Everything Comes Down To Avoiding These 9 Life Traps

Colorful picture, right?

Unfortunately, life traps aren’t always so obviously broadcast.

In fact, many of them are disguised as assets.

Others are such a subtle part of the “life script“, they’re invisible (to the untrained mind).

Noble-sounding ideas can be destructive when put into action.

What good is a personal code if it keeps you trapped into the wrong actions (ruining your life and emotional health?)

Everyone is quick to yell “SCAM!” when they see something that could change their lives, yet passively accept the real scams.

The problem with “it’s not a big deal” type thinking is that over time, it is a big deal.

Real scams are woven into “the way things are supposed to be”.

Let’s look at how to avoid them.

Table of Contents

Avoiding Big Mistakes (Life Traps) Is Also Part Of Winning

Most value is created through ruthless subtraction.

Subtraction is a superpower in effective risk taking.

You’re purifying your form.

Discarding what you don’t care about is much easier than deciding what the rest of your life will be like. You might not know how to define total success, but you do know how to avoid being a total loser.

“Don’t be a loser” > “Be successful”

If you fall into any of these life traps, they will guide your decision making for years.

You’ll be chained to the limitations of a smaller world.

Ready to identify them?

Good. So read on.

1. “Life Ends At 30”

As you think, so you shall become.

If you believe life ends at 30, it will.

Many view their 20’s as an era of precious YOLO time.

Why spend them developing skills + building a business?

BOOOOOORING.

Now’s the time to “find yourself” in a lifetime’s worth of hedonism!

There’s no better way to ensure your 30’s will be mediocre as F*CK.

But I didn’t stop there.

This life trap applies as much to the pre-30’s crowd as the after 30’s.

“We’re old, man… What’s the point in trying anything new?”

Never mind the fact that 50%+ of your life is still ahead of you.

This weak ass mindset ensures your ass is DONE.

2. Your Identity And Social Circles Freeze At Age 18

People want to enslave you to familiar expectations.

Once you’re labelled, you’re expected to perform within the limits of the label to maintain the “relationship”.

What are you giving up to buy this approval?

If you don’t overwrite faulty scripts with stronger/new ones, the old ones will re-assert themselves.

You are what you do, not what they say.

Your identity and social circles are only as limited as your refusal to take new action.

Socially stagnant people cling to dysfunctional relationships. People who circulate develop new relationships and let wasteful ones wither.

3. Stepping Over Millions To Collect Pennies

There’s something called “opportunity cost”.

For every loser you can learn one lesson from, there’s a winner you can learn 1,000+ from.

You don’t have to spend time with losers to learn not to be one.

It’s better to learn from those who are far ahead of you. Build a network of men who live out your ideals better than you.

You should always aim to make your environment a reflection of an abundant mind.

Stay observant, but don’t rationalize your circumstances.

4. A 9-5 Job = Safer Than Ownership

Would you rather be at the mercy of someone other than yourself?

This is exactly what you’re doing as an employee.

You’re outsourcing responsibility at great cost to your income + freedom.

An employee of a business endures the same risks as the owner, without the benefits.

The only true security is your ability to create value and get paid for it. The greatest investment you’ll ever make is the investment in your business skills. When you can create a new business out of nothing, you control your destiny.

Most people work jobs to support needless excess.

They demand indulgences now instead of holding them off until later.

Which brings us to:

5. Scheduled Hamster Wheel Payment Traps

Some people take this to an even higher level.

In an ironic attempt to signal success, they finance depreciating liabilities with debt.

Enter: the classic golden handcuffs.

You see, bad debt is the currency of broke people. Don’t go bankrupt trying to look like a winner.

Entry-level luxuries are one of the biggest traps on the way to freedom. They burn the leverage you need to hit the next level.

(Which, as you know, is what really makes you rich).

You want to avoid all things that are impractically attractive.

And here’s more.

6. The Expertise Trap

This is one of the paradoxes of life.

Many people think, “I’m not experienced enough to make these moves!”

However, you learn by teaching yourself on a problem by problem basis.

How else do you expect to win?

Expertise is acquired by taking *calculated* steps into the unknown.

7. “Success Is Linear”

This ties in with the expertise trap + employee mindset.

People want a nice, neat plan to victory without accounting for changing conditions.

However, the only end point this guarantees is mediocrity.

The honest truth is: Year one is unrelated to year two.

You see, the more permanent the change, the less you notice it’s happening. The appearance of change seems to signal a birth, but can actually be a graduation.

If you expect success to be linear, you’ll hold yourself to rigid strategies.

*Effective* strategies stem from principles.

They give you confidence even when you aren’t 100% sure of an immediate outcome.