Breaking Free From The Human Zoo

I’m a total failure.

Hey Liam. What makes you say that?

I had to ask my Dad for help with my rent. Again. I’m 29. I should have my shit together by now. I should be able to support myself. I shouldn’t be working at the same shitty place I’ve been at since I left college. My friends are buying houses and having kids and stuff and I still feel like a child. I’m sorry for ranting Shane, but I’m getting desperate.

Mate, I get it, no need to apologize. I totally understand your frustration. Can I ask: outside of work, what else do you do?

Nothing. I used to go to gigs and do stuff on weekends but I don’t even do that anymore. I’m just tired all the time.

You don’t see many people? What about your girlfriend?

She left me two months ago. Her exact words were ‘I feel like that woman in Shaun Of The Dead who leaves her boyfriend because he’s still a child.’ Yeah, that’s how she dumped me. With a fucking movie reference.

Since then I’ve been a hermit. I don’t see my friends anymore. I just go between work and home and it’s been more or less like that for the past 6 months. I don’t blame her for leaving though. I’d have left too if I were her.

Dude… I’m sorry to hear that…

That’s not even the worst of it.

I swear my life wouldn’t be so bad if I actually enjoyed being at work, but when I’m there I can’t stop looking at the clock. I hate it. Sometimes I’m so exhausted when I come home I just crash on the sofa as soon as I walk through the door. I dread leaving the house in the morning. I wake up with anxiety.

And because that sucks, I stay up until 3am most nights, watching YouTube and… other stuff.

Because you don’t want the next day to start?

Exactly…

You must think I’m pathetic.

Not at all. I’ve been there.

Besides, what you’re describing is the reality for loads of people.

Stressed out, working a job you hate that doesn’t fulfill you. Unsatisfied with the way your life turned out.

You’re probably in debt, too, am I right?

Yeah… still paying off my tuition fees.

Yeah, as if all the other stuff wasn’t enough pressure, right?

What have you tried so far, to get your life in order?

Ugh, tell me about it. I really need to get my shit together, man.

I hear you. I bet you’ve tried a bunch of stuff already, right?

Honestly, at this point I feel like I’ve tried everything. I’ve been watching a lot of Jordan Peterson’s stuff. I’ve tried being more disciplined with myself. I’ve been writing things down & setting goals but it never seems to last long.

I see. You’re not experiencing real, lasting change…

Yeah… I know what I need to do, but I just end up discouraged and back at square one after a week or so. It’s like I can never generate enough momentum to really get going. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is. No matter what, I just end up procrastinating again.

You feel like you’re treading water?

Yes… I was hoping you could help me out somehow, Shane. I need to do better.

I just want to make real progress & feel excited for the future instead of being stressed to the eyeballs. I want to feel capable and competent and on top of things, instead of buried under work all the time.

You know what you want. That’s a great start. Let’s keep going: what else do you want?

I want to be successful, man! It’s so frustrating feeling like a failure…

I want to have a good non-work life with my friends like I used to. I want to travel and have total freedom and control over my own life. And there’s also a part of me that wants to be seen and admired by other people.

What should I do? What did you do?

You’ve already come further than you realize. You see your problems and you know what you want and don’t want. That’s good!

You can change your life. At the end of the day, it depends on you. I can teach you what worked for me but there aren’t any guarantees. Leaving the human zoo, becoming financially independent and living a life of freedom is hard. But of course, I can help you, if you really let me.

What’s the human zoo?

I’ll explain that later. I just want you to know that the stuff I’m going to share with you isn’t a joke. It’s going to challenge you. We’re going to look behind the curtain and find the stuff that’s really keeping you stuck in a rut.

Are you talking about taking the red pill?

You could call it that. But not in the cringey, angry-at-the-world way you see in red pill communities.

It’s more like this: a lot of people have told me that they’ve had moments talking to me where they learn something they can’t ever unlearn. Something that when they learn it, a chain of events is set it motion that they can’t stop.

Well, I’m sick of being a failure and feeling like I have no control over my life. I’ve had enough.

I’m in.

Let’s start with this: let me see if I understand your problem, exactly.

