Building Momentum: Creating a Vision for Your Future

Building a clear vision empowers individuals to take control of their lives and create meaningful experiences.

### Building a Vision: The Path to Autonomy and Fulfillment
* 🚀 "Enjoy the **dopamine**, and let **momentum carry you into a season of intensity**." Starting a project and learning as you go is crucial for personal development, as it allows you to encounter **real-world problems** that guide your **learning journey**.
* 🧠 Developing a clear vision for your future is essential, as it helps you **recognize opportunities** and **make better decisions aligned with your goals**.
* 📈 The concept of "**anti-vision**" is introduced to help individuals identify what they **don't want in life**, providing clarity for what to **pursue instead**, although it requires **time and introspection**.
* 💡 Self-education is emphasized as a **necessary tool for personal growth**, as traditional education may not equip you with the **skills needed to build your dreams**.
* 🔍 Mindfulness and attention to detail can enhance your appreciation for everyday experiences, helping you **escape the superficiality of modern life**.
* 🎯 Clarity in your goals and the distinction between **enjoyment and pleasure** are vital; enjoyment arises from investing attention in **meaningful pursuits**, while pleasure often results from **immediate gratification**.
* 💪 Lastly, the balance between meaningful dopamine sources and the pursuit of long-term goals is crucial for a fulfilling life, underscoring that **sustained satisfaction comes from the journey rather than just the destination**.

Life is like a dark room. On occasion, we find the candles so that we can see, but not for long. The candle provides vision and direction, but the flame will die out, sparking fear in our souls that we will never find our way unless we move with faith that we will find the next candle. The human mind balances between order and chaos. Chaos is our default state. Clarity is the byproduct of ordered information that fills our consciousness. Our mind is clear when what we pay attention to is clear. This is an explanation for human behavior, and it explains why people report that the most miserable part of their lives are on a Sunday between the times of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. when they have nothing to do. People say that they hate their jobs. Yet jobs provide a clear state of mind that is arguably much more enjoyable than being at home alone with your thoughts. Humans fill their days with activities that structure their mind. We always want to be doing something, seeing people, playing

games, writing, designing, creating, preferably investing our attention in something useful. And when we are alone, psychic entropy ensues. And so, entropy is that everything tends towards disorder. Like how one day you will die, one day the sun will die out, one day the universe will die. And you can see that anything tangible will eventually decompose. And that is unless we as humans attempt to reverse entropy. That's all we're really doing here is trying to solve the problems that lead to things falling apart. We're trying to extend our life on this earth. Everything, even something as small as organizing your bookshelf after it gets dirty, is with the larger survival goal in the back of your mind of I need to survive. We need to live as long as possible. We need to become immortal. And that's what really everyone is creating to do. And so, psychic entropy is when we lose the frame or the order of our mind by letting go of a coherent line of thought.

And this happens more than you think. When we are sitting around and without actually doing anything, when we're alone with our thoughts, we may have some structured thoughts occasionally. We may have a coherent line of thought, but eventually, that lasts like 2 to 3 seconds. And then eventually, you catch on to a thought, and then your thought process goes unconscious, and you can't keep track of where your thoughts are going to end up. So, our mind grasps at negative thoughts, and then they multiply. And so, the cure to this state of mind, this unordered state of mind, feeling lost, overwhelmed, and anxious, is knowing how to order your mind. It is knowing how to direct your attention. Meditation teaches you to focus on your breath. Metacognition teaches you to question your thoughts. Learning to be alone is learning to order your mind in any circumstance for enjoyment. And I think it's ironic that people think they want to maximize the freedom in their life because that's the opposite of what they want.

People don't want freedom. They want autonomy. They don't want limitations projected on them. They want to create their own limitations. And so, clarity is the key to enjoyment. But enjoyment is not the only piece of the puzzle. We can enjoy a life that someone assigns to us. We can enjoy working a 9 to 5 job. We can enjoy doing what people tell us to do. But at the end of the day, that does not bring fulfillment. Sustainable long-term clarity comes from two sources: one is self-generated goals in alignment with a conscious future, and two is society-generated goals in alignment with an unconscious future. One is created, one is assigned. If we don't want our life to be the product of someone else's vision, we must create our own. Let's dive in. Most people don't need motivation. They need clarity. Motivation is like standing on one side of a canyon. The other side looks like a utopia. Everything you could ever want: beautiful people, music,

cars, houses, all calling your name to take the leap. But you don't have a way to get over to the other side of the canyon. Clarity is the first plank of the bridge to the other side, and motivation can be illustrated by the behavior molecule dopamine. When something is far away from us, we desire it more when we do not have it, and when we acquire that thing like a nice house, nice car, nice watch, pretty person, or even something like an internet course or a new book. We feel good for a bit, but then it becomes normal. It becomes a part of our life. It's not something that we desire anymore because we've acquired it. And so we know this as the honeymoon phase, right? When you want something so, so, so bad. And then we finally get it. There's maybe a two-week to four-week period where you are in love with that thing and not really in love, but more so infatuated with that thing.

