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Tim Denning

@Tim_Denning

How to unf*ck your brain (you have about 36 months): You know you’ve got brainrot if... • You can’t focus for more than 30 secs • Your worldview feels black & white • Every conversation turns political • You refresh feeds compulsively There’s extreme urgency to solve this problem. In a recent talk from Tom Bilyeu to a room full of Youtube creators, he explained what will happen in ~36 months.... AI will be so good that it can produce Hollywood-quality video in real-time. That means our minds are going to be hit with 1000x more content that is psychologically engineered to make us watch like heroin addicts. That’s going to rapidly increase the speed of brainrot caused by algorithms. The unlikely antidote to brainrot (that’ll bring you calmness and peace): --- 𝟭. 𝗚𝗼 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁 The noise right now is deafening. It’s hard to even think. The solution is to do the opposite and be quiet. Embrace some time alone. Quiet your mind. Assume most of the noise is an overreaction. Keep your nose out of everyone else’s business. Don’t say stuff that’ll piss people off. Actually… Try not to say much at all. --- 𝟮. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗹: 𝗗𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 Rotting your brain is the easy thing to do. It takes zero skill or discipline. You just sit there and let influencers and cable news shout at you and tap into your deepest fears or desires. Our brains are rotting because our worldview is becoming too easy, too simplistic. The simpler and dumber reality starts to look, the dumber our minds become. This dumbing down hurts. Life feels boring and stressful in this state. The institutions that enable this dumbing down do it because it makes us want to numb the pain of brainrot. The more we numb the mind the less reactive we become. It just ends up in complete hopelessness which is better than mass-protests in the streets. The way to vaccinate yourself against easy is to do the opposite and do hard things. Choose a goal that feels impossible. • Run a marathon • Shred until you’ve got a 6-pack • Launch a digital business • Build a newsletter • Pitch 101 VCs …. the options are endless. Not only does it feel great, but the struggles you’ll face toughen up your mind. You start to build a fortress around your mind that can’t be penetrated with an idea missile from CNN or Fox. --- 𝟯. 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝘆 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 If you don’t have kids then hang out with someone else’s. Small humans still have creativity & imagination. They can think in abstract terms without narrowing their mind into black and white opinions. I asked my toddler yesterday what color daddy’s shirt was. “Is it purple or yellow?” She said rainbow. She likes to mess with my mind. She can joke around. She can see unicorns in the sky when others only see clouds. It’s a great way to detox the mind. --- 𝟰. 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗽𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗼 The illuminati and conspiracy theory type people say we’re being programmed. That AI is just here to control us. Obviously this is total horse sh*t. But there is one thing these people got right. Social media and content do program our minds, except we get to decide who and what programs us. That’s why you should never open any social media app and casually be served content like a zombie. Instead, curate the hell out of your social media. • Only follow high-quality people who don’t talk smack or engage in politics. • Never visit the homepage or “for you” feed ever again. Instead, create lists of people and only view their content. Spend most of your time reading content in your email inbox that you’ve chosen to subscribe to. And add filters to block keywords like politics, Andrew Hate, CNBC, Fox, etc. What you’re left with is a beautifully tranquil experience that supports your goals and helps expand your thinking... ...Instead of shrinking your brain into a tiny pea that some politician can squash like a bug or take a piss on. --- 𝟱. 𝗤𝘂𝗶𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘆 To win elections politicians need to pit people against each other. Once you become a mature adult and realize politics doesn’t solve problems (it creates them), then everything changes. Polarisation solves nothing. Treating every event in the world like a tribal event rots your mind. Not everything has to become a form of religion. You don’t need to subscribe to any ideology. For example, I’m an Aussie but embrace my wife’s Chinese culture & mix it with elements of Japanese Zen & Buddhism. I don’t have a race. I’m made up of many races because all forms of race are just labels for one creature known as humans. The fastest way to rot your brain is to drown in politics. Take a break. 𝘈𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺, 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳, 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘧𝘴. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘶𝘱 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘹, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 - 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯, 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘢 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 – 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘺 𝘉𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘺 --- 𝟲. 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗩 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀 Modern TV fast-tracks brainrot. Everything is optimised for attention. There has to be a “payoff” as it’s known in TV in every single episode. TV needs to help society get high on huge releases of dopamine or the actors lose their jobs and the season finale comes, fast. Old TV shows didn’t have this problem. They could f*ck around with a long, drawn out plot for 6 episodes and the audience wouldn’t care. Or have a scene of dialogue that lasted almost 30 mins without a single cut scene. Watch early episodes of Game of Thrones to see this. There is one modern TV show that does this, too: The Bear. It’s slow AF. Either way, go back in time. Watch old TV. Be inspired again by a good story that’s not constantly trying to ping your brain to death like the last Star Wars movie. --- 𝟳. 𝗚𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝗮𝘆 𝗕𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 I never used to spend much time in parks. Found them boring. Then I had a kid. She wants to hang there 24/7. I’m a sucker of a girl dad so I let her. That means I go too. The more time I spend in parks the more my brain starts to heal. It’s not just the nature or the sun. It’s the mindset of other adults in the park. They, too, are there for the same reason I am. We don’t talk about hot topic events. In fact, we don’t talk much at all. We just chill. We enjoy the sun. We watch our kids play. These moments are pure bliss. Force yourself to hang in more parks. Go on the swings if you want to be a real badass. --- 8. Write a S*bstack to absolutely nobody Writing is thinking. Too many people’s brains are so rotten they’ve stopped thinking. The way to think again is to write. It’s better than journaling because it helps you interact with others and have people challenge your ideas. The more you write the more you begin to pull apart your worldview. If you write for long enough, you realize everyone’s problems are basically the same. Gives you a sh*t load of compassion for other humans. Compassion relaxes the mind. --- 𝟵. 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗮 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗳𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 What’s bizarre with fiction books is most of them represent reality. Why? Because fiction authors are human and subconsciously base their made-up stories on events from history. No matter how hard they try and imagine a different worldview or a set of alien-like characters, the humanity will always be visible. My go-to fiction book is something simple like Harry Potter. Dreaming of a world that has no constraints helps your mind shatter through the actual constraints we all face. The way through the current chaos is to start dreaming again. Fiction helps the mind get to that state, fast. --- 𝟭𝟬. 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲 I’m down to less than 30 mins a day. Looking at a tiny little screen every second of the day rots your brain. Between notifications and algorithms you lose all present-moment awareness. Just go to a local gym. Look at all the people pretending to be there working out when they’re just there to look at their phone and do 2 minutes of actual exercise (without sweating). Hack: Turn your phone into a 1999 Nokia 5110 that can only call & text phone numbers. --- 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 World War 3 has already started. It’s the war on your attention. If you don’t start to unrot your brain right now (we all have some rot)... ... you’ll find yourself in 36 months unable to think clearly or hold two conflicting ideas in your mind at the same time. That’ll lead to feeling tired, overwhelmed, stressed, depressed, etc. Big Pharma can then give you a bunch of pills to numb your mind further. But that’ll probably only accelerate the brainrot until you’re no more intelligent than a vegetable. You wouldn’t be reading this if there were no hope. Go heal your mind.

Tim Denning

@Tim_Denning

A great way to keep your mind active is to build a business. Then try to scale it to $50K or even $100K a month. Here's how: <a target="_blank" href="https://timdenning.com/simple-scaling/" color="blue">timdenning.com/simple-scaling/</a>