Teaching what I've learned from the hood, the ring, and everything in between. Join 35k other readers to learn how to manage risk, build relationships, and confront reality.
Behavior inflation is similar to economic inflation
IntroductionWelcome to this issue of the Stoic Street Smarts Chronicle. This issue elaborates on an idea I've tweeted about a few times in the past—the older you get, the tougher the world is on you for not having your life together. I use the analogy of inflation to make the idea clear. Also, everything is finished for the Podguesting For Profits course/workshop (Everyone in the Hard Lessons Community will get this for free). This is the course I mentioned a few weeks back that will teach you how to research and pitch yourself to top podcasts to help you:
Here's a free gift to help you see if this is something for you. The Pitch List contains over 1500 podcasts across ten different niches, complete with the best emails to reach out to. Even if you don't sign up for the course, this list is extremely valuable to give you a head start on selling your products and services along with building an audience. How Human Behavior Is Subject To InflationWhen you’re a teenager, no one expects much out of you. Sure, there are outliers of extreme ability and achievement, but no one looks to a teenager to have their life figured out. Although they are autonomous, they’re still the responsibility of their parents. By your late 20s, you’re expected to have met specific measures of life proficiency. For example, you’re not dependent on your parents. By this age, everyone at least expects that you can hold down a job and pay for your existence in this world. You may still be overcoming the mistakes of your youth or the effects of a shoddy upbringing, but the only consistent societal marker of growth here is that you can pay your bills and you aren’t a criminal. By your late 30s, you’re expected to be an adult. This age is where a division happens. On the one side are people who are at least keeping pace with the average income level, health, and relationships. The other side is populated by those who did not do the hard things to increase their earning capacity or viability for a relationship or let their fitness deteriorate. The greatest non-innate difference between teenagers and adults is their responsibility levels. Even at age 19, when you’re technically an adult, you can’t take on much responsibility. Unless you have children or you’re caring for dying parents, you have virtually no responsibility. But your life doesn’t have the trappings of many rewards either. If you’re 35 and haven’t taken on any responsibilities that have forced you to grow and mature, you’ll still have the value of a 19-year-old, but you’ll be measured against others in your age range. For example, while it’s nice if a guy has his own place, most 19-year-old girls won’t care if another 19-year-old boy still lives with his parents, works a low-wage job, and spends his free time drinking and playing video games. Most boys her age will have a similar level of value, so it’s more like hitting the jackpot if she lands a top athlete or a trust fund kid than it feels like settling if she doesn’t—especially if the guy is attractive. The same goes for friendships as well. At 19, everyone’s idea of a good time is drinking a case of beer, ordering pizza, playing video games, and partying in someone’s basement with cheap beer. However, if your idea of a good time at 30 still regularly involves getting drunk and playing video games all day, you have nothing more valuable to devote your time to. Any friends you have will be equally of low value. That lifestyle is passable at 19, but at 30, now anyone you date will feel like they’re settling. Even if they’re just as low-value and immature, losers don’t like spending time with other losers. Those are just the only people who will spend time with them. Cool things I read this week
Social media round-up
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Stoic Street Smarts
Teaching what I've learned from the hood, the ring, and everything in between. Join 35k other readers to learn how to manage risk, build relationships, and confront reality.
Good morning! If you're a regular, you may have noticed that it's been a short while since I sent out a newsletter, but it's all good. It's just been a very busy time with a few projects I'm working on, the most exciting of which is polishing the newest version of my keynote speech. It's called Adaptive Agency: Winning The Fight That Matters. I know this is a long shot, but if anyone is in a position to have a speaker address an audience—whether it's a youth program, sports team, non-profit,...
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That’s the Golden Rule for navigating how you treat others, and you could do far worse than living your life by this code—at least in theory. The reality is that people have always gotten out of pocket and tried to bully, intimidate, discriminate, or dominate others for various selfish reasons, regardless of how you treat them. That’s how it is, how it always was, and how—as long as humans exist in a world of finite resources—it always will...
The Great Hood Sage Lil’ Jon once famously said: “Don’t start no shit, won’t be no shit.” I learned this growing up in the projects, but if you don’t speak hood, I’ll translate: If you don’t provoke people or cause problems, your interactions with them will be free of provocation and problems. The idea seems simple enough, but rarely does it ever go as planned, because some ornery humans will always—in their pursuit of more—end up in conflict with those whom they think are victims to take...