Sternfeld: American Prospects
- Martin Parr: The Last Resort
- Martin Parr: Small World
- Tony Ray-Jones: Best Of
- Josef Koudelka: Gypsies
- Anders Peterson: French Kiss
- Anders Petersen: Cafe Lehmitz
- Zoe Strauss: America
- Henri Cartier-Bresson: “The Decisive Moment”
- Josef Koudelka: Exiles
- Anders Petersen
- The Education of a Photographer
- David Hurn: On Being a Photographer
- David Gibson: The Street Photographer’s Manual
- Siegfried Hansen – hold the line
- Matt Stuart: All that Life Can Afford
- The Photographer’s Playbook: 307 Assignments and Ideas
- Trent Parke: Minutes to Midnight
- Trent Parke: The Christmas Tree Bucket
- Trent Parke: The Black Rose
- Harry Gruyaert
- Gus Powell: The Lonely Ones
- Alec Soth: Songbook
- Ping Pong Conversations: Alec Soth with Francesco Zanot
- Constantine Manos: A Greek Portfolio
- Constantine Manos: American Color
- Constantine Manos: American Color 2
- David Alan Harvey: Divided Soul
- Photographers’ Sketchbooks
- Harry Callahan: Retrospective
- Slide Show: The Color Photographs of Helen Levitt
- Mark Cohen: Frame
- Saul Leiter: Early Color
- Saul Leiter: Early Black and White
- Dan Winters: Road to Seeing
- Todd Hido: Photography Workshop Series
- Mary Ellen Mark: Photography Workshop Series
- The Open Road: Photography and the American Roadtrip
- Jason Eskenazi: Wonderland: A Fairytale of the Soviet Monolith
- Kaushal Parikh: “Fragments of a Spinning Rock”
- Sunlanders by Sean Lotman
Free Books by Eric Kim
If you love learning, read the books below:
- 100 Lessons From the Masters of Street Photography
- Street Photography by Eric Kim
- Photography by Eric Kim
- Personal Photography Manual
- Street Photography Contact Sheets Volume II
- Street Photography Contact Sheets
- Monochrome Manual
- Street Portrait Manual
- Street Photography Composition Manual
- How to Overcome Photographer’s Block
- Street Photography 101
- Street Photography 102
- Zen in the Art of Street Photography
- Film Street Photography Manual
- 31 Days to Overcome Your Fear in Street Photography
Street Notes
Street Notes is a pocket-sized assignment journal to break outside of your comfort zone:
STREET HUNT: Street Notes Volume 2 Scavenger Hunt Edition
Photo Book Reviews
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Becoming Antifragile
Probably the best modern-day book I’ve read in the last 10 years is Antifragile by Nassim Taleb. The basic gist is this;
When things threaten to destroy you, how can it be used as fuel to make you stronger?
In case you missed it
What does it mean?
Essentially the basic idea is that in life, painful, bad, even violent aggressions from others are not to be avoided, but rather, maybe even desired.
For example, if somebody ask for interacts with you in an aggressive, negative way, consider it as a good thing; after the incident, you have become more robust, stronger, and more impervious to outside aggressions.
Let me give you example. About a week or two ago at the gym, I was doing my typical atlas lift and a random guy asked me, how much longer I was going to be. Realistically it might’ve been 20 minutes, but I didn’t want to rush myself so I added some buffer. I told him, around 40 minutes. As a result, he started cussing and cursing and saying that what I was doing was “fucking ridiculous.” Fortunately because I was having a good adrenaline rush from doing my lifts, about five minutes later I calmly approached him and asked if he wanted to working with me. He shook his head, and said he wasn’t interested.
Moral of the story: that incident in which somebody acted bad manners towards me, I actually responded with very good manners. As a consequence, I no longer fear any negative interactions at the gym. If anything, I am quite proud of how magnanimously I was able to respond to such a petty encounter.
Stoicism is the way
Stoicism isn’t a perfect technique, but it is certainly useful. I think in the context of manliness, and becoming a “real man”, I think stoicism is one of the best ways to become stronger.
There are lots of different stoic techniques and stoic tips.
Essentially, the basic gist:
When in doubt, delay reaction.
I suppose I am pretty dedicated to Stoicism, after all, I did name my first son after Seneca.
Becoming more invincible to fate
The new topics and directions is combining stoicism, street photography, and entrepreneurship to life:
- June 17th, Saturday, 2023: DOWNTOWN LA CONQUER YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY AND LIFE
- July 15-16th: ERIC KIM SAIGON VIETNAM TRAVEL STREET PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIENCE 2023
- Oct 14th (Saturday) PHILLY CONQUER STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
Essentially, I believe that street photography is the supreme form of photography, as it requires the most courage and guts.
One rep maxing
Another way to become more anti-fragile or essentially to become stronger is through the one rep max school of weightlifting. The basic notion is this:
What is the maximum weight, you can lift successfully, once, even moving the barbell half an inch?
