Heroism: 101

Building A Community On First Principles Thinking And Ancient Wisdom

You have the opportunity to become a hero, and you have a duty to avoid becoming a villain.

An inescapable fact of human nature is that you will sacrifice everything for your highest priority. If you’re skeptical about that, ask parents what they sacrifice for their kids. Ask champions what they sacrifice to unleash their true potential and achieve excellence.

When this aspect of human nature gets corrupted, it becomes addiction. Addicts will sacrifice everything for drugs, for sex, for alcohol, for food, for video games, for gambling, for whatever their addiction is. Once you understand this, then you understand how important it is to prioritize correctly.

The most important thing in life is human potential because the saddest thing in life is wasted talent. The questions that matter most are: “Who are you? And what do you want to do about it? Who are you when you are your most courageous, most authentic, most excellent self? What is the biggest, most important problem you can solve with your gifts and skills? And what’s your plan to solve it?”

We need a community focused on these principles because nobody wants to live the wrong life and then die filled with regret. We need a community focused on these principles because the people you know who are burdened by regret or overwhelmed by despair never had anyone who treated them this way. We need a community focused on these principles because one day you will be too old and too sick to begin your quest to unleash your potential, then everyday after that will be filled with regret and despair, and that is the path to villainy.

The quest to unleash human potential is what James P. Carse defined as an “infinite game.” The objectives of the game are to play for as long as possible and to perpetuate the game. Players drop out of the game when they run out of the will or the resources to continue, so we need to effectively manage will and resources because we do not want people to drop out of this game. People who drop out of the quest to unleash human potential become villains who punish anyone they see striving. You see these people every day in the form of “haters.”

Resource management means practicing courage, accountability, discipline, and sacrifice. Managing resources requires a philosophy focused on developing these skills.

Will management means building a community of people who treat each other like they have the potential to achieve excellence by focusing on skill acquisition and high standards. Managing will requires building a community focused on practicing courage and authenticity in pursuit of excellence. A community of people who say to one another…

“Everyone is born with the potential to achieve excellence and the desire to unleash that potential. I believe in your potential, and I can’t wait to see what you become. How can I help you develop the skills you need to get the results you want? How can I help you embody your most courageous, most authentic, most excellent self. How can I help you unleash your potential?”

Your life is a wrestling match between your conscience, your ego, and your fear. That’s a wrestling match between your potential, your desire for acceptance, and your desire for comfort. Human beings will sacrifice everything for their highest priority. Will you sacrifice comfort and acceptance for your potential? Or will you sacrifice your potential for comfort and acceptance?

This is the human struggle, and we will never surrender.