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My Hero’s Journey

This is a short story of my travels for the past 2 years and what I learned from it.

I always thought my hometown was boring and uneventful. So I set out to Japan, leaving my cosy home where I spent 1.5k AUD p/m for a 2 story place w/ great frens. I traveled the world, saw many cultures, learned about so many different lives, and learned aobut the world. I came to the conclusion that home is where you make it. There is not 1 perfect spot. Everywhere has it’s tradeoffs and you have to choose what matters to you. What are you optimising for? I initially thought optimising for money trumped everything else so I moved to Dubai. Later realising the lifestyle didn’t match what I needed, and so I was depressed and ended up leaving to go back to Australia. I questioned whether I did something wrong. But my expectations of moving were completely off. So I decided to travel again and then I landed in London! I thought “surely this will go well. I’ts a global financial hub where I can network perfectly.” This is where I was optimising for network! However, once again, I felt a void. And realised that I’m fantastic at online networking and IRL didn’t matter to me as much. And so after a grueling 6 months I left. Now I’ve learned that all that matters for me to be in my best state is to optimise for happiness and being comfy. Because if I am comfortable I can 100% focus on my goals and habits. And so now I’ve returned to Australia w/ fam and am happy! Potentially moving to Japan but we will see. I’m very happy here and not have the need to travel anywhere anymore really. So tldr; life is what you make it. Find out what makes you happy and optimise for that, for being happy is the only thing that matters. What will make you most proud each day?

I want to mention my ability to travel and be free was thanks to having all my life in a single 35L backpack (GoRuck GR2). I know it sounds like nothing but having it has allowed me to get up and leave in a moments notice to the other side of the world and has taught me to let go of materialic things, which has in turn cleared up my mental capacity and cherish the experiences I have as memories are the only thing that truly matter. Without them, we would be dead (mentally). We care about people and things because of the memories associated to them. So optimise for making memories :) But yes, back to the bag. All you really need is an electric toothbrush, 2x 4TB SSDs to store your photos and memories (to get rid of phyiscal dependece of them!), physical alarm (for routine), co2 device (co2 levels affect cognitive ability from 25%-50% decline if not optimal!), med bag, ropeless 1lb skipping rope (consistent cardio/weight training), bumbag (this is for keeping important EDC when in the city, etc), birth certificate & clones, square packing cubes, and my beautiful baby Macbook pro 14! Honestly, that’s it. Limiting what you depend on forces you to take into the importance of things, only taking what you need. Gives you gratitude for what you have and enables you to find what you really need easily (bc you wont have it at find out quickly lol).

Some very useful things include carribieans to hook something like hair clippers to your bag (if it allows), hand-sized notebook for the bumbag when you get ideas, multi-vits (bc never leave the house), and any meds you think you’ll need — headache, unexpected stomach aches, melatonin, gauze, bandaids, sling, etc. Cable ties are sooo nice too, thank the lord for them. I also use an ultrahuman ring to track my sleep too! And some very small USBC cables (2x) bc all electronic are optimised to charge with USBC :) If you’re lucky to have two passports then put one in your main bag and carry one in the bumbag so if you get robbed you always have a backup. I’m still trying to figure out the clothing but I think a patagonian nanopuff + uniqlo windbreaker is the best combo, black shoes, and 2x or 3x quick dry (champion) polyester shorts, 6x black tees (all the same, yes) although I want to see if airism from uniqlo is same quality as the cotton, 1 or 2 pants and quick dry underware. Oh and I got a skii mask bc my face gets cold when I lock in D: I also have a neck warmer I picked up from NYC during the winter that I find suuuuper useful. I wear it everyday.