Note —
- One rep max atlas lift: 925 pounds
- One rep max rack pull: 810 pounds
- One rep max floor benchpress: 595 pounds
Antifragile emotions
This is another big thing. It seems nowadays, everyone is too hyper sensitive. This means,
Do not say, do, or interact with me in such a manner that there is even a .001% chance I might take it the wrong way.
For example, it seems that in modern-day times, it is not permissible to talk to strangers, to make small chat, to approach strangers, to joke, offend people, joke around, etc. Also it is not permitted to make eye contact, smile or say hello.
I say,
It is better to risk a social interaction, even if there is a 99% chance of a negative consequence.
For example, in my every day life, I am surrounded by very unpleasant people. Yet regardless, I am ruthlessly friendly. I will always ask how they are doing, even if 99% of the time they might snub me in a bad way. But I say fuck it, better to be courageous and friendly than to be cowardly and standoffish.
No Fear
Just loaded up my Texas squat power bar at the gym, 925 pounds in total, that is nine plates, 25, and a five pounder taped on top. The interesting thing:
No fear.
The goal?
To me, courage is everything. Curiosity and courage actually mean the same thing; couer means heart. Same also goes with curate.
Whenever I max out the barbell, attempting to lift over 900 pounds, people are always befuddled and ask me why I do it, what the purpose of it is, etc. I never have a quick enough or witty enough response. Typically I just say,
To fulfill a personal curiosity.
The personal curiosity of the limits of a human body, my human body, how much I could lift, without taking steroids etc.
But perhaps, a better way to think about it is actually, I do it as a means to conquer fear. To me a perfect lift is a lift in which your approach it, give it your all without any hesitation or fear.
In fact, I believe that 99% of street photography is simply conquering your fears. To not let hesitation get in your way.
What do we regret?
I think I’d like, typically our biggest regrets or regrets related to cowardice, or fear. For example, you wanted to ask that one girl out on a date, but, you were afraid of getting rejected, and you never did. Or you were fearful for asking her to get married, and you never asked, because you were fearful.
I know for weightlifters, powerlifters, people like me who enjoy doing one rep max lifts, I think the biggest regrets we have is when we want to lift a certain weight, but fear and hesitation gets in our way, and instead, we lift a lesser amount, afraid that we may “hurt“ ourselves.
However, an interesting thing that I’ve learned is the fear of hurting yourself is actually a good motivator to force you to focus.
For example, now at the gym, I’m laser focused. I don’t fuck around. I don’t rush my warm-up routine, and I’ve also been going harder in my warm up, stretching, yoga routine before I lift.
Greater danger, greater fates
I forget if it is Heraclitus or Democritus who said this, but essentially the gist:
In life, the more that a man attempts, risks, and exposes himself to danger, the greater his legacy and fate.
Fortuna adiuvat Fortis, the tattoo on the back of John Wick. The basic ideas that lady Fortune favors those who are strong, brave, and maybe perhaps a little bit reckless.
Foolish versus wise fear?
There is some fear which is wise. For example, I am fearful of dying in a texting while driving accident, and therefore I never text message while I drive, let alone ever text message. I have all notifications turned off on my iPhone.
Also, with Seneca, I let him do superficially do “dangerous“ stuff, but when it is actually really really dangerous, I tell him. Fear of critical or irreversible injury to Seneca is a fear which is wise.
What is entrepreneurship anyways?
I think “to entrepreneur” should be seen as a verb. To risk, to attempt. Even the modern day notion of an essay, comes from the French assay, which literally means attempt. When you write a written essay, it isn’t some storehouse of irrefutable truth. Rather, it is an attempt for you, the writer, to gain a deeper truth about something.
Success or failure is trivial
For example, what do you think about king Leonidas and his spartan 300, they are not remembered because they beat the Persians, but rather, their courage.
Also interestingly enough, in the Iliad, in the duel between Achilles and Hector, Hector knows that Achilles is the superior fighter, and also, Achilles is a demigod, whereas Hector is a mere 100% human.
However, Homer puts both Achilles and Hector on equal footing. In the eyes of Homer, both fighters, irregardless of their lethality, are both seen as equal.
Your life?
I think modern-day life, it may not be fear which holds us back but uncertainty. For example, last summer before me and Cindy went to Phnom Penh Cambodia [thoughts on Phnom Penh Cambodia vlog], I was simply a little bit on the fence, I didn’t know if it would be good or bad. I was may be a little bit indifferent.
Therefore the simple heuristic;
If something is even a little bit marginally interesting to you, or might be interesting, just do it.
If I think about my travels, I don’t think I’ve ever really had an experience in which traveling was a “net negative” experience for me. There has always been good which comes out of every travel experience, irregardless of how difficult it might have been, or some annoyances along the way.
For example, going to South Korea last year, I got massively annoyed by all of these backwards Confucian moralizing and ethics. But, much good came out of it, because it forced me to do a deep dive on the history of Confucius, Confucian teachings, in order to undermine it.
Often things which make you angry can be very productive.
Your life goals?
