Are You Currently Taking the Blue Pill and Living in the Matrix? Are You Ready for Change in Your Life?

Do you follow whatever you hear on the news as if its the truth?  Do you see yourself doing the same boring things everyday and question it?  Maybe everyone else tells you how to think, your parents, family, friends, news, teachers, or certain groups.  You follow blindly without ever thinking why you are following what everyone else says.  This is how we are conditioned from day one today.  And most of us will follow what the news says even if it isn't true, or maybe you will go to school and get your degree to find out you will be underemployed, and when you do get that job you went to school for you will HATE it.  It will become repetitive, you will go to work come home, maybe pick up some fast food on the way home and sit on the couch for 3-5 hours and watch some stupid tv show.  Then you will go to bed and repeat this process for 30-40 more years.  At the end of your life you will wonder where all your time went, but during your life for all those years you coped with life blindly following everything you were told you will think you were living.  See for most of us we only take the red pill on our death bed, when its too late!  My goal for this blog post is for you to take it today!

I'm not going to go into things that "blue pill" people would call conspiracy theories, if you want to look into that kind stuff feel free to search the internet.  I would like to talk about taking the red pill in terms of becoming your greatest version, and not the conspiracy theories, even though they would be fun to talk about (maybe on another blog).

You don't want to take the red pill!
What happens when you decide to take the red pill? You will find that everything you thought was truth was a lie.  This will be painful, your ego will get in the way because you will see you lived your life with blinders on instead of seeing the real world much longer ago!  Don't let your ego control you, move past it. See the world for what it really is.  See how we are trained since day one to think the fast food we are told to eat is normal.  See how you ate this food, but that is behind you now, you have taken the red pill!  And this is probably the part that sucks the least.
You will go around and see life as it is.  You will see how you were told to be just like everyone else. You were told to get that job you hate because its "safe and secure", but did anyone ever tell you that you could lose your job any second?  NO.  This wouldn't make the school and college system work.  What makes it work its by spending 20-25 years of your life in school then getting a job you hate so that you never have to think for yourself and do the hard thing.  And yes achieving your goals and visions is viewed as the hard thing to do.  Could you imagine if instead of school for 20-25 years you were able to work on yourself?  Build yourself up for 7 hours everyday (7 hours is the average school day in America).  How different would your life be if you built yourself up instead of building up someone else's version of you up?

So you don't want to take the red pill because it will cause you to think for yourself instead of blindly following every lie you are told.  You will see your whole life was a lie up until this point.

Closing thoughts.
Have you chosen to take the red pill?  I hope you have.  It is a big step in life, and I hope you have chosen to take the red pill.  Don't believe everything you are told (especially not this blog post, just kidding) do your research on everything you hear from the media or everything you have been told in life from anyone around you, and what has been told in schools!

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.  Were you taking the blue pill before you read this, or have you been taking the red pill for a while now?  What more could I have talked about on this post, or what would you add?

99 Percent.

So the other day on the way to work I saw the dumbest sticker on a car.  I have seen this sticker before but the other day it struck me more than it usually does.  This sticker is one that says "Look I'm not going anywhere in life and I'm your average Joe."  It is something you should be ashamed to show on your car and not proud of whatsoever.

So there was a old, gold, shitty Toyota Corolla driving by me in a rush to get to the same red light as me with a sticker saying "We are the 99 %"  Now I don't know the point of this sticker, but I know I don't want to be part of the 99%, do you?  I hope your answer to that was a big fat NO!

In this day and age we are programmed to be "normal" go get a piece of paper to show how smart you are, follow the herd like everyone else and you will have a safe secure job, or life.  More and more people are waking up to see this type of thinking isn't true.  Most kids graduate college in severe debt and are employed at the same job they could've gotten out of high school!  Even if they got the job they wanted it isn't secure and they could be fired at any time, even if they are a great employee, the economy could get bad and they could be fired.  99% of people will stay in their comfort zone because they think its safe, when in reality its about just as safe as going and taking a risk.  The only difference is that it is harder and takes a shit ton more work initially, and most people won't see you vision like you do, so its hard and most of us take the easy path.