For tech kit I use

• Macbook Pro M2 Max, shock case, privacy screen + webcam slider
• GAN Charger + international plug switch: Essentials.
• 150g nexstand: god, thank fuck for these stands. my neck and back would be so fucked without them
• airpod max (kind of heavy, could find alternatives): the pain part is noise cancelation, anything will do!
• 2 very short usbc to usbc cables (for SSD and charging ultrahuman ring)
• portable mic (for podcasts)
• portable charger for phone
• usbc to hdmi, just in case
• aranet co2 censor: make sure my brain isn’t working at 50% capcity from shit air
• portable travel clock: does wonders for waking up!
• extra phone: just in case I get fucked
• usbc electric toothbrush: i think its like 50-100% more efficient than manual toothbrushes
• pocket-sized notepad idea book
• multi-adapter: for planes and bumbag
• ropeless 1lb jump rope: consistent 30min a day jump rope in the morning, since it doesn’t make noise and doesn’t take up any space to skip. Max out our V02 for longevity (out of breath cardio is the best exercise you can do for longevity. the 1lb rope makes it a strength workout too)
• 2x 4TB SSD: store my memories and copies of important shit. this allows me to live anywhere with no dependencies
• AYO Blue light glasses: If I wake up early with no sun this helps my set my circadian rythem (and they have red light therapy for eye health!)
• Ultrahuman ring: Tracks sleep and heartrate n shit!
• Wireless Clippers w/ 3/6 Guard: to do my own grooming. Look good, feel good, people respect you more.
• Portable water bottle

Clothing:

• GoRuck GR2 Backpack: You’re gonna need a military grade to optimise for back health. We use a backpack to blend in within countries and not stand out like a roller on cobblestone in Europe. You’re hilariously asking to get robbed.
• Timbuk 2 Bumbag: EDC carry sling + acts as storage for planes
• Polyester hang bag: use it for laundry — attach to a doorhandle and put all shit in it. Since it’s polyester I can scrunch it up!
• 2x-3x polyester shorts: use as workout shorts, summer, swim or bed shorts
• Patagonia Nanopuff: Main cold protection layer!
• Uniqlo Windproof Stand Blouson: Wind shell layer, but also for layer in summer to not get burned + if it’s windy.
• Charhart ski-mask: For those cold long nights. Doubles up as a beanie!
• Neck warmer: If it’s too hot for ski-mask can use as wind breaker, warmth, or look fucking cool
• Uniqlo AIRism Boxer Briefs: These are amazing! Fantastic quality and dry so quickly.
• 2x Mid + 2xLow Uniqlo Heattech socks: surprisingly warm!
• 6x Uniqlo Fitted Tee: Looks good on build w/ all outfits, never go wrong. Easily replacable.
• Fingerless gloves: for those cold long nights. need to use my touchpad, yo!
• 1x Dune/Tan Trouser: Can dress up or down to have that shit on.
• 1x Straight Dress Pant: To have that shit on, fr fr.
• 1x Belt
• small + medium packing cube: small for shorts, socks, briefs. medium for tees. the pants i just fold and throw behind the cubes hooked to carribeans.
• Birkenstock slippers: indoor shoes only.
• Black airforces: On that timing. Black shoes get dirty and they look fine. White are basically fucked since day 1. This is why i wear black top and bottom and different colour pants and layers. At least I have some sense of fashion.

Misc:

• Carribeans: w/ the goruck you can latch on shit onto the bag so I latch on my packing cubes and tech so they don’t fall out and always stay where I want them to be.
• Multi-vits: To top up what you miss
• Floss sticks: they’re like little swords you floss with. They’re amazing.
• Travel aid kit
• Pocket tissues: God damn do these come in clutch!
• Med bag: All medicine I need (strong and mid), tape-tape measure, lipbam, 2x pink eye eyedrops (ever since double eye infection in NYC hostel, I’ll never be unprepared again…)
• Cable bag: just backup cables if something gets robbed
• Copies of passport, drivers, home-country police check
• Important documents inside fire + waterproof zipup thing: since I only have my backpack in the world, gotta keep it safu!
• Somewhere to put sim in bag: I like physical sims for the backup phone
• Sun glasses

Apps:

