James Barry

Worrying Over One’s Purpose

by | Nov 17, 2021 | Mindset

You spend so much time thinking about your purpose throughout life.

Well, at least I do.

I bet you do too though.

Because in today’s modern world, you don’t have an assigned purpose at birth.

You’re allowed to choose. You have millions of options.

In some ways, you almost have an infinite amount of options.

What to do. Where to do it. Who to do it with. etc. etc.

You can build any type of life and in a way, which is the scariest part about it.

How can you possibly pick, when you have so many options to pick from?

One answer is that, you just don’t have any time to decide.

You need to pick, or else one will be picked for you.

Another is that it’s predetermined.

Life will always end up where it’s meant to be.

A third option is that you actually have no purpose.

Life is a bit meaningless, and we’re all just on a spinning rock hurtling around space at 67,000 miles per hour (relative to the sun).

Personally, I like option 3 the best.

It kind of relieves the pressure and turns life more into what it should be.

An adventure.

My Two Mindsets

by | Nov 10, 2021 | Mindset

I find myself in one of two mindsets when I think about accomplishing anything.

There is the “I can do anything!” mindset. I’m in this one ~30% of the time.

Then there is “My possibilities are closing off” mindset. That’s the remaining ~70% of my time.

I spend so much time in the second mindset for two reasons:

  1. Emotionally, it can sometimes be easier to be down on yourself.
  2. Logically, the possibilities are actually closing off.

In Dave Grohl’s autobiography, he talks about pursuing being a “punk rocker” from the age of 13.

Nearly 40 years later, he is still doing the same thing (but now he’s the front man of the Foo Fighters).

Same thing with Tiger Woods, but to an even crazier degree.

He was putting golf balls across stage on live television at the age of 2.

Both examples here are fairly unrealistic. I literally picked two of the most successful people to ever exist in their chosen fields.

That aside though, the possibilities are ACTUALLY closing off.

Slowly but surely, every single day.

Want to become a doctor? Well unless you wanted to when you entered college, it’s going to be fairly hard. And expensive. And time-intensive.

How about a judge? Good luck. You need a law degree and at least 5 years of experience working in Law. If you started now, it would take you at least 9 years (you have to apply to Law school first).

So yes, logically both of those things are closed off to you. As well as going to the Olympics, becoming a movie star, or starting a famous YouTube channel.

But that’s an awful mindset to have.

Because with that mindset, you don’t think about all the things that can make you unique.

My favorite story when it comes to unique potential, is the story of Mike Dubin: Founder of Dollar Shave Club.

He graduated with a BA in History in 2001. Over the next decade he worked in a various marketing and writing positions at companies like NBC, Time, and Sports Illustrated.

During that time, he also took improv night classes.

Then, in 2011, he met a friend’s father who asked him if he could help sell 250,000 razor blades sitting in a warehouse.

The result was this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI

It was his unique set of experiences that allowed him to capitalize on an opportunity of a lifetime.

Now you might be thinking “I don’t want to be an entrepreneur and sell razors”.

This is just one example of many out there.

The point is that each of us has unique experiences.

So no, you probably won’t be able to become a Grandmaster at Chess. Or the next Billie Eilish. Or even the CEO of a company that sells razors.

What you can become, is something that’s completely unique to you.

So that’s why instead of thinking that “My possibilities are closing off”.

I remind myself that yes, the possibilities of what I can do in life are getting narrower. Every single day.

But new ones are continuing to open up, and if I continue to experiment and learn, one day I can do something completely unique to me.

So can you.

I find myself in one of two mindsets when I think about accomplishing anything.

There is the “I can do anything!” mindset. I’m in this one ~30% of the time.

Then there is “My possibilities are closing off” mindset. That’s the remaining ~70% of my time.

I spend so much time in the second mindset for two reasons:

  1. Emotionally, it can sometimes be easier to be down on yourself.
  2. Logically, the possibilities are actually closing off.

In Dave Grohl’s autobiography, he talks about pursuing being a “punk rocker” from the age of 13.

