The Nerdist Way_ How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life) - Chris Hardwick [12]
Why would I encourage you to do all of this ridiculous business? Because, sweet Nerdling, I want to get you engaged in achieving your goals. Maybe it’s launching your passion career or maybe it’s more about finding a creative outlet. Writing, drawing, and adding values to your goals will force you to (a) figure out what you WANT, (b) figure out who YOU are, and (c) establish an achievement/reward structure that will push you in the direction of accomplishing stuff. It’s also fun. Is “fun” a good enough reason to do stuff sometimes? I think so.
As you go through the rest of the book, you will see the heading “Charactercize.” It’s a dumb word I thought of to mean “Here is a question or exercise for you to answer or do in your Character Tome.”
SEIZE YOUR INNER MONOLOGUE
If things aren’t going the way you want them to, there’s a very simple answer: You suck. You suck and everything you try to do ends up in a failure pile. If you regularly made cakes, their composition would somehow turn into shit with maggot jimmies by the time they came out of the oven. Sure, you can try to do good things to get ahead, but the universe is conspiring against you. OF COURSE that thing you wanted didn’t work out. Why would it? Why would ANYTHING, for that matter? It’s YOU we’re talking about!!!
Now that you see this written down you might understand how ridiculous it is the next time you go to this place mentally. One of the biggest themes of this book (and hopefully your life) is this: Go easy on yourself. External forces trying to attack you in this world can be difficult enough. Don’t add to them by attacking yourself. Not only will you get that “never clean” feeling, but you’ll sabotage all of the good things that you are working for and absolutely deserve.
WHY THINGS DON’T GO YOUR WAY
If you enjoy philosophy or physics, then you must know that perspective is everything. Events are inherently valueless. WE assign values to them. How you perceive something gives it its value. Two people can perceive the same thing in completely opposite ways, and both would seem valid for each person (look up “parallax” just for fun). It is through this lens that you begin to realize the power you have to shape your reality. What is reality? It’s merely a string of perceptions that you navigate. Control your perceptions and you control your reality. Why, if you were a solipsist, you would actually think that NOTHING outside your own perspective actually exists. That would mean that from my point of view, you are an extension of my psyche reading my book, and from yours, I wrote this in your mind. See why philosophy is so much fun? OK, fuck solipsism.
It is very likely that when things don’t pan out the way you intended, you kick the shit out of yourself. You reason that this is yet another in a long chain of events that are part of a master plan on the part of the Universe to conspire with the Elements against you. This is naturally a pile of Orc shit. No one is conspiring against you. This isn’t just “how it is” for you. Nerds, because they tend to tune in to their inner monologue more than regular folks, many times will assume the most selfish point of view. To think that the Universe (a) is sentient and (b) would focus all or even part of its energy to ensure your unhappiness is laughable and more than a little self-centered. But it’s not all the Nerd’s fault. It’s human nature to attach reasoning to events in an attempt to understand an otherwise reasonless world, no matter how ridiculous. (AHEMreligionAHEM COUGHthough notjudgingyouifyouarereligiousCOUGH.) For people who normally operate from pragmatic and logical places, it is surprisingly superstitious.
CHARACTERCIZE
What are some reasons you think things aren’t working out for you?
Write them in your Character Tome so you can see how ridiculous they are.
Then write “BULLSHIT” with an arrow pointing to them. Add cartoon flies hovering over for effect.
RECALL