• Strong: workout app, tracks progress, tells you what you did last time
• Talabat: Interval clock for jump rope
• Uber
• Airbnb
• Airalo: ESim for new country data
• AYO: Blue light glasses app
• Ultrahuman: sleep tracker
• Bitwarden: Password manager. Memorise like 20+ characters as password w/ symbols (brute force would take ages).
• Zero: track my fasting
• Xe: currency exchange rate
• Google maps
• Spotify
• Proton VPN + Mail
• Calendly
• DuckDuckGo: search engine

Tips:

• Split important items in bumbag and goruck bag. Get robbed for 1 you got the other at home or on you.
• For the love of god just use PDFs to read books. Too much money will be spent on IRL books and now you have physical dependencies.
• Always check in online. Make sure you don’t look heavy and they will never check your shit. I had a time the person in front and behind me got checked but I didn’t lmao.
• When landing in new countries, B-line to accomadation. Learn where the food shops, hospital, transport, etc are w/o map.
• Learn to let go. You’ll be a lot more free if you do. This is why we have SSD drives.
• Stickie notes are good (IRL) for getting shit done.

For any physical dependencies I took a photo of it and threw it out. I had to fully embrace my memories as the reason for keeping them. And so if you have a photo of it, which acts as a cue to the memory, it’s the exact same thing. Then you copy these photos onto 1 4TB SSD and clone that SSD onto another 4TB SSD. Then you’re good if one corrupts! And then you can just look at the images to remminice on the past.

RPG Of Life

All you have to do is keep showing up each day. Only focus on one boss a day at a time. Eventually your exp will reach a level up and you’ll have unlocked a whole new world of opportunities, to buy gear, meet wizards, go into cooler dungeons! Your habit of picking at the rock in the mines each day w/ dictate your future. It’s the accumulation of exp that gets you to where you want, not 1-off all nighters. Find high-level players to help you in dungeons and you’ll eventually reach their level. As you mining rocks everyday you find enjoyment of those that you’re around and the scenery of the rocks themselves. Sure its a wall of stone, but the grooves and curiousity of whats inside starts to get you excited than the actual item. Eventually, you reach the end of it and look back at all that progress you made and realise that was the treasure. The journey.

But how do you determine what rock to hit? Well it’s quite simple! In what priority do these actions have? What gets you closer to your goal and what has the highest long term ROI?

For example, my personal assessment was:

1. math -> applies to AI and every field in life, can do on laptop, high return
2. electrical -> hardware, robotics, what the world runs on, links w/ AI + anything computor related, high return
3. chemistry -> helps bio understanding and longevity, not easy to experiment, low return ATM
4. bio -> cannot apply as, very costly and not easy to experiment, lowest return

Bang, figured out what I need to work on: math and electrical. Now just make a deadline of when to do the thing each day. And over the months and years I’ll reach a point of proficiency.

Our lives are the sum of all the actions we’ve taken. Each action changes the game. We do side quests that are detours from the main quests that finish the game.

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Identity

It’s quite simple. As you think about and do the things you desire consistently your brain is wiring itself to optimise said things. If you watch porn all the time your brain will optimise for it. The same is with good habits. This is why addictions are so hard to break. You’re brain has formed neural pathways that take a very long time to form and to break them your body is fighting against it since it’s hardwired optimisation for it!

Who

Whatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve

To become the person you desire you must die.

After some reflection I really only care about being persistently consistent, emotionally in control and a doer.

Why?

Because everything will fall into place if I can achieve being these 3 things all the time.

What

Artifical Life. AI in a chip that’s inserted into a robotic body for it to explore the world. This is all I want in life. This requires me to get heavy into mathematics, electronics and mechanical engineering. But, there’s nothing else I’d rather do. This is the pinncal of automation and holds the most revolutionary

Getting stuck at repeating the same things will absolutely kill your creativity. do 2 big projects at once. Charles Darwin explored 4 fields. Simply move towards things that you enjoy, and distance yourself from things that you don’t. The more you enjoy something, the ‘better’ you become at it. The more things you enjoy, the more similarities you can see across all of those subjects.