And now dopamine is not bad. It is one of the most important neurotransmitters to understand in your life, in how you behave. It is the drive behind your dreams, and that should be utilized. But most people drown in motivation, and they see so many things that are out of their reach every single day, especially on social media. And so, over and over again, they waste this precious resource that could be used to act on their dreams. And even if they do acquire those dreams, like their fancy car or a nice watch, they don't know how to swap their focus to sustain the enjoyment of that thing. Because while dopamine is more so raised when you desire something that is outside of you or something that you do not have, there are other neurotransmitters that are called the here and now. Neurotransmitters like serotonin, oxytocin, endorphins, and endocannabinoids that give you satisfaction and appreciation for what's in front of you. The things that you have in your own personal space.

And so, while some people take drugs like Molly, marijuana, even alcohol, and I'm not judging; I do these things occasionally, too. There are more sustainable ways to bring this satisfaction, fulfillment, enjoyment into your everyday life with the things that you have to appreciate where you are and who you are. The first is mindfulness in detail. So, with this, you're trying to notice the detail that your senses can provide because most people are living in this superficial state; everything around them is normal to them. So, when you go on a walk, try to see a detail that you've never seen before. Maybe it's in the trees and how the leaves are so detailed, or a bush that you've never actually looked too closely, or maybe even the concrete under your feet. We're trying to snap out of the mindless and normal routines that keep us living on the surface. Notice the extravagant details in the leaves of a tree, the blades of grass, and the shine of the light on cars.

as they pass you by when you cook a meal, notice the differences in texture, taste, and feel. Try to pick apart the ingredients when listening to a song. Dig deep. Can you hear the subtle layers in the background? Those were intentional by the creator. They want you to notice them. And so you can see why food critics, music lovers, and yogis enjoy certain activities so much. It's because they're so immersed in the present moment, and their mind is being flooded with the here and now neurotransmitters, which is much more sustainable than constantly pursuing that cheap dopamine hit. And so the mindfulness in detail is really us just trying to get in touch with reality, because reality is an ever-flowing quality of experience, and we're missing out on the depth of that experience every single day. And so you can apply this strategy when you acquire something new that is borderline boredom, right, because of your pursuits. Maybe you have been pursuing this one thing so long that when you get it and its shine is starting to fade,

that if you don't want to put it onto the shelf, you need to learn how to enjoy it. You need to notice a detail in it far beyond just your senses as well. And that leads into point number two, which is developing an intrinsic philosophy. So let's imagine a young bodybuilder. They started going to the gym for vanity, but they stayed for the therapy. They desired a strong aesthetic physique so that they could attract a partner and command respect. But after a year or two, their progress drastically slowed down. They built a great body. So what's next? It didn't really change how many people they attracted. Maybe it bumped them up the social hierarchy a bit, but for what? A bit more attention. Is it still worth spending 7 to 8 hours a week on this endeavor so they look inward? What has this brought to my life? Why do I keep showing up every day? Where would I have spent my time otherwise? How has this impacted the people I meet, the conversations

I can have, and the career opportunities open to me. They realized that their material pursuit was deeply immaterial as our most. But people glance over that fact. Their pursuit for better gave them an identity that influenced positive decisions. It prevented them from being like the mindless masses who pursue nothing. So the lesson is this: It's better to pursue something superficial than it is to do nothing with your life. You either learn what you don't want so you can pursue what you want, or you find depth, meaning, and spirituality along the way. And so the third thing here for how to practice appreciation and satisfaction in the moment is learning and education, because 95% of people would scoff at someone who purchases a new car like a Porsche GT3. That's because they only see the surface and they can't open their mind to see that a person's life and identity is more than just a snapshot of that situation. What if the person that bought it was a mechanic? What if they derive a deep satisfaction

by digging into the machinery? Now, what if the average Joe made the same purchase, but they decided to learn something new? They can learn their way into a deeper crevice of reality through education. They study the car's parts history and how to drive better. They start visiting the track, and the car becomes a consistent part of their lifestyle, one that brings enjoyment and flow. They construct a house of meaning under the foundation of material. Most people keep laying a foundation and never build anything worth keeping with this knowledge. The key to the good life is a disciplined balance between meaningful dopamine sources and creating satisfaction when you achieve those goals. So now we need to talk about enjoyment versus pleasure and choosing your dopamine sources wisely. Enjoyment comes from investing attention. Pleasure comes from spending attention. Investments are long-term purchases; short-term enjoyment is process-focused; pleasure is outcome-focused. Enjoyment is progress toward a long-term goal. Pleasure is achieving a goal without effort.

