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You’ve probably heard the stories about politicians and businessmen who have an entire wardrobe of the same suit to minimize the number of decisions made in a day.
Instead of wondering “what should I wear?”, you just wake up and put on an outfit that has already proven to be comfortable and of adequate appearance.
A while back, I had a simple idea.
“What if I apply the same principle to other decisions in life?”
Hence why I came up with the term “lifetime decisions”. (Obviously, it’s not a novelty.)
The concept is as follows: A situation repeats itself enough times for you to know the outcome with great certitude. Not 100% as this would be impossible, but close enough. You then prepare a certain input from yourself (something you do or say) to either minimize pain/damage or maximize profit (emotional, financial…etc.)
Then, you apply this behavioral sequence whenever the same situation arises. In essence, you’re wearing the same suit in regards to that situation, except it’s not a suit but a pattern of actions.
Examples:
Road Rage
Commuting on a bicycle where I live is a weird experience. People here don’t like cyclists and see us as the bottom of barrel creatures.
I’ve been in situations when I wanted to break the windows of cars. For example, one time a taxi driver started insulting me, asking why I wasn’t using the “bike lane”. The bike lane at that zone is practically unusable, but only someone who actually cycles would know that.
He kept calling me a “*****” to the point where his passenger got ashamed. I said “*****” and moved on.
Eventually, I realized a simple truth – road rage is never in your favor and made a lifetime decision never to react to provocations.
Ignore Former Friends
I’ve lived a fairly long time in the same city. Thus, I’d often see former classmates and other ancient acquaintances of mine from my days as a skateboarder.
Before, I used to have a normie reaction. I would greet them and stop for a conversation.
One time, a classmate insisted that we exchange contacts.
“We can meet sometimes,” he said.
I gave him my phone number even though it’d never changed (he was supposed to have it). I dropped him a text. He never responded (female behavior).
Then, on another occasion, I saw my best friend from high school in a jeep. He looked at me and pretended not to recognize me.
At that moment, I took a lifetime decision – whenever I see a former acquaintance, I would ignore them as those interactions seem completely pointless.
Don’t Get Angry When People Don’t Feel Compassion For You
Let’s face it. Male tears don’t count according to society. It is expected of males to be stoic rocks who just take it.
On many occasions, even my own mother would display clear disdain for my complaining even if there’s logic behind it.
At first, that deeply hurt me. “Why can’t they see my pain?”
But eventually, I realized that remaining silent is the better choice for me.
Thus, I took a lifetime decision – don’t explain your pain.
This principle has saved me a great number of disputes.
Don’t Give Women a Second Chance
On many occasions, I’ve tried to restart interactions with a woman that had gone nowhere.
Big, stupid mistake.
Once disrespected, it’s over.
People don’t change.
Once they stab you, it will happen again. Re-starting a convo=calling them back for more hits.
Thus, I took a lifetime decision – when a woman is out, she’s out.
Don’t Eat Bread
Technological, modern bread gives me brutal acid reflux. A couple of years ago, I ate two large pizzas on New Year’s Eve.
I don’t know what they put in the bread, but it brutalized my stomach. I’d never felt so much stomach pain in my life, and I’ve eaten mountains of junk food.
I couldn’t move.
After a sleepless night, I went to the emergency room at 6.a.m. They told me that it will go away eventually and to just endure. Honestly, it was brutal.
After 10 more hours, the pain decreased and after a few more days I was somewhat ok.
I didn’t eat any pizza for over a year, and eventually quit bread too.
Get out of bed as soon as you wake up.
I always wake up early regardless of when I go to bed. If I go to bed at 1 a.m. I still wake up no later than 7 a.m.
On many occasions, I would wake up and just stare at the ceiling or browse on my phone because it would be too early.
For a while, I even got addicted to watching the “Reels” on Instagram even though I don’t use the app for personal reasons.
Both felt wrong. Thinking resulted in over-thinking and negative thoughts coming into my head.
Instagram reels hypnotized me and turned me into a mindless scroller wasting his time watching people who practically live in another universe.
I hated that habit and made a lifetime decision to get out of bed as soon as possible forcing myself not to think about anything. Just jump out of bed and get dressed.
No Politics
Back in the day, I used to follow the political world in my country. Part of it was my father. He is heavily into politics and spends a huge chunk of time watching all kinds of political content.
Eventually, I realized that I was doing it for a dopamine hit rather than something progressive. I’d open a site to see if something interesting has happened, but at the end of the day, I had to admit the obvious – it doesn’t really matter whether you follow politics or not. You aren’t changing anything by reading the latest article.