Creativity is intelligence having fun.

• If I were to be honest, kind and polite what would I say now?

You get what you want, you get what you are

• James Alen

What is the target I aim for?

This problem bothes me. Its compelling.

To invent artifical life. A system that emerger

Why

How

I was watching some Jordan Peterson video and he mentioned:

“What advice would I give myself in my exact same situation?“

and god damn was that a great fucking question. It’s so easy to speak on other people’s situation(s) and objectively give them a clear path. But for ourselves we don’t. We get all subjective about things (which is good btw in some cases). So Now I think this is the best thing I can do for myself. So what advice would I actually give myself to achieve my dreams?

1. Just do things. Only seek to expand your mind so you can do the thing.
2. Follow a routine to the core. Get up when tired and follow out the tasks. Do the hardest things first in the day. Get up, make bed, stretch, skip for 30 mins, earn the shower and then lock in.
3. Stop checking social media and avoid yt unless its for a topic you’re studying.

If I do these 3 things the world is my oyster. Ultimately, it’s up to me to follow it.

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Habits To Form

Habits take 67 days to form.

Will power is the weakest when tired, hungry, and when you wake up. Create habits to not rely on willpower.

• Wake up, count to 5 out loud and get out — we want this made up rule to be a shortcut to bypass our conscious thought. Make bed and start stretching routine and then jump rope for 20 mins. This way I don’t need to put on something warm I can warm myself up from cardio.
• Don’t bring laptop to bed. Dedicate it only for sleeping.

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Daily Regime Plan

The best regime is the one you be consistent with.

The aim of this is to be so simple and flexible that I can follow it every day. I’ve always had the tendency to make them too pinpoint specific but this allows me the general guidelines to abide by. If I can’t do a generalised version how the fuck can I do a highly specific one. As they say, follow the path of least resistence to achieve consistency.

The following table will make me proud. It aligns with what I want to achieve each day while being compatable w/ preventing burnout. My happiness is derived from my research and less about experiencing things IRL time with people therefore this works very well for me.

The reason behind the 04:00 wakeup and grind for 4hrs then gym early wakeup

This plan is the life I want to have, can be consistent with and will feel proud after executed. I want to be a genius level x. This unidimensionality has the drawback of not having a life but I truly would rather do it then anything else. This is why I don’t mind not traveling or seeing frens IRL and prefer online frens.

Why do I want to be an outstanding engineer? Other people work incredibly hard 80hr weeks. Why sacrifice to do the same and beyond?

What are the 3 things that will progress me towards my goals each day? Learning math, thinking about architecture designs for AI, working out.

You have your way, I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, the only way, it does not exist.

I found a reddit post saying “If you want to get up early, the first thing you do each morning needs to be something you’re excited to do! Getting up at 6 a.m. to do something you love is going to be way easier than getting up at 9 a.m. to do something you hate. [..] the first thing you do when you wake up should be something that you just cannot wait to do. It can be as simple as making your absolute favorite kind of coffee or going for a walk and watching the sun rise. Whatever makes you excited to be awake and alive, do that first.”

Time	Task
06:00-10:00	For the first 4hrs of the day do the most important thing, learn math w/ Math Academy. No distractions, DND. Don’t even pick up phone.
10:00-12:00	Stretch, workout, shower, eat 1 meal (if fasting skip all this shit and do something else).
12:00-16:00	Creative work. No distractions DND.
16:00-17:00	Go outside, walk, but with no phone or music. Time to be bored, bitch. Deep recovery.
17:00-21:00	Read / math / positive relaxing (not yt or any other addictive leasure activity) - this needs to be burnout prevention
21:00-22:00	Prepare for sleep, meditate, read till sleepy, sleep.

I know what you’re thinking, “no night-life? wtf how do you live?” and to that I say:

The person I want to be requires doing what others will not. I will thank myself in the future. My pleasure will be derived from being proud.

