Save yourself from an average life

You are going to have a miserable future.

Statistically, you'll be an average person, and your future doesn't look good.

We'll cover why you need to save yourself from an average life, what the average looks like, and how to save yourself.

Why do you need to save yourself from being average?

The average American is overweight, divorced and in debt. If you coast through life this is where you'll end up.

The innate human compulsion is to fit in. It's not to stand out; Play it safe.

You must neatly fit into society because in the past you could get exiled from the tribe.

The thing is we live in starkly different times, but we still run on the old hardware. The modern day has a fraction of the imminent threats that used to be present.

This hardware isn't fit for the modern day and the dilemmas we deal with. It's not conducive to most goals so you must resist it.

You need to save yourself because if you don't you'll get what most people get. That's not how you want to end up. If you don't actively resist you'll become average. Do not indulge in your human nature.

Obtaining desirable results is deliberate.

You need to be capable of independent thought. Be alright with holding beliefs that others disagree with. Allow yourself to be disagreeable, but do it tactfully (disagree without making an enemy).

Act on your convictions: pursue what you think is best in the way you think is best.

Nobody is coming to save you. You are the only person who can change your situation. When you blame something outside yourself for your situation you lose all agency.

Therefore, trust your best judgement.

What does an average life look like?

An average life is somebody who does what's expected. Who takes the trodden path.

Someone who lives within the guardrails others established for them, and never rocks the boat.

They indulge in their nature. Seek comfort and conformity. You cannot look down on others for acting this way, because they are simply going along the grain of society and their nature.

However, a comfort seeker is also complacent. They don't achieve anything substantial because they operate solely within the confines of what's acceptable. All the low-hanging fruit are already picked. You cannot get anything desirable without having a degree of maverick traits and tendencies.

The average go through life seeking comfort and as a result subject themselves to discomfort. They point the blame outside themselves and believe they’re a victim of circumstance.

They rationalize why it's not their fault, and complain.

Seek pleasure and find displeasure on the other side. Eat food for the taste, and suffer weight and health problems. Look to drugs to avoid discomfort only for it to amplify when sober.

They live lives of quiet desperation.

Being average should scare you.

How do you save yourself?

You save yourself by carving a path towards the future you desire. Devise a plan because society already has one for you.

It's largely independent as it's unlikely most of your peers share your vision. You tend to meet people who share your values and direction after you begin that journey.

There are many forces you'll come across that try to steer you off course.

These forces are often people. This can be partners, friends, parents, mentors, or strangers.

We'll encapsulate this as society; the biggest existing dogma.

Society is the collective group, but you can distill it into behavior patterns. This group has conventions and expectations that are dynamic, but that it constantly tries to push everybody towards.

When somebody steps out of line (i.e. does something socially unacceptable) they get punished by those around them. They may scold, correct, shame, outcast, or even jail. Everyone plays by society’s tangible and intangible rules.

The definition of crazy is somebody who doesn't fit this ruleset. Somebody who doesn't fit the acceptable behavior patterns.

When somebody steps out of the guard rails set by society it attempts to push them back into its box.

Ask yourself:

Who created these rules?

Does following them benefit me?

My answers are that nobody in particular devised these rules and they are a product of the collective. The collective is subject to bias and human nature. Following these rules is certainly beneficial socially and when playing status games. However, they aren't necessarily beneficial to getting the results you desire from life.

In the 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene presents a principle for navigating based on these discoveries:

Law 38: Think as you are, but behave like others.

It's impossible to speak freely without consequence. Based on that fact at a young age we're taught to blend in and only share unconventional ideas and behaviors with like-minded people or close friends.

You can use this as a heuristic for navigating society if you're looking for power. Wear different masks for different people.

On the other hand, you can choose to navigate by truth. Having faith in the redeeming power of honesty. Faith whatever comes from you being truthful is the best possible reality, consequences and all.

You can also blend between the two approaches.

Most navigate life like a zombie, they go about unconsciously manipulating and offending people. It's much better to be conscious and deliberate.

If you want above average results, you must act above average. Different.

Don't go through your life on autopilot. Be deliberate when making the three big decisions: what you do, where you do it, and who you do it with. Spend a long time thinking these through because mistakes love a rushed decision.

These decisions are the primary influences on your future.

What you do is your entire life direction, don't allow it to be entirely determined by a half-assed decision for a degree you made in high school. The city you live in determines the people and genre of people you meet. Who you do it with is who you foster relationships with, learn from, and become similar to.

Feel free to take weeks and months on these decisions.

When you've got answers to these decisions you have purpose. This is your vision for the future.

Pursue it or die trying. Genuinely commit to this because it's an infinite game. You will either win, or die before you get there.

This also extends your time horizon. Don't expect fast success.

Don't try to get rich quick, get rich slow. There is no getting rich quick, but getting rich slow still makes you rich.

Think in decades not years.

Don't be afraid of slow progress, be afraid of climbing the wrong mountain.

Stop looking for home runs. The only way to get to where you want to go is incrementally. After years of eating shit but getting incrementally better you'll look like the overnight success.

The decision to not be average, to climb the mountain you choose is not the hard part. It's the climb ahead of you, resisting the temptations, and overcoming the obstacles.

But it's infinitely more fulfilling and rewarding than coasting through life or having someone else choose your path.