TIE #001: Why Conventional Wisdom is Ruining Your Life
If you listen to conventional wisdom from people who live conventional lives, you are destined to live a conventional life.
Today’s issue is sponsored by Refind. Every day, Refind picks 5 links from around the web that make you smarter, tailored to your interests. Loved by 100k+ curious minds.
Interested in sponsoring this newsletter? Respond to this email or send me a DM on Twitter for more details.
From a young age, we are all groomed into accepting the rat race as “normal”.
Every authority figure drills the same garbage into your head:
“Go to college”
“Get a good job with benefits”
“Work hard Monday-Friday”
“Save every penny”
“Invest in your 401k”
We are tricked into believing that this is the “best” way to structure your life.
In reality, it’s all a bunch of nonsense that almost guarantees you’ll spend a lifetime doing shit you don’t want to do.
I’ll prove it to you.
Take on a bunch of debt for that degree? You just lost tens of thousands of dollars in opportunity cost.
Follow the script perfectly? The adventure (or lack there-of) still ends without a guarantee of freedom.
Somehow find a way to retire at 60? Congrats, you earned your freedom at the same time you’ll be getting your hip replaced.
While that’s a morbid way of looking at it, it’s the truth.
Want some more truth?
The entire economy is bankrolled by this conventional so-called “wisdom”.
Without a bunch of obedient wage-slaves who are in a ton of debt feeding the machine, the house of cards collapses.
Once you see this dynamic, you can’t un-see it.
I don’t blame anyone for falling victim to the conventional wisdom trap. You hear some form of it at every turn.
It’s in every part of:
the education system
the news
the financial media
entertainment
government
Every time you leave your home, you are surrounded by people giving up youthful dreams for a chance at an elderly retirement.
Not a guaranteed retirement, a chance at retirement.
Throw in the societal pressures of getting that shiny new car and a big house to prove how “not-broke” you are and you have a recipe for life-long employment.
Can you even blame the people you trust most for instilling this advice into your head from such a young age?
No, you can’t. It’s everywhere.
I was given the same advice and applied it for several years.
It wasn’t until one day that I stopped and asked myself, “why trade 50 years of suffering at a job I hate for 13 years of freedom?”
Had I not hated the path I was on so much, I’d still be stuck doing something I hated from Monday - Friday.
Others who find even some level of comfort in living this way, are not so lucky.
Give someone a tolerable job that provides just enough income to live a mediocre lifestyle and I’ll show you someone who won’t feel compelled to change a thing.
The questions that you should asking yourself are:
“Am I fulfilled by what I do for a living?”
“Do I get to do whatever I want Monday - Friday?”
My answer to both of these was a resounding “fuck no”.
So why do we do it? Why do we blindly follow all of this advice that traps us?
Money.
It’s all about money.
Don’t agree? Then tell me why people spend 40-50 hours every week away from their family and friends just to get it.
Whether you want to admit it or not, money and the fear of not having it is what keeps most people working until they can’t.
If you want to break free from this system, you need to make a more efficient income.
There is no other way out.
You can only cut your expenses (and make yourself miserable) so much. You’re better off focusing on the other end of the equation.
It is the only way to make work optional or be able to do something that you find more fulfilling for a living (rather than whatever pays the bills).
This is why 99% of my content is about leveraging the internet to do exactly that.
You can complain that it shouldn’t have to be this way or you can do something about it.
The choice is yours.
When you are ready, there are two different ways I can help you:
If you are interested in starting an efficient one-person online business, I recommend starting with one of the following:
Textbook Flipping Mastery - My in-depth guide on how to start an all online, high-margin Amazon e-commerce business.
The Conference Room - My private mentorship community, which includes all of my paid guides for free. Pay once and stay a member for life.
You can become a paid subscriber here (7-day free trial available) and follow along with my personal LEGO investment portfolio here on Substack.