Hello World — de(liberate)

Hello world. When learning how to code, one of the first exercises involves combining the commands that result in a simple statement: hello world. This is my hello world.

The easiest way that I can summarize my overall goal is one term: self-optimization. Simply put, I look for ways to be at my best: physically, mentally and spiritually. This is, also, something that I want for you, too.

This quest has been shaped by a few significant influences.

First and foremost is Bruce Lee. Anybody with a passing familiarity probably knows him as the first prominent Asian lead martial arts action movie star. While I LOVE his movies, I know him more for his masterwork, the philosophical synthesis of martial arts and thought: Jeet Kune Do.

Freedom of Expression
While everyone’s personality is colored by influences, each influence represents part of the whole individual. In a September 1971 Black Belt Magazine article written by Lee, himself, he said,

“I hope to free my comrades from bondage to styles, patterns and doctrines.”

The thing to keep in mind is that, back then, martial artists were rigidly defined by styles, which had to remain “pure.” Karate punched, tae kwon do kicked and judo was all about throwing. While it is one thing to have influences, it is something else to be fossilized by them and never consider integrating “outside” influences to enrich your overall being.

Part of this intentional freedom is getting rid of what is no longer valid. At the end of the day, you need to find what suits you. Lee continued,

“In JKD, we begin not by accumulation but by discovering the cause of the ignorance, a discovery that involves a shedding process.”

The process of self-optimization should involve periodic, regular self-examination to rid yourself of what no longer works. Like most people, I am not the person that I was last year and definitely not the same person that I was ten or twenty years ago. Without self-examination, we continue to live our lives without noticing where we’ve been, know where we are and have no idea where we’re going. We hold onto things without having a definite, relevant reason why.

What Is Most Important
Another influence is Tim Ferriss. I discovered the original edition of his seminal book, The 4-Hour Workweek, around 2008. At that point, I think that the book had only been out about a year. It is consistently cited by entrepreneurs as an seminal book.

From this book, there are a few takeaways:

Defining your worst nightmare: define it, identify steps to repair/recover, list possible outcomes, and see what you’re postponing out of fear for something that probably is not serious and may never happen.
Pareto’s Principle/80-20 rule: identifying the smallest part that makes the biggest difference. Looking at whether what you think matters truly does and moves you closer towards completing your primary goals.

A tangent that I discovered from reading Ferriss’ work was Stoicism. If you’re not familiar, Stoicism is an ancient philosophy that started in ancient Greece, but really found its place in classical Rome. Ferriss is very open about the impact that it has had on his life. Heard of Marcus Aurelius? If you’ve watched the Russell Crow movie, Gladiator, he was the emperor in that movie. In real life, he wrote one of Stoicism’s central texts, Meditations, which was more of a notebook capturing his private thoughts on Stoicism, as he applied it to his life. Think of it was the Stoic Tao of Jeet Kune Do. While some think of Stoics as having no emotion, it is more about having an appropriately moderated reaction towards circumstances, as well as accepting things for how they are rather than how you wish them to be. This perspective can be explained with a line from “The Serenity Prayer,”

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.”

The Right Questions
Lastly, a significant recent influence has been Joe Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. It’s not so much that he’s an expert on things outside outside of hunting, comedy and martial arts. He’s the first to admit that he’s not. However, he is great at exploring topics by trying to ask the right questions in two different ways. When Rogan has a guest, he seeks to clarify what doesn’t seem to make sense to him. This doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s right and trying to prove someone wrong. It can mean that the guest’s line of thinking or argument isn’t tightly formed to where Rogan can say, “I might not agree with this, but I understand.”

Sometimes, Rogan questions his guests or even himself regarding whether they’re asking the appropriate questions. It can be amazing that, sometimes, an individual is looking at something, but never realizes that they see it the wrong way.

Wrapping It Up
It can be hard to make sense of the world. This is why it’s important to connect the right dots. Get yourself thinking by asking, “Have I selected the correct dots?” In the real world, these dots correspond with actual facts: your intellectual foundation. Then, ask, “Have I correctly connected these dots?” In the real world, this means connecting the facts in a way that is logically true and objectively correct. If you answered yes to both, then great. If not, then you might consider revisiting these steps because you might be wrong.

I have found that, besides asking the right questions and correctly connecting the dots, it is very important to look closely at word choice. Am I right to be looking to my right? Is it true that they’re looking at their house over there? Whether you or someone else is trying to ask a question, it’s extremely important to make sure that you’re looking at or for the correct thing. Precision is one the most fundamental keys for communication or investigation.

In looking in the world in the right way, I feel that seeing the world with “open” eyes can help. I have had the opportunity to see two continents across eight countries and covering four languages. In these travels, I have seen poverty in rural, agricultural Mexico, eaten poutine in Canada and mofongo in Puerto Rico, bought stamps in Paris, visited Shakespeare’s mother-in-law’s house in England and purchased train tickets in Italy in Italian. I mention these things not to brag but to show how I sought new experiences to savor the authentic flavor of the places, so that I could understand them. I went not only as a traveler but as a student.

I remember, when I came returned from France coming up on 22 years ago. One of my co-workers asked me, “How rude were the French?” I responded, “Not at all.” I went on to explain, “…then again, I made the effort to speak their language and to respect their customs.”

With this mission statement, I am telling the world where I am today. As a result, this will is a work in progress and will change over time. I want to share these changes to show how I don’t want to stay stuck and I don’t expect you to either. I want to share this evolution. I invite you to write your own mission statement, your definite chief aim, your manifesto because I suspect that you may never have taken the time to sit down and think about what you want and what you represent. So, I start your evolution by asking you, “What is it that you stand for?”

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