Uncategorized

Six Months of Agony

Your work is carved out of agony as a statue out of marble.
– Louise Bogan

Let’s talk about Agon.

Agony, noun:

  1. extreme and generally prolonged pain; intense physical or mental suffering.
  2. A display or outburst of intense mental or emotional excitement: an agony of joy.
  3. the struggle preceding natural death: mortal agony.

Antonyms:
comfort, ease, pleasure.

1. definitely doesn’t apply. My life is pretty easy, actually – if I were satisfied with it I could sit back and coast and get an above-average middle class existence.

2. is a little more appropriate – I’ve definitely experienced those this year. In the gym, in the bedroom, and in my office when I hit a major milestone.

3. sure – I try to live my life this way, but I fall short a lot of the time. I’m half slacking as I write this blog post – I could give excuses, but it’s enough to say I’m not living as if I were struggling for life right this second. This despite the fact that I am in “the struggle preceding natural death”, like we all are.

The antonyms fit a lot better – I am, in life, trying to avoid comfort and ease as much as possible. Pleasure, not so much – but we’ll ignore that one.

But to find the inspiration for the name Agon, and the idea I’m trying to embody with it and with this blog, we should go back a little farther.

Our word agony comes from the Latin agon – the singular accusative of the verb “ago” – which is pronounced “ah-go”, which means “I…

do, act, make, accomplish, manage, achieve, perform, transact, drive, conduct, push, move, impel, guide, govern, administer, discuss, plead, deliberate, think upon, am occupied with, stir up, excite, cause, induce, chase, pursue, drive at, rob, steal, plunder, carry off, pass, spend, slay, kill, put forth, sprout, extend

Excellent. This comes from the Ancient Greek “agon”, which means “contest”. In fact, the Greeks had a God or spirit named Agon – brother to Nike (Victory) and Zelos (Rivalry). He was a personification of struggle and competition. According to Google Image Seach, my profile picture is of a statue of his in Tunisia (lol at Greek tiny-dicked statues).

So. That’s Agon, and this is who I’m trying to be, this year and into the future. Let’s look at how I’ve done.

Selling My House

Seven out of ten Americans are one paycheck away from being homeless.
– Pras Michel

(Here’s hoping I’ll join them, sooner than later.)

Now: It’s now almost three months after I thought I’d list the house, and I have an appointment with the realtor to do so on Monday. It looks better than I ever thought it would, though.

Next: Sell the fucker. With any luck it’ll be off my hands within three months, and I can put the time and money towards something that I want to keep.

Fighting

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.
– Marcus Aurelius

(Trying to cover my bases by getting good at both.)

Now: I’ve competed in one tournament, where I won my first match by submission and lost my second on points. It feels incredible to have that concrete progress, and to see how I’m staring to hold my own with the other regulars at the gym.

Next: More time at the gym is the only way forward, and I’ll compete in another tournament by the end of the year. As for the “real” fight – I’m not sure of a strategic way to do this, so it might be as simple as laying $100 on the table at one of my friends’ houses and giving it to the last man standing. That’d be fun to explain at work the next day – but it’d keep me out of jail.

Fitness

No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training… what a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.
– Socrates

Now: I’ve been slacking. Beyond what we do in BJJ and grappling, I haven’t done any explicit exercise, let alone lifting. That said, I’ve made a lot of progress in 3-4 months of solid training and I can no longer say “I’ve never lifted.”

Next: When I get my ass in gear and get back in the gym, I’ll spend a lot of time getting my form right on every lift. I’ll also be adding cardio once or twice a week, since I’m noticing my endurance in matches isn’t what it could be. BJJ demands total fitness and it’s made me a lot stronger already, but I know endurance and explosive strength will drive my game forward massively. I’ll meet my fitness goals and then some by January, I’m sure.

Writing

One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.
– Jack Kerouac

Now: I published an ebook to Kindle. Sure, it’s an 11k word monster erotica ebook, but it IS an ebook. I wrote 100 some blog posts, and I don’t know about you but it feels to me like my writing has gotten visibly better.

