MASON POMEROY

How to Start Reading Again After the School System Robbed the Passion from You

You’ve heard the quotes.

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.”
George R.R. Martin

“The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.”
Rene Descartes

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
Dr. Seuss

Most of us are conscious of the fact that reading is good for us. If you’re not, this is a friendly invitation to get out of whatever rock you’ve been living under and wake up to reality. Slap in the face, bro.

Read nonfiction books.

Now ~1-5% of people can probably look at that statement and say, oh, yeah, if it’ll help my life, let’s go read! And these people will go on to read for the rest of their lives. If you’re reading this, you’re likely not this person. 85% of people will buy a book and read 1/4 of the way into it then let it sit and collect dust for the next year, only to look at the book again with guilt and shame.

Step Zero

The new year is upon us, and if you want to join that 1-5% of people that can “just do it” then keep reading, because however smart you think you are, you are not. Your commitment to learning is a direct correlation to how smart you actually are. If your mind is made up and you think you’ve got it all found out, good luck homie.

You need to first shed whatever ego you’ve got around learning. take a step back and realize, there’s so much shit out there for you to know, and you don’t really know shit. You might know some stuff here and there; you may be a so called “expert” even. In the case of the expert, even you should know that the bounds of knowledge are limitless as long as you keep your ego low. A quote I like on this topic is this:

A man who knows he knows nothing is smarter than a man who thinks he knows something but really knows nothing.
Socrates

Be humble. Rip that ego out of you, or you will never learn anything. Trust in the principle of radical open-mindedness.

Step One

Now, you’re finding it hard to read. Your quick fix mentality can’t handle the idea of sitting down to read 20 pages, 30, 40, or 100, every single day. Your mind doesn’t trust in the principle of delayed gratification.

It’s not your fault.

Because of the society we live in, we’ve been basically hard-wired since birth to look for that quick fix. The ice cream, the video game, the 6-day 6 pack routine.

It is your fault.

Don’t use this as an excuse. You can sit and complain and play victim forever, but that won’t ever solve the problem. The root cause here is searching for quick fixes. You’ve got to unwind that whole mentality and throw it away. Every day, practice delaying gratification.

Ditch social media.

Quit video games.

Quit Netflix.

Quit porn.

Improve your diet.

Exercise.

Meditate.

This is all “mainstream self-help advice” that no one does. They’re all too scared of letting go of their instant gratification so they never take that dopamine-detox-leap, that dive into the life free of constant stimulation.

I’ve done it, and I fight the battle against short-term gratification every day, and I tell you what, it’s a lot cooler over here.

A wise man works and waits, while a fool wishes and complains.

Are you a fool or a wise man? Do you delay gratification or live in a loop of quick fixes? If you’re a fool. There is only one way out. Start being the wise man. Work and wait, and the results will come.

Momentum, momentum, momentum.

You just need to break through the initial barrier of resistance before you begin to cultivate momentum. Once you get that momentum, all of this stuff is easy and fun. You’ll begin to delay gratification, and it’ll be your new life. You’ll read, and you’ll enjoy it.

Always, make sure your mental health is in check. Meditate and gratitude journal daily to get the ball rolling and your happiness compounding on itself. (And please sleep well. everything falls apart if you don’t.)

You’re likely not reading because you indulge in short term gratification so much that your mind doesn’t see a point. You have to get rid of all that stuff, so your mind has a reason to read. Your brain functions off of values. What’s more valuable, YouTube, Netflix, ice-cream, or a cup of green tea and reading? If the answer is and honest yes to the first three, your values are out of wack. Deep down, you believe that short term gratification is more valuable than delayed gratification.

Every day, do the habits stated above. Break through the initial barrier of resistance and build momentum. When you lose motivation, remember to be the wise man. Work and wait. Create the motivation by working, waiting, and receiving it. Fight back against the quick fix and take control of your values.

