The Bryson Every Day Project

155. Why Should I? Critical Thinking

6:45pm, March 22nd, 2024, Desk, UT
Why should I? Why should you? For what reason? For what purpose? Why? Ask yourself questions. Ask other people questions. Be okay with being wrong but learning faster as a result. The opposite of that is fearing failure and learning exponentially slower. Easy choice if you value growth and learning. I think we, collectively, need to start spending more time in our own heads instead of filling it with literally anything else. Play the devils advocate for yourself. Ask yourself why a dozen times. You’ll be surprised by what you uncover. We need more critical-thinking-able people in the world. I’m working my way to becoming as great of a deep thought provoker as I can, because I believe that’s where a lot of buried treasure resides. Social norms are just that, social norms. Are you normal? No? Well then start questioning the social norms that are sent your way. Follow the ones that make sense for you, get rid of the ones that don’t. Thinking out loud. Also ran through a ChatGPT exercise with this live on this episode. At face value, those are all good reasons to have friends, but do you value friends in those regards? Do you need what friends have to offer? Can you provide the effort and energy to those friends to maintain the friendship in the first place? What is harder for you? What’s easier? Think about this stuff for yourself.

154. Exhausted Due To Inaction + Rambling About Nothing

7:32pm, March 21st, 2024, Desk, UT
I didn't do shit all day today. I guess when I say "all day" I am referencing the three hour gap that I have after I get off of work and the time before I have to go to bed. It feels like such a waste when I just sit here and do nothing. I beat myself up quite a bit because of it. And I think because I do that, I get very worn out mentally because I am beating myself up over something I could've done but didn't. And so I get very fatigued thinking about the lack of inaction. It's a vicious cycle.It's funny because I slept great last night and got a lot of rest, but I am even more tired today than I was a previous days, and I know that that is only because I didn't execute on shit today. Also, a little behind the scenes here, I am writing this voice chat, and I have to say the punctuation marks. This feels very weird. Documenting everything. Let's go baby.

153. Emotions of the Future (All of Them)

8:07pm, March 20th, 2024, Desk, UT
All sorts of emotions in this one. I am grateful. I am stressed. I am feeling serendipitous. I am feeling exhausted. I’ve got myself committed to so much right now and sometimes I feel like I am trying to swim with a cinderblock tied to my ankle. And the cold hard truth is I’m not even doing anything yet. I’m just spending all my free time trying to learn and educate so that I can build something from nothing for no other reason (now) than to get into the game and learn the game. Life is a crazy ride. Make sure you’re the one behind the wheel.

152. Gamifying Life & Making It EASY

8:14pm, March 19th, 2024, Bedroom, UT
I have been gamifying my life by tracking multiple areas and trying to see patterns so that I can best recreate the better days and be as productive as I possibly can. One of the things I have recently incorporated is that I set a timer for when I work on myself/business/dreams/goals/etc., and don’t allow myself to do anything else until the timer is done. I can either work, or I can sit there. But that’s it. When the timer is up, I then allow myself to check my phone if needed or rest my eyes or whatever it may be. 
I have had 2 days in a row now where I have been very productive and gotten a lot done. It’s been a great addition to everything by gamifying it all. I want to keep this consistency and keep the productivity as high as I can. I feel great about everything I did today. I got a lot done. More so than I have been getting down in the last few weeks.
It’s all about sustainability. Whatever you can adhere to the longest is your winning strategy. Make it as easy as possible for you to stick with. There’s no shame in that. Consistency compounds.

151. I Opted Out Of Retirement

5:52pm, March 18th, 2024, Desk, UT
I opted out of my retirement investments. I no longer am putting money into my retirement plan.
Here’s why in a nutshell: 
If you invest $200 per month starting at age 20 with an average annual return of 7% compounded monthly, you could potentially have $824,200 by age 60 (the numbers could be off, I don’t care enough to make them exact. It’s for illustrative purposes only).
That’s 40 years. That’s 14610 days. That’s on average, $56 a day.
You’re telling me that in order for me to make the same amount of money by investing into my retirement, I only need to sell two $28 (profit) products per day? 
First off, how many businesses do you know who are 40 years strong ONLY making $56 a day. Probably 0. Meaning they probably make a shit ton more than that and a lot earlier too. 
Second, why settle for $824,000 by age 60 (which, if you spend 50k a year, will only last you 16 years. What about age 76-100+?) when you can quite literally run a business for 20-40 years and reach a point where you could take home $824,000 per month. Or even a week.
Think about that.
And I get it, we all have different desires, visions, goals, aspirations, you name it. I get that, and that’s okay. But that seems so blatantly obvious to me what the better option is.
I’d rather pocket $100 per week in myself than a fund that gives me 8%. You can take $100 a week and invest into 5 books. All it takes is one sentence in one of those books to give you enough information or confidence to get you to $100,000 a year. Then $1m a year. Then 5m a year. Then $1m a month, etc. And I’d be the one in control the entire time too. I would call the shots. 
Of course this alls pounds great on paper, it’s a lot harder work with more “risk.” But I think it’s a bigger risk not taking any risks at all. 
Disclaimer, do not do anything I said in this podcast. Consult your financial advisor before making any financial decisions. Everything in this podcast is for entertainment purposes only and should not be taken seriously.