I think honestly speaking, I am the most encouraging person that I know. Even my mom said it was a dream of hers that I became some sort of motivational speaker or something.
Even when I think about my workshops, my passion and my goal is to encourage every single participant in person who attends. To not be a nay sayer, but to be an enabler.
Other people?
I have a theory about modern-day society and capitalism and consumerism; it is all predicated on making you feel small and inferior, and the promise of capitalism and consumerism is this:
If you work really really hard, and earn enough money, you can buy your happiness, your self-worth, your self-esteem through cars, jewelry, things, homes and possessions, commas and zeros in your bank account etc.
For me, what are my greatest enjoyment is going to the gym, simply going there as a sociologist, and analyzing people, their behavior, their speech patterns, etc.
Something I have discovered is when people tell you to be “careful“, they are simply crowdsourcing their own fear onto you.
For example, when people first started to see me Atlas lift over seven plates, eight plates, nine plates etc. even the really really strong guys would tell me in a hushed tone—
… but be careful.
When people tell me this, essentially what they are saying is,
I would never attempt that, because I am afraid that I would hurt myself if I tried.
Simple lesson: when other people crowd-source their fears onto you, it is simply a signal that they are the cowards, not you.
Now what?
I think in life, the best way to live is to always have something greater to aspire towards. For example, it is the joy of the weight lifter to indefinitely increase his or her one rep max, in any given lift. Also it is the joy of the entrepreneur to keep innovating, taking on new ideas, new creative paths, new risks.
This is where a lot of people are foolish; they dream of the day that they could cash out their Silicon Valley unicorn for $1 billion, and then just chill on the beach for the rest of their lives. No. The true entrepreneur perhaps would actually never sell their company; For example, mad respect to Mark Zuckerberg for not selling out Facebook. The deep regret of Instagram and WhatsApp founders to selling to Facebook, and also the regret of the oculus founders for selling to Facebook.
Missionary or mercenary?
One good framing that I got from Peter Thiel in 0 to 1 is figuring out whether other people are missionaries or mercenary’s. Missionaries do it because their soul is in the game (Nassim Taleb), mercenaries simply do it for a fat check and a bonus and a salary.
In fact, the truly great entrepreneurs in history like a Steve Jobs and Elon Musk were actually quite ascetic.
For example, Steve Jobs lived like a weird homeless person, and even Musk first built x.com with his brother, sharing the same office space, sleeping in sleeping bags, showering at the local YMCA, and feeding himself on two dollars a day with nothing but hotdogs and spaghetti. Maybe this is where Kanye West is a bad entrepreneur; I think he cares too much for expensive and fancy things.
Legacy?
A lot of philosophers have thought about this, but the more I think about it, seeking immortal fame amongst mortals (Heraclitus) actually seems like a good idea. Why? Granted that you have kids, legacy and your fame after death is the only thing which could outlive you, and aid future humanity.
I think deep down, all humans are altruistic to a certain point. Thinking about legacy isn’t really considering your fame and notoriety after death, but rather, how your life has impacted those who are currently alive, and also people who are not yet born.
What are you capable of?
See what you can do, become or achieve with EK:
- June 17th, Saturday, 2023: DOWNTOWN LA CONQUER YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY AND LIFE – New!
- July 15-16th: ERIC KIM SAIGON VIETNAM TRAVEL STREET PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERIENCE 2023 – New!
- Oct 14th (Saturday) PHILLY CONQUER STREET PHOTOGRAPHY – New!
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Email Eric [at] EricKim.com
Now what?
- Portable thinking: I still strongly believe that a semi nomadic life is probably the best approach of living. Therefore, never buy, purchase, invest in anything which is not portable with you. For example when you travel and live abroad, you can’t take your house, you can’t take your Tesla, you can’t take your Lamborghini etc. This also means that with your devices, make sure they are super portable.
- Why bitcoin is the future, not Ethereum: the new BRC-20 ordinal theory with Bitcoin — the new ethereum killer. Don’t trust anything built on top of the Ethereum network. Further skepticism towards chainlink.
Now what?
- Chat GPT is cool, WHY APP ZEN OF ERIC KIM is better. Chat GPT is like a very efficient Google. Why app, Zen of Eric, is more interesting because it forces you to do the thinking in philosophizing, not amalgamated intelligence scraping off of Google. I think for now Google is safe, because it has been embedded within chrome, and Safari, and it is now in official verb. But, maybe as open AI, ChatGPT continues to expand, google will become less and less useful. Bad News For Google.
- I think the future is social spaces. For example, building new gyms which are social experiences, and also let us consider the massive success of an Irvine spectrum, in terms of all the foot traffic they can get.
Antifragile technology?
The new thoughts:
- Building an anti-fragile website or web platform?
- Can chain.link be used perhaps to facilitate more anti fragile things online, via the blockchain?
- CRYPTO THOUGHTS
Forward the turbo thoughts!
Feeling a little bit of wind in your wings? Feel free to forward this to a friend or family member who could use the turbo!
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