Go for it.

You say your problem is your work, but I think that deep down you feel overwhelmed, stressed, under pressure and powerless.

You feel like you’re behind in life, like you should have accomplished more by now and like you’re falling short of expectations. You keep putting more and more pressure on yourself to succeed and you fear that if anyone saw what you’re really like and how you really feel, it would be the end of you.

Fuck… okay, you’ve hit the nail on the head. I just don’t understand how I let my life get this bad. What the hell is wrong with me?

It’s not your fault.

How is it not my fault?!

Because this is way bigger than you.

The most powerful companies in the world invest billions of dollars in making you a worse human being, feeding you distraction, junk food, junk information – and pills to deal with all the anxiety and health issues caused by all that shit.

On top of that, your parents’ recipe for success doesn’t work anymore but no one ever told you that.

No one prepared you for this and you get blamed for everything. Saying that it’s entirely your fault is like a single rebel soldier feeling like a failure because he couldn’t bring down the death star single-handedly.

Hmmm… I’ve never thought about it like that… But aren’t I supposed to take responsiblity for my life?

Yes, absolutely. But we also need to open our eyes to what’s going on.

The truth is, it’s harder to succeed today than it was for previous generations. We have far more distraction & way more complexity to deal with. The attention economy is sapping everyone’s time, attention & energy. We have too many tasks, too many responsibilities, too many distractions.

Expectations are sky-high, the economy is bad for the average person, education is overpriced and fails to prepare anyone for what they really need to succeed. This is the Human Zoo I talked about earlier. It’s the world we live in and it’s not at all conducive to human thriving. How could all of that possibly be your fault?

I’m finding this a little hard to process all at once. I thought it was an issue with me. I thought it was me who was screwed up. You’re saying that the results I’m experiencing in my life are, what… inevitable?

You’re a statistic. The state of your life is entirely predictable when you know all the factors at play.

Well… that’s intimidating. That sounds like there’s nothing I can do to fix this…

Not exactly. It’s true that it isn’t your fault you’re in the human zoo. It’s true that this system causes these kinds of problems.

It’s also true that only you can fix it for yourself. The good news is, you are capable of far more than you realise.

I’m confused. Did you just suggest that I was completely powerless because of how messed up the world is?

I never said you were powerless. All I’m saying is that if you put a human being into this kind of environment, you give them all the wrong inputs and none of the right information, they’ll end up miserable and frustrated.

And that’s exactly what’s happening.

But it doesn’t mean you can’t do anything about it. You can change your inputs. You can change the food and information you consume. You can change the very wiring in your brain.

Right, I see.

And the reason I’m saying your more capable than you realize is the exact same reason you are miserable and stuck, right now.

How so?

Because you’re living with the brakes on. You’re constantly distracted, you’re sleep deprived, you have no clear sense of priorities, you don’t have a wide range or tools and skills at your disposal.

Your true potential is lying dormant.

That’s a relief to hear. So, what do I do first? How do I change?

We’re about to get to the good stuff. I hope you’re ready…

I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. Which do you want first?

The good news.

Okay. The good news is that the solution I’m suggesting will work.

If you follow through with this, you will break free from the human zoo, achieve complete financial independence and total lifestyle freedom.

You’ll be able to take vacations to exotic places, often. You’ll be able to work for yourself getting paid well for doing the things you enjoy doing. You’ll live with little to no pressure from anyone else ever again. Your life will change in ways that you literally never thought possible and you’ll live a life completely on your terms.

That sounds a little too good to be true. What’s the bad news?

The bad news is that most people, when they learn how to do it, will never take action.

It’s sad but that’s the reality. Most people spin their wheels looking for the magic bullet. The quick fix. The shortcut. They’ll literally be stuck & frustrated for 10 years or longer, making no progress at all.

Always looking for the shortcut. Always looking for the ‘quick’ way to the solution and ironically wasting their lives in doing so.

That sounds horrible… but I do know people like that. I have a tendency to be like that, if I’m totally honest…

Why does this happen?

The fundamental problem is about being event focused instead of process focused.