I’ve lived long enough to know that most of politics are speculation. Experts come on TV and say their “theory” without any repercussions.
The usual scenario is:
Expert: “A” will happen.
Reality: “B” happens.
Expert: Long circular logic talk about how he was actually right.
Of course, some people will call me irresponsible or an immigrant in my own country because I deliberately chose not to follow any of this.
But the ironic part is that it really doesn’t matter whether you’re heavily invested in politics or not.
Writing Your Lifetime Decisions On a Piece Of Paper
It’s trivial but true. Writing something on a piece of paper (not the computer or the phone) results in a stronger commitment.
I find it useful to keep a small notepad filled with different “revelations” including your lifetime decisions.
Before a big day, you may even go over them.
Lifetime Decisions Are Personal
You shouldn’t follow my lifetime decisions. Yours should come out of your personal life. They should be your own product in order to feel right.
Failure Is Fine
The point isn’t to follow a lifetime decision 100% of the time. That’s similar to expecting to eat chicken and broccoli 24/7. It won’t happen unless all other foods disappear.
If you get to 80%+, you’re already getting most of the benefits that a lifetime decision can offer.
I love it when you drop a new article. I literally get a dopamine hit! Very good one by the way 😉
Good article.
Good one! Thanks!
Very good advice. Thanks, mate. Greetings from Uruguay
Great article. Love your work.
Man, honestly, it’s like you are 3 months away from turning-up to the local primary school to shoot a load of kids. What’s with this constant negative self-loathing shit?
OK fine; so you don’t have much by way of a muscular physique, unsuccessful with women, not considered cool and not financially successful. So what? None of this is an issue and most of it is within your power to improve. What is hurting you right now, is the negativity, the hate, the spite and the anger that you harbour.
Every successful person goes through periods of uncertainty regardless of field because when you are pushing into the unknown, there are unknowns! The recurring themes for you seem to be lack of a physique, lack of success with women and lack of respect, so I’ll give you a relevant example:
Skip La Cour was a six-time national drug-free champion (yes I know he used pro-hormones). He had a great physique, was admired and respected, and popular with women; he was a minor celeb! He was even coached by Tony Robins, but if you listen to some of his interviews about 5/6 years ago, he talked about how he would sit depressed on his black sofa on a regular basis, unsure of what the point was.
Then you look at him today, he’s almost 59 and in fantastic condition. He has such a solid base that he no longer uses supplements, he eats only small meals and not much protein overall, his training is far from perfect for muscle-building, but he is fit, strong, in shape and able to rep-out at 295 on the bench. Most of all, he is happy. Skip has a young family and whilst it’s clear they are pretty average, ie not wealthy, you can guarantee that he has planned his life and actively contributes to his kids college funds as well as his own retirement.
You could turn this site into something decent, you seem to have a small but loyal following, snap-out of it and start pulling people forward instead of dragging them down. I say this is the nicest possible way; your articles suck, they are ill conceived, negative, self-indulgent and appeal to losers, but they don’t have to. There are lots of good bodybuilders out there that have trained naturally for years, ask them for an article. Have someone that used steroids and then went natty write; John Hansen went natural around 1991 after realising you had to do a lot of drugs to be competitive; he has 30 years’ experience of training and competing naturally and can give an honest assessment. There’s a lot of good info out there…..
…..or you could just carry on as you are….
There are plenty of bodybuilding sites that are positive thinking. What makes this site unique is that it gives us another perspective. The world is not all roses and lollipops and it’s nice to read articles that drop red pill reality on us. If you don’t like these articles go elsewhere.
Hi Steve and everyone else here, how are you guys doing?
I see the author as someone who’s trying to come up with strategies in order to be able to survive in a brutally unfair, deceitful and evil world.
For the truth is, whether we like it or not, we live in a dog-eat-dog world, full of malice, deceit and inequality.
So, what you seem to be missing here is that his website is not, in essence, about bodybuilding or women. It’s about the unfairness of life and all the sufferings and pains it brings to us.
So I personally think he’s doing a good job in bringing a little bit of comfort and help to those who’s not been lucky in the unfairness of the lottery of life.
Ironically, the way you’re trying to encourage people Steve, does just the opposite. I can see it in your text by words like: “every successful person” and “…appel to losers” etc.
But I know you got good intentions Steve, and it’s not my intention to criticize you. So don’t take it as such. =)
Skip La Cour and John Hansen are both shadow pinners, who shilled for the Bodybuilding Fake Supplement Mafia. It is the only way a drug addict can make a living from The Cult. NONE of their “clients” will EVER look as good as them, because they don’t have access to the real secret of bodybuilding…. drugs.
