Most people go through life on autopilot, like an NPC (non-player character) in a video game.

Some people go through life with some agency. They log into the game to make a certain decision or just to play for a little while.

Few live a life of purposeful direction. These people are aware that they are playing a game at all times. Actively choosing the direction of the character they are playing, what quests to play and what skills they want to improve.

These are the three stages of self-development.

Socrates, the OG of self-development himself, claimed that the unexamined life was not worth living.

The examined life is a life of continuously getting to know yourself.

You do this by playing the game of life and the character you were given.

The better you know yourself, the more precise you can see what parts of your life are on autopilot. This way you can slowly put yourself in the driving seat of life.

Have you ever wanted to look like a Greek god, be as articulate as Jordan Peterson, or be as content with life as a Buddhist monk?

You know that you have the capacity to reach all of these desires.

So, why haven’t you?

Are you not smart enough, not disciplined enough or just don’t want them enough?

You’ve probably tried to become healthier, smarter and happier. Maybe you’ve come a long way or maybe you’ve just started.

After reading this post you will have a framework to view self-development through that will help you get to where you want.

It all starts and ends with, as Socrates said, knowing thyself.

I might not look like a Greek god (yet), I am certainly not as articulate as Jordan Peterson, and I am not as Zen as a Buddhist monk.

But, I have come a long way in a relatively short period of time.

I have greater strength, enhanced flexibility, improved movement, and look better.

I have sharpened my ability to grasp ideas, concepts and frameworks. I am aeons ahead of where I was when it comes to articulation (I hope this shows).

During the past six years, my baseline level of happiness has increased remarkably. My contentment is at a level I couldn’t have dreamed of six years ago.

It’s 2033, the AI revolution has been going on for a decade and the entire fabric of society has changed.

It’s 9 AM, I am sitting at home having lost my job six months ago (so have all my friends), and I have no idea of what to do.

With the help of AI, food and housing are now free. All of the necessary jobs to run society has been replaced by AI.

For the past four years there have been talks about a new era, something called The Human Liberation.

An era where humans no longer need to work and are free to do what they want, when they want, and with whom they want.

Something humans have dreamed of since the agricultural revolution.

Despite getting what we have all dreamed of, most people are not better off.

The structure and meaning a job gave people are now gone.

People have resorted to a hedonistic lifestyle doing drugs, eating junk food and spending most of their time in the metaverse.

We are not happier than we were even though we are free.

One day I realized we have the greatest opportunity in history to be happy, healthy and wise.

I decided a change is in order. I stopped doing the drugs, eating the junk and spending time in the metaverse.

I dusted off an old bookshelf and started reading the ancient Greek philosophers.

They talked about the good life, and how it consists of good physical health and great relationships.

They also spoke about loving yourself, loving nature, and loving people.

I started working out again and eating real food.

I felt amazing, but something still didn’t feel right. I still lived alone.

I decided to meet some people in real life for the first time in months.

At a local park, I found some people who looked great and seemed genuinely happy.

One guy tells me how he lives in a pocket of society with like-minded people who have rejected the hedonistic lifestyle.

A couple of days later I was invited to go to where they live.

It was a special community surrounded by nature, with really big and amazing art structures.

Everywhere I looked, there were these cool houses that caught my eye.

Built right in the middle of nature, with animals and plants all over the place.

During the day they danced, sang and played games together.

They also cooked food, ate the food, built things, made art and had deep conversations together.

One day while hanging out in my newfound utopia I had an epiphany:

We have been getting freer since the industrial revolution, especially since the 1900s. But, no one taught us how to use this freedom.

Remember cars, supermarkets, the dishwasher, the washing machine, the internet, and the smartphone?

What did we do with the extra free time that technology gave us?

We filled it with distractions and pleasure.

The freedom crept up on us so slowly that we didn’t notice it.

Society is built upon the hedonistic trap. It’s how most companies make money on us.

The more people engage in distractions and pleasure, the more normal it becomes.

The more normal it becomes, the easier it gets to justify the behaviours.

Let’s go back to the present day.

Since the industrial revolution, we have lived in a very structured society of status and positions.

You go to school, sit down and listened to your teachers. The school day has a schedule and you follow it.

Then you get into the workforce, you have a boss, your boss has a boss, and your boss’s boss has a boss.

You have a schedule set by someone else and you follow it.

We are cogs in the machine that is society.

This is why we were never taught to schedule our own time.

With more free time than ever, it is in our power to use this time wisely.

Look at what David Goggins did.

He had an awful childhood. Abuse, sleep deprivation, and murders in his family.

In his early 20s, he was depressed, obese and working the night shift as an insect killer.

One day he heard a military man talking about his experiences and got inspired. He decided to apply for the military.

After months of training and studying he finally got in.

Today he is the first American to get through all three branches of the US military.

He spreads his positive message through media (social media, and books).

He is financially free yet he still works out like a madman, runs ultramarathons and is a wildland firefighter.