For me to be my best with creativity I listen to a single song with lyrics, on repeat, with noise canceling headphones (apple airpod max). I’m not sure why but I get into a flow state very easily with this because I know the words and so I can be consistently in the same state instead of changing songs that change my frame of mind. It’s a weird thing but ya. Rythm helps me a lot. I think I’m very in tune to music naturally.

Sometimes, I’ll just go to a coffee shop or library. The change of environment is strangely very productive for creativity and focus. Even the competitive thrill of the hunt activates for me when I’m around people so I feel like I need to lock in.

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1 Meal Per Day

Boiling potatoes: put potatoes in, fill w/ cold water, bring to boil, add salt for flavour, wen fork easily pierces (25 mins when chopped), drain. add butter and milk and mash w/ fork.

Caramlise onion, whisk eggs, chuck em in, throw meat in, stock in, throw turmeric + spices, beans + sauce, kale, plate and put olive oil.

Need 1 pot, glass tupperware (circle for easy cleaning), big pan

Main Meal

Ingredient	Benefit	Cost
Onion x1	Basis
Eggs x3	Omega fats; brain health
Red/white meat	Red 2-3 p/w, white 4-5 p/w
Chickpeas/soybeans	Improve guthealth / may reduce cancer risk
Kale	Stupidly OP green
Turmeric	Immunity
Rosemary	Flavour
Sweet potatoes	Powerhouse carb: brain health, vit C and B6, reducing inflammation
Fullfat milk	Mash and pleasure
Butter	Mash
Olive oil x3 tbsp

Sides

Ingredient	Benefit	Cost
Avocardo x1	Healthy fats
Raw ginger	bullet proof immunity
Greek Yogurt w/ Bacteria	Gut health!
Tomato sauce	To make it less dry if need
Red Bell Pepper	OP fruit(?) has 8x vit-C of orange
Creatine shake	Actually helps w/ cognition + get jacked

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Regime Enhancers

There are a few things I need to be success w/ this routine:

• A fucking physical alarm, across the room: to wake my barely conscious ass so I don’t hit “stop” while half dreaming and fall back asleep. Seriously, the amount of times I do this w/ my phone is unbelievable. And I’m a very heavy sleeper so most of the times I simply sleep through the alarm until it times out lmao.
• Cold shower in the morning: this wakes me up so god damn fast. its free adrenaline and gets me feeling up and ready. and also i actually just enjoy it. the mental gain from the all in when counting down from 3 and the suffering builds grit which i think contributes to everything else. this would be like a 1-2 min max shower. anything longer is an inefficiency bottleneck on your end.
• A co2 sensor w/ all windows open: just to monitor if my brain is in a 25% or 50% decline bc air quality is so horrible. usually cracking a window is fine but if you live in a place with bad pollution you’re gonna need this bad boy and an air purifier.
• Crossrope’s Weighted Ropeless Jump Rope: jump rope is the single best thing I can do for cardio bc it’s low effort to start and I can dance to music by shuffling when jumping and doing random shit. It’s super fun! I have a 1lb one and it works the entire upper body and lower body bc you jump. It doesn’t make any noise so you can do it anywhere! Fantastic for travel. Also, no idea why smart people don’t work out. It enhanced productivity, mindset, learning, life expectancy (doctors at hospital told me it’s the single best thing for ICU patients to even sit in a chair and lift their legs bc it promotes healing in the body from high heartrate), literally everything. I guess they’re not so smart.
• Blackout curtains or eyemask: I guess if you go to bed early like me then you probably wont need this tbh.
• Vitamins + Minerals: essential for optimising body performance. Here’s a photo of my stack you really just need
  • multi-vitamins (vit K)
  • probiotic: for gut (core to immune system), could even just be probiotic yogurt
  • omega 3-6-9: to get all of the components of fishoil
  • magnesium: to help with sleep at night
  • resveratrol + fisetin + bee propolis: for helping stem-cells after a dry fast!
• Freshly groomed: I do this myself. Look good, feel good. Don’t belive? Try not showering and wearing dirty clothes vs the opposite.

