so I think about this a lot what exactly
separates the most successful people
from the rest how do they do what they
do and I think I'm not alone in thinking
about these things I think as a society
were fascinated by high achievers there
are many ways to potentially answer this
question and it would be foolish of me
to even pretend to know the secret but
there is something that I believe
undeniably plays a major role systems in
part one of my going essentialist series
I talked about how to make better
decisions in a variety of different
situations but what if you could
simplify that process and not just
simplify it but root it in something
bigger what if you had an assistant for
decision-making how much mental
bandwidth would you be able to free up
for other things as Roy Disney put it
it's not hard to make decisions when you
know what your values are and here's the
exciting thing these systems already
exist humans have been making them for
millennia it costs you nothing to be a
student of life to reach for more stand
on the shoulders of giants and learn
from those that came before us none of
us can do it alone and in part two of my
going essentialist series I'm gonna
share my three preferred operating
systems for life
[Music]
I'm gonna start all this off by defining
the term modus operandi which by the way
for me it sounds pretty sick I don't
know it sounds like some sort of sci-fi
technology it's a real shame the Latin
is a dead language anyway so modus
operandi is basically just a particular
method for doing something especially
one that is characteristic or
well-established now in my personal
opinion I think that we're all of trying
to figure out our own kind of modus
operandi I mean what do you think
morning and evening routines are
productivity hacks etc so three systems
for life that I'm gonna share with you
work for me but they might not work for
you for me that's kind of the beauty of
all this you can pick and choose based
on how you function and what works for
you your modus operandi does not have to
look like mine or anybody else's I think
the idea and the goal of all this should
be to have a value system that you can
use as a filter for your decision making
process in every aspect of your life
it's kind of like a framework that you
can function within stoicism place
yourself in ancient Greek in Romans of
years ago the world is a dangerous and
unpredictable place put as simply as
possible stoicism is probably the most
practical of all philosophies it's very
much oriented towards action instead of
just debate and discussion we're not
gonna get caught up on the details
because this isn't even meant to be
remotely exhaustive the gist of stoicism
is that almost everything is outside of
your control including even sometimes
your physical freedom you have no
control over the rain outside or the dog
barking next door other people can beat
you they can throw you in jail justly or
unjustly but they cannot control your
reaction to all these circumstances
therefore the Stoics regularly spoke
about always bringing back your
attention and focus to that which is
within your control your attitude
the thing I find so powerful about
stoicism is that it is just relentless
in reframing a whole host of different
situations in a very simple way and
giving you a clear idea of where you
should be placing your energy another
fundamental stoic principle that I find
really interesting was this idea of
practicing misfortune of stepping
outside of your comfort in good times a
couple of examples of this could be to
sleep on the floor instead of your bed
for a week or it could be to wear ugly
clothing and eat you know very basic
food for a few days or something along
those lines it can be cold showers it
could be anything the idea was to give
yourself perspective and to remind
yourself of how little you really need
to live a happy and fulfilling life
a couple of books that I recommend on
this subject are first of all the daily
stoic which I think does a great job of
breaking things down and making it
easier to dip your toes into stoicism
the format is just a quote every day and
then a modern-day explanation for what
the quote means however there is no
replacement for meditations by Marcus
Aurelius who was a Roman Emperor and
also a stoic and this is just an
incredible compilation of writings on
stoic philosophy I'm currently reading
it I haven't finished it yet but it's
insane
I mean it's is very profound Buddhism I
first kind of began exploring Buddhism
when I was 13 years old for a school
project I honestly just found it
enjoyable to me the stories of
Siddhartha Gautama who was just as very
privileged and rich and powerful prince
who would eventually kind of renounce
all these luxuries in search of the way
now already there's some interesting
crossover with stoicism because like I
said one of the fundamental principles
is to practice misfortune much of
Buddhism revolves around Siddhartha's
path to enlightenment where he became
the Buddha and then many of his
teachings after the fact
this is a religion of lists so for
example the four noble truths of
Buddhism are that suffering is an innate
characteristic of existence that cause