Next: I’m going to write a full-length novel (~50k words) and a screenplay by the end of the year. They won’t be very good and I can’t imagine they’ll sell, but I’m going to write them. The blog is going to change – I’m sick of writing about what I’m going to do, and I’m running out of cliches and truisms to preach on.

Blogging

An audience is always warming but it must never be necessary to your work.
– Gertrude Stein

Now: I hover at 10-20 unique visitors a day, mostly from search engine traffic (which is a new thing – it used to be only referrals). I have occasional email correspondence and comment exchange with other people – not as much as I’d like, more than I’ve ever had before.

Next: I have a couple guest post submissions planned and intend to start reaching out a lot more often (h/t Radhika who is much better at this than I am.) I’m still learning, but I think my goal of 100 visitors/day is within reach by the end of the year with: more outreach, more regular posting, and longer articles that are less about planning and journaling. See: this one, and not the one you’re reading. The Progress page is going down, begging for you to email me is going up – less telling you my plans and goals, more storytelling and retrospectives that you can really benefit from.

Geographic Freedom

“Forcing everyone into the office every day is an organizational SPoF (single point of failure).”
– Jason Friedman, Remote

Now: I had my yearly review and brought up the idea of full-time or part-time remoting with my boss – he seemed amenable. One more of our guys went fully remote last week, and one went three days a week.

Next: I’ve got a meeting with the Big Boss, and I’ll bring it up aggressively there. Moving out and my girlfriend moving are possible excuses, and with employees no more valuable/reliable than me doing it, there isn’t much standing in my way. It looks like even if I’m in the same job come January, I’ll be doing it at least three days a week from wherever I want.

Motorcycle

My dad is a motorcycle guy, not a Hollywood guy.
– Shia LeBouf (lol)

Now: Basically no progress this year, and I’m starting to get antsy as summer drags on. That said…:

Next: My dad bought a motorcycle. Couldn’t have asked for much better luck – they live in the country where I can practice safely, he bought a small 550 bike, and he’ll be a good teacher. This should be simple to knock out within the next couple months in just one or two free weekends. Depending on how much I get for the house, the budget should be set to get a bike for myself this year – maybe not soon enough to ride it this year, but that’ll be the goal met anyway.

Where We’re Going Now

So here we are. The year’s half over – I’ve come a long, long way. In some ways it’s hard to believe how far; in others I’m disappointed – but when I look at my life now and compare, I can see the distance traveled and know it’s in the right direction. I’m officially an amateur grappler. I can lift a barbell without looking like a complete idiot. My house will be on the market in less than a week, and my credit cards are paid off (albeit with help). I’ve opened the door to remote work and discussed my geographic needs with my boss, to good reaction. I’ve published an 11k word short story, the longest I’ve ever written. At least ten people who aren’t my real-life friends visit my blog each day (hey guys! Email me. What’s up with you?).

There are six months left in the year, and I’m still lit up with the fire of Agon – of competition, of strife and struggle. I’m flexing muscles I’ve never felt before, and I can feel the chains loosening.

Come with me. Let’s see how much farther we can go.

Window or Mirror?

It’s not a matter of going deeper and deeper into subtlety until your face finally reveals itself. It is literally right before your eyes in every moment.
– Sam Harris, Taming the Mind

A break from regularly scheduled progress to remind myself what to do when it all gets heavy:

I’ve still been struggling to meditate 15-30 minutes a day, and I’ve been seeing results. My mood is more stable, bullshit is easier to ignore, and I’m more able to ignore that little voice in my head and get on with what needs doing.

Still, I’m not exactly enlightened. This week has been rough so far – making me ever more eager to get out of my job for good, among other things – and there isn’t much reprieve coming up.

In this interview about the book 10% Happier, I found the following quote:

Sam: I think the best way to communicate this is by analogy. Everyone has had the experience of looking through a window and suddenly catching sight of his own reflection staring back at him from the glass. At that point, he can use the glass as a window, to see the world outside, or as a mirror, but he can’t do both at the same time.