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Finance Plan

This plan should cover me living extremely well in the CBD of Melbourne Australia each year. The goal is to lock in learning math and upskill into AI for the next year or two.

Item	Monthly AUD	Yearly AUD
Rent	$3,000
Phone	$35
Internet	$80
Water	$60
Gas	$65
Health Insurance	$80
Food	$450
	$3,760
Random Shit		$5,000
Dental x2		$500
Blood x2		$0 (Ty medicare)
Full Body Scan x2		No idea
		$50,500

Then we have to account for one offs, like futon and shit.

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Random Shit

Going All In

Are you doing absolutely everything in your power to become aligned with person you want to be?

How do you sustainably make decisions that work towards the person you want to be? Every thought, belief, behaviour and everything must align with who you want to become. It’s the cumulative compounding of all the small habits and actions you take on a daily basis that sculpt who’ll be. It’s a marathon that you need to sustain. What is the vision you have? Why are you doing this? How do you make this vivid? Photos of mentors, what kind of work you’ll do, how you’ll change the world and what that world looks like (photos again - use AI to do this), how you’ll treat people and present yourself. How do you want peopel to view you?

Daily mindfulness practice: meditation increases your awareness and ability to recognise thoughts as external and allow you to act in your best interest. It is the way to stay aligned when the world tries to derail you.

”Until you call the unconscious conscious, it’ll rule your life and you’ll call it fate” - Carl Yung

Gratitude

Keeping strong healthy relationships are very important for happiness. Expressing gratitude to your friends with a text message is as, if not more, important as exercising well or having a good diet. Happiness comes from the quality of relationships you have, not wealth or fame.

Happiness and unhappiness are states of mind, unrelated to external environment. How do we cultivate a stable peace of mind we can rely on upon regardless of external circumstances — this is where meditation comes into play. Meditation is the concentration on a peaceful state of mind.

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Mornings

The time you wake up is where you maximum potential for deep work occurs. Since your brain has literally replenished all the damage that occured in the previous day via sleep you are at a clean slate for the day. It’s up to you to capitalise on this, starting the snowball momentum to extract the most out of the day. I’m a “night-owl” myself, however there’s something special about waking up early. You’re awake before everyone else and you can get ahead of the curve via the flow state. People aren’t awake to DM you, it’s quiet outside, the sun is starting to rise, it’s this limbo of opportunity and you only have yourself to capture it.

So why do you want to wake up early? Why does doing this thing actually matter to you? What is your intention?

Measurement

What you measure is what you manage. Want to get better? You must track it.

if you dont like the results you get in life, you have to cahnge you. and you’ll have to find something about you. then you’ll find out who you are.

who are you?

anyone who has a goal and is moving towards it is successful.

if you build an image of anything in your mind you can replicate it in your world.

write down exactly want you want and carry it around and read it

read a book again, you see something in yourself that you didnt see during the last read:

• the power of your subconscious mind
• atomic habits

from fantasy to theory to image to fact

we become what we think. write who you want to be and what you want to do and read it every day

if an idea doesnt help you get to where you want to go reject the idea

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Resources

• [Unveiling Your Hidden Potential, Bruce Thornwood ]
• [Tools Of Titans, Tim Farris]
• How To “Go all in”
• You Don’t Find Happiness, You Create It | Katarina Blom | TEDxGöteborg
• Happiness is all in your mind: Gen Kelsang Nyema at TEDxGreenville 2014
• Do You Know who You Are? | Bob Proctor
• How to Achieve More in 1 Week than Most People Do in 12 months
• A powerful way to unleash your natural creativity | Tim Harford : do 2 big projects at once. charles darwin explored 4 fields. Simply move towards things that you enjoy, and distance yourself from things that you don’t. The more you enjoy something, the ‘better’ you become at it. The more things you enjoy, the more similarities you can see across all of those subjects.