I have a confession to make.

I've tried over 8 business models in the past and failed in every single one of them.

Here are a few:

• Dropshipping

• Amazon FBA

• Intraday Trading

• Print-On-Demand

• Amazon KDP Books

• FB Marketing Agency

The reason behind my failures was simple—I didn't care about those businesses.

I was only after quick bucks, and if I didn't see immediate results, I would give up.

This pattern repeated in my fitness journey and my career as well.

I started my self-improvement journey in 2020. I didn't make any progress even after a year whatsoever because I wanted quick results.

I lacked the patience and persistence to push through the challenging days. My mind was not strong enough to withstand the days with no progress or growth. I was spiritually weak to find meaning in my work which would've made me push through.

And I see this same pattern with most of the people I see on social media and in real life. Most want shortcuts and quick results. They don’t want to put in the work. They do mediocre work just to “barely survive” and settle with it.

Most don't care about mastery. It is what sets you apart from the 99% of the population who lead a mediocre unfulfilling life, doing the job they hate with full of debt.

Even if some people care, they don't realize that mastery contains several aspects. A guy can have the perfect body but if he lacks the mental strength to face the obstacles s at him, he'll fail.

The pursuit of Life Mastery is how you get overwhelming success and overflowing fulfillment.

Even if some people care and actually want to pursue it, they lack the vision and the plan for the pursuit.

The self should cover the fundamental aspects of mastery to win the game of life.

But first, let's take a look at the underlying dilemma of our society and why mastery is crucial in every person's life.

The Life Of The Amateur

Here's the roadmap 99% of the population ( who are NPCs on autopilot ) follows:

• Go to school

• Go to college

• Get a job

• Retire

• Die

When we take the fundamental essence of the path most people take, this is the life they pursue. But when you ask any one of them if this is how they want to live life, every single person would give the answer "NO".

They make just enough money to survive. They do a job they don't care about. They have no fulfillment in life. They are stripped of their freedom. Every day of their life looks the same.

Why is this the case? They follow a pre-determined process set by society without questioning anything and go through all of society’s systems.

They waste their entire 20s following the rules of society like a good little soldier. When they reach their 30s, they are lost, unfulfilled, and have nothing meaningful to show but a job.

Seeking pleasure at every turn, staying in their hole of comfort & avoiding risks leaves them a life full of misery and regret.

Navigating life in itself becomes a tough journey for them. They are weak physically, mentally, and spiritually and are tied to a job waiting for the next paycheck.

Their creativity is totally abolished at this point. They have commitments they have to fulfill, and can’t take big risks since they have a family to look after. They get trapped by their own actions and decisions and cling to a fake sense of hope which is just regret in disguise.

Individuals who achieve tremendous success realized the need for mastery early in life. They figured out what areas they should focus on and master.

Each of these areas or aspects of mastery is crucial for every person to navigate and master life. No faucet of mastery is negligible. Each faucet compliments the other and the whole system is the thing needed for Life Mastery.

The 4 Pillars Of Life Mastery

Mastery is not just about having the perfect body or having the perfect mind or having a business that produces an immense amount of wealth.

Life Mastery comprises 4 pillars:

1. Mental Mastery

2. Physical Mastery

3. Spiritual Mastery

4. Business Mastery

All 4 aspects are important. You can’t afford to lack in any area because it takes all 4 of them to lead a fulfilling life filled with creativity, freedom, and happiness.

Let's look at each pillar of Life Mastery in detail:

1. Mental Mastery

This pillar is all about learning about your mind. Mastering this pillar can make you:

• Cure procrastination

• Focus on more hours

• Control your anxiety and overthinking

• Improve your attention span and creativity

Someone with peak mental mastery will be able to focus for long hours without getting distracted. They'll achieve peak productivity and can get themselves out of a rut.

This pillar can also help in persuading someone which is crucial in skills like sales and marketing. Understanding yourself through psychology can make you learn a lot about human behavior.

QUICK ACTION STEPS:

Through books, podcasts, and long-form content:

1. Start learning about mental health

2. Start learning about productivity and focus

3. Start learning about psychology and human behavior

2. Physical Mastery

This pillar is all about training your body with any form of workout or activity to achieve an aesthetic body. Mastering this faucet of life can:

• Improve your dating game

• Have peak performance over your tasks

• Gain instant respect upon first impression

Someone with peak physical mastery will go through their days full of energy. Laziness will not protrude their productivity.

They only take nutrition dense non-processed foods. Their lifestyle is all about eating healthy and keeping the body fit.

QUICK ACTION STEPS:

1. Start researching and learning about healthy foods and workouts.

2. Start trying different types of exercises ( cardio and lifting ).

3. Sign up for a gym membership.

3. Spiritual Mastery

Now that, you know 2 pillars of Life Mastery that will help you be strong physical-wise and mental-wise, here's the 3rd pillar that'll actually help you find your purpose, meaning, and fulfillment.

Most people are asleep. You may say you are conscious because you can talk, hear and feel. But that's not the point I'm making here.

Most people are living on autopilot, not aware of their actions and decision they are making every day. They are being overloaded with information every day. Their brain is getting stimulated throughout the day.

In this highly stimulative environment, people lost themselves. They don't know why they're doing whatever it is they're doing. They work in jobs finding zero meaning in what they're doing. They don't have a purpose in life and are wandering aimlessly, going wherever society takes them.