…

Consciousness is already free of the feeling that we call “I.”

…

In criticizing this kind of practice, someone like Eckhart Tolle is echoing the non-dualistic teachings one finds in traditions such as Advaita Vedanta, Zen (sometimes), and Dzogchen. Many of these teachings can sound paradoxical: You can’t get there from here. The self that you think you are isn’t going to meditate itself into a new condition. This is true, but as Sharon says, it’s not always useful. The path is too steep.

It’s hard to describe what this feels like until you’ve done it. It’s kind of like a good sweep in jiu jitsu – you position just right, and all your weight shifts and effortlessly you’re on top, breathing freely, ready to move again. Regular meditation, by contrast, feels like doing the work of bench pressing the person off you and moving them away, strength against strength.

That’s how I’ve been getting out from under stress or discomfort or exhaustion, and it’s a hell of a lot easier – when you can do it – than sitting and breathing for 30 minutes.

Try to recognize that you’re already free – that whatever you’re going through now already doesn’t matter, it’s just a thing that exists, separate from your anxiety and fear and whatever else. Enlightenment and escape aren’t a thousand miles away, out there on the other side of the window. It’s an inch from your face, and you’re staring right through it.

(Back to regular scheduling soon, promise)

Win Without Boasting, Lose Without Excuse

Win without boasting. Lose without excuse.
– Albert Payson Terhune

Got the opportunity to practice both yesterday. Won my first match by submission, lost my second on points.

This post – and this glass of scotch – commemorate my first major, measurable step towards this year’s goals – Fighting is officially 1/2 complete.

(Progress page significantly updated – it had fallen by the wayside (priorities). Still working on a design for the updated version)

Your Best Odds Later Depend On Taking a Chance Now

You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.
– Margaret Thatcher

My grappling tournament is Saturday. It’ll be my first:

  • BJJ competition
  • Martial arts competition of any kind
  • Head to head (non-team) competitive event
  • “Serious” competitive event of any kind in about four years

I expect to get my ass handed to me <boring excuses here>.

I debated, for a while, whether it was worth going to my first tournament so (relatively) unprepared, so early into my grappling career. I thought maybe I’ll give it another three months, do a tournament at the end of June and cut weight and take it really seriously, maybe get on the podium the first time I compete.

This is the question that settled it for me:

What gives me the best odds of winning that tournament in three months?

And the answer, obviously, is to compete now.

We often want to wait until we’re ready to do things – we don’t want to look like idiots, so we want to have a shot at success or at least mediocrity before we try anything. <boring counterexamples aside,> This is wrong, and I’m glad I stumbled on the phrasing above so I can smash this excuse so thoroughly.

You want the best odds of success at some point in the future?

Try – and fail if necessary – right now.

What Aren’t You Doing?

It’s like everyone fantasizes about… whatever… but once their fantasies start to become reality, they piss their pants and self-sabotage.
– Sebastian Marshall, Ikigai

I’ve been reading Ikigai by Sebastian Marshall (on a recommendation from rmorabia – enjoying it so far, thanks!)

The very first essay talks about people just…not doing what they claim to want to do. The opportunities are there in front of them, the way is open (and sometimes even obvious) but people don’t move.

He has a couple examples – he outlines a business plan for a friend, one that will almost certainly work, and the friend never even attempts it. He receives an email from an acquaintance about another business plan, and not only does he make suggestions and give encouragement that it’s a good idea, he actually offers to be the first customer and help work through the kinks. The acquaintance never emails him back.

I have friends who seem to be in similar situations. They want to learn a skill, have a new experience, pursue an opportunity- but when the chance to actually do it is thrown in their face they don’t act. They come up with an excuse – or worse, they say “That looks awesome, I’ll look into it!” and then never speak of it again.

This kind of silent non-action is a killer, and it can be easy to fall into. You might even be busy – constantly moving – but somehow never getting closer to the things you claim you want.