The event is a mythical point in the future that’s going to fix all of your problems. It’s that imagined finish line. The idea of ‘once I have X, I’ll be happy!’ or ‘once I accomplish X, everything will be fine’.

But the finish line isn’t real. What leads to real change lies in the process, not in arriving at the mythical finish line.

Being process oriented can be difficult.

Is that why people avoid it? Because it’s difficult?

Pretty much. What most people don’t realise is that they are always making a choice, no matter what.

If you always try to avoid difficulties and always choose the comfortable option, you atrophy. Your body atrophies, your mind atrophies, you become soft, weak and unskilled.

And what’s the result of that? Chronic discomfort and suffering.

What do you mean by chronic discomfort?

Let’s take physical health and fitness as an example. A healthy lifestyle involves some discomfort. It involves not always making the easiest, most comfortable choice, right?

Like going to the gym and avoiding junk food and stuff?

Exactly. When you’re exercising, even if you enjoy it, it’s still less comfortable than sitting on your couch. And if you want to make real progress, you have to push past your comfort zone by definition.

So, many people want to avoid this discomfort of moving, exercising and pushing themselves.

But what are the longer term consequences of that? They become weak, their posture deteriorates and before long, they have all kinds of aches and pains.

All you get is a different kind of discomfort. Instead of short bursts of intense discomfort in the gym, you have the chronic discomfort of a painful lower back, of not being able to get up a flight of stairs without feeling dizzy, of feeling uncomfortable in your own skin.

And the longer term you go, the worse it gets. People who don’t exercise are more likely to suffer from depression, various heart conditions… they’re more likely to die sooner.

So it’s like: pick your poison.

Yes. Exactly. You need to shatter the illusion that choosing the easy or comfortable path is less painful.

And what’s true for the gym and health example is true for countless areas of life.

This hits close to home. I’m no different, I’ve often fantasize about finding the perfect opportunity that will skyrocket me to success without having to deal with, you know... the real shit. The difficult stuff.

Maybe that’s just being event focused.

Maybe that’s just another form of procrastination…

It’s okay, these are hard pills to swallow.

But let’s make this practical. Here’s what we’re going to fix; two main problems that I call The Two-Headed Snake. If you don’t kill this snake, eventually it will eat you alive. The two heads of the snake are 24/7 distraction & implementation paralysis.

What’s implementation paralysis?

Most people call it procrastination. You learn useful stuff but you don’t implement any of it, so you stay stuck and never change.

That sounds about right, yeah…

You aren’t alone in that. Our problem isn’t that we don’t know enough. We know more than enough. In fact, we have access to so much information it can cause a kind of paralysis.

What most people lack is a solid system for implementation. For consistently getting real shit done fast.

To be honest, that does sound pretty appealing.

What about the 24/7 distraction thing you mentioned?

There’s loads to say about this, but I’ll try to nutshell it.

Basically, we live in an environment that’s absolutely crammed with stuff that is designed to capture our attention.

The overload of different forms of information; news, opinions, articles, videos, memes, streams, social media posts, groups, subreddits etc. has now become a constant distraction. And on top of that, we all carry these devices that are designed to be as attention-sucking as possible.

In order to make anythign meaningful happen, we need to be able to think for ourselves and focus for long enough to do the real work. Now, most people have been rendered almost completely incapable of doing either of those things.

This is why they stay stuck.

People are definitely glued to their phone screens, most of the time…

Phones are just part of the problem, too. How much time does the average person nowadays spend starting at screens, in general? It’s normal in our culture, but it’s totally bizarre when you take a step back and look at it.

Is it really that big of a deal, though? I don’t see how being less distracted will benefit my life or career in a big way…

Think about it like this:

The world is becoming more distracted and inefficient. People who can do high quality work quickly are becoming increasingly rare and valuable.

If you’re one of them, you can basically name your price.

Your job opportunities expand tremendously and if you decide to start a business, you’ll be 100x more likely to succeed.

The world is full of people with great business ideas who’ll never make it happen. You could have the best idea in the world, but if you can’t execute, you might as well just sit playing on your phone.

I see. Right, let me get some things straight because this is a lot to take in.

