Eradicate the Magic Pill Mindset

Eradicating the Magic Pill MentalityWant to get a six-pack in just three weeks?

Want to earn a lot of money in a short amount of time using a secret strategy exclusive to the elite?

Want to get psychic powers, or better yet, psychic powers that allow you to get your ideal partner?!

“Yeah man, I want all that and throw in a can of coke and some pizza too!”

Shit, I suppose I would like that too… Or do I really?

Actually I don’t, because I have since long eradicated the magic pill mindset from my thought process.

Doing more with less

Historically speaking, humans have gradually learnt to do more with less. Not only is it part of our culture, but I suspect it is also part of evolution–and is wired into our DNA.

It IS a part of the heuristic framework for how our brain has evolved to make decisions.

Doing more with less is the foundation of technology, innovation, and has been fundamental for improving our conditions of living.

It is the basics of economics too as we learn to use fewer resources to produce more value and thus end up wasting less energy.

You could also see the economic perspective of doing more with less reflected in sayings such as: “buy low, sell high”.

Doing more with less has played a major part in getting mankind to where it is today.

But the mentality–(if you can call it that)–of doing more with less can actually be harmful to you. . .

. . .Especially when it comes to self-development, discipline, and long-term consistency; and this negative mentality runs rampant in mainstream society.

I call this the magic pill mindset.

People who are operating under influence of the magic pill mindset show two prominent types of thinking and behavior:

  1. They think that they are more competent than they actually are.  When things aren’t turning out the way they want them to, these people search for external problems instead of looking inside to see if something is off, and then find the root cause.  For example, if they are disliked by a person they might think that there’s something wrong with their clothes rather than acknowledging the fact that they have an unpleasant personality.
  2. Once they have identified that external thing that they think they need, they believe that their life would be perfect if only they had that thing.

In both of these cases of the magic pill mindset it is evident that the person does it to shift the away focus from themselves onto something else in order to remove the discomfort that arises when they get confronted with a situation that is in conflict with how they perceive themselves.

You might say that they have a fragile ego structure. Or a weak brain unable to break out o homeostasis.

People who are deluded by the magic pill mindset think that they will achieve success and happiness if only they can find some secret method for doing something. . .

. . . Rather than actually putting in the time and effort to get good at something and get what you deserve in return.

(Why else do you think the industry and the marketing of the Law of Attraction has been so successful?)

Now, this takes us to…

The Law of Compensation

The law of compensation states that in the long-term you get what you put in. it’s as simple as that.

You can either decide to act in accordance with this and strain yourself to find ways of learning to produce some form of value to people and trust that it will pay off in the long-term. . .

. . .Or, you could attend a new seminar for how to “manifest your desires” every week until you actually do.

I’d stick with option number one though.

A lot of people act like they’re serious about this and that, when–in truth–they are not. They are deluding themselves.

How bad do you want to become great?

Test yourself:

I want to clarify that the law of compensation does not in any way contradict the saying to work smarter, not harder and to make use of various strategies for becoming productive, such as focusing on the 80/20.

Many people make the mistake of thinking that either one of these mindsets is “the correct”.

But they are not mutually exclusive.

You want to reconcile them; to work hard and build discipline while also working smart and finding new innovative solutions to people’s problems.

The Solution to the Magic Pill Mindset

The solution to the magic pill mindset is a mental disease. . .

. . . Something to heal yourself from–and never look back.

It sounds like such an easy thing. But it’s not easy to most of people.

That’s why infomercials sell.

People are actually stupid enough to believe them–and buy “magic” products that PROMISE too-good-to-be-true results.

But if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

But the extremely lazy fat person who fears working out more than he wants to lose weight does NOT see it that way.

It is so obvious to everyone else that Sarah the Slob is going to fail miserably at her attempt of trying a new mysterious miracle diet. It is also obvious that Simon the Slacker is going to fail in his multilevel marketing business.

But neither Sarah nor Simon can see it.

Because they’re in the magic pill mindset; they think this thing will solve their problems, effortlessly.

But it won’t.

Nothing will.

Nothing external, anyway.

Their problems stem from their weak character and inability to maintain consistency.

The Path to Mastery

In the 60s-70s when Eastern Philosophy, Zen, and guru-worshiping became popular, many westerners left for India and the Asian continents and decided to become “spiritual”. They journeyed to stay in ashrams or to go on pilgrimages.

For some of these people – such as Steve Jobs – this turned out to be a life-changing experience and could by all means be called a success, a productive use of time.

But for many others this experience was a “failure”.

Can you guess why?

It was because they had gone there in hopes of achieving supreme psychic powers and becoming “enlightened” by spending time with a guru.

They went home disappointed.

For the latter group of people spirituality, mysticism, and perhaps the idea of instant enlightenment, represented the magic pill solution that would solve all their problems.

The key distinction between those who “succeeded” and those who “failed” was that the first group of people realized that the magic pill they were searching for did in fact not exist. . .

. . .So they stopped looking for it and as a result they shifted their focus onto learning how to become more appreciative of their immediate surroundings and how to think more accurately.

For many of these people meditation and mindfulness became their path to mastery –the one thing that they could practice consistently and learn to appreciate more and more as they improved.

Steve Jobs was one such person.

The moral of the story is this: you can either search aimlessly during an indefinite amount of time for a hidden treasure that you have only heard about, but never verified (hearsay), or you can start to practice something right now and eventually accumulate a treasure of your own in accordance to the law of compensation.

You can either work a shitty job, spend all your leisure on video games, social media, partying, and buying lottery tickets. . .

. . . Or you can use the your hours of daily leisure to learn some constructive skill that you think is interesting, and over the next few years become good enough at it to eventually turn it into your new job and in time rise to the top of your niche.

Or you could just stick to the lottery tickets.

* * *

Check out the Top Posts

Subscribe to my Newsletter (I only send emails a few times per year)

* * *

Comments

  1. Awesome post.

  2. I loved the article.

    I read your comment and… 42 hours!!!
    Were you doing less with more hours listening to that Bible!?

    • Thank you!

      Haha. I didn’t listen to it for 42 hours straight, and to be honest I skipped probably 15 of those hours because he spoke about advanced mathematics and geometry and physics which I couldn’t understand and had little interest in..

      I listened to it almost exclusively while I was not actively doing something, while eating, while on trains, while walking, etc… That time adds up you know, so it’s important to keep a stock of some good audiobooks :)

  3. I feel that what you’re saying is probably right… Especially the “doing more with less” part. I hadn’t looked at it from that way before, intriguing.

    But. How the f… does one know when one is on the path to mastery? I actually did read George Leonard’s book Mastery a few years back but I don’t remember much from it, and i hated his aikido examples! lol.

    • Yes it is, isn’t it?
      I got the “doing more with less” concept from listening to Buckminster Fuller’s “Everything I know” audio – it’s like 42 hours I think. Some of it is really good, other parts are a bit boring.

      Mastery:
      Hehe, good question. I guess it is a matter of feeling.

      I agree with you about the Aikido examples ;)

Speak Your Mind

*