But what we don't know is the easy path isn't that easy.  Most people have parents telling them what job they should get, "go be a lawyer jonny" they would say.  I am lucky enough not to have my parents trying to force me to do a job they wanted me to do, but instead teaching me to think of what I want to do for my life. I do know there are a lot of kids out there that are told they have to do such and such job like becoming a doctor or lawyer, and theres nothing wrong with these jobs as long as you will enjoy doing them, but if you are "forced"' by parents or friends its pressure, and will seem easy to do in the short run. In reality its the hardest fucking thing you can do!  If you don't enjoy it you will spend 8-12 year in a boring college classroom, be 10's-100,000 of thousand of dollars in debt, graduate and have a small chance of being a great doctor or lawyer.  This is what most people (The 99%) will do and will regret it for the rest of their life, instead of taking some action today towards the life they want because today that action looks hard.  Don't be one of those people that lets their life slip away and take no action to where you are going just because its "easy".  You are better than that!

Next is fitness and health, and yes I have some flaws here, I am still eating too much, but have been successfully cutting down how much I eat most days of the week now.  It does take discipline and I can see right now in my life its hard to stop binge eating but I am getting away from it now!  For me it was easy to eat and eat and eat, I wouldn't feel full with the food around me.  Although it wasn't junk food I would still eat more than I should.  I'm not in anyway fat but I did notice some belly fat from eating so much throughout my days, although I can still see my abs.  Maybe you are the same way?  Maybe you are eating fast food and want to stop?  It's the hard thing to do but what I like to say to myself and have been over the last few weeks whenever I think I am going to eat more than I should is ask myself "is this worth it and am I full right now?"
See its so easy for me to shove food in my mouth but in the long run its not easy because it'll affect my body fat.  This can be the same with fast food or junk food.  For fast food you can think its easy and convenient right?  In reality it can take longer than doing meal prep for a week  or a few days of eating leftover from dinner.  Going out to eat at lunch may seem easier because you don't have to cook your lunch, but you are spending hours going out to eat and waiting in line for food every week when those same hours could've been used to prepare meals for the whole week all at once, and those meals could be way better for you than whats in the fast food.
Easy things for fitness and health don't just apply to food, but also going into the gym or doing a workout.  What is easier going to the gym for an hour or staying home and laying in bed or on the couch watching TV?  In the short run watching TV is easier, you don't have to go push yourself to the limit and go out in the cold and drive to the gym, you can stay home and relax and watch your favorite show.  In the long run as you can guess its the hardest thing you can do.  Your not taking care of your body, which his the most precious thing you have on this earth.  You could spend that same hour watching TV but instead go to the gym, look better, feel better, and grow as a person, make that a habit and live a life you love!

Closing thoughts.
I made this as a sort of motivational blog to help anyone who needs to start on their journey, or for anyone who is stuck like I am with my binge eating, as a motivator to stop their bad habits, which we all have so don't feel ashamed for it.  I want you guys to be part of the 1% or even the 1% of the 1%!  Don't take the "easy" way out many times in the end its the hard way anyways and just hurt you more than helped you.  Anyways guys if this gave you some sort of motivation please comment below and share this with someone you think will benefit from reading this.

Thanks for reading.
-Brian

My Top 10 Lessons from Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris.

