ZombieFit™ :: Vol 3

Amateur zombie preparedness starts with ammunition, rations, and potable water that's stored in an underground bunker. That’s the easy stuff. A little bit of money can solve those problems.

Professional zombie preparedness, on the other hand, starts with developing an unshakable belief in yourself, and that only happens as a byproduct of wrestling your own definiteness of purpose down to the mat. It’s an iterative process that never really ends…

This week we'll be exploring some of Napoleon Hill's philosophy on the topic of “purpose” along with a Japanese concept called ikigai (roughly translates to "reason for being") that provides a nice + actionable framework.

Let’s do this…

Definiteness of Purpose

It's a question that runs as deep as it gets, and we've all wrestled with it: what is my purpose?

Once you pull on the string of "purpose", you'll find yourself not only exploring your own identity, but also its connections to everything else around you. The central questions of worldview (origin, meaning, morality, and destiny) naturally emerge, and it's not long before you’re swimming in the philosophical deep end of pool.

Napoleon Hill's approach to exploring our definiteness of purpose involves a combination of self-reflection, exploration, and meditation on personal strengths. Ultimately achieving that definiteness of purpose, according to Hill, involves some intentional reprogramming the subconscious mind to convince yourself that it can and will be achieved.

For example, whereas the skeptic might have the inclination to say "I'll have to see it to believe it" in response to an unproven claim, Hill would tell us that the opposite must be true for any act of creation to occur: someone must first believe it to ever see it.

Intuitively, we know that Hill is right, because countless acts of creation start with an idea and a blank slate. The idea is just potential energy, but once someone believes it enough that they commence work on it in the material world, the solution becomes tangible — and that’s when other people can see it.

Knowing and believing are words we often throw around interchangeably, but they’re quite different in meaning. If you truly know something, you shouldn't have to believe it anymore. You would already have direct experience or incontrovertible evidence of it. Belief, on the other hand, requires you to entertain an unproven (and perhaps unprovable) possibility — and yet live as though it were true.

ikigai

In Japanese, ikigai roughly translates to "reason for being", and I've found it to be a useful tool in my own exploration of purpose.

A quick Internet search for ikigai will reveal a Venn diagram like the one below where four circles converge: what you enjoy, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be rewarded for.

Within your zombie preparedness toolbox, think of ikigai like a compass that provides you with a sense of direction -- something we all need to build and maintain momentum in life.

What brings you joy?

What fires you up and sets your soul ablaze? Where would you go, and what would you do if money were no object? How would you spend the remainder of your days?

Exploring the great outdoors? Creating art that stirs emotions? Concocting culinary masterpieces? Writing a newsletter to help the world prepare for the (theoretical) zombie apocalypse? In any event, identifying and spending time on what brings you joy ensures that you're nurturing the intrinsic passions that energize you.

What are you good at?

Just like Liam Neeson in the cult classic movie Taken, we each possess "a very particular set of skills", talents, and abilities. It could be a knack for creating software, a way with writing or speaking eloquent words that inspires others, or even a special talent for tracking down international kidnappers with very little go on…

It’s possible that your natural gifts may trace all the way back to childhood memories and be rooted in joy itself — but don’t be discouraged if this is not the case. As Cal Newport points out in Deep Work, an intrinsic pleasure often emerges AFTER you have developed the necessary skills to become good at something. Developing those skills is inextricably linked to putting in the time, and putting in the time is a function of determination.

What does the world need?

Even in the face of apocalyptic scenarios, there are always ways to be of service to others. The greatest generation rightfully earned that title by delivering selfless service when the world needed it the most. It’s a case in point that what the world needs most isn’t always what you feel like doing — but desperate times call for desperate measures. It’s what must to be done nonetheless.

Where do you see pain and suffering around you right now? It could be overt physical suffering related to contaminated drinking water and poverty — or it could be working-class psychological suffering that stems from stress, depression, toxic relationships, or warped perspectives on life.

Are there any dark places where you can shine a light right now?

How can you be rewarded?

The best rewards come from delivering value to others -- usually in the form of solving legitimate problems or mitigating risk. The reward is almost always proportional to the amount of pain you can eliminate or surface area of the risk you can reduce.

Just like Liam Neeson, your ability to be rewarded as part of an economic value exchange will be linked to a particular set of skills and subject to basic economics. Like most everything else in economics, scarcity drives value according supply and demand curves.

For example, if you are providing a commoditized product or service (e.g. selling bottled water pre-apocalypse), you'll have to make up for it with high volume to earn meaningful profits. Conversely, if you are providing a scarce product or service (e.g. selling flamethrowers mid-apocalypse), you'll likely rack up some meaningful profits even at low volume.

Purpose -> Plans -> Actions

Napoleon Hill would remind us that our plans and actions for achieving any particular purpose can/will/should change as often as needed. The purpose should drive the plans, and the plans should drive the actions.

It’s easy to burn up a lot of time and money working on plans and actions that are not rooted in the proper purpose.

The next time you're invited on a trip, asked to join a community, or are taking on any new project (and BTW, those underground bunkers don't just build themselves...), take a moment to reflect on its purpose as part of your calculus.

Questions to consider:

• What are some things you believe, but don't (or can’t ever) actually know?

• How do your beliefs connect to fundamental concepts of origin, meaning, morality, and destiny?

• Do you have any deeply held beliefs that aren’t serving you right now? What are you going to do about it?

• What is your ikigai? Spend an hour on a lazy Sunday afternoon and grind on it…

• Do all of the projects you’re working on right now have a well-defined purpose?

Until next week…

Command center -- out.
Matthew Russell
Head of Zombie Preparedness

P.S. - I salute you in advance if you’ll consider sharing ZombieFit™ with a likeminded friend.