I don’t think there’s a magic fix, here, you just have to look at your life. Are there opportunities for progress that you’re leaving on the table? Are there things you’re half-assing on, just treading water, not moving forward? Are you actually, materially, objectively closer to achieving your goals than you were a month ago?

If not, why not?

I’ll share my own to prove I’m not full of shit (or, if I am, that my shit is sincere):

  • Motorcycle: I could probably have had my first lesson with my buddy by now, if I was pushing harder. I’m not real concerned about this – it’ll be easy to do over summer – but I haven’t been straining to go faster with it.
  • House: I could definitely have put my house on the market without the fixes I’m working on. I do still think I made the right call to wait and improve – but did I do it because I wanted the best result, or because I was hesitant to move forward?
  • Fitness: I’m lifting consistently, but I haven’t put a ton of effort into watching videos to perfect my form, eating enough calories to put on weight, or getting enough sleep for maximum results. Is this because I’m genuinely busy with higher priorities, or am I hesitating?
  • Fighting: I’m honestly doing well, here. I’m going to a grappling tournament at the beginning of May, and I’m probably going to get my ass kicked – but even getting my ass kicked puts me objectively closer to my goal of becoming a “serious amateur”. (Hell, this will actually complete half my “get in a fight” goal).
  • Writing: My monster porn is way overdue. The rough draft is halfway complete, now, and I’m happy with it – but could I be going faster?
  • Geographical Freedom: Fiverr is going smoothly, but I haven’t put much effort into refreshing my offerings or marketing (even now that I’m Level 1). I also haven’t talked to my boss about working remotely part/full time, yet. Why not?
  • Blogging: Didn’t think of an obvious missed opportunity, here, and I’m content with the current pace. Comment or shoot me an email if you see a path I don’t.

So. For each of your goals, chances are there’s a real, measurable step forward that you could be doing right now.

Find it. Take it.

Anything less and you might as well go back to video games.

Foresight and Discipline

One can only have as much preparation as he has foresight.
– Jim Butcher

It’s one thing to decide, tonight, to go to the gym instead of watching a movie. That’s easy – that’s discipline level one, making the right call when faced with the choice “Which of these two options is better right now?”

Discipline level two is looking into the future, seeing what’s coming, and making the right choice in that context. It’s when you have time to watch a movie right now and nothing else pressing is on your plate – you’ve been to the gym, the house is clean, your work is done.

It’s seeing that right now it looks like you have free time, but in the next three days you have three hours more work than you have hours awake, and if you don’t use the three hours in front of you right now something’s going to fall off the other end.

It’s realizing that if you stay up late an hour later on Friday, you’ll get up later on Saturday, you won’t make it to the bank, you’ll have to go Monday afternoon which means you’ll have to leave work early, which means you’ll need to make up an hour that night and you won’t finish your blog post (which means, if you haven’t given up yet, you’ll have to do it the next morning…)

Discipline level two is much harder, and I am far from mastering it. Particularly when I’m tired, it’s hard to forgo an available hour of rest now to make sure nothing falls off my plate in three days. Being realistic about my time has helped, but I’m still working on it.

If you know what I’m talking about and you have any tips, comment or shoot me an email at diegallantly@gmail.com.

Review: Ryan Holiday’s Blog

Comfort is the worst kind of slavery because you’re always afraid that something or someone will take it away.
– Ryan Holiday

Just finished the archives over at ryanholiday.net. Long, but I tore through them pretty quickly – I’m getting better at skimming and he’s a very compelling writer, even in his very early posts. He reads, a ton – in fact one of the major recent features of his website is a newsletter where he discusses and recommends his recent reads.

Oh, and before we get into it – I should mention that this is THIS Ryan Holiday. I’m not even going to summarize his massive accomplishments (or the ridiculously young age at which he’s achieved them) – click that link and read for yourself if you haven’t heard of him. There were so many good things, and some of his posts are pretty subtle (especially for a blog) – so I recommend you click through and read the linked post if you’re intrigued by the quote.

