Significant, life-altering, “Oh my God, what happened to you?!” mindset shifts all come from the same place. If you research history, literature, movies and sacred texts there are dozens of different examples. But they all amount to the same whisper in the dark.
Julius Caesar crossed The Rubicon.
Joseph Campbell christened it “The Call to Adventure.”
Tim Ferriss describes it as “The Harakuju Moment.”
It’s the exact second when the course of your life changes.
I remember mine.
When my daughter was born, my whole world shifted on its axis. One look in her eyes and I COMMITTED to always being there. To NEVER have to work in an office again. To NEVER ask permission to spend more time with her. To becoming sovereign.
It was the moment I knew what needed to be done.
And my favorite way of putting this:
The Recognition of Necessity.
It comes from the German philosopher Georg Hegel.
He saw history – and life – as a grand screenplay.
And the whole silly dance as an editable script.
He defined freedom – true freedom – as understanding and embracing the way the world works.
Everyone knows the maxim, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
But Hegel had a different idea.
And it’s an idea I heard repeated recently from an unlikely source:
Guy Ritchie.
If you’re British you know Guy Ritchie.
But if you’re not, he’s a movie director.
Lock Stock, Snatch, Sherlock Holmes, The Gentlemen.
Used to be married to Madonna.
I was listening to a podcast with Ritchie the other day and he said something profound.
He said:
“Don’t hate the game. LOVE the game, cos you’re in it, mate. So own the game. Accept the rules. And move on into the rules. The world will try and tell you are, and you have to tell yourself who you are. It’s an ongoing battle. And somehow there needs to be a reconciliation.”
As I’ve said before, most writers are broke.
Because how good you are is not nearly as important as how good people think you are.
(And how often they are willing to give you money.)
This is why smart writers can stay poor even when they are technically exquisite.
Some writers are simply a “bit” better than others yet get paid – literally – 100x more.
I offer you only the truth.
I don’t like it any more than you do.
But this is the game.
Recognize it, accept it and internalize it.
Then do something about it.
