Books, books, books

Books, books, books

Getting addicted to books is the best thing I have ever done for myself. When I was in my teen years I heeded the advice of my heroes, they all seemed to have one thing in common, reading. So I started reading everything I could get my hands on. From Dale Carnegie, to Robert Kiyosaki and Napoleon Hill. I remember when I first read "Think and grow rich", I was intrigued, I studied the book, I made notes, made use of highlighters for the first time in my life, I was 15 and it was incredible! I felt like I had a vault of gold. One of the most impactful books I have ever read. I remember reading chapter 11, the chapter about sex transmutation and I thought it was suspect. "Nope, not a chance" I thought. It just didn't make sense to me. I was a teenager, all I was thinking about was having sex. I was conflicted. I didn't want it to be true. It was such a sacrifice, no sex to attain a level of success? Still, I was so in love with the idea of being rich that I would do anything. I started embracing the idea. At 20, while my peers and friends were having sex or claimed to be having sex, I started writing a screenplay and I transmuted the energy of sex into the project. Hill stated that if you transmuted the energy of sex into a creative endeavor, it would attain genius level. I wanted that and so I implemented his teachings. I always had ideas, I was always in a creative fever, I wrote for hours and often lost track of time, my focus was optimal, I was continuously in a state of flow, I had the time of my life. I had so much creative energy that I created two sequels for the screenplay. In fact, I had to force myself to stop writing. If it weren't for the transmutation, I never would have wrote my screenplay. I realized Napoleon Hill was right. As an added bonus, the people who used transmutation were legends, I am talking about Einstein, Edison, Mozart, Washington, Oscar Wilde, Tesla, Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Napoleon Barnaporte and many other great men - without a doubt transmutation elevated mediocre work to great work - genius level work. Now all I see in my map of experience is works of transmutation from all my heroes. They all share the characteristics Hill mentioned. They are full of enthusiasm, they have a positive mental energy that radiates, a personality that is contagious, they are creative and they are super rich. The emotion of sex works and it makes sense because sex in itself is a ritual of creation. That's when the flood gates opened up for me. 

I realized I could get an advantage over people who didn't read. I realized that I could know more and that would enable me to do more. It hit me like a sniper on the rooftop that I was onto something special. I got addicted to books and the library became my favorite place in the world. The way I saw it was that I was internalizing what took a person a whole lifetime to learn in a couple of hundred pages. It was like a cheat code for life. Finishing a book always made me feel like a winner. It still does. I think I've read all books on Finance. Fine, not all but most, I am talking about Classics and Bestsellers. Reading Proust was a drag at first because in my mind, I always had the thought that I was going to read over 4000 pages. In order not overwhelm myself, I decided that I would read the book in a period of 3 years - that's two volumes a year. It was a good plan. I was after all reading other books, and literature wasn't really a favorite, I preferred books on Finance, Psychology & Philosophy. To Robert Greene, I salute you, I have read all your books, I love them all, I look forward to your upcoming works, you are one of my favorite authors ever. Dr. Jordon B. Peterson, Maps of Meaning influenced me so much. I swear it changed how I perceived reality. Thank you for that wonderful gift, it's one of my favorite books of all time. Anyways, the first year I followed through and read the two volumes of Proust, and the next year I devoured the remaining volumes. I finished reading the book way before the fat lady started singing. I couldn't follow the initial schedule, I wanted to read more, I was hooked. Proust took me to incredible places. I got acquainted with so many great and intelligent people. The creme de la creme of French society, I am talking about aristocracy, Kings, Queens, Princes, Princesses, Ducs, Duchesses, Intellectuals, War heroes, the best artists and just the best people in all walks of life. I learned different mannerisms. He taught me how to be social and emotionally intelligent. His words could paint a picture better than Picasso. He taught me about love, friends, suffering, old age and death. He taught me how to be a gentleman. He taught me about perspective and delaying gratification; your 60 year old self is a product of your 25 year old self, make the right decisions, don't be expedient, your 60 year old self won't appreciate it. Reading his book is the best thing I have done in my young life. I know what life has to offer to me in its entirety because of Proust, he gave me his whole life on a silver platter, after he finished writing the last chapter he died - I cheated life. 

The Universe has recently opened up a reality for me that I can talk about business endlessly. A reality with smart people where I can talk about Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. A reality where we exchange ideas and book recommendations. A reality where ambition is the norm. A reality where we use words like "Market Research", "Board of directors", "Investments", "Serve", "Monetize" and "Innovation". A reality where only the best are chosen. A reality where fools are not accommodated. A reality for somebody like me. Wow! Look at what books have done for my life. That's what I want, to be around the best people, people who are better than me. Winners. Conquerers. Millionaires and Billionaires who are serving large numbers, people who are chasing worthwhile deals. This is the only thing I care about. 

P.S. It would be criminal if I composed a post on books and I omitted "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham - my best book purchase! I love it, it makes sense, one of the reasons I am an Investor. Shout out Warren Buffet who taught me so much; to have an Innerscore card, operate with a margin of safety, operate within your circle of competence, be ambitious, be patient, love what you do, make a lot of money and give it away - priceless.