The Stimulus Bill is a Slap in the Face to the American People
And potentially a useful wakeup call for you
I feel like a broken record at this point. I keep hammering home the same sentiment about the optimal way to live your life based on the society you live in.
What optimal way? Do everything you can to exhaust your own resources, creativity, and energy into building a life you can have control over instead of leaving it in the hands of someone else, especially the puppeteers that run our society.
Usually, I keep things motivational and not too political, but some of the events we’ve seen in 2020 just solidify the message that you’re absolutely on your own.
Congress finally passed a second stimulus bill. And they decided to give each American and whopping $600. An amount you can’t pay rent with. An amount that could barely feed a family of four.
An amount that is a slap in the face. If they divided the $900 billion package by the number of people in the country, each person would get roughly $2,700. If instead of printing trillions of dollars to stimulate the stock market they gave some of that money to the people, everyone would be much better off.
Here’s the thing I always try to tell people. I’m one of the most optimistic people on planet earth, but I’m also hyperrealistic. I wouldn’t mind if societal overlords would help us. I’d welcome it. I would like there to be a fairer system than the one we have now. But it’s not going to happen.
The Fundamental Flaw in the System
People have the idea that giving power to the right people will improve the quality of the system. This is incorrect. The incentive structure of the systems themselves create the problems, e.g., politicians making decisions that help them get elected vs. long-term beneficial decisions that don’t help them short term.
You don’t ask the person with their thumb on you, a person who benefits from putting their thumb on you, to take their thumb off you. Yes, you can make incremental changes in the system by getting the right people in, but it’s never going to be enough to save you. It’s never going to be enough to move the needle in your life.
Why? Because the structure of the system itself is designed for the failure of the collective. Always. You can play musical chairs with politicians all you want. The left and right-wing belong to the same bird.
Stop falling for the illusion. These people don’t care about you at all. Even ‘your team.’ This is all a game. Behind the scenes, these people have the same exact interests and none of them have to do with making your life any better.
But let’s get back to the motivation. Let’s talk about what you can do now that it’s become clearer than ever that no one is coming to save you.
Create Your Own System
Warren Buffet has a saying “Never rely on the kindness of strangers.” You don’t have to live life the way I do, but I’d encourage you to take a look at your life to see how much of your outcomes are reliant on strangers, how that makes you feel about your long-term prospects, and what you plan to do about it.
Do you rely on the kindness of strangers to make your income? Is your job susceptible to go away at any moment based on the nature of your work? How long can you survive without an income? These are all important questions to answer and make moves based on those answers.
You might not be able to fix all of these right away. But now is the time to really start thinking about alternative pathways to give yourself some flexibility and autonomy. 2021 can be the year you finally start that side business, invest, buy real estate, whatever it may be.
As far as the motivation for all of those things is concerned, I get how tough it is to maintain momentum, even if you really need to do something about your situation. Even if you’re struggling, it might not be enough motivation to persist through the struggles of building your own system.
Try anyway. Try because you always want to avoid being flat-footed.
Become a Strategic Thinker and Open Your Eyes
You have to start thinking about the direction the world is moving in. You have to start thinking about your role in that world. And you have to keep your eyes open. Where are things trending?
I’ve talked about this 10 million times. The gap between the haves and have nots is growing, both financially and psychologically. I’d argue the psychological part is more important. These people who run the system are systematically trying to break you and make you lose your mind. It’s working on many people.
Now, more than ever, self-improvement isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. You could argue in many instances that it’s a life or death matter. Which side are you going to be on? The side of people who rely on the system and get crushed because of it or the side that takes advantage of the system or escapes it?
You can pivot. You can make a move. But you have to start planning and you have to start executing that plan. Devour information — read, videos, course, etc. Try to see into the future and make plans right now that will benefit you long term — health, wealth, relationships, personal growth.
Pay attention to what goes on in the news, but run it through a BS filter and decipher the truth for yourself. Now is the time to be on the right side of history. We are going through a massive wealth transfer and it just makes logical sense to be on the right side of it.
As much as I’ve painted a bleak picture for the collective, we’re quite possibly in the best possible times for self-directed, entrepreneurial, and self-improvement focused individuals.
Because of my self-improvement education and the fact that I’d been preparing for the unexpected for years, my life situation improved dramatically during 2020.
That’s what becoming antifragile does. The more skills you have, the more adaptable you are, and the more versed you are about what’s truly going on in the world, the easier it is for you to prosper while everyone panics/
Make your next move.
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