Step Two

School didn’t teach you how to read, it taught you how to consume and regurgitate and forget.

Here is a practical short guide on how to read properly.

1. Pick the right books.

Read what interests you, or you will not want to read. Read about the skills you want, what makes you curious, what spikes your interest. Pick books that are written well and have been recommended by people you trust. (Hey, if you trust me, I have a free booklist on this site with a bunch of great books.) Link here.

2. Read Physical copies.

No audio books, book summaries, etc. eBooks, only read them if you can actually read them. Get physical copies of books.

3. Read slowly.

If you enjoy what you’re reading and you really want to learn, read slow. You won’t learn if you don’t let your mind process it. Ditch that speed-reading bullshit. It’s a marketing scheme tailored towards your lizard brain, quick fix mentality.

4. Take notes.

This one is controversial, but it’s what actually got me to start reading. In school you read the book without digesting it. You just want to get the test questions right. In real life, the test questions aren’t the same. The test questions are whether or not you can react properly to a situation. This type of test requires good principles, and good principles are found in books. So, take notes. All you need to do is underline each sentence that makes you go, “ah-ha!” or “wow” then fold the corner of the page you underlined the sentence. Later on, if you want to revisit the book, all your highlights will be there and will serve as refreshers. Repetition=learning, so this makes learning very easy.

That’s how you read properly, and I have a statement to make about finishing books.

Some say to finish them, some don’t. I say, if you start a book because you wanted to learn about it, finish it. If the book is downright horrible, just give it away. You can practice discipline by finishing books, trust me, having a stack of 10 half-read books is not fun, especially when they’re good books.

Step Three

Read. Thanks for reading, if you got this far, you obviously like it 😉

If you want to read something deeper from me, check out my eBook “Your Worst Enemy, Your Best Friend” Link here

Thanks for reading, DM me on social media or email me to talk, I’d be happy to.

Mason

https://linktr.ee/masonpomeroy

New Year’s 2022- How to Make Changes that Stick.

Its 2022.

Today, January 1st, the gyms will be packed. The demand for healthier food will be high. The McDonalds lines will be shorter. Self-help book sales will increase. People will be nicer, happier, and more upbeat.

To this reality we face on the new year’s, I feel pity. I feel bad over the ignorance of those who make resolutions based off of new year motivation; and consequently, fail. A small percentage of people will reach their goals, and this is not because they set them at the start of the year, it’s that their mindset was already ready for success.

Why do we see the new year’s resolution trend every year? Because we’ve built a toxic culture around motivation. We now treat our life like the thought of the weekend during a particularly bad week; we treat our lives like a never-ending tunnel with a light at the end.

The issue with these people is that they are fighting an uphill battle. If you are like this, listen up. This happens because of false, deficit, extrinsic motivation. All the wrong types of motivation are involved with the never-ending pursuit of the white light. The uphill battle is fought by those who have the wrong type of motivation.

1. False motivation

I made this term up a few years ago. Essentially, false motivation is the idea that after we indulge in bad habits, see someone else who is better than us, or feel guilt, all of a sudden, the world flips upside-down, and it feels like we have the power to reach our goals. The issue with false motivation is that it is false; it’s an illusion created by the mind to cope with an unwanted circumstance or action. Temporarily, you may feel feelings of guidance, bliss, and mania when experiencing false motivation; however, this is temporary, not long-term. After a few manic hours of cleaning the room/wishing the dishes style productivity, you may feel better, but by no means will your motivation continue.

2. Deficit motivation

Deficit motivation occurs when you are focused on the lack of something rather than an inner desire to grow. When you lack something, say, happiness, you may feel deficit motivation to become happier. This is good, but again, temporary. Imagine if you just shifted the motivation from “I’m unhappy, I need happiness” to “I would like to increase my happiness for the rest of my life.” Just this shift turns your deficit motivation into growth motivation; thus, turning your impermanent motivation into permanent motivation.

