The secret to exponential growth and learning

98 percent of people aren't living, they're existing.

They are caught in a hypnotic rhythm, and they are drifting by.

They aren't consciously moving through life. They may sometimes be conscious, but a majority of the time, they are drifting.

I used to think that one needs to be as perfect as possible and be as "productive" as possible.

I thought you shouldn't do activities like:

Video Games

Watching TV Shows

Watching Youtube(non educational)

And only do activities like:

Writing

Reading

Meditating

Now, I think there are still seasons where you should focus on "productive" activities.

However, I think almost anything or experience done or reflected on consciously is productive.

For instance, a couple of weeks ago, I binge-watched the entire Avatar the Last Airbender Show in 4 days.

Now, my past self would have said that this was completely unproductive, a waste of my time and that I should be ashamed.

However, after consciously reflecting on the experience, I realized I had learned much. If you want to see some life lessons I learned from the show, you can read them here(add a link).

I'm not entirely sure if I was consciously watching the show, but I think I have trained my awareness to a high enough level to reflect even if I wasn't fully conscious while watching.

This experience changed my view on "productive" vs. "unproductive" things. If done consciously, there is inspiration you can draw from things that aren't productive and lessons you can learn.

Now, I'm not saying you should take heroin or vape. I'm saying that building consciousness and awareness of yourself and your experiences is the best skill to grow and learn.

The reason is that with awareness and consciousness, you can learn from any experience that comes into your front parlor.

You can learn from tragic, amazing, degenerate experiences or any other kind of experience. You can look at them and constructively learn from them.

The reason that "unproductive" things are "unproductive" is often not due to the experience itself but the state of being you are in when you do those actions.

They are "unproductive" because you escape to them instead of using them.

When you escape from your conscious mind to an activity like video games or a TV show, you are experiencing that experience mindlessly—especially if you have not trained your awareness.

And you may escape to some experiences and reflect and find that you don't want to do that experience anymore. The key is awareness and consciously doing it.

For example, you might drink alcohol, take drugs, or masturbate and find after conscious reflection and research that this is not an experience that you want to repeat.

There are three levels to learning constructively from bad experiences.

Level 0: Escapism, then Shame

This is the level where you escape from the problems of your conscious mind, such as emotions like anger and worry, to something like video games or a TV Show.

During the experience, you aren't fully conscious because to be fully conscious, you have to be reminded of the problems of the conscious mind.

When you are done escaping these "unproductive" experiences, you feel shame for doing so and often will again not want to face the shame of your conscious mind and go more into the experience that you felt shame for doing.

Level 1: Escapism, then Reflection

I did this with the Avatar Show; I escaped to the show mostly due to overwhelm and annoyance.

After watching the show, I reflected on this experience and processed what had occurred. That's where I got these lessons, which I shared on Twitter.

Due to my self-awareness, I was able to have a deep reflection. Otherwise, I may have been in Level 0.

However, due to my self-awareness, I learned from that experience and began to apply what I learned to my life.

I also learned that it was better for me to binge-watch these shows rather than spread it out. If I had watched the Avatar Series over a month or two, I would have been constantly thinking about it. Instead, because I binged, it took me about 7-10 days to fully process and watch the show. And now that mental bandwidth is freed up.

Level 2: Conscious Experience, then Reflection

This is the ideal scenario and the scenario where the most learning is done.

This is where you Consciously Experience something. This means you reflect on it throughout the act of experiencing it and then consciously reflect on the experience as a whole.

However, the mind can be tricky and may fool you into justifying a degenerate experience by saying you will consciously experience and learn from it.

The way to deal with these tricks is to understand that learning only occurs if there is a behavior change.

If your mind says, I'm going to consciously experience a drug for the fifth time this week so I can learn from it. You must be careful with your reflection after each time and be brutally honest with yourself.

If, after the first time taking it, you find that you learned some things from experience, But the central lesson you learned was that the lessons you learned were not worth the damage heroin causes. Then, the scenario where you understand would be not taking heroin again.

Now, it may take a couple of times with less serious things for you to consciously reflect and be brutally honest with yourself because the consequences aren't as grave as something like heroin.

Remember this: If you continue doing something where the cons outweigh the pros because you want to experience and learn from it consciously, you're lying to yourself. You're not learning anything because you're not making a behavior change.

Consciously doing something also means that you may learn that experience isn't aligned with who you want to be, and this is actually how you understand if a habit is bad and how to stop a bad habit.

Principles/Practices for Building Your Awareness

1) Meditation

By mediation, I mean observing the mind and body.

I don't do this enough. When I meditate, I can gain perspective and be calmer, which is due to my increased Self-Awareness.

It gives you time to process experiences, thoughts, ideas, emotions, and more.

The more I do meditation, the more my self-awareness will build.

Even though I don't do this one as much as I'd like or principle 2, I have a high self-awareness due to principle 3.

2) Journalling

To me, journalling is like meditating out loud because you put your experiences, thoughts, ideas, emotions, and more on paper.

This one has been super powerful for building my self-awareness because it builds the practice of reflection.

Also, seeing my experiences, thoughts, ideas, emotions, and more on paper is powerful. You get these things out of your mind and out onto a piece of paper. Journaling has helped me resolve problems or confusion because once I put it on paper it seems easier to manage, understand, and take action.

3) Ask Questions

This is the one at which I am the best.

I contribute to where I am in life and my self-awareness.

Building this skill helps immensely with journaling and meditation. For every experience, thought, idea, or emotion, you can ask:

What does it mean?

How does it impact you?

What can you learn from it?

and so much more

It allows you to get to the root of things in the external and internal world.

It helps you find the truth and prevent self-deception.

Self-awareness is simply the ability to see the truth or the desire to find the truth.

Asking questions helps you find the truth.

5 questions for Conscious Reflection

What happened?

Why did what occurred happen?

What does this happening mean for others and me?

What can I learn from what happened

How am I going to change in the future

These are just some suggestions. You will get better at questions the more you consciously reflect. Of course, the questions will differ depending on what you are reflecting on.

But hopefully these questions should be useful for most situations and give you a good start.

Living consciously and mindfully unlocks the secret to exponential growth and learning. We cultivate greater self-awareness by incorporating habits like meditation, journaling, and asking reflective questions. This heightened presence allows us to extract insights from every experience, no matter how seemingly unproductive.

Rather than mindlessly consuming or escaping reality, conscious living means welcoming each moment as an opportunity for growth. Reflect deeply on the lessons within your daily activities, thought patterns, and emotional experiences. This level of intentionality turbo-charges your ability to learn and iterate.

You'll identify unhelpful habits quickly and align your behaviors with your core values. You'll expand your perspectives through the insights revealed on ordinary occasions. Each experience becomes a stepping stone to profound personal evolution.

Embrace the journey of heightening your consciousness, and you unleash exponential growth. With self-awareness, you learn and transform at a staggering rate.

-Christian

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