This is why this pillar is crucial for your life ( arguably the most important ). If you have your purpose, meaning and values in place, all other pillars are much easier to master.

Master this pillar:

• To gain mental clarity

• To attain fulfillment and happiness.

• To find your purpose and meaning in life

Not just in life, even if you're running a business, you need mental clarity over your ideas to implement them. Most people don't act on their ideas because they have no clarity.

QUICK ACTION STEPS:

1. Make it a habit to meditate every day

2. Make it a habit to journal and practice gratitude every day

3. Start studying spirituality and philosophy with books and videos

4. Business Mastery

You still need a roof over your head, food to eat, and to survive in this world. A job does that job ( no pun intended ) for you. But there's this one variable most people want but can't achieve:

Freedom.

With the current job system, you're placed in a toxic work culture. You sell your time to make money. This job system provides a false sense of security which many people hold on to.

You can have the perfect body with the perfect mindset with a strong purpose but what's the point if there's no freedom to do whatever you want?

Master this pillar so that:

• You have total freedom

• You'll be doing what you love

• You’ll be earning in your sleep

• Your input will not be dependent on the output

All other pillars are crucial for this pillar to work because:

You'll be able to work with absolute focus and take action ruthlessly with full of energy while your purpose motivates you to push harder.

But not all business models are great. You need to select a model where you'll be able to pursue your interests and be able to monetize them.

( I'm covering which business model is best in my other newsletter pieces. If you are curious about what the business model is, I'll give you a clue: It's about the creator economy )

The Roadmap To Mastery

Now that you know what faucets of life you need to master, the question is how to master them.

Here's a sequential step-by-step roadmap that you can use to master any pillar or any specific skills you want:

1. Fundamental Training

When starting out, you need to learn the ropes of the pillar or skill you want to master. The fundamentals make your foundation over the pillar.

You can't afford to look for shortcuts or tactics in a field without covering the fundamental principles that make up that field.

Like how a doctor needs to understand the human body first before diagnosing it, start with the basics.

Commit to working hard and gradually become adept at your pillar's fundamentals.

In fundamental training, follow these 2 steps:

1. Learn The Ropes:

There will be existing norms, and conventions that people follow in any field. Learn these to ensure you can navigate your chosen field.

Breaking the norms will come after, but first, understand everything inside-out.

For example, you need to learn about various cardio and weight lifting exercises, what is beginner-friendly and what is not, etc when you're aiming for physical mastery.

2. Develop Your Skills:

Begin to train your technical skills. You need technical proficiency to achieve mastery in any pillar.

For example, you need to learn how to do a bicep curl when you're training to develop your biceps. If you do it wrongly, the consequences might be severe.

The best ways to develop any skill are:

1. Imitate your master

2. Push through difficulty

3. Build momentum with rigorous practice

2. Creative Independence

Once you’ve completed your foundational training, you can start pursuing your own ideas.

By chasing after creative independence, you avoid becoming rigid with conventional norms and rules. Commit to a creative project, pursue it to fruition, and persist through emotional obstacles.

Here are some best practices to develop your creative independence:

1. Sit with uncertainty: When faced with difficulty, patiently sit with the unknown and remain open to all paths and possibilities. Consider every angle and novel ideas which will prevent you from recycling similar answers as a shortcut

2. Iterate your ideas: First, you develop your idea and make the first iteration. Test your ideas and iterate according to the feedback.

Create time blocks throughout the day: You need a distraction-free focus-conducive space throughout the day. Schedule 3 2-hour time blocks every day.

3. Social Know-how

Develop a realistic perspective of human nature. Learn the cues and triggers of human psychology to learn to persuade people.

(This step is just Mental Mastery in disguise. Shows you that this pillar is crucial in mastering any other pillar or skill. That's why it's the first pillar you need to master)

Marketing, sales, copywriting, advertisements, etc all are just psychology in disguise. So it’s crucial for you to learn this.

Here’s how you should approach understanding psychology:

1. Start with books:

Books have a treasure trove of information on understanding humans. You can also start with learning skills like sales and marketing which comes under psychology.

In essence, you’re learning how to persuade people. For making people aware of their problems and getting them to buy your solution, or climbing up the corporate ladder, you need to know how to read people.

2. Start observing people:

People reveal their emotions, attitude, and beliefs in how they communicate.

Observe their behavior and step into their shoes. Imagine their pain points and get a better sense of who they are.

3. Observe yourself:

The best way to understand human nature is to understand yourself. Observe and see how you get persuaded by advertisements, landing pages, sales calls, etc.

Catalysts For The Roadmap To Mastery

There are 2 wildcards that you need to take into consideration. These can either accelerate your mastery process or slow you down.

1. Emotional Control

Your emotions should be in control when you're pursuing mastery. They can get the better of you.

Seeing tangible results can take a long time in this mastery pursuit and you can feel like quitting when your emotions get hold of you but pushing forward with consistency is what's important.

In this journey, you'll be judged, criticized and discouraged. Don't fall for their trap and lose your cool.

2. Flow State

Flow state enhances the process of mastery in several ways.

Firstly, when in flow, individuals experience a heightened sense of clarity and focus. This intense concentration allows them to pay full attention to the task at hand, without being distracted by external factors or internal thoughts.

As a result, they can engage in deliberate practice, honing their skills and techniques with precision.

This is if you find an activity that helps you master a pillar, double down on that.

Enjoy your weekend

- Nithish V