3. Extrinsic motivation

Extrinsic motivation occurs when you desire something outside of personal enjoyment, something that is not internal to yourself. Such things include but are not limited to money, power, status, fame, relationships, avoiding punishment the list goes on. If you do not do a task for its own sake, your motivation will wane either before you achieve the extrinsic motivator or once you achieve it. Again, this is a problem because this means the motivation is impermanent, and it will not be strong enough to cultivate a vital ingredient of success- persistence.

What do you do with these types of motivation? Let them help, but whatever you do; do not rely on them. You mustn’t let these types of motivation become your primary source of persistence, because they are so impermanent that in just a few hours, days, or weeks; you will be thrown off your path and you will land back in the world of instant gratification and comfort.

So, what do you do?

Motivate yourself intrinsically.

Imagine motivation is like a seed you must take care of. You must sow, with care, the seeds of positive thought within your mind. From those seeds, if properly taken care of, motivation is cultivated.

To intrinsically motivate is a process, and that is why most people fail. Intrinsic motivation is the base amount of effort you must put in to achieve a goal, and most people aren’t even aware of its existence. To intrinsically motivate is to first, sow the proper seeds of thought into your mind. To take care of the seeds and water them with a strong vision, to fertilize them with persistent action, to add the sunlight of gaining specific knowledge around your skill.

In less metaphorical terms- here’s the practical steps to intrinsic motivation.

Positive mind. Good mental health and positive, self-motivating thought patterns.
A strong vision cultivated through visualization of the end goal.
A self-image which matches the character of the person you must become to complete the goal.
Persistent action within the goal, consistency, with no room for doubt and resistance. There will be days where you have no motivation. These are the days where the persistent are separated from the weak.
Specialized knowledge. If the goal means enough to you, you will, with humility, learn the skills, knowledge, and processes necessary to achieve the goal.

This is all you need to get what you want done this year. This is the blueprint, apply it, and you’ll be one of those who actually get through the year without returning to the life of dissatisfaction.

If you’re making new year’s resolutions, it’s because you want out of the current life you’re living. You want something better, bigger, or more long-term gratifying. Do me and you a favor and don’t forget that. Don’t forget that desire. (here’s a secret- desire is really step 0 in the process of achieving a goal.)

Thank you for tuning in, and I hope you enjoyed this. Stay with me on this journey, I’m on it with you, we must fight against mediocrity together.

Bonus: A deeper dive on intrinsic motivation

Be careful when setting goals which you can achieve. It’s good to do this, but remember, if your motivation is solely based on the goal and not your own internal desire to improve, the motivation will start to fade once you achieve the goal. Don’t live life like a yo-yo. Stay intrinsically motivated, don’t fall off.

Much love, Mason

Age 17

FOR A DEEPER DIVE on motivation: feel free to check out my new eBook- “Your Worst Enemy, Your Best Friend” on gumroad. link here. This gets deep, its inspirational and mind expanding 🙂 ($2.99)

You’re Young, Feeling Lost, Stuck, and Purposeless, here is what to do.

So, you’re young—probably under 20—feeling like you have no sense of direction.

I’ve been there.

First of all—this is a disclaimer—stop looking for quick fixes. Now. There is no one-step, quick-fix solution for this problem. It’s a process, and it can be a fun one. Discovering yourself is fun! Who said you need to struggle?

I used to be there. I’m still young, and my days feeling directionless and stuck are far from over, but they are much more infrequent. Moreover, through this process (which I’m about to lay out to you) I frequently experience feelings of personal bliss, joy, and I have positive visions for the future.

The Three Pillars of Directionlessness

1. Mental Health

This one must come first. If you’re feeling directionless, hopeless, or stuck, it could be because of your mental health. Now, this is not bad news, as there is always help, and always a cure. In fact, if what you’re struggling with is mild (or even severe in some cases) the issue is really pain-free to resolve- and it can actually bring massive amounts of joy.