He radically changed his life and has along the way radically changed the lives of millions of people.

You are no different.

If you stop taking your free time for granted and realize its potential to change your life and the lives of others you’ll start to value it more.

As the free time assumes greater value you’ll have a harder time to justify distracting and pleasurable behaviours.

Not only will you gain positive outcomes from consciously spending your free time, but it will also lead to a more meaningful life.

Why?

Because humans derive meaning from moving toward something we’ve defined as better.

Once you accept that your free time is valuable the question becomes:

What should I spend my free time on?

It has taken me six years of an almost unhealthy obsession with self-development to come up with this framework.

I spent the first four only focusing on my personal health. If I would’ve used this framework who knows where I’d be?

I wish something like this was taught to me in school when I was a kid.

That way I could’ve started the journey of getting to know myself at eight years of age instead of 18.

The Priority Pie – From where you are going (undefined) to where you want to go (defined)

The three levels of a meaningful life:

1. Personal health & wisdom

2. Close relationships

3. Your contribution to others

Step 1 – Define your ideal identity (where you want to go)

Ask yourself who you want to become.

Define level 1 –

• What kind of health do you want?

• What kind of energy do you want to radiate to others?

• What kind of wisdom would you want to pass on to your grandchildren?

Define level 2 –

• What kind of relationships do you want with your family?

• What kind of relationships do you want with your friends?

• What kind of relationships do you want with your future husband/wife?

Define level 3 –

• What kind of impact do you want to have on your friends and family?

• What kind of impact do you want to have in society?

• What kind of impact do you want to have on the world?

Take a piece of paper and actually write this out.

Step 2 – Define your current identity (where you are)

Now it’s time to define who you are right now.

Use the same questions but replace want with have.

Again – write it down.

Step 3 – Define what you are doing right now (current process)

Looking at this, your job is now to answer why you have this health, that relationship, or that kind of impact.

Become aware of where, and on what you spend a lot of your time on. We’ll call this – What I am doing.

If it is not moving you forward in any of the three levels, ask yourself:

• Do you see yourself doing this at 35, 50 or 70?

• If not, maybe stop doing it.

• If not, ask yourself, how does it affect you at 35, 50 or 70 if you keep spending time on it?

Now you have defined where you are and where you want to go for all three levels. And, you have also defined what you are doing right now.

Step 4 – Define what you could be doing (future process)

Onto the priority pie. Here is where you align yourself with your ideal identity.

Where you change what you are doing so that where you are going becomes where you want to go.

How much energy and time do you want to allocate to each level right now?

Write down actions, behaviours and habits that would move you from where you are to where you want to go (for each level).

This would go into the category – What I could be doing.

This category will always be larger than what I am doing because we are limited by time. This is why we need to prioritize.

Try to determine what actions have the highest impact on your goals with the least time invested.

But, most importantly what behaviours would you actually enjoy doing?

Level 1 and level 2 should be easier to define as they are quite concrete. We all have a physical body, a mind and relationships.

Level 3 is harder.

Remember, your uniqueness is valuable. The more unique you become the more valuable you are.

My advice here would be to pick something to create. The easiest entry would be media (social media, blog posts, podcasts, videos).

Make sure it is aligned with your uniqueness and brings value to others. Make this a project.

Consume information related to obstacles along the way.

Iterate, improve and move forward.

• The longer you play a game of value creation, the more fun it gets.

• The longer you play, the more value you can produce per unit of time.

• The more value you produce, the more earning potential you gain.

It will probably take you less than an hour to do this. It might change your life.

Here is something for visual learners:

Write this out on a piece of paper that makes sense to you. Put it somewhere where you will see it every day.

As you move along the levels of self-knowledge, you will need to update your paper.

As your life changes, so does your goals and priorities.

You are a work in progress.

The more you progress, the deeper you’ll know yourself and the more defined your paper will be.

The more of your life you leave on autopilot, the less control you have over your future. Don’t leave your future in the hands of chance.

We are freer than ever before. We have more opportunities than ever before.

It is our duty to use this chance to actually make our lives what they could be.

If the AI revolution occurs and you become entirely free, what would you do?

Sip piña colada on the beach every day?

How long until that becomes boring? A couple of hours, a day or maybe a week?

Even if it doesn’t come, preparing for it will make you more control of your life.

It will cause you to create a conscious effort for the direction of your life.

It will allow you to be a part of determining the impact you have on the world.

So start now.

You can view it as your character chart in a video game.

There are three meta-categories (the three levels).

You can increase your score in all of these, however, your time is limited so you need to prioritize.

The way you improve is to align your actions with who you are and who you want to become. Otherwise, consistency will be hard.

I you “want” to be a super entrepreneur like Elon Musk but do not have the personality type that would enjoy working 16h days for decades, then you don’t want it.

The score of each category goes from zero to infinity.

Meaning the game never ends.

Your goal is to come as far as you can toward your potential so that you can have the highest contribution you can.

You only get one chance. Take it seriously.