Short Post On Why it Is Good To Be Extreme

The only way to get anywhere in life is by taking things to the extreme. For some reason the average person believes they can have a “balance” at all times and somehow make it. This simply isn’t true. When you look at successful people, they have all lived “extreme lives” by definition. How can you become a billionaire without taking massive risk? How can someone really make it to the top of the athletic pile without extremely lucky genes combined with an incredible work ethic? How do you generate various streams of income without trying anything and everything in sight until something stocks? The answer to all of this… it isn’t possible without extremes.

“You’re Extreme”: This is probably one of the rare comments that regular people will make that is actually a complement. They think it’s an insult but really it should be music to your ears. If people believe you’re extreme, that means you’re at least trying. That’s more than 95% of the population can say. Being extreme means you’re pushing the limits somewhere. 

On that note we’d actually avoid people who are not extreme. They don’t need to be extreme in every aspect of their life. But. At least a few areas. How can someone really say they enjoy living life when they live it in “moderation”. While moderation is good when you’re set, it isn’t all that good if you’re trying to force your life to change. In short, if you’re not living an “extreme life” it means you’re disrespecting the short amount of time you have on this planet. You think you have another “shot” down the road. Unlikely. 

Extremes *force* change into your life. We can use a ton of examples from those popular weight loss shows to fixer upper homes. Extremes allow for the most change since they put the most pressure on the situation. If you’re struggling financially and try to work 16 hours a day, we can all but guarantee your income will go up that month. If you’re struggling financially and try to find opportunities to resell products or start a time for money exchange business… we can all but guarantee some money will be made. If you’re out of shape and decide to suddenly drink nothing but water and calorie free coffee while walking an extra 5 miles a day… we can all but guarantee weight will be lost. Finally, if you’re not a stylish person and decide to spend 10 hours in a changing room taking photos of hundreds of different outfits… we can all but guarantee you’ll learn something. 

Before drowning on and on about the examples, if someone really wants to change part of their life they will be taking it to the extreme. If they are not taking it to an extreme they don’t really want to improve that part of their life. If you’re following the “dogma” of this blog, that means your twenties are spent working like crazy making money. Your late 20s to early 30s you’re transitioning to social circles of other successful people and triple checking your health. And. By your mid-30s you’re doing whatever you please (these are rough time frames). 

The Right Type of Extreme: Now an interesting part about extremes is that many people take the “wrong end of it”. The easy way to tell if someone is taking the wrong end of an extreme is if it results in ego and attention instead of results. Some people hear “fake it till you make it” and spend their time blowing thousands of dollars in the clubs trying to “network”. The chances of this succeeding is practically none but the average person will hear about the 1/1,000,000 success story and foolishly try to copy it. Why? Well partying in a club wasting thousands is a lot of fun so they can rationalize any excuse to make it a common occurrence. 

An example of a good extreme is anything that results in significant near-term pain. Since the brain is hardwired to dislike pain and suffering it is generally the right answer if you’re looking to build something sustainable. Good examples of this are 1) living well below your means, 2) working long hours trying to learn tasks that “could be outsourced”. But. You don’t have a lot of cash flow yet and 3) skipping lots of parties to have a better workout at the gym on Saturday and Sunday. Simplistically, things that make you uncomfortable are typically correct when it comes to choosing an extreme. 

Two Different Extreme Financial Examples: There are two ways to become financially independent: 1) the extreme frugality way and 2) the extreme income generation way. This is where our blog departs from the standard frugality movement we’ve seen over the past several years. Frugality teaches you to cut quite literally everything until you’re in a monk like state of existence. This *will work* by mathematical definition. By living off something insanely low (say a couple of thousand per month), you will eventually be financially stable. 

Now take the other side of the coin here, our approach, which is the work like crazy generating approach. Since you’re actually generating money at all times, it means that your expenses are somewhat limited. You probably spend a bit more than the frugal crowd but not by much if you’re really spinning up a lot of forms of revenue. First it’s a basic online biz which is a “terrible failure” generating $4-600 a month. Then it’s some time for money exchanges based on your profession generating $1,000 a month. Then its some fixer-upper real estate deal that is sub-par at best leading to $400 in additional income per month… then you finally get one real income stream to work that generates $3,000 a month… only to look back and realize you’re now generating around $5,000 without including your career income. You’ve passed the frugality crowd’s entire annual spending. 

