How to Gain Power by Bucking Culture & Running Your Own Race
Jun 07, 2024
Power is...
Wanting nothing.
Needing nothing.
And owing nothing.
If you're healthy and strong.
Yet, we live in a culture that pushes you to want things that serve no purpose, to need things you actually don't need, and to borrow to get those things, making all of us beholden for our duration here on this planet.
And, men, we need nothing in this life, not even power, but of all the things to have, power is high on the list, higher than anything any power can actually get you (this'll make sense in a bit).
It can go by other names, too, my favorite being freedom.
You're free from want, from need, from victimhood. You're free from oppression that's now masqueraded as cheap money and cheap dopamine.
You're free to live your life in the moment, to do fun things, to achieve great things, without the stress and pressure that comes from having to.
Under it all, of course, is health.
And what's awesome about power, is we have the power to get our minds right and to train our bodies so that this freedom, this power over how we live, why we live, and who we live for, is within our grasp.
On super cars...
I'll get some flack, I'm sure. But super cars are pure status symbol. They serve no real purpose other than potentially making our neighbor envious.
Yet, somehow, these delicate vehicles are the dream of many a man.
Being debt free, healthy, and at peace, isn't.
At some point in our lives we have to cut through to what really matters, and not give a fuck about what everyone else thinks matters.
We can always aspire to have great things, but we have to know their true value. Things cannot compete with peace, they can't hold a candle to freedom, they won't be able to touch the meaning of family and friends and experiences...
The true value is in the achievement won and the obstacles conquered in the path to said achievement, not the status that an achievement may bring or what that achievement may get us.
We need a culture shift here. Not only for our culture, but for us.
We need to know what matters, and pursue that. Simply so we can live well, and not near our end having missed the mark on life.
We have to understand life's dichotomies.
Pursue self-improvement in all areas, yet worry not about what it gets us.
Pursue greatness in everything we do, but not the accolades or status that greatness may one day get us.
Pursue peak health and performance, but never become vain in the process.
Want to find out how great you can potentially be, while at the same time wanting nothing and enjoying what is.
On a personal note, I have massive dreams and aspirations, but I'm learning - trying to learn and fully understand - that the thing, that goal, that dream, doesn't define who I am, nor how successful I am as a man.
I embody that definition. It's both who I am now, who I am behind closed doors when no one's watching, and who I am going to be (which is based on how I'm getting better in the here and now).
A great man isn't the one who has the most, but the one who lives the best, and in some way we have a plethora of shared values that will dictate who this is, but also some unique aspects to it that allow greatness to be a personal quest...
...Where one man is the greatest, and so is another.
We are not competing, we're merely coexisting in our own unique paths.
Victory isn't over one's neighbor, but over one's past self, over one's battles.
Discipline exists in all of our quests, as does clear thinking, hard work, risk, and daring.
We need clear-thinking to know we're pursuing the right things in the right way.
We need discipline to be able to do the right things for a long enough period, and to avoid the wrong things that threaten to derail us into a life of regret.
We need hard work, because nothing good comes from laziness.
We need risk in some form to aim higher, to actually improve.
And we need daring or courage to live life on our terms, content and happy with our decisions, our effort, our risks, our choices.
Power isn't accumulation of things, but compounding of habits.
It's who we are, not what we have.
It's who we become in relation to who were were.
It's wanting nothing, needing nothing, owing nothing, and being health and energetic to do everything and enjoy everything.
Let's get after it.
Be Legendary,
Chad Howse