I’m not going to try to summarize each article – there are too many and I feel it’d be kind of strange. Here are the concrete things I learned (or rather, learned that I need to learn):

  • Throw away the massive reading list. Maintaining it is a chore and an illusion of productivity. Ironic that I learned this from a guy with a giant physical library, but hey.
  • Attack strategy, ignore rules, do what works. Wednesday’s post about Alinsky was found through Ryan, and they’re both excellent examples of finding leverage wherever you can and using it.
  • No matter how objectively well you do, you have to be happy with yourself. Ryan writes a lot about Stoicism and learning to be happy with himself. If any young man should be satisfied with their life achievements, it’s him, and the fact that this clearly isn’t enough reveals something of the nature of happiness.

Without further ad, Ryan Holiday:

Break Your Mental Cycle
“To feel you are fit to protect the fruits of your labor if you’re not even strong enough to handle the calluses? Arrogant and delusional.”

Sometimes It Is That Easy
“The point is that, yes it really is that easy. Yes, the rest of the world really is stuck in a box.”

Or Maybe It Isn’t
“It’s very easy to sit there with your Jr. brass ring and talk like anyone else can have one too. The difficult part is understanding why you have one and most people don’t.”

It’s Just Life
“Aren’t we supposed to make big calls? And aren’t some of them supposed to fail and others succeed? Either way, this is what I am supposed to do. “

Seriously, You Can Do Whatever You Want
“We know for sure at least one person has already done it, and enough followed to propagate a cliché about it. Is that what you want? Does that sound like the field or the life for you?”

The Short Sightedness of Selling Out
“No. No. No. That’s the whole point–the reason that this niche even exists is because some executive five years ago insisted that people would be offended by that kind of material and look what they left on the table.” 

Attacking Strategy
“We have to outrun them to that hill as opposed to, what if we made that hill a worthless target”

Hustling
“The ironic thing is that almost every person I’ve met in Hollywood spends most of their time trying to do a little actual work as possible – to avoid moving the product from shipment to sale.”

Operative Words
“Most people will never know what it’s like to get so excited that you have to pace to contain yourself. It’s all logical to them – spend to earn, ‘a lot of people are doing this,’ wait for approval, ‘that seems like a bad idea,’ ‘it’s the weekend, I’ll get to it Monday,’ whatever. And in the process, they cripple themselves irrelevant.”

Here and There
“All I’m saying is that you don’t need to wait to learn these things when you get the big leagues because you can intuitively understand them right now. They’re simple and basic. They are right there in front of you. But are you cynical enough to notice?”

Effects Based Operations 
“It’s done exactly how Posner says is is. Not by thinking about the question at hand but by the factors that created the necessity of the question. That means figuring out what something boils down to, why, and ignoring the rest of the shit that people get hung up on.”

A Side To Err
“It’s what people with energy do. Before you know it you’ve racked up a history that you never intended to make because every time you came to a choice between more effort and more of the same, you chose the former.”

Is This Who You Want To Be
“If you’re a piddly fucking loser who spends their time reading employee handbooks and going to mixers then that’s a way to think about life.”

A Guide to Stoicism
“When you’re writing for an audience, there is such a massive incentive to puff yourself up or present the best side of yourself that it becomes inherently fake.”

The Cycle
“We just seem to accept this as the way things should be. We never ask: Who cares? Don’t you remember having this conversation last year? Don’t you remember how the fire ended last time? How you spent the next 11 months living peacefully in the city you were half-convinced was burning to the ground?”

Distraction
“To me these theories mark the very real temptation to stay busy at the expense of real work. It’s the trap of subbing meaningless discipline in for the kind that forces us to change and improve. All the upside of feeling accomplishment but without any of the risk that you might become a better person for the process.”