I understand that it isn’t entirely my fault.

I understand that my results are in large part due to the system, the human zoo as you call it.

I get how everyone is distracted and unfocused most of the time.

I know that if I don’t kill the two-headed snake of 24/7 distraction and implementation paralysis, I’ll never be successful.

But what I’m missing is what to do next. How do I take action on the stuff you’re telling me?

I’m glad you asked…

I’ll tell you exactly what to do next, but there’s one more problem I haven’t mentioned. It’s a really important factor when it comes to success or failure.

What’s that?

Right now, you’re alone. And you’re trying to fix your problems alone, become successful alone and so on. Modern society is has become individualistic, and we’re paying a big price for it.

People want to be successful solopreneurs. They feel immense pressure to make it on their own. I don’t know where this idea came from but I fell for it too.

I became a successful entrepreneur with multiple businesses whilst working more or less completely on my own.

What’s wrong with that?

Individualism is massively overrated in our culture. Yes, I became successful on my own, but the truth is, most people fail alone. Despite my success, I came to realise over time that no matter how skilled you are individually, the right people around you will always allow you to achieve greater things.

That’s one of the reasons why I came to you. As hard as it is to admit, I can’t do this on my own.

It’s good that you reached out for help. Surrounding yourself with the right people is one of the most reliable ways to create positive changes in your life.

But I don’t know many people who are successful, who could help me out.

When I talk about not going it alone, I don’t just mean seeking advice from people who can help you - although that’s definitely a good idea.

The whole idea of individualism is flawed. Yes, it’s good to be independent and self-reliant, but it’s not good to be alone and isolated.

Is this another one of those paradoxical things?

Kind of, yeah.

Humans are social animals, there’s no denying that. If we aren’t socially connected, our mental health suffers massively. But we also do our best work and achieve the most meaningful things in groups.

That doesn’t mean we have to find a herd and follow it, though. I believe that the strongest groups are made up of strong individuals. Cooperation and individual capability and self-reliance are not mutually exclusive.

I don’t know, man… if I think about my friends and family, I don’t feel like grouping up with them would be anything but a pain.

That’s just one more way in which the culture we live in is a bit screwed up, to put it mildly.

Most of us don’t have positive examples to go by. We experience conflict and strain in groups more commonly than we experience something creative and positive.

Most people’s positive group experiences are only related to leisure. Hanging out, going out, watching movies… that kind of stuff.

That’s definitely true for me. There are many people I like to spend time with, but I can’t imagine trying to build a business with them or anything like that.

Totally. I felt exactly like this, which is why I set off on my own, at first.

But that worked for you, didn’t it?

It did, yes. But here’s something you should know: on my own, I built a few businesses that made me a decent amount of money. But every business that was really successful, I built with other people.

My biggest successes would have been totally impossible for me to pull off on my own.

I didn’t know that… but again: what do I actually do? You’re telling me loads of interesting stuff, but where do I start?

In a way, you’ve already started. By being open to these ideas, you’re changing the way you think and that will affect the way you behave.

You’re already on a good path.

But I know what you mean. You want something practical, tangible to do, right now.

Yes.

Are you ready for the real work towards your goals to begin? Are you ready to make the jump?

1000% Yes. I’ve got a solid grasp on everything you’ve taught me so far. Let’s fucking do it!

Love it! First things first, we’re going to eradicate procrastination forever and turn you into an implementation machine.

This is the first thing that needs to happen because as long as you keep procrastinating, you won’t make progress, no matter what your goals are.

Is it even possible to stop procrastinating completely?

Absolutely! But this is too much to go into right now.

I made a video series on this.

The next time I see you, I want you to have watched all five videos and followed the exercises. Just from doing this, you’ll see huge improvements almost immediately.

And one more thing

What’s that?

Don’t leave here and let yourself slip back into bad habits.

Don’t let yourself procrastinate on this. Seriously, make the jump, draw a line in the sand and say this is where it stops.

No more short changing yourself.

No more accepting a life that doesn’t fulfill you.

Say to yourself, it ends now.

It ends now.

Watch the videos. Do the exercises. Then we’ll talk some more