People want to be lied to. Truth doesn’t sell. That’s the only problem IronGangsta has.
You cannot get everything you want in this world ethically. And bodybuilding is just a small thing to the BIG LIES of this world.
Ryu – You say that Skip La Cour and John Hansen are both shadow pinners, who shilled for the Bodybuilding Fake Supplement Mafia – exactly how do you know this as fact?
Also, what is it in life that you think cannot be achieved ethically?
There are pictures taken of John Hansen after 1991 and he’s nowhere near full natty. Also, I couldn’t find a single picture of him (thats mainstream atleast) where he looks natty regardless of year.
He only every used 3 months a year and stopped in 1990. How “natural” he was in 1991 after 1-year clean verses say 1998 where he had been clean for 8 years is debatable but no doubt he didn’t use after 1990. Plus, even as a natural, he was decent but nowhere near the best and there were plenty of lifetime naturals who were better.
There is a youtube video where he talks indepth about his drug use
Theres literally a youtube video of him in 1998 if you type in – John Hansen 1998 on google.
John Hansen WGN TV 1998 – youtube video 2 minutes.
In the video he says the same stuff they all say – counting calories, super strict about his diet, etc.
In that video he displays a non-natty physique. His upper chest says steroids but he says natty. Who do we believe 🤔
Brett, you’re mistaking me for someone that gives a shit. If he says he stopped using and he sounds reasonable, then I’m happy to accept that and will listen to what he has to say.
Leaders in all fields look to those who are doing better and try to learn. Losers dismiss those better than them as cheats and learn nothing.
@Steve
If it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, if it looks like a duck – its probably a duck.
Now if recognising a duck makes me a loser then I’m happy to accept your title.
I’d suggest by the length of your posts and replies.. YES you do.
How do you know this? Because he told you? That’s it is it? Nothing else needed?
Great article.
Interesting article. Now I suspect truthseeker has made another lifetime decision: never reply or interact with people in the comment section. Lol
Not really. Just have nothing to say on the topic anymore.
Well, I also have the impression that Truth Seeker is a frustrated person, but I like to read his articles. I consider myself a frustrated person too, maybe this is why I’m an loyal reader of his articles.
However, we live in a blue pill world and red pills are hard to digest, but I will try to see and accept the truth, even if this is a painful process. I can’t disagree to much with what the Truth Seeker has wrote.
Put more advice like those.
They may be useful for someone.
Majority of the people are frustrated, but they hide it, because they realized the point 3 “Don’t Get Angry When People Don’t Feel Compassion For You”.
Not only they don’t compassion for you, but they see you as weakling.
Conversations with former classmates are always so silly, you both pretend to be exited meeting each other and both agree on to meet sometimes for a beer. You both never message each other after.
That’s why you take a lifetime decision to ignore those people.
Excellent article and great decisions my friend. They are bits of a larger life-coping strategy and there is nothing negative about it, no matter what anyone says. You’ve created voluntary heuristics – i.e. shortcuts – that make your existence easier.
I made one too. Avoid meaningless conversations. Not in a hermit-like sense, but in a sense that If I foresee in the early stage of conversation (patterns, cue-words, tone, context etc.) that it’s going to be meaningless, trivial and/or gossip chitchat/banter — blahs just for the sake of blahs, I just skip it. In the place where I live, empty talk and repetitive cliche jokes are a societal norm, a mandatory way of staying connected with your surroundings. Which makes my decision even more difficult and puts me in an awkward position. Also, gossip, according to psychology, plays a powerful and positive role in human interaction, so a person who willingly chooses not to receive and disseminate gossip is to society a brick and a shithead.
Nevertheless, I reckoned that by avoiding those sorts of conversation no one loses anything. I do not profit and develop from such conversations, while the other person is almost never open for new, challenging and/or difficult topics. So, in the end, I just free up some of my personal time. And that’s great.
Shortcut is a great way to describe it.
2 days ago I saw a girl from high school walking her pitbull together with some man. We don’t have any sort of history together. She’s just an acquaintance. Normally, I’d said hi, but I just stood there and even looked in her eyes as if she’s a stranger and walked away.
I didn’t regret this decision for a second. As I knew that the convo was going to be fake and pointless. I also don’t like pitbulls.
Great. Remember that awfull Adam Sandler movie Click? Where he used a magical remote to FF time? Although the moral of the film was not to skip time with loved ones, it can be a great metaphor for actually skipping time on non-meaningful people.