To the obsessed,

Here are your weekly Ten Bullets. A list of ideas I can't stop thinking about- to help you build companies, make art, and find your obsession.

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PS: Here are two pictures from Israel, from a Birthright trip I went on in 2018. It's an insanely beautiful place full of beautiful people. IDF soldiers especially. It's unimaginable the evil happening there, and the hate happening around the world. I'm sorry to anyone involved, who has friends/family there, or is suffering in any way.

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1. On early obsession:

"Some of the strongest visions emerge like this. From our obsessions when we're young, before our opinions about them have been affected by other people's judgments of them. Talking about what to do when you're dissatisfied with your life, the famous big wave surfer Garrett McNamara once said that you should 'go back to when you were three, figure out what you loved doing, figure out how to make that your life, then make the road map and follow it.'

Your obsessions are a clue to your earliest vision for yourself, if only you had paid attention to them in the beginning.

Look at someone like Tiger Woods showing off his putting skills on The Mike Douglas Show when he was only two years old. Or the Williams sisters. A lot of people don't know this, but their father, Richard, exposed all five of his kids to tennis when they were young, and they all had talent. But it was only Venus and Serena who showed passion for the sport. Obsession. And so tennis became the framework for how they grew up and how they saw themselves."

- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life​

2. On narrowing your vision:

"You start missing important steps on the road map. Having a broad vision gives you an easy, more accessible place to start from when it comes to figuring out where and how to zoom in.

That doesn't mean you get narrower with your vision, just more specific. The picture gets sharper. It's like zooming in on a map of the world when you're trying to build an itinerary for a trip. The world is made up of continents. Inside continents are countries, inside countries are states or provinces, inside those are counties, and inside those are cities and towns. And the thing is, you can keep going like this. Inside towns are neighborhoods, inside neighborhoods are blocks. Blocks are stitched together by streets.

If you're a tourist and you just want to see the world, you can hop from country to country or city to city and it doesn't matter. You don't have to pay close attention. But if you really want to know a place and get the absolute most out of your experience, if you might even want to call that place home someday, well then, you better hit the streets, talk to locals, explore every back alley, learn the customs, and try new things. That is when the itinerary you're trying to create-or the plan you're trying to build to achieve your vision really starts to take shape. My plan took shape around bodybuilding, after the first clear picture of my future snapped into focus."

- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life​

I love this analogy for how visions come to life. Arnold was broadly obsessed with 'America' before he found his vehicle in bodybuilding.

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3. On caring:

“It’s really easy to win at anything if you simply care much more about it than anyone else reasonably would.”

- @nearcyan​

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4. On life:

"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no 'brief candle' for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."

- George Bernard Shaw

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5. On contrast:

“The secret that underlies most successful entrepreneurs: The ability to switch back and forth between the creative mind and the constant grind. Again, and again, and again.”

- Dharmesh Shah (Founder of Hubspot)

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6. On love of the game:

"I never had many friends. I kept myself to myself. From the moment I got home from school, to the moment I slept..I spent my time out in the garden [playing football]."

"He never did anything else. If it was bad weather, he'd be drawing, and it'd be something to do with football."

"That's all he ever wanted. He never went out with friends. He never went out at night. Partying, girls, he didn't want to know."

- BECKHAM, Netflix Documentary​

Highly recommend. Beckham is a rare combination of obsession, talent, and style.

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7. On commitment:

"If you want to fix your life just stop treating it like an index fund. Every decision you make you should be all in on. Don’t spread your bets, the kingdom of heaven isn’t achieved through diversification.

You should be systemically destroying optionality, every door you don't take you should slam shut, every bet you make should kill you if you lose it, think about anthropic leverage, you don't want to be alive to see a world that isn't the one you bet on."

- @willmanidis​

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8. On over-optimization:

Over-optimization is an easy way to lose. Hacks becomes the focus, and not the game.

A runner takes four electrolyte packs, two gels, wears a special hat, special socks, then gasses out on mile 6. His friend woke up, ate a banana, and rips right by him. A lifter buys a $100 lever belt, fancy athleisure clothes, and gets dominated by a guy in a wife-beater. It's the same story, over and over.

Once you view your 'un-optimizations' as reasons to win anyway, the game gets really fun. You fall in love with the number 13. 'Bad luck' becomes good luck. The cards stacked against you, become the best hand. When you get fire in your belly from the reasons you should fail, you become unstoppable.

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9. On heroes:

"Don’t meet your heroes until they want to meet you."

- @anuatluru​

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10. On obsession:

Obsession is the purest and most painful form of love. You feel joy, in a way most won't understand.

This is why it can destroy relationships, friendships. Running 10 miles every day. Editing a newsletter 10x over. Spending hours picking out colors and fonts, for a product you might not even make.

The invisible, torturous tinkering behind a vision only you can see.

If it's true obsession, this has to come first. It has to. The longer you resist, the longer you adapt to what's 'normal,' the more eroded your soul becomes. You'll stress. Gain weight. Feel lost. Because you're not being you.

And, the moment you gather the courage to be that person, without compromise, is when your world truly opens up.

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obsessioncore [02+03]

PS- click here for obsessioncore (WIP) on Pinterest. This will be uploaded regularly. I wrote a bit more about the aesthetic here, if you'd like to share or send me any of your own.

Official obsessioncore [OC] will be shared on socials, and this newsletter.

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Also, apologies for the late send on this issue. No long-form newsletter this week. Next weekend, we'll be back with regularly scheduled programming.

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Stay obsessed,

Zach 🏴

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