 Meditation/mindfulness.
Over 80% of the people interviewed in the book have some sort of daily meditation or mindfulness practice or anything that gets you into the moment.  I believe this is key for everyone because for me I find it almost impossible to be happy or present when I am not doing what I love to do.  I feel the happiest when I am working out and doing 20 minutes of meditation daily.  For me these 2 things are the biggest things that improve happiness for me, and some days even making YouTube videos.  I don't know why this makes me feel happy and present because being an introvert I would think it would make me anxious, but for some reason it doesn't?  maybe it is because I am sharing parts of my life I think will help others or I think that is interesting, I have no clue what the reason is but whatever it is it works for positivity and presence.  What is the thing that you can do daily as meditation or mindfulness?
You have the potential.
 "Life can be much broader, once you discover one simple fact, and that is that everything around you that you call 'life' was made up by people that were no smarter than you.  And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.  Once you learn that you'll never be the same again."  this is from Marc Andreessen he co-founded Netscape, which sold to AOL for $4.2 billion!  I can say this is true for me and I know that if it is true for me it is true for many others,  I am in no way the best on camera or at writing, but I didn't let that stop me from making videos or writing blogs!  Before I started writing and making videos I thought for me that would be impossible, but once I started I found what Marc said is true.  Life is much broader, I find myself in a place where I can help others that share the same struggles as me, instead of staying confined in my anxieties of putting myself out there.  I found action and creativity create influence in others.  How can you share your flaws or share your strengths to help improve the world?  What will you create in life?
Have a clear vision.
Arnold Schwarzenegger said "I am a big believer that if you have a very clear vision of where you want to go, then the rest is much easier"  I believe this is very important for life.  Whenever I don't have a clear vision of where I want to be or go, I notice I kind of dabble around and slack off.  Without the vision is is easy to slack off.  But with the vision I know I am doing things for myself and others.  Lets take the gym for example, it is easy to dabble around maybe do a couple half assed workouts so your muscles don't hurt too much.  I used to do this all the time! I now have a clear vision of the body I want and the impact I want to make in the world to help others achieve the body they want.  Without the hard work, effort, and vision I will not be able to do any of that and push myself to go where I need to not just in the gym but also in any area of life!
It's "fuck yeah" or "no".  This is something I struggle with.  Saying yes to things I want to do and no to things I don't want to do feels good, but also part of it can feel bad.  This for me is because I am still reprogramming my brain to know my standards for myself are more important than pleasing others.  Also if I'm not all in on something others will feel it or notice it from me.  Start saying no to easy things to say no to, and yes to things you want to say yes to.  It is way easier to start small then start with something big in your life!
  "Life is always happening for us, not to us." - Tony Robbins.  I believe this is critical to anyones life.  We control what happens in our lives, or most of what happens, and if its something beyond our control, we can look at the good or the bad side of it.  Hard gainer like me?  Hmmmm maybe you could find a way to help other hard gainers.  Lost your job?  Maybe you'll find a better one or the job of your dreams!  We should never play victim in life, but instead realize the good and the bad and create a life out of both that is good, and not let things that happened to us control our life, but instead grab life by the balls and control what happens and who you become!
What do you hate doing?
"What is the ultimate qualification for success? For me it's not how much time you spend doing what you love.  Its how little time you spend doing what you hate." -Casey Neistat
For me this is huge, and I'm sure it is for you to!  Many of us go to work 8 hours a day which we hate, then come home and numb ourselves with TV.  Do you really enjoy the time you spend watching TV everyday?  This is an important question to ask.  And even more important is "what is the way I can have the best time today?"  I can say for myself that TV can be fun time to time, but even when I watch it, it doesn't seem like I'm watching TV because its fun, I'm watching it because I'm avoiding something that I need to get done, or that seems hard.  Now I'm not saying that if you watch TV after a long day its bad, but just make sure during the day before you watch it do something you think is fun or something good that you will remember 10 years from now!
Write every morning for 5 minutes to  change your day.  In the book Tim says he writes for 5 minutes in his journal every morning to get out of his head.  I did the same type of thing with my 7 day blogging challenge.  I was way too focussed on how amazing the content had to be instead of focussing on how a small nugget from the blog could help someone or be a cool idea to share even if the rest of the post sucks!  Clearing my mind from writing is even helping me today.  I still have trouble writing at times but it seems the more I write (even if its shitty writing) the more that comes to my head to share.  For me its about getting out of my head and not being afraid to share what I want to share, even if someone else thinks its stupid or not "good enough" its trained me to see that it is good enough.
What you track determines your lens - choose carefully. This section is by Seth Godin, he says that "we find ourselves caught in the cycle of keeping track of the wrong things. Playing victim can be so easy in many circumstances, or even thinking of everything as bad or good.  If you guys follow the blog you know I am a big believe in gratitude.  Gratitude has changed my outlook on many things including my outlook on my job.  Like most people we hate our jobs, they are usually boring and repetitive.  Most of us will only focus on that part but not the good.  Whats the good about having a job even if you don't like it?  You are more likely to improve your life and work towards getting or creating a job you love doing, you can also be grateful you have a job, because without it you wouldn't have a roof over your head or food on the table.  Maybe you can even make some random strangers day!  When I start viewing my job as boring or stupid I like to say to myself "This job may be stupid and boring but at least you have a job and don't have to worry about the next time you will eat."  There is always a way to look at the glass half full!
 Pick a goal and write it down 15 times a day.  Brainwashing yourself for success.  I suck at this but will write my goal 15 times right now in my phone to introduce myself to a new habit,  Before your guys diss me for using my phone to write this down, I also already use my phone for my eating log and workout log, as well as my list of things to do to move closer to my greatest version.  On my workouts I am in the gym at least 3 times a week and have progressed on each workout everyday I am in the gym, and only keep track of the weight and reps of each workout with my phone like I said.
You know yourself, if writing it on paper works better do that, if writing it in your phones works better do it.  So anyways Scott Adams says to pick any goal and write it down 15 times a day.  He says "it seems the universe just starts to spit up opportunities."  I believe this is true even though this is my first time trying it.  I used to work in Birmingham, MI where common cars or Mercedes, BMW's, Range Rovers and so on.  Being around these cars and seeing them everyday told my subconscious mind that money is everywhere.  This did help me in my financial situation.  If your goal is to be the best basketball player write down "I am the best basketball player to ever live!" and I'm sure just like my story that I just shared as well as what Scott said, it will start to manifest in your life and will look like the universe is working for you!  My particular goal was "I make money weekly drop shipping" as this is something I am working on and trying to focus on to become financially free.
 Teach yourself to complain less. "When you complain nobody wants to help you" - Stephen Hawking. This tip from the book goes back to "what you track determines your lens.  I am a complainer myself, we all are.  It is easier to complain about something than to cherish what is right.  Seems weird doesn't it?  Think about it are you more likely to complain about service somewhere or write a good review if the service was good?  Chances are you would want to complain.  I don't blame you because its how we are conditioned.  This is one thing I am working on noticing when I do it, so I can stop doing it, or do it less.  What I have been doing is noticing when I complain and then switch it to "what was good about that situation?"