The Dress Suit Bribe
“The things we have to do as employees, as a member of a class, as a certain type of professional are tacit extracurricular duties that not only coincide with the amount in our paychecks but make us dependent on getting one every week. If we really calculated this labor, we’d realize it not only wasn’t cheap but if we stripped away the illusions, we’d see that we weren’t asked very nicely if we felt like doing them. They were as mandatory as wearing a uniform and saying “Yes, sir, let me know if I can get your anything else.”

Rules As Excuses
“When I see someone waiting at a light when they could easily and safely cross, I think ‘what a loser’. I see it for what it really is: an excuse to not do what is obviously more logical because an arbitrary rule says otherwise. In this case, it’s a pretty convenient excuse to get a break from running too. To me, it is an excuse to not push themselves as hard as they could.”

The Temptation
“The internet is seductive. It allows us to be a fantasy version of ourselves without the pain of earning it. Our natural tendency to inflate, distract and rationalize are—all too kindly—confirmed, supported and inflated further still. Congratulation comes easy, problems are glossed over, everything finds an audience. It becomes so easy to talk online about what we are doing or what we plan to do that, hey, the next thing we know the day is through and we didn’t have time to actually fit in doing any of it.”

Total Commitment
“As a young man, Bill Bradley used to tell himself that when he was not practicing, someone else was and that when he finally met that person, they—not he—would win.”

Savages
“You don’t have to be the best, you just have to be harder to destroy. You have to be relentless. Indefatigable. Sometimes, to get in the right position, you have to be able to absorb a lot of blows. You’ve got to know you’re taking hits for a reason, and have the tolerance and endurance to bear it. If you can actually enjoy and seek out that process? Well, then you’re a fucking savage. And you’re going to be very successful.”

Only One Way To Make Progress
“The breakthrough isn’t coming because you sat back and thought about it a lot. It’s coming because you got up and then stayed at it. Because you took risks and tried things. Because you persisted (and resisted) the impulse to give up.

Let’s ask an honest question: could you be doing more? You probably could, there’s always more. At minimum, you could be trying harder. You might have gotten started, but your full effort isn’t in it—and that shows.”

Review: Saul Alinsky Playboy Interview

Let’s say that if there is an afterlife, and I have anything to say about it, I will unreservedly choose to go to hell.
– Saul Alinsky

Another excellent, long-form Playboy interview (remember George Carlin?)

Saul Alinsky (1909-1972) was a famous and highly successful community organizer and liberal radical. He spent much of his life fighting against the powers that be to improve living conditions for the poor and disenfranchised – by, essentially, strong-arming and blackmailing the powerful into giving concessions. He brought people together to wield both conventional political power and the threat of “unconventional” tactics to create the change they wanted.

Agree or disagree with his politics – Alinsky made goals and achieved them despite massive opposition from people with much more traditional power than he had. He went up against massive corporations, entrenched political systems, and wealthy and influential individuals with nothing but his own wit and will and his ability to see and exploit his allies’ strengths and his foes’ weaknesses. Over and over again he made lasting changes where change seemed impossible, and he often made it look easy.

This long interview was done not long before Alinsky’s death, and reveals a lot about his character and the way he looked at social conflict (and strategy in general). Here are some of the lessons I took:

Find Out What People Want and Deliver It, Even If They’re Not Asking

Now, Kelly was a funny guy; he was a mass of contradictions — like most people — and despite his antilabor actions he really admired F.D.R.; in fact, he worshiped him, and nothing hurt him more than the way he was forced to sneak into the White House like a pariah — no dinner parties, none of those little Sunday soirees that Eleanor used to throw, not even a public testimonial. He desperately wanted acceptance by F.D.R. and the intellectuals in his brain trust, and he really smarted under the second-class status the President conferred on him. I’d studied his personality carefully, and I knew I’d get nowhere appealing to him over labor’s rights, but I figured I might just be able to use this personal Achilles’ heel to our advantage.
…
Within forty-eight hours I’ll have turned you into a champion of liberalism” — Kelly still looked bored — “and that’ll make you completely acceptable to F.D.R. on all occasions, social and political.”
…
Suddenly he sat bolt upright in his chair and his eyes bored into mine.
 – Interview Part 7

When Alinsky went to Chicago to organize a neighborhood called “The Back of the Yards”, it was Mayor Kelly he needed on his side to get anything done. Kelly didn’t need votes, or money, or contacts – he wasn’t interested in any of the traditional bargaining power Alinsky brought to the table. By understanding his target’s personality, ignoring what “a mayor” would “need” and focusing on what the man Kelly emotionally desired, Alinsky pierced his negotiating armor and had the man eagerly looking for a deal.