Two Different Extreme Fitness Examples: One group decides to jump into the latest fad of cross fit. This of course leads to immediate near-term results. Why? Well the average person does not really push their body to exhaustion. They have never competed serious in their lives so by going all out their body suddenly feels physical stress. Resulting in immediate results but strange body composition. Fast forward and this likely leads to an injury for the vast majority of people and a modestly improved body composition. That said we don’t know many people who have *not* gotten injured with this type of extreme training (maxing out constantly). 

Compare this to the “correct” extreme which requires significant dieting and exercise routines. When you feel “good” you attempt to push the limits (maybe 1-2x a week). The rest of the training periods are done at 90% (not 100%) to continue building up the base foundation levels. This is combined with serious dieting where you’re avoiding all poor nutrition items (sugar, boxed foods, pasta etc.). Funny enough if you do this you’ll be labeled more “extreme” than the cross fitting person! The general population will call the cross fit guy extreme but when they see you’re actually changing your daily habits you’ll be “crazy”. This is another good indicator that you’re onto something. 

Two Different Extremes in Dating: One guy decides that he’s not good with women and decides to go ahead and go out of his way to meet tons of women on his free time. This then eats into his actual production as he is both 1) hungover from nights out and 2) tired from going out to numerous events to meet people in the day. Combine this with a lack of self-awareness and you’re looking at good near-term results (numbers game) with long-term loss of success (never asked himself “will i attract the right person given the person i am”). That last part is heart breaking for most as people really believe that they will date the same woman with a net worth of $100K + out of shape versus $2M + in great shape… It isn’t true and it’s comical to believe. No one would teach their own daughter to date a poor man so why would your options ever stay the same?

Compare this to person number two who has self-awareness. He is too busy making money and getting into shape and realizes he shouldn’t “sell” now since he’s still going up and to the right. What does this mean? It means he should simply get used to rejection by talking to people in his day to day life and the rare times he goes out at night. These individuals are also seen as “crazy” as they are not scared of talking to anyone. This is even shocking to the guy in the first example as he’s unwilling to go for low percentage chances. Why? Someone doing it right doesn’t have time to go out for more than a few hours so even low percentage chances are better than 0% chances. To conclude this logic, since it’s a rare night out, the chances of anyone remembering (negative experience) is next to zero anyway. 

Long List of Good Forms of Extremes: The theme? Good forms of extremes are never fun. If it’s fun it’s probably not a good way to do the task. So  lets go ahead and list them out: 1) Want to learn how to improve your wardrobe? Sit down and read five books, one on color combinations, one on suits, one on business attire, one on casual attire and one on how Hollywood productions choose outfits. Combine this with two hours a week of looking at color combinations online or in a store. 2) Want to make more money? If you’re not rich you’re forced to work a minimum of 60-80 hours a week if in your 20s and 50-60 hours a week if late 20s to early 30s, 3) want to get in shape? cut your entire diet to just water coffee fruits vegetables and meat/fish. Discard everything pre-made. Also spend an hour per day exercising – running or lifting heavy objects and 4) the one that requires the most self-awareness… If you want more friends/colleagues ask “what type of friends do I want?”. If you know the type of people you wish to hang out with, you have to combine this with a painful question for most “why would someone hang out with me?”. Until you can answer that question with a clear answer “people in X group should hang out with me because of Y and Z….” it’s time to fix your life first. Take a list of qualities that fulfill Y and Z and get to work on those in an extreme manner. 

Fun Examples of “Extreme People”: Now for the fun part… is it possible to name anyone of note who *isn’t* extreme? Probably not. In sports the top athletes are seen as extremely competitive (Michael Jordan, Lance Armstrong who even took doping to an extreme, Michael Phelps, John McEnroe, Tiger Woods…). In business the ultra rich are known for being extreme and “crazy” such as Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and our favorite Felix Dennis. In the popularity contest world, Kanye West, Kardashians, Justin Beiber… All seen as extreme and crazy. So on and so forth. In short, it’s good to be extreme it’s your only shot at success anyway!