If you would like to support the blog and also buy Tim's influential book please click this link to amazon and make one of the best decisions of your life!  There is also a key point called Naval's Laws in the book, which I know will be beneficial to anyone.

Why Being Vegan Doesn't Mean you are Healthy.

Just like anything, being a vegan can be good or bad.  As many of you know vegan means no meat or animal products.  This doesn't mean healthy in fact we will talk today about unhealthy vegan diets and healthy vegan diets.  Before I start this I do want to inform you I am not vegan, but this blog is mainly for those of you that are thinking of going vegan and want to know what to eat, or to inform you that being vegan doesn't necessarily mean healthy.

The bad.

processed food
Lets think of fries, potato chips, and processed peanut butter for example.  All these are loaded with unhealthy oils and fats.  Yes they do taste good, and are vegan but that doesn't mean they are healthy. Processed peanut butter is made with hydrogenated oils instead of just peanuts and the natural peanut oil from them.  Hydrogenated oils lower good cholesterol and increase bad cholesterol in the body, so read your labels on peanut butter, and make sure it is made with either just peanuts or peanuts and sea salt.  I myself love some french fries, but I rarely eat them for one reason, I become bloated and tired, and I know the side affects of eating deep fried food is harmful not just for acne but can also lead to cancer, weight gain, heart problems, and even diabetes.  These are all vegan but aren't in any way good for you.  In the next 2 sections of this post we will talk about probably the 2 worst things to eat in my opinion, that even vegans can eat!

