Most people live their lives on autopilot.
Wake up. Go to school. Spend 12 years memorizing facts, theories, and concepts you don’t care about. Numb your curiosity with distractions. Sleep late, wake up fatigued, and never question your choices—repeating the cycle until your deathbed.
I’ve seen this pattern repeat in my life many times. But in my late teens, it became painful—so painful that I had to break it. I wanted more than the default path. I wanted to live beyond autopilot.
I first saw signs of hope through the internet when I discovered self-improvement.
Become Before Outcome
"Read what you love until you love to read."— Naval Ravikant
Since I got into self-improvement years ago, reading has been the most impactful habit out of other countless habits I’ve tried.
Reading condenses 10 years of knowledge into 10 hours. It lets you borrow the brains of experts, authorities, and people you admire.
I started with a book with an orange cover—The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck.* But if I reflect on what I retained, it wasn’t much.
On the other hand, just last week, I was feeling sluggish and inconsistent with my training routine. So I scrapped my old system and rebuilt it from the ground up. I researched, absorbed only the necessary information, and immediately iterated on it. This took just a few hours.
That’s when I noticed a pattern in my life:
Whenever I tried to cram all the knowledge on a topic—whether it was graphics, personal development, or creative work—it ended in vain. Why? Because I didn’t back it up with action.
Ideas create potential, but execution is non-negotiable if you want to actualize that potential.
The Mental Fat
Most people are mentally obese.
They never develop the meta-skill of learning—the skill that allows humans to progress. Instead, they doomscroll, hoard books, and save videos they never execute on.
Most people don’t actually learn.
They dabble in ideas they’ll never apply. Those ideas pile up like mental garbage, creating another layer of distraction in their minds. They over-consume and under-create.
Learning isn’t passive—it’s proactive.
Consumption isn’t bad in itself. But if you don’t pair it with a tangible project, you’re just accumulating mental weight without training your brain to process and applying knowledge.
This is why so many people become “armchair philosophers”—all theory, no results. They give the best advice for the chaos in others lives but can’t create order in their own.
The worst part? People make an identity out of it.
We all had that friend in highschool who says, “I’m just not good at math,” and then avoid every possible way to improve at it.
In Psycho-Cybernetics, Maxwell Maltz talks about how a “failure-type” person believes they’re a failure—and their identity acts accordingly. This creates people with the mental maturity of a 15-year-old, turning 50 this year.
Learning Isn’t Passive
"It isn't enough to think outside the box. Thinking is passive. Get used to acting outside the box." — Tim Ferriss
You don’t learn by just consuming—books, lectures, podcasts, whatever.
You don’t learn if you don’t put information to practice.
You don’t learn by cramming.
You don’t learn if you skip iteration.
You don’t learn if your strategy, plan, or vision isn’t aligned with action.
You don’t learn if you can’t relate new knowledge to existing ideas.
If you want to live fully, save time, and build an irreplaceable skill set, then learn how to learn, then learn whatever you want. most important meta-skill you can develop.
Be an Autodidact
"Only the autodidacts are free."— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The greatest minds in history were self-taught. They didn’t trade their curiosity for the comfort of the system.
Nikola Tesla self-studied physics and engineering and then created AC electricity, wireless transfer, and more.
Leonardo da Vinci mastered multiple fields with little formal education.
Friedrich Nietzsche developed his own writing style and timeless ideas through self-education after leaving traditional academia.
These were high-agency individuals.
They pursued self-generated goals without waiting for permission. That’s what made them autodidacts—they took responsibility for finding, questioning, and experimenting with new ideas.
That’s how you escape “tutorial hell.”
That’s how you solidify knowledge for years instead of cramming to barely pass an exam.
Think of learning like water. It’s not something you sip endlessly—it’s something that quenches your thirst when you need it most.
Iteration Over Perfection
"Don't I need to read all the books to become an expert?"
No. Because packing knowledge into your head without application is a surefire way to become a “know-it-all” with zero results