150. They Will Always Pick You Apart

3:37pm, March 17th, 2024, Car/Gym, UT
I actually felt good about this one. It makes me feel like I actually have something valuable to share with the world when I can (at least I feel this way) nail a particular idea. Progress baby. But anyway, I’m going to copy and paste my notes I wrote for this. I didn’t write the notes for this episode, I just write here and there. Sometimes I put a lot more work into it, other times it’s a couple sentences like I talked about yesterday.
The purpose of this one was to help me understand that people will always pick you apart. The people who do this need the most help. They are also the ones who cannot be helped. It is what it is. But putting some light on it and thinking it through helps. No matter what, it’ll always be easier for you and harder for someone else. I haven’t even started virtually anything yet and I’m getting comments thrown my way. It’s interesting.
So here is the exact note I wrote:
I keep thinking about when I “make it.”
There’s going to be people who say the only reason I was able to get to where I’m at is because I don’t have kids.
Okay, I don’t have kids. There’s validity to that argument. Kids take up time and resources. Correct.
Let’s say I have a kid then. 
There will be people who say the only reason I was able to get to where I’m at is because I only have 1 kid.
Okay, I have just 1 kid. There’s validity to that argument. Surely, having 2 kids is more time consuming and more financially demanding than just one. Fair.
Let’s say I have 3 kids then.
There will be people who say the only reason I was —
Get it?
“Of course you make a lot of money. I’d have a lot of money to if all I did was waste my life away working.”
Fair statement. What’s inaccurate is the use of the word “waste,” which is subjective based on personal values.
“No wonder you are able to do all this. You don’t socialize, see your family, or talk to friends!”
I think this is interesting because that assumes that in order to be at any point in life that is identical to me, you cannot socialize, see your family, or talk to friends. Surely people have “made it” while doing the previously mentioned things. It goes back to personal values.
“You have no balance. All you do is look after yourself. I’d be able to afford that too if I didn’t have any responsibilities other than myself.”
Correct. Unbalanced circumstances lead to outsized returns. Being unbalanced is often seen as bad. But why is it bad? Suppose I get a kick out of being the highest on the teeter totter rather than being at the lowest. My enjoyment, then, stems from the literal unbalanced load on the teeter totter. I am therefore at my highest (no pun intended) and enjoying my time being on an unbalanced ride. It is a desired position to be in — for me. So, in other words. My desires, independent of the sacrifices or trade-offs, lead me to happiness, fulfillment, and abundance. That is absolutely correct. If the person I hop on the teeter totter with wants to go up and down, they’re seeking balance. I am not. 2 goals. 2 outcomes. Nothing bad. Nothing good. It’s preference based on desired outcome.
“Yeah you have a Lamborghini but you traded half your life to have it. At least I have memories.”
Correct. Big goals take a lot of time to achieve. Giant goals take an even longer time to reach. And monumental goals take decades. I “traded” half my life to buy this car because of what the achievement means to me. And by “trade” I mean I swapped Netflix, drinking, guys night out, drugs, doom scrolling, bitching, gossiping, and time wasting activities for intentional work I found joy in. I willingly sacrificed a lot to make this happen. This goal got me out of bed in the morning and got me to work hard. I helped a lot of people in the process and also missed out on a lot. If everyone owned a Lamborghini, there would be nothing special about it at all. This goal gave me direction. Without this goal, I’d be living a nightmare. Which is the social norm of today’s world. 9-5, Netflix at night, drinking on weekends, miserable, fat, and lazy in the mean time. No thank you. I got a steal. I’m only 38 and own a Lamborghini. 
 

149. Journaling Valuable Thoughts Immediately

10:11pm, March 16th, 2024, Desk, UT
Something I have been doing recently is immediately writing down my thoughts as they come to me that are of some sort of value – at least to me. I think sometimes I have very unique perspectives and thoughts arise, so I've been trying to save each of them by writing them in my notes app on my phone to refer back on later and add to or write more about. It’s been a great way to brain dump my thoughts. Some aren't half bad.
No other updates, just trying to work hard and keep afloat. Reverse engineering your thinking is a great exercise to get to the root cause of something, too.

148. Did Not Do Shit Today

11:16pm, March 15th, Desk Chair, UT
Title says it all man. Unproductive. Still got everything done, but it was executed so poorly. I mean its 11:18pm as i write this. I had all day. Live & learn.

147. Can I Do This?

2:47pm, March 14th, 2024, Car, UT
I think the story in this episode of how I let my insecurities bleed is a perfect example of how our perception and views, based on our values, can lead us to act and behave certain ways depending on the context. For example, in the story here, I previously felt $2000 was a lot for rent. Anyone who I viewed to be in the same position as me who spent $2000 on rent would be a fool in my eyes. So much wasted money and they would be spreading themselves so thin. The truth is that I have no idea what they’ve got going on. I have no idea what they can or cannot afford, but because of my circumstances, I make assumptions that theirs must be that way too. As a result of this, I felt that judgment cast onto me when I shared the numbers. It was an observation I made that I think is more important than I realize. 
I think what was most important about it is that I realized that despite what they might think, say, or do, the facts remain the same. And that is I can comfortably afford what I am getting myself into. What anyone else says or thinks about it doesn’t change anything. So why let it bother me? 

146. Grateful - Life Changes Fast

8:58pm, March 13th, 2024, Laundry, UT
I woke up yesterday with the plans of touring a potential place to live in 5 months. I will go to sleep tonight with confirmation that I am moving in 2.5 months to that exact place on June 1st. My application went through extremely quickly and I was approved and accepted. In a matter of 1 day, my life's trajectory was shifted substantially. I am very grateful man. I worked hard as shit to make this happen. We can call this Milestone 1. This is huge for me personally. I’ll have to dedicate a show to why that is soon. But for now, we keep going!