If you’re struggling with mental health, it is likely corrupting most other areas of your life- relationships, habits, etc. So, in order to develop these, we must improve our mental health. If your issue is mild, I have a few quick daily exercises that will likely get you out in a few weeks.

Gratitude Journaling. Write 1-3 things each day that you’re grateful for. You’ll be surprised on how effective this is.
Meditation. There’s no mental issue that mindfulness cannot resolve. Becoming increasingly aware of yourself, you will effortlessly get better.
Exercise & Diet. If these are out of wack, so will your life be. You must be eating enough healthy foods, not too much, not too little, because this will keep your hormones regular, and you must be eating relatively healthy. Food has a massive impact on every aspect of your life, so eat quality. You should also be exercising, even if it’s a 20 minute walk each day. When I started weightlifting a few years ago, my life started to feel real and like it had direction. It gave me a sense of purpose and it also just made me feel better. Bigger, stronger, and more relaxed.
Thought patterns. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”. If your thinking is bad, your life will fall apart. Do everything in your power to break bad thought cycles, to improve your positive thinking, to become optimistic and self-confident. I recommend reading The Subtle Art of not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson and As a Man Thinketh by James Allen. These books will teach you what you need to know.

Now, if your mental health is worse, I have a few recommendations for you, and I am not able to help as well as these. I recommend the course “The Science of Well-being” taught by a Yale professor on coursera. Link here. (This is seriously one of the most beneficial things you can do to improve your mental health, if you desire to get better) If it is even worse, if you are unable to pull yourself up, please talk to a professional.

2. Lack of Purpose

The second reason could be that you lack purpose. You don’t know what your long-term vision is, you don’t know what you love to do the most, you don’t know your one thing. Well, in your case, you have some work to do, and you’ll be stuck forever if you don’t do the work. Life purpose takes weeks, months, possibly years (to develop into a massive vision, but you can find it in a month or a few) and you’re going to need to invest in it. Here is my action plan for you, a few books to read and actions to take.

Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. This book will be the foundation of all your understanding of this topic.
The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. Use this Book to find your purpose and crush your limiting beliefs.
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. use this book to deepen your purpose and understand the process in which you must execute it.
Mastery by George Leonard- Learn what it will take to Master your purpose
The One Thing by Gary Keller. Learn how to make your purpose a success.
BONUS: Purple Cow by Seth Godin- Learn how to market and expand your purpose.
Do the work. Keep going, even if you lose passion some days, push through, be ruthless, be logical and strategic. You’re at war with yourself. Make the right part of you win.

These are 6 books which each range from $10-15 on amazon. Thats $60-90 total. Make the investment in yourself; it’s small and it’s worth it. I also recommend you take notes with a pen in your books. Underline, fold page corners, write in your books, etc. It will help you learn and it’s fun.

I promise you, if you follow all these steps, you will have found—and will be acting out your purpose—within the first two-to-three months of reading this. The catch: you have to show up every day, and once you find your purpose, you must act on it in that instant, and act on it daily for the rest of your life. Sounds scary? It is. War is scary, and that’s what acting out your purpose is. It’s a war of art.

If you aren’t a reader, you won’t learn. You won’t discover your purpose. Suck it up and make yourself love reading. (I used to hate reading, now I read multiple books a month. It’s possible, so do it.)

3. Lack of Experience

I am writing this one last because it is the least common and easiest to deal with. If you think you lack experience, you probably don’t. Don’t listen to those guys that say “oh, do whatever you want in your 20’s and take your time finding yourself'” No. Don’t waste your time. You’re here now, so find yourself ASAP. Don’t rush it, but don’t dilly-dally along. that’s how you form regrets.

You’ve read things. You’ve watched videos. You eat certain foods. What are your preferences? What do you like the most? What puts you in a flow state? These questions aren’t questions of what pleasures you like to indulge in (fix those bad habits, for your own sake), but what you genuinely like to do. These are hints towards yourself. Hints toward your purpose, your art, your calling, your service to the world, to life.