You can have pop and candy.  I don't care if you drink diet pop it is terrible for your body.  Not only do pop and candy lead to fat gain, but there is no nutritional value to them.  NONE!  I can speak for myself on this.  As many of you know when I was younger I used to never drink water.  I fucking hated water's guts because I was so used to pop.  In turn guess what happened to my teeth, multiple cavities every time I would go to the dentist!  I was overlooking how important my teeth are and if I could go take all the pop that I drank back I would because that taste wasn't worth fucked up teeth!  The reason diet sodas are bad, even though they have no calories is that they contain an artificial sweetener called aspartame.  Aspartame has been linked to seizures, brain tumors, diabetes, and increases the risk of metabolic syndrome, which even though the pop has no calories can lead to fat gain!

I wasn't the biggest fan of candy when I was younger but still had some candy, mostly Reeses. Candy like pop is mostly made up of sugar, and some candy is purely just sugar.  Like pop candy has no nutritional value to you body or health.

Lets move on to the good of vegan diets.

The good.

There are vegans who are strict to not eat any of the junk food I just listed above.   As I stated above I am not a vegan, I love meat and veggies, but I stay away from everything I listed above 99.9% of the time.  However the vegans who eat smart know those foods I listed ar bad for them and realize that they are vegan to be healthy.  Many people hear the word vegan and think that means that they are healthy if they are vegan even though vegans can have pizza, pop, candy etc.  

The purpose of this blog isn't to bash vegans, thats why here I am talking about the good side as well, and to help vegans who are eating this junk food move to a plant based diet.  I used to eat this junk food as well and changed it although I am not vegan I feel much better after cutting it out of my diet, and I know this is the same for anyone vegan or not.

Unlike the food I mentioned above, plants contain a high nutritional value.  Some of my favorites are beans mostly black beans which contain protein and healthy carbs, garlic which can help fight and prevent sickness, turmeric which is anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.  I also love nuts (call me gay) they are a great source of fat, my favorites are almonds, macadamia, brazil, pecans, walnuts, and peanuts.  Some of these are even high in protein but all contain healthy fats, which the body and even brain need for optimal health.  My other favorite fats are avocado and coconut oil.  I could live off macadamia nuts and avocado if I had to!

There is many more to talk about but I would like to keep this short and simple to try and influence you guys to change up the foods you eat, even if you are not vegan.  If this blog post helped you in any way please share it to get the message across to more people, or if you think this would help a loved one or friend share it with them as well!

How not eating dairy for 7 days affected me.

Not eating dairy for 7 days was doable but not fun for me, because as you guys know I love greek yogurt.  Other than this I had no real problem sticking to it.

I didn't notice much difference.
Eating and not eating dairy didn't do much of a difference for my body.  I had dairy on my 8-9th day without it and the only thing I notice was more mucus, but cutting out dairy however did not cut out all mucus.  I still have yet to figure out why I am having so much mucus lately.  I thought it was because of dairy but I guess this proves wrong, I did notice some more mucus after having yogurt, but wasn't enough to notice that much. 

I may have some other food allergy or may just have an allergy to something in the air?  I have no clue because I never have this much flem in my throat but the last month or 2 it has been a ton.  I am however going to look at other ways to get rid of it.

The reason I chose dairy first was because of the book The Ultramind Solution and because I was hearing that dairy can cause more mucus.  I know this subject might be kind of gross or nasty, but I feel the need to be open with the things that are wrong with my body, because I am not perfect, and I know when I find the solution for it I will be able to share it with you guys and it may help you guys if you are experiencing the same type of thing.