When you need help, find out what your potential helpers want and show them you can deliver it.

Use Existing Power To Your Own Ends, Even When It’s Not On Your Side

The first and most important thing you can do to win this acceptance is to bait the power structure into publicly attacking you. In Back of the Yards, when I was first establishing my credentials, I deliberately maneuvered to provoke criticism.
…
Now, these were the same forces that were screwing the average Joe in Back of the Yards, and the minute he saw those attacks he said, “That guy Alinsky must be all right if he can get those bastards that pissed off; he must have something or they wouldn’t be so worried.” So I used what I call psychological jujitsu on the establishment, and it provided me with my credentials, my birth certificate, in all the communities I ever organized.
– Interview Part 8

In jiu-jitsu, you’re taught to use an opponent’s weight and momentum in your favor, to multiply your power and conserve your own strength. Alinsky understood this principle well, and it allowed him to achieve results that would have been impossible on his own. There are examples throughout the article, but the one above struck me – he tricked his opponents into attacking him, releasing a flood of negative press and condemnation – more than he could ever have printed or distributed himself, even with support. Knowing that insults from his enemies were as good as praise from his would-be allies, he let them spend their resources in what was essential a press campaign in his favor.

Find existing power, even if it’s your enemy’s, and turn it in your direction.

Forget What (Some) People Think

Yeah, I was about as popular as the plague. I used to save on hotel bills, because the minute I’d arrive in a new town the cops would slap me right in jail.
– Interview Part 9

The establish, the powers that be, the “right” people – most of them hated Alinsky for his subversive politics and underhanded tactics. Many people live their lives explicitly trying to avoid having anyone hate them this much. Alinsky knew better – while he cared deeply about his appearance with the people who mattered to him (and to his goals), he didn’t give a shit what anyone thought if their worldview didn’t align with his and they weren’t useful to him. He knew himself and he knew his own value, and if people weren’t aligned with that he was immune to their hatred. Sometimes, he even seems to gloat about it.

Choose your friends and allies carefully. If someone hasn’t been chosen, their opinion of you is meaningless.

Do What(ever) Works

As far as being frivolous is concerned, I say if a tactic works, it’s not frivolous.
– Interview Part 12

Alinsky once came up against Mayor Daley in Chicago, a cunning and powerful foe against whom standard tactics wouldn’t work. He identified O’Hare Airport, Daley’s pride and joy, as a weak spot that he and his allies could target – but it was much too large for traditional tactics, like picketing, to be effective. So in a stroke of juvenile genius, he planned what he called a “shit-in” – a campaign using only a few thousand people to constantly occupy ALL of O’Hare’s bathrooms. It was vicious, embarassing, and effectively unstoppable, and Daley caved to Alinsky’s demands after just hearing about the potential catastrophe.

He planned another event, a fart-in, in which his people would book an entire section of the Rochester Philharmonic after eating a huge buffet of beans.

Another time, he threatened to have his allies shut down a massive department store by simply rotating throughout the checkout lanes, asking questions, returning products, and clogging the aisles. With a relatively small number of people using completely legal (and essentially unstoppable) means, he could stop the store from making money indefinitely.

These tactics are ugly, unfair, kind of stupid – but they worked, and they allowed Alinsky and his allies to overcome forces much greater (in terms of money, numbers, and influence) than their own.

Choose your goal and do what gets results.

Stay Free

PLAYBOY: Did you consider becoming a party member prior to the Nazi-Soviet Pact?