Now, if you’re very young or you genuinely have had such an actionless life that you have completely no clue what you enjoy, my answer to you is simple.

Go do shit.

Yeah, I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but it’s true. You can start with whatever interests you on the internet. Pick five things you like the most, then go do them in real life. Then out of those five, narrow it down to just a few, then combine those into one thing. Thats your purpose.

Your purpose is fluid, over time it will self-refine, change, but there is one truth- it will always be related to the same things. Find those aspects of what you enjoy that never change. That is your purpose at the deepest level.

Again, the catch here is that you have to do the work. You can’t get around this. I’m telling you right now, this is the secret, this is the thing that you must accept. It’s been in front of you your entire life. Do the work, even when you don’t feel like it, because to live a good life is to live a life of grit, of action, of passion, of discipline, of peace. Apply these principles. Every day, do some of the work. The next week, do some more of the work, and so on. You will never find it if you never pursue it. Commit yourself, every day, to doing what is necessary to find and act on your purpose. All the information is here for you, none is left out. Quit trying to overcomplicate it. Follow these steps and I guarantee—if you just commit to the work—your life will change drastically.

Do you want it or not?

If you liked reading this and found it valuable, share it with a friend who could use it. Thank you for reading.

Mason

Stimulation Breeds Mental Fog

So you’re running into an issue. Whether that be anxiety, depression, addiction, feeling lost, lack of emotion, or creative blocks, there is one common factor that causes these: unhealthy coping.

We all have trauma. Even if you were raised in a perfect environment you’d still have trauma. Life is built in a way where hardship shapes us, therefore even our own minds can traumatize us.

Now what are you doing with your trauma? Are you sweeping it under a rug or are you bottling it up? Are you lashing it out unto others? Are you running from it? The answer is likely yes to one or more of those questions. If the answer is an honest yes, this means you aren’t effectively coping with your trauma. When you do this, many problems come up, the most detrimental being lack of motivation and creativity. When you lack motivation and creativity, you stop living life and life starts living you. You are no longer dancing with life; instead, you are hanging onto life by a thread.

When you lack motivation and creativity you start to entertain negative thoughts. You start to distract yourself. A layer of fog forms over your mind and you are now living on autopilot. Only you can make the decision to clear your mind.

All unhealthy coping mechanisms are a form of distraction. When you distract yourself, something deeper is happening. You are rejecting your life. When you distract yourself, you’re attempting to hide from life. Now what is the issue with that? You are life. Your essence of being is life itself. Negative things happen and will keep happening on a daily basis, but it is our responsibility as humans to effectively cope.

HOW DO YOU STOP RUNNING AWAY?

Be.

You must be able to sit with your negative past, present, and anxiety about the future and accept it. You must be able to forgive even the most evil acts. If you do not forgive and accept, you will continue to run away from life, holding hate in your heart, only to pass this hate unto others. You must be strong enough to break the cycle. Luckily for you, the process can be peaceful, but unlucky for you, it can be the most emotionally taxing of tasks.

You must be able to cope effectively to life a good life. This is how you can start.

First you must develop higher levels of awareness. You must observe and learn. To do this you can meditate. Start meditating everyday and the awareness will spill over unto your daily life, and you will find yourself self-reflecting. Do I really want to do this? Is this a form of fear? Why do I feel this way? This is good. Keep self reflecting.

Second you MUST forgive everyone who ever hurt you, including yourself. If you do not do this, you will forever hold onto the hatred and pass it onto countless others. https://youtu.be/GlFjhO0lgLA Here is a fantastic video that will aid you in the forgiving process. WARNING: This is NOT easy. You may experience extreme emotions, be ready, but also expect extreme progress and peace.

Third you must learn about what you need to learn about. Whatever interests you, learn. Also read some self help and psychology to understand yourself deeper and begin creating a better life. There is a free booklist on this site, start there.