Many people are allergic to dairy.
I forget the percentage but I believe it is about 75% of people are lactose intolerant, and yet most of us are drinking milk or eating some other dairy product.  Many times people will experience nausea or pain in the stomach if they are.  However if you have dairy everyday, then cut it out for a week like me you may notice differences in yourself or your body, especially if you eat it again after that week. By doing this you will be able to tell if you are allergic to dairy.  I was lucky and only had a small amount more of mucus in my throat, not pain in my stomach or nausea.

Closing thoughts.
Take the challenge for one week of no dairy.  It is hard to do but worth it if you think you are allergic to dairy and want to test it or just want to challenge yourself.  There are alternatives to milk and even ice cream if you are a big ice cream eater!  I eat the ice cream from time to time and is from Whole Foods called Luna and Larry's Coconut Bliss, it is made from coconut milk and has no dairy!  Give this a try for a week guys, your body will thank you!

Day 7: I'm eating too much!

The last couple months have been a time of feasting with Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I kind of started to get into a mood where I am hungry a lot because I would eat so much around this time.  I am seeing some fat gain in my lower stomach and its really, at least to me an eye opener, or an obstacle to get across.

Before when I was younger I would eat lots of junk food and gain fat, now I am eating lots of healthy foods and gaining fat.  I still feel amazing eating these foods, better than I ever could eating junk food even if I was losing fat eating junk foods.  Life is about feeling good but also about looking good.  My biggest problem is that I see food I enjoy and I just eat it, sometimes even if I'm already full, but for some reason feel hungry before I eat the food.
You guys may be experiencing something like this where you cannot stop eating throughout the day.  And it makes you feel different at the end of the day even if you are eating healthy foods.  You subconsciously know that you could've went without that last snack when you lay in bed at night.  Maybe that is just how I feel I don't know?

I do know one thing though.  Lately I haven't been having enough veggies with my meals.  When I eat veggies with grass fed beef, something like green beans or spinach, I notice I feel full much longer and veggies have almost no calories and help fill you up with a meal.  Avocado is probably the best, it has a ton of calories  but is filled with fat which helps keep you feel and helps your brain.  I used to eat avocado almost everyday but lately keep forgetting to buy it.

I also haven't been keeping track of the food I eat like I used to so today I am going to form that habit again.  That is my promise to you guys!

Closing thoughts
If you guys are having trouble like I am, I highly recommend you do as I am doing and at least track what you eat, and buy more veggies when you go shopping to go with meals!  It was good sharing this with you have the healthiest day of your lives!

Brian

Day 6: Small Life Update.

Its day 6 and I am having real trouble coming up with something to write about.  I am thinking of just sharing where i am at right now with life and self development, so I don't know if this post will be that long, but the point of this challenge is for me to just write for 7 days straight and now I'm going to only need one day after today!

I would say my life in 2015 was more productive than 2016 but in 2016 I still made a lot out of life.  Today I am kind of picking up pieces of me that have fallen and bringing myself back up to where I was so I can reach even higher.  I would say that what I need to work on is reading more, meditation for 20 minutes a day, making more videos, and writing more on the blog more, and working on my drop shipping better, and eating less.  I eat clean healthy foods but just too much every day lately and have cut back a coulee days so far this week! What I am doing good on is the gym I recently bought the Greek God Program by Kinobody and it has kind of fueled me to get back into the gym, and the best part is my mindset for the gym is a hobby for me not a chore, so going is very easy for me even if its cold out.  My other hobby is car photography I am pretty good at it and my love for cars makes time fly when I am doing it!  I have also been noticing my breathing throughout the day more often and also practicing gratitude throughout my day more as well.  These things bring me into a good frame instead of being down or pissed off. So I have good things going and bad things that I need to work on that I am working on right now today.  Also I have been underlining and taking notes in books instead of just folding the corner of pages and not knowing why I folded that page when I go back and read books because nothing is underlined.  Now I can go back and read and see why I underlined what I did.

Closing Thoughts

Yes this blog post was short, but what I want you to get from it is to write down things you are doing great in life right now and things you can work better on to improve your life!

See you guys tomorrow,

Brian