Our goal is to maximize the enjoyment in our everyday life. That's all anyone is trying to do. But most people don't zoom out to gain a perspective that is distraction-proof while pursuing those goals. They're so narrowly focused on what can bring pleasure right here and right now. Literally, the key to life is just zooming out, expanding your focus, expanding your mind, collecting more perspective. The highest perspective is the one that includes them all because we don't want to get stuck scrolling social media, having meaningless sex in more ways than physical, and winning arguments in the comments that lead to absolutely nothing useful. We want to act on our goals, build something beneficial in reality, and impact others in a way that brings enjoyment into our lives. And so I talk a lot about having a vision for the future. Why? Because at every point in my life where I have made substantial progress in a short period of time while enjoying every second of it, I was hell-bent on actualizing a vision.

for the future that I held in my mind. And people that have experienced this same thing know this power, and that's why I write about it so much, because I want to understand it. I want to dissect it. I want to piece together a way for people to develop a vision in their own lives so they can experience that feeling. And so one concept that I've coined that has helped many is the anti-vision. In brief, it's how you realize what you don't want. And does this mean that you can get rid of the things that you don't want immediately? No. You can't just quit your job and move out of your hometown. If you've built an entire house of responsibilities around that. There's more on the line than money. If you just quit your job, be smart about this. This is a long-term game. So to create your anti-vision, here's what we have to do first is observe society as a habit. Pay close attention to the people around you.

In any situation. Why do they do what they do? What is it leading towards? Are they somebody that you want to be? It could be as simple as observing the groceries that people put in their baskets or observing their body and realizing that you don't want to end up slow, lifeless, groggy all the time. Number two is to reflect on your past, what our experiences that you never want to experience again. What were the lowest lows of your life? What caused them? Have you done anything to prevent that from happening again? Make this a conscious practice in your life. Number three is to make a list of things that you don't want. Pull out a notebook and get specific. This list should make you feel uncomfortable. Keep this somewhere safe, and when something new comes to mind, which it will, because not every single idea is going to come to mind in the span of 10 to 20 minutes. As you're writing this out, it's going to come to your mind over years and years.

and years of experiencing the things that pop the ideas into your head, and you need somewhere to write it down for this number for us to realize where you will be if you keep doing the same thing. You are your habits. Where will your life end up? If you have the same lifestyle in ten years? Do you want that? Number five is to transmute that energy into a passionate vision. What will you have to learn, build, and execute daily to avoid your anti-vision? And if you want to turn your vision into a brand and your notes into content so that you can build an authentic and purposeful one-person business and check out to our writer. So we just came up with your anti-vision, but now your vision. Your vision is your frame. It is what you hold in the back of your mind to guide your daily actions. It is the lens from which you view your goals and from your vision and your goals. Those are the lens that help you view and perceive daily situations to set.

You can make better decisions. It's not about having long-term or short-term focus. It's about having both. Zoom out. Your life is a culmination of your choices, and if you want to make better ones, you must expand your mind. Consciousness and focus beyond your worries. So now that you've created a specific anti-vision for your future, you primed your mind for pattern recognition so that you can spot opportunities that will aid in you actualizing the vision for your future, or just realizing, okay, this is not what I want to do. I'm not going to put this in my grocery basket because I'm only now aware of it, because I've realized that this is damaging the health that I want to have going into my vision for the future. And so, yes, it is helpful to get even more specific on what you want out of your future, but your vision is imaginary. It's a vision, right? It should be culminated over time.

and it's very helpful to write things out. And I would encourage you to do that, to write out the opposite of your anti-vision, because your vision may not be strong yet. Your vision gets strong over time. As I said, not everything is going to come to mind in the 10 to 20 minutes that you're going to spend doing this. That's literally impossible. It's going to culminate and expand and develop over years and years and years of experiencing life, failing, succeeding, and having data points from which to iterate on your vision. So now that we have a vision for the future, we need to learn how to learn and build because schools can't and won't teach you how to build your dreams. Schools are intimately connected with the government, politics, and economy, and their conditioning process, or education, is set up to keep these things going, to keep them alive. Anything that gives the individual power is a threat. So self-education is a requirement on your journey, and it's obvious

that you can't reach your goals at your current level of development, or else you'd already achieve them. You need to develop skills, you need to build things. You need to fail. You need to gain experience. Because it also wouldn't be challenging if you could achieve your goals right now. It wouldn't be challenging, and challenge gives you a place to focus and order your mind. That's what makes life enjoyable is challenge plays a crucial role in the flow, state enjoyment, and dopamine, but only if you take on challenges that aren't too boring or difficult. Play at your level, but try to make it to the next level. And if you want to retain everything that you learn, or at least the important things, not the noise, you can't learn literally everything that comes across your mind. You must remember the important things that actualize your vision. That's how you learn everything. And if you want to do that, then you must learn as you build or build as you learn.

So here's what you do. First is to write down 10 to 20 specific skills, interests, or topics that will actualize your vision because we need clarity on what to do every single day to actualize that vision. Most people fail to make tangible progress because they don't realize that a lifelong habit of education, skill acquisition, and practice is how you build a better life. This is not optional. If you don't have time carved out each day to practice your craft for life, then you aren't going to make it anywhere meaningful. Life itself is a practice, and most people aren't showing up. They sit at home and distract themselves with mindless entertainment. You don't have your ideal lifestyle because you aren't living that lifestyle right now, but on a smaller scale. As you get better at what you do, the time you spend doing it will increase, and the impact of what you're doing will be more in less time, and money will become inevitable. If you're starting as a designer or a writer, then

You're going to design or write for an hour date every single morning. As you get better, you're going to be able to do the same amount of work that took that one hour in 20 minutes. And so not only are you doing better and more work within that first hour, but you're able to incorporate other things and start to build, let's say, a business for it and slowly increase the time you spend doing it until it becomes your lifestyle. The same goes for the gym, the same goes for every single healthy habit that successful people do on a daily basis. They didn't just poof land into this lifestyle after they had a successful business; it was their lifestyle that allowed them to build the business. And so the key to all of this is specificity. We don't write down web design for one of your curiosities or interests that you're looking to write down here. Write down how to create landing pages that are actually useful to businesses.

Don't write down the gym; write down diet and training principles to lose £10 of fat in six weeks. Do this ten times minimum. And if you don't see how the skills, interest, or curiosities aid in your vision, then remove them. So step two: After writing down 10 to 20 interests, we're going to leverage dopamine through pattern recognition and momentum, connecting ideas and noting patterns in reality raises dopamine levels in the brain. It's the same reason that cocaine feels so good—dopamine—but this is much more sustainable. It is addictive, and this process becomes more powerful when you build momentum. Think of it like doing a Sudoku puzzle. You come up with one answer to fill in, and dopamine increases. And what that does is it narrows your mind with that feedback to find other answers. So once you find one answer, then you're like, Oh, there's one more, oh, there's another one, and you build momentum, and the dopamine continues to increase.

and it feels good and keeps you engaged. And so the same thing happens when you have an idea at night. You're like, That's a great idea. I need to write that down. And then you have another one and then another one, and you have ten ideas that you have no idea what to do with, aside from write down and keep them safe for the morning when you're going to go and do focus work. And so when you notice one idea that connects to your vision, your signal-to-noise ratio increases. And this happens when you're studying your interesting curiosities, so your attention narrows on more relevant information, not only on the things that you're reading or watching or listening to, but also the ones that were already in your mind. And so your mind lights up with excitement, and your vision just grows that much stronger. And this is why it feels so good to live with purpose. And so that was step number two: leveraging dopamine in pattern recognition.

Step number three is to learn and build. That way, you eliminate useless information because everyone is telling you what to do. They're projecting what they deem important onto you, what they see as signal. But what to you is 95% of the time noise. And if you aren't where you want to be in your life, then nothing is as important as your own goals. Not the news, not your friends' relationship problems, and definitely not who's getting elected. And so on the election part, I always find it funny that people get so up in arms about gas prices or whether or not they can have a baby, and it's don't get me wrong, they're like, I understand that it's your body, your choice, or whatever it is. I can go either way. I see both perspectives, right? As I said earlier, the highest perspective is all perspectives and being able to hold both of those and pull truth. What I'm saying here is that most people

hide behind the fact that it's easier to submit a vote than it is to change your life. They can't zoom out and see another way that is more effective to bring their beliefs into reality than by submitting a vote. Because if you're worried about gas prices, then why haven't you zoomed out and developed a strategy or a plan to build a business so that you never have to worry about gas prices again? That is ten times more powerful, not only for your life but for other people's lives and not having to rely on one measly vote that may not even get counted. And again, if you zoom out, you can build an audience and present your perspective to millions so that you actually have an impact on the votes about your bodily rights or whatever it may be. That's how they keep you locked into this thing is by keeping your vision, your focus narrowed in on their vision for what they want rather than you zooming out and crafting a plan to find a better way to getting what you want.

I don't care what your beliefs are on your bodily rights or whatever you want to do. If you want it to become reality, then take it into your hands as much as you can. Develop a vision for the future and actualize that by yourself. Take control of it and forget about the things that you have very little control over. So to create, you need boundaries for your creativity or else things get too chaotic and overwhelming. You need goals turned into projects so that you have something tangible to work on, and the goals and projects provide boundaries for your learning and creativity. So break down your vision into goals now. Yearly, Monthly, Weekly, Daily. Turn all of those into milestones for a project that you can work on, like a personal brand, which is the fuel for anything you want to build, or a one-person business, which is the starting point that I believe 99% of the people should start with before trying to go after any other business model, because it's something that is holistic.

and it evolves with you, and it's not a static business model that sounds too good to be true. So, with your vision in mind, start building and learning. Work on your project daily, regardless of if you know what you're doing, because you don't know what you're doing because you haven't registered that as a problem or actually started the project and hit a problem that makes you realize, Oh, this is what I need to learn, and you're never going to find that if you don't start. You can learn; you can be an expert at something in the books, but if you don't actually do it, you're going to hit the same problem as if you knew nothing. And then you're going to have to go and research that problem anyway. So, it's better to start then learn, because that is the best way to learn: to encounter a real-world problem, research specific information to solve it, keep a steady flow of information from your consumption, solve the problem,

Enjoy the dopamine, and let momentum carry you into a season of intensity. The rest is in your hands. That's it for this video. Check out Digital Economics to our writer. Other cool links in the description. If you want to productize yourself or learn a high-value skill that is high-impact digital writing with all that stuff like subscribe see in the next video piece.

A Full Guide To Reinvent Your Life (In 6-12 Months)

Dan Koe

The Importance of Dopamine and Mind Management

Dopamine is a crucial neurotransmitter that drives motivation and the pursuit of dreams, but many people waste its potential by constantly seeking external validation.

Sustaining enjoyment from achievements requires shifting focus to other neurotransmitters that provide satisfaction and appreciation for the present.

The human mind struggles between order and chaos, and structuring activities is essential for clarity and mental well-being, making practices like meditation and metacognition valuable for managing thoughts and finding enjoyment in solitude.

Pursuing material goals can lead to a deeper identity and positive life decisions.

It's better to seek something superficial than to do nothing, as it can provide clarity on what one truly wants.

Practicing mindfulness and noticing details in everyday life can help break the cycle of superficial living and bring fulfillment.

Observing others' behaviors and choices can provide insight into the life you want to avoid.

Reflecting on past experiences and making a list of things you don't want can help clarify your vision for the future.

Self-education and developing an intrinsic philosophy are essential for building your dreams and finding true fulfillment.

Building a Successful Lifestyle: Key Steps

Start by dedicating an hour each morning to a specific task, gradually improving efficiency and incorporating it into your lifestyle.

Focus on specific goals, like creating useful landing pages, and eliminate distractions that don't align with your vision.

Leverage dopamine through pattern recognition and momentum to build sustainable habits, while prioritizing self-generated goals for long-term fulfillment.

Leveraging Dopamine for Purposeful Living

Having a burst of ideas at night can lead to a collection of thoughts that align with your vision, increasing your focus on relevant information.

Writing down specific skills and interests is crucial for daily clarity and tangible progress towards your vision.

The key to a meaningful life is balancing long-term enjoyment from investing attention with short-term pleasure from effortless achievements.

The Power of Zooming Out: Creating Your Anti-Vision

Many people rely on voting to bring about change, neglecting to develop a more powerful strategy for their lives.

The concept of the anti-vision helps individuals realize what they don't want, guiding them to create a long-term plan for change.

By observing society and expanding their perspective, individuals can build a vision for the future and take meaningful actions to achieve their goals.

To make your vision a reality, focus on what you can control and set clear boundaries for your creativity.

Break down your vision into tangible goals and projects, starting with a personal brand or one-person business.

Embrace mindfulness and immerse yourself in the present moment to deepen your experience and find fulfillment, rather than constantly chasing after new desires.

Embrace dopamine and let momentum drive you into a season of intensity.

Start building and learning towards your vision, tackling real-world problems to gain experience and knowledge.

Balance long-term and short-term focus, and use challenges to order your mind and enjoy the process of growth.