Nearly 40 years later, he is still doing the same thing (but now he’s the front man of the Foo Fighters).

Same thing with Tiger Woods, but to an even crazier degree.

He was putting golf balls across stage on live television at the age of 2.

Both examples here are fairly unrealistic. I literally picked two of the most successful people to ever exist in their chosen fields.

That aside though, the possibilities are ACTUALLY closing off.

Slowly but surely, every single day.

Want to become a doctor? Well unless you wanted to when you entered college, it’s going to be fairly hard. And expensive. And time-intensive.

How about a judge? Good luck. You need a law degree and at least 5 years of experience working in Law. If you started now, it would take you at least 9 years (you have to apply to Law school first).

So yes, logically both of those things are closed off to you. As well as going to the Olympics, becoming a movie star, or starting a famous YouTube channel.

But that’s an awful mindset to have.

Because with that mindset, you don’t think about all the things that can make you unique.

My favorite story when it comes to unique potential, is the story of Mike Dubin: Founder of Dollar Shave Club.

He graduated with a BA in History in 2001. Over the next decade he worked in a various marketing and writing positions at companies like NBC, Time, and Sports Illustrated.

During that time, he also took improv night classes.

Then, in 2011, he met a friend’s father who asked him if he could help sell 250,000 razor blades sitting in a warehouse.

The result was this famous video.

It was Mike’s unique set of experiences that allowed him to capitalize on an opportunity of a lifetime.

Now you might be thinking “I don’t want to be an entrepreneur and sell razors”.

This is just one example of many out there.

The point is that each of us has unique experiences.

So no, you probably won’t be able to become a Grandmaster at Chess. Or the next Billie Eilish. Or even the CEO of a company that sells razors.

What you can become, is something that’s completely unique to you.

So that’s why instead of thinking that “My possibilities are closing off”.

I remind myself that yes, the possibilities of what I can do in life are getting narrower. Every single day.

But new ones are continuing to open up, and if I continue to experiment and learn, one day I can do something completely unique to me.

So can you.

My Life In 27 Lines

by | Nov 3, 2021 | Random Musings

At 1 years old, my brain couldn’t create long-term memories.

At 2 years old, more of the same, but now I could talk.

At 3 years old, I turned a cardboard box into a store.

At 4 years old, Legos became my new best friend.

At 5 years old, I was shipped off to Kindergarten.

At 6 years old, I met my very first best friend.

At 7 years old, I watched the Twin Towers fall. I was angry I couldn’t watch cartoons.

At 8 years old, I began to learn how to sail.

At 9 years old, I uttered my first curse word (and got in trouble).

At 10 years old, I was treated for speech therapy. (Still don’t know why there is an an “s” in the word Lisp.)

At 11 years old, I said goodbye to my elementary school class.

At 12 years old, I joined a private all-boys school. I hated it.

At 13 years old, I fell in love with sailing. Or winning. Probably both.

At 14 years old, I tasted my first sip of alcohol.

At 15 years old, I met my first girlfriend. It was short lived.

At 16 years old, I was deeply addicted to World of Warcraft.

At 17 years old, I became a New England champion in sailing.

At 18 years old, I got my acceptance letter to Brown University.

At 19 years old, I thought I had everything figured out.

At 20 years old, I realized I didn’t. Not even close.

At 21 years old, I was elected Captain of my sailing team.

At 22 years old, I experienced my first true run in with complete and utter failure.

At 23 years old, I joined my parent’s company.

At 24 years old, I developed my first serious health issue. Migraines.

At 25 years old, I quit my job to start my own company.

At 26 years old, I dissolved that company.

At 27 years old, I began publishing my writing.

Life Compounds Upon Itself

by | Nov 2, 2021 | Time Allocation

Compounding interest is life’s most valuable phenomenon.

It’s often discussed alongside money, where it is a simple mathematical equation. For example, let’s say you had $100 and earned a return of 20% per year for 5 years.