Fourth you must become aware of all of the ways that you distract yourself, become aware of all of your addictions, and become aware of all of the ways in which you are running from life. Don’t try to force them away, just be highly aware of them.

Fifth you must cultivate peace. Set time away from all stimulation, distraction and addiction every day. Dedicate higher amounts of time to be able to sit alone in silence. Be ready to face your emotion and trauma in these periods.

Surprisingly, you may notice in this process that you wade through your emotional problems pretty quickly. Once the fog fades, you realize this is what life is about. You feel centered, calm, and creative. You want to do bigger things with your life. Your goals become clearer and you are no longer trapped by your thoughts.

Just by freeing yourself from stimulation and distraction you are now able to cope effectively. You can now sit through your emotional problems, freeing yourself of hatred and fear and cultivating peace and creativity.

Develop this skill and all the suffering you go through in the process will be worth it. Join me on the journey! discord link below.

https://linktr.ee/masonpomeroy

thank you for reading.

Susanne Cook-Greuter’s 9 Stages of Ego Development- I was shocked to see the Accuracy of these stages.

Cook-Greuter’s Work in Ego development theory is fantastic and profound. Must read if you want to do self-actualization or consciousness work. Or even work in good business, philosophy, or whatever interests you.

Learn and master these stages & you’ll be aware of all the traps and pitfalls of yourself. How you lie. How you deceive yourself. Your own shortcomings. How to evolve, what is necessary to evolve.

A basic summary of these stages:

Impulsive is when you’re born. You just react, “you” don’t exist. It’s all unconscious reaction and the boundary between self and other doesn’t exist.

Opportunist is when a little “me” starts forming. Everything is a zero sum game. Either “I” win or “you” win. Now it’s a game of pure survival and growth with no reason, self awareness or ethics.

Diplomat is the level of conformity. The self grows only through community and beliefs. This can be friend groups, families, religions, schools, etc.

Expert is the skill focused stage. The self now wants to work on developing valuable skills and growing itself and it’s own knowledge. The self becomes more conscious of itself here.

Achiever is the stage in which one goes beyond just skill and becomes goal striving. This is now complex survival, the ego survives through growth and becoming bigger and more successful.

The pluralist begins to self-reflect and question its own being. The self becomes more introspective and self-exploring.

The strategist is the self-actualizer. The seeker of enlightenment, growth, truth, maxing their potential. Focused on becoming better in every aspect & deeply growing.

The Magician becomes construct aware & recognizes that everything, including itself is merely a construction of the mind, a sort of strange loop. It recognizes that it is itself because of how it thought of itself. Deeply introspective, many existential crises and deep questions, and lots of deep insights at the level of being.

The Unitive stage is the last stage, where the self becomes transcended and the consciousness is back at unity with being. It achieves union again, but with a more grounded and wise state. The impulsive stage was at union but without the experience of construction and deconstruction of the self, but the unitive stage now has the best of all the stages and lives in union once again.

This is the process of construction and deconstruction. Self actualization and self realization. This is crucial for you to study and understand so that you can recognize yourself and start to introspect and reflect deeply.

Thank you for reading. For further reading, the link here is the full research paper conducted by Susanne Cook-Greuter.

I recommend you print this out and staple it together or put it in a binder to read & take notes. There is timeless value in this paper & anyone looking to actualize and introspect will find their understanding of reality compound on itself as they read.

Follow my socials and join my discord!

https://linktr.ee/masonpomeroy (discord link in there too)

Thanks again!

Mason

The first post.

The first post is always the hardest because you want it to be some perfect introduction. This strive for perfection in the first post is a trap. This is why you see so many YouTube channels with 0 posts. It’s the first obstacle…

So what am I going to post for my first post? This. And a link to a YouTube video I watched a few years ago that I enjoyed. Thanks for scrolling all the way down to this if you’re here like 5 years later 🙂

deep video.