Sunday, December 18, 2016

Tools for Titans #9 : On Anger and Doing What You Hate.

This section is on Casey Neistat who is a film maker and Youtuber. His online movies have been viewed 300 million times which is not bad for someone who ran away from home at age 15.

I really enjoyed ripping apart this section of the book. In my view, Casey Neistat does not deserve an entry in this tome. ( But what do I know ? )

a) Anger as a motivation

Casey's first advice is use your anger to motivate you to create things and inspire your creative projects. One of his most viral videos was made over an unpleasant incident from receiving summons from a traffic cop. The video was so successful it forced Mayor Bloomberg to take a question during a press conference.

In my view, anger has a mixed record in personal development. A lot of what I achieved in my 20s and 30s was driven by some kind of anger about the rich, undeserving brats from select schools along Bukit Timah road. As I get older, I have met folks who claim to wield their anger and dissatisfaction towards their personal goals but with absolute no results to show except their bitterness.

What I know is that you should not combine anger with perfectionism. You will never launch anything of use within a reasonable time and your anger will eat you up from within.  

b) What is the most outrageous thing you can do ?

Just don't.

Because of Casey's personal experiences and track record, he was able to take on money from an investor and waste it on a personal vacation while making a viral video over that process. It's not something anyone can get away with.

One aspect of personal development is that it generally comes from America which does not penalize the lack of conscientiousness as much as other societies.

This is one of those things which a person can try to do at his own personal risk. Casey's action was a bad idea because it could have been construed as a contract breach and an investor with no sense of humor could have destroyed him over that breach.

This is one of the most negative effects of having Millenials who read Tim Ferriss. They start thinking that they can get away with outrageous shit and do irresponsible things to destroy their lives.

c) It's about how little time you spend doing the stuff you hate.

On first inspection, this really sounds wise and something you can employ in your next Toastmasters meeting - It's not about how much time you spend doing what you love but how little time you spend doing what you hate. 

Upon closer inspection, it is selfish ethos. No one adopting this philosophy would enjoy starting a family and having kids because more time is spent on unpleasant tasks than those which are pleasant. And don't me started on commuting to work, scientifically proven as one of the most unpleasant tasks of the day.

Casey ran away from time at 15, at 17, he's already a dad because he is then entitled to welfare payments so i am not surprised that he lives by this code.

It's not always about yourself.

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