Here is what it would look like:

  • Year 1: $120 | Income: $20
  • Year 2: $144 | Income: $24
  • Year 3: $173 | Income: $29
  • Year 4: $207 | Income: $34
  • Year 5: $249 | Income: $42

Overtime, your income will keep on growing because it compounds.

Returns are not always positive though.

Sometimes they are negative, and history is littered with peopled who have lost everything you have chasing high returns.

Compounding interest isn’t just a financial term though. It exists everywhere.

Our Collective Knowledge

Today, humanity’s collective knowledge is vast. It wasn’t always that way though.

Before we were able to write, every piece of information was passed via word of mouth.

The amount we could retain was limited to the collective memory of a group of individuals.

Then, 5,500 years ago in Mesopotamia, the first written language was invented.

From that point on, knowledge began to build upon itself.

Sometimes it grew in massive spurts during periods such as the Renaissance Era.

Other times, it shrank in times of upheaval, like the public burning of books in 1993 Nazi Germany.

On average though, knowledge was constantly built to the point that every piece of public information now fits in your pocket.

We all benefit from 5 centuries of compounded knowledge.

Which all started with someone recording a small, tiny piece of knowledge.

Why Should This Matter To You?

Apart from the fact that compounding is responsible for the device you are reading this on, it is also the most powerful power you can harness.

We all start somewhere.

Some of us have won the lottery and are born into privilege and wealth. I was.

Others are born into poverty, under an oppressive governments, or with extreme disabilities.

Regardless, each one of us has ~73 years (the average life expectancy) to compound our own skills and knowledge.

If you are reading this, then you’re likely on a computer connected to the internet. 4/10 people in this world don’t have access to the internet.

It does necessarily matter where you started though in life. Many people have gone from rags to riches, just like many have gone from riches to rags.

What matters is that every single day you have a choice to add a positive number to what compounds, or a negative number.

You don’t even need to focus on improving 1% better each day. All that matters is that you stay positive.

Trusting Valium, & False Authority

by | Oct 24, 2021 | Time Allocation

What a drag it is getting old. – The Rolling Stones

On Nov 15th, 1963, Valium was approved by the FDA.

It was initially marketed to “reduce psychic tension” and it went on to become one of the world’s most widely prescribed drugs. Also, the first drug to reach $1 billion in sales.

It was so pervasive, it made its way into pop culture through song like Mother’s Little Helper.

“Even though she’s not really ill, there’s a little yellow pill. She goes running for the shelter of her mother’s little helper.”

– The Rolling Stones

Mother’s little helper (aka Valium) was a blockbuster success in part due to the new world of pharmaceutical advertising. The pharmaceutical companies took out ads targeted at doctors, who then prescribed the drug to their patients.

After a few years of Valium’s explosive growth, it slowly became clear to the public that the drug was not as described. For one, it had negative side effects (which the ads stated it did not), including a range of withdrawal symptoms.

This resulted in a high chance of abuse and addiction, which the companies blamed on the users and their “addictive personalities”. Valium was not even an illicit drug, it was one prescribed by medical professionals, which made it all that much more alluring.

When investigations were launched against the drug, the defense always came down to one core rebuttal “Doctor are smart enough to not be fooled by advertisements”.

This argument used the widespread public assumption that medical professionals, specifically those who graduated from medical school, had superior judgement to the rest of the population because of their education. They could not be fooled, as the rest of us could, by deceptive and misleading advertising.

Now though, the negative societal effects of these blockbuster drugs like Valium and OxyCotin are abundantly clear: addiction and sometimes, death.

Clearly, the doctors were not smart enough to know the fallout that prescribing these small yellow pills would have.

In reality, few people could have known, because it was something that nobody had seen before. Mass addiction to a pharmaceutical drug was a new concept, especially one that was was created for, sold to, and supported by doctors.

While there are many lessons to take away from Valium, OxyCotin, and their other counterparts, the biggest one is to be careful of blindly trusting other. Regardless of their background, education, or anything else that gives them authority.

Everybody is fallible. Everybody makes mistakes.

And nobody cares as much about yourself as you do.