or origin of this suffering is craving
desire or attachment you can end the
suffering by letting go of this craving
desire and an attachment and the way to
do this is with the Noble Eightfold Path
which is another list Buddhism is
interesting to me because it places a
focus on a lot of really interesting
things like meditation discipline of the
mind codes of ethics like the five
precepts this is something that I spoke
about in my video on not drinking
alcohol for thirty days and it was
interesting and guiding me through that
kind of process and where I stood
ethically Buddhism provides just this
really refreshingly different
perspective on things and I find that
it's remarkably applicable to today to
society and where we're at right now
even though it comes from thousands of
years ago and from a society that was
totally different from the one that we
live in now kind of interesting I don't
know that for some reason I find that
just fascinating don't be scared away by
the monks you can continue to live your
normal life and incorporate Buddhism in
really small ways take not Han is an
absolute G and has written a ton of
amazing books I'm currently reading old
path white clouds
it's a beautiful retelling of the story
of Siddhartha essentialism of the three
operating systems that I'm talking about
here this one's definitely the most
recent and modern but in many ways I
feel like this is just a rewording of
many of the same principles just written
in the context of the 21st century which
i think is really important I mean I
think there is no harm in updating
things to match up with the insane world
that we now live in author Greggy the
cue and wrote the book back in 2014
which for me says that there is still
just a lot of room for experimentation
with this kind of new approach to life
new but not new I am getting blasted by
sunlight right now maybe there is
something wholly about the topic of
essentialism oh holy smokes so what is
essentialism look like right and that is
only a question that you can answer for
yourself essentialism centers around the
idea relentlessly prioritizing your life
and then only placing your energy and
focus on the most important things for
me it's kind of about giving yourself
permission to not do it all you know to
say no a lot and often and give yourself
permission to not take everything on
this makes perfect sense to me I mean
the world is saturated with irrelevant
and unnecessary information if you do
not fight for the life that you want or
even the exploration of what that might
look like somebody else is gonna do it
for you the abundance of the world can
be a blessing or a curse and more than
ever it's about knowing how to use the
tools that are at our disposal whenever
I visit a new country for example I have
this desire to do it all and sometimes
that is paired with a real big sense of
anxiety because some part of me knows
that it's impossible I cannot do it all
and that anxiety can take away from that
experience it can rob me from the
enjoyment of exploring this new country
so it's kind of a weird analogy but I do
think that it the same exact thing
applies to the Internet holy smokes this
lighting anyway all that to say I like
the book it works like a very simple
guide that you can kind of reference
whenever you want due to its immense
simplicity you can apply it to like
anything
life just something to think about so
anyway this was a clearly superficial a
very quick overview on three very
in-depth topics I highly highly
recommend you do your own research which
can be reading about these things in
forums it can be watching videos like
this but there's no replacement to
reading the original texts this means
you can come to your own conclusions and
that not everything you learn about
these things is filtered through other
people I read the comments and I am
always blown away by the amount of
suggestions and ideas that you guys have
to offer and I'm afraid that so much of
it goes unheard if there's one thing
that I've realized this year it is that
I am definitely not alone in my search
for answers and just trying to figure
things out for myself finding people
that I could share this with was
something I was just desperate for while
I was growing up and I know once again
that I'm not alone in feeling that way
so that's why I've started a subreddit
that can hopefully be that place a place
where you can share your ideas and
suggestions and the things that you're
going through in our collective search
for mental clarity this is really not at
all meant to be about me I'm not super
active on Reddit but I will be present
there and I just want this to be more
about creating community and continuing
to discover new things so there will be
a link in the description and who knows
maybe it can become yet another tool
that you get value from thank you for
watching this was a really fun video to
make this topic excites me and so I plan
to tackle more of this kind of thing
moving forward and so if that interests
you consider subscribing and sticking
around I also have an Instagram that you
can follow and a newsletter you can sign
up to enforce oh yeah all right let's
say so
you