ALINSKY: Not at any time. I’ve never joined any organization — not even the ones I’ve organized myself. I prize my own independence too much. And philosophically, I could never accept any rigid dogma or ideology, whether it’s Christianity or Marxism.
…
Nobody owns the truth, and dogma, whatever form it takes, is the ultimate enemy of human freedom.
– Interview Part 10

No matter how big you get, no matter how closely your interests align – never submit to dogma. Keep your own goals in mind and make and discard alliances as you see fit – never let the party line become more important than truth.

I dislike a lot of Alinsky’s goals, but this last lesson applies here as well. Just like you can’t let loyalty and respect make you too blind to fault, don’t let dislike for the source distort useful lessons. Alinsky is a powerful example of getting shit done despite long odds and strong opposition. If you’d like to be the same, you can learn from him – even if what you’d like to get done is the exact opposite.

Find what your negotiation partners want, no matter how unrelated or non-obvious it is, and deliver that.

Find the power and turn it in your direction, even if it’s not yours – especially if it’s your enemy’s.

Find those whose opinions matter to you and ignore everyone else.

Find your enemy’s weaknesses and attack them – don’t let your foe decide what’s fair and what’s frivolous.

Find your own mission and follow it, never letting allies or enemies deter you or deflect you from the path.

My First Fiverr Gig

“The health benefits of eating Brussels sprouts shouldn’t be underestimated”
– Me, in my first Fiverr Gig

Got my first order for a Fiverr gig – a 500 word SEO article on Brussels sprouts. As always, actually trying something for the first time taught me more about it than all the reading I’d done so far. Without further ado, what I learned from my first Fiverr gig (and my first time writing an SEO article).

Writing SEO Content Is Easy

Though it was my first time and I didn’t really know anything about the topic, I had a pretty convincing article banged out in about half an hour. It didn’t take too much mental energy and by following Matt Forney’s advice I was pretty confident in the result. For better or worse,  I ended up sounding exactly like all the other SEO-oriented BS content-farm articles filling the internet. I’ll have to go faster than half an hour if I’m going to actually do this for money, but even for the first go it went by quickly.

Writing SEO Content Sucks

It was boring, it was mechanical, and it didn’t make me a better writer (it might have made me a tiny bit worse). It felt almost exactly like most of my college homework – busy work, trying to put out a result that’s good enough with a minimum of effort while giving less than zero shits about the process or the topic. It was fine – it wasn’t that much worse than my day job – but it’s not something I’d ever want to do 40 hours a week. If this gig becomes popular, I might cancel it unless I’m able to make it very efficient.

Time Pressure is Interesting

Unlike all the other writing I do, someone was waiting on the result of this gig. In fact, Fiverr shows a nice big countdown clock (right down to the second) indicating when your gig is due. Like my day job, having someone to keep me accountable made working hard and quickly much easier. Though it was just one gig and just four bucks, I got a taste of what doing this for a living might be like.

File Formats Are Important

Gigs are delivered via file upload, and since mine are all writing, I decided it’d be best to upload in Word format. My gigs don’t currently specify what format they’ll be delivered in, and the buyer didn’t ask – I can see this being a problem in the future, so I’m going to modify my gigs to explicitly state what format they’ll be delivered in if I don’t hear otherwise.

The gigs I have now – this one in particular – aren’t going to lead me to career freedom through Fiverr. I get that. Still, delivering this gig was a huge learning experience for me and I think Fiverr will continue to be useful and instructive.

Blog Review: 30 Days to X

The days keep changing, will you?
– Robert Koch, 30 Days to X

Very similar in theme to this blog, 30 Days to X is about changing your life one challenge at a time. Blogging under his real name, Robert Koch delivers engaging writing, actionable tips, and references to other good resources. He’s kicked a lot of ass in the 14 challenges he’s completed so far, and his internet hustle is similar to what I’d like to do and much farther along than mine is, currently. If you like what I do here you’ll like this a lot: