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March 31, 2024

Solo Leveling: See How Easily You can Level Up Your Life

The concept of “Solo Leveling” is a brilliant way to learn how to level up your life.

Solo Leveling describes a world where humans with supernatural abilities known as “hunters” must fight deadly monsters to save humanity from certain extinction. Yet, an extremely weak hunter named Sung Jin-woo encounters a mysterious program called the System which gives him the unique ability to level up in strength. And this is what Solo Leveling is about – A guy on a remarkable journey as he fights all kinds of enemies.

Remember what I told you earlier – You are the main character in your story.

Sung Jinwoo – Solo Leveling

Like Sung Jin-Woo, you are faced with your battles as well. The good news is Sung Jin-woo saved his world and became so powerful that he could defeat the strongest enemies easily without any help (sorry for the mild spoiler-alert). The supposedly weak hunter of his era transformed to a savior of his universe. And the steps he took in his journey are applicable right now.

And here is how the concept of Solo Leveling can apply in you in real life.

Recognize that You are a “Hunter.”

The modern struggle:

Lone individuals summoning inhuman willpower, fasting, meditating, and exercising…

Up against armies of scientists and statisticians weaponizing abundant food, screens, and medicine into junk food, clickbait news, infinite porn, endless games, and addictive drugs.

– Naval Ravikant.

In Solo Leveling, hunters are human warriors who possess magical powers and use them to fight magic beasts and clear dungeons.

The need to improve yourself. Your constant urge to learn and develop your skills. Your desire to make money. The dream of having a better life. It’s the same as the hunters of Solo leveling.

With the same analogy too, you are a Hunter.

Become a “Player”

Health, love, and your mission, in that order. Nothing else matters. – Naval Ravikant

The System was a magical program that chose Sung Jinwoo as its Player after his first trip to the Double Dungeon.

This Player Mode allowed him to learn more about himself and the world he was dealing with. It granted Sung Jinwoo access to instant dungeons to practice and level up his fighting skills. He learned how to store weapons and keep an unlimited inventory.

This is the same for you.

Learn the rules of the craft you are currently working on. Discuss with friends and family with good values. This is what it means to become a player.

Evolution of Sung Jinwoo – Solo Leveling

Start Small

The important thing is to do something every day. It doesn’t matter what it is. – Naval Ravikant

By starting small, Sung Jinwoo grew up from an infamously weak hunter to humanity’s greatest hunter.

The System gave him lower ranked beasts to improve his strength and fighting skills and he got stronger facing more difficult enemies as time went on.

This is how Sung Jinwoo kept leveling up ceaselessly.

If you set your bar at amazing, it is awfully difficult to start – Seth Godin.

Give up worrying about the ideal approach or the ideal beginning. This keeps you from leveling up and putting in the necessary work. Rather, begin small, optimize, and mature over time.

Just start today.

Fight Daily

There is actually nothing but this moment. No one has ever gone back in time, and no one has ever been able to successfully predict the future in any way that matters. Literally, the only thing that exists is this exact point where you are in space at the exact time you happen to be here. – Naval Ravikant

There is a reason that Sung Jinwoo was able to continually amass strength, eventually growing into the fearsome warrior that he is today in Solo Leveling

Even before he became the Player of the System, Sung Jinwoo spent four years going on dungeon raids to financially support both his sister and his mother. Sung Jinwoo continued to fight daily even though he nearly died on almost every raid he ever went on.

Intensity makes a good story. Consistency makes progress. – James Clear.

This is where Consistency comes in.

Consistency helps you get better at things. When you consistently work towards your goal, you are more likely to succeed. Taking small steps every day leads you towards something big.

Fighting and showing up daily leads to your Solo leveling.

Face Your “Mini Bosses”

For every quantum leap in his skill set, Sung Jinwoo had to defeat difficult beasts who appeared as commanders, kings or monarchs.

In solo leveling, they called them “Dungeon Bosses”. Video games call them ‘mini bosses’, or ‘checkpoints.’ In business, we call them Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and In real life, we call them life goals or big desire.

Credit: A1 Pictures

If you don’t face your “Mini Bosses”, you get stuck in certain levels for a long time.

For instance, if you look back at any dramatic change you have had in times past, you will realize that you have faced your share of mini bosses. Whether it was passing an exam, a career change, getting a business grant, change of location or surpassing a sales target. You defeated this mini boss on your own or with the help of others.

Just learn to recognize these specific obstacles and understand that overcoming them leads you to your next level.

Have an inventory.

As the story of Solo Leveling goes on, Jinwoo was able to store an unlimited number of items in his shadow.

With this ability, he could now extract any number of those items for his own use at any point in time. Sung Jinwoo stored potions and weapons in his inventory enabling him to always be battle ready.

Do you have your inventory?

To-do lists, Goals checklists, YouTube Playlists, favorite Books, Journals, mobile apps – these are among the things you have in your inventory as you continue to level up in any aspect of your life. The Internet and your devices have even made it easier to store and retrieve any of these items.

Have a list of your favorite power-items you can always use at any point in time.

Create or Join a Guild.

Much of finding great relationships, great coworkers, great lovers, wives, husbands, is finding other people where your values line up. If your values line up, the little things don’t matter. – Naval Ravikant

In Solo Leveling, Guilds are structured collectives of hunters dedicated to raiding dungeons and defeating the magical beasts.

High-level hunters were actively sought after by the premier guilds, which also offer sizeable bonuses based on rank. Being a member of one of these exclusive guilds guarantees high pay along with increased security because of the careful and calculated planning that goes into each raid.

Guilds in Solo Leveling

These principles of the Guild system are evident in this world as well.

Powerful people will always attract other powerful people. For instance, we have the Paypal Mafia, a group of former PayPal employees and founders who have since founded and/or developed additional technology companies based in Silicon Valley such as Tesla, Inc., LinkedIn, Palantir Technologies, YouTube, and Yelp. Locally, we have the Paystack Mafia, a group of former Paystack employers who have raised millions of dollars in funding or established thriving startups such as Grey, Chowdeck, Mono and GoLemon.

It is like how the proverb says – If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together.

To achieve more success and support from one another, form relationships and work together. Surround yourself with people who share your values and can support you on your journey.

SUMMARY.

To live a Solo leveling life, you must:

Recognize that You are a “Hunter”: Understand that you are on a journey to improve yourself.
Become a “Player”: Understand the rules of your field, prioritize your health, relationships, and goals.
Start Small: Begin with daily actions, no matter how small, to progress towards your goals.
Fight Daily: Embrace the present moment and take consistent actions towards your objectives.
Face Your “Mini Bosses”: Identify and overcome challenges that act as stepping stones to your goals.
Have an inventory: Keep track of your resources that help you stay organized and prepared for any situation.
Create or join a Guild: Build relationships and collaborate with others to achieve greater success and mutual support.

By following these seven principles, you can adopt a Solo Leveling mindset and lifestyle that focus on overcoming obstacles, building strong relationships, and improving yourself continuously to succeed over the long run.

Become your own Sung Jin-woo.

March 3, 2024

Productize Yourself: Become The Best at What You Do

“PRODUCTIZE YOURSELF: Productize has specific knowledge and leverage. Yourself has uniqueness and accountability. Yourself also has specific knowledge. So you can combine all of these pieces into these two words.”

This term Productize Yourself is popularized by the Angel Investor – Naval Ravikant. Naval is an investor, who invested early in companies like Uber or Notion. He is also an entrepreneur, co-founding AngelList.

As a product manager, I’ve always been fascinated by this concept and in recent times, I decided to take a deeper look at this notion of productizing yourself.

What does it Mean to Productize Yourself

Productizing yourself means that you must figure out what you’re uniquely good at and apply as much leverage as possible. It’s like taking the best of what you are and packaging it in a way that creates value for others. This concept is common in entrepreneurship, freelancing, consulting, and personal branding.

And you can apply this concept to yourself today.

Productize Yourself

Start with Leverage

Making impact and building influence requires leverage.

To Leverage is to use ‘something’ to its maximum advantage. In this context, that ‘something’ is yourself. How can you fully optimize your skills, knowledge, and experience?

And there are many ways to build leverage.

Leverage can be built through labor or capital. However, these kinds of leverage are gifts from other people. For labor, somebody must follow you. To obtain capital, someone must give you money, assets to oversee or equipment.

Yet, there is a new form of leverage.

Leverage with Code and Media to fully productize yourself

These include books, media, movies, and codes. With this new form of leverage, you can easily package your knowledge with the intention of making it simple to duplicate and distributing them to everybody without having to pay significant additional expenses. Naval called them ‘products of no marginal cost of replication’.

This is the perfect strategy for productizing yourself.

You can locate your audience by searching the internet and social media platforms. And you can use the internet to express yourself uniquely, grow a business, provide value, and make people happy. Any specialized interest can be pursued online, provided you’re the best at it.

All you need is your phone (or a computer) —you don’t need anyone’s permission.

If you can’t code, write books and blogs, record videos and podcasts – Naval Ravikant

Be Credible and Accountable

Intentions don’t matter. Actions do – Naval Ravikant

To get the best of your leverage, you must establish credibility and accountability.

Credibility is risky because you have to do everything in your own name. On the other end, accountability has two drawbacks. It enables you to accept responsibility for successes and bear the consequences when things go wrong.

But imagine this…

You’re waiting for the chance to shine when something new comes along that requires your set of skills. Meanwhile, you have built your brand on LinkedIn, on X and by constantly sharing your knowledge. You took some risks to establish your reputation. When it’s time to seize the opportunity, you can do so by applying as much leverage as you possibly can.

That’s what being accountable will help you.

You have to enjoy it and keep doing it, keep doing it, and keep doing it. Don’t keep track, and don’t keep count because if you do, you will run out of time. – Naval Ravikant

And here is the last step.

Be Authentic to truly Productize Yourself

No one can compete with you on being you. Most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most. – Naval Ravikant

There will always be competition out there.

Finding your unique skill set and being authentic are the keys to breaking free from the competition trap. No one will be able to compete with you because you love what you do, so you know how to do it better.

The good news is that, despite our individual differences, everyone excels at being themselves.

Remember this as well…

Make your most important decisions when you are determining what is right to do and who is best to collaborate with. The real secret to making major improvements in both your financial and personal relationships is staying committed and positive in the long term.

Become the best in the world at what you do. Keep redefining what you do until this is true. – Naval Ravikant

January 28, 2024

Deep Work Mastery: Get Rid of Distractions Once and For All

Think of deep work as your brain’s ultimate gym.

It’s about diving into cognitively demanding tasks, pushing your mental limits without distractions, and creating something truly valuable. It’s about getting into “the zone,” where hours melt away and you emerge with a masterpiece, a new skill conquered, or a problem cracked wide open.

Originally a concept championed by Cal Newport, Deep Work is not just a catchy phrase but a structured approach on getting really good at your job or whatever you want to do professionally.

Deep work involves focusing intently without interruption to the point where your cognitive capacities are strained, producing new value, and enhancing your abilities.

When pursuing your goals, it’s not just about working hard, it’s about working deeply.

This article will show you how to enter and master the art of deep work.

Photo by Samantha Gades on Unsplash

WHAT TO DO BEFORE DEEP WORK

Embarking on a journey toward your goals involves more than just rolling up your sleeves and diving in.

To truly make strides in your endeavors, it’s essential to lay a solid foundation. Before immersing yourself in the focused realm of deep work, there are crucial preparatory steps that can significantly enhance your chances of success:

Set Clear Intentions

Before diving in, ask yourself: what do I want to achieve?

it’s crucial to set clear intentions. Rather than focusing solely on performance, prioritize the process itself. Then frame your desired outcome as a learning objective – what do you want to be able to do?

See your goal as a learning intention, not a performance requirement. Break it down into bite-sized, achievable steps. Then focus on the first one to kickstart your journey.

Focus on Projects, Not Classes

Shift your focus from traditional classes and watching only educational videos to engaging in projects.

If you organize your goal around producing something, you are guaranteed to at least learn how to produce that thing e.g., learning to program by creating your own computer game.

Learning by doing ensures that you not only acquire the necessary skills but also produce something tangible.

This hands-on approach guarantees a deeper understanding and practical application of the skills you aim to master when trying to achieve your goals.

WHAT TO DO DURING DEEP WORK

To do deep work, carve out 1-2 blocks of time per day when you will enter a deeply focused state to make progress against your desired goal. These blocks are generally 1-2 hours for most people and should be completed without distraction.

Ride That Bicycle

The best way to learn is by doing.

Reading, watching videos, or discussing tasks can only take you so far. Embrace the hands-on approach.

It’s like learning to ride a bicycle. You only learn to ride the bicycle by actually getting on it, falling, and getting up again.

Don’t just fantasize about your dreams and ideas; execute them. Practice is the key to mastery.

Be Mindful

During your deep work sessions, embrace mindfulness to enhance your experience.

Actively pay attention to the information you are processing. In moments of absent-mindedness, question your interest or disinterest.

What resonates with you, and what seems suspect?

These reflections help you filter and adopt the most crucial aspects of your deep work sessions.

HOW TO KEEP DOING DEEP WORK

Mastering the art isn’t a one-time endeavor; it’s about building habits that sustain your focus and productivity.

There are strategies that ensure not only the continuity of your deep work but also its transformation into a powerful, ingrained tool in your arsenal.

Let’s unravel the keys to keeping the flame of deep work burning bright and making it an integral part of your daily routine.

Cultivate the Habit of Spaced Repetition

Maintain the habit of spaced repetition beyond the initial task.

Regularly revisit and actively recall information to deepen your understanding.

Combat the forgetting curve with spaced repetition, a highly effective learning method. Actively recall information at increasing intervals until it becomes ingrained in your long-term memory.

This back-and-forth between focused attention and relaxation is akin to mental weightlifting, ensuring a more robust retention of knowledge. Recall the skill 24 hours later, then 7 days later, and finally, a month later for lasting memory.

Address deep work Killers.

If you find yourself struggling with focus or awareness, identify and address potential “deep work killers” such as stress or lack of sleep.

Taking care of these issues ensures a conducive environment for effectiveness. Don’t hesitate to step away temporarily and return to your task when you are in a better state of mind.

Listen to your body, take breaks when needed, and don’t be afraid to walk away and come back refreshed.

Make Deep Work a Habit

Schedule your focused work sessions like sacred appointments

Treat them with the same respect you’d give a meeting with your future self. Consistency is key, so build it into your routine, day after day.

Soon, deep work will become your secret weapon, your go-to tool for crushing goals and unleashing your potential.

FINAL WORDS

In the pursuit of your goals, deep work stands as a powerful ally against distractions.

Conquering your dreams with deep work isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. It’s about building focus muscles, nurturing your learning spirit, and embracing the journey. There will be days when distractions win, when progress feels slow, and when the urge to quit whispers in your ear.

But remember, every focused minute, every conquered challenge is a brushstroke on the masterpiece of your future.

The key to mastery is not found in mere discussions or daydreams but in the active pursuit of your goals. So, ride that bicycle – execute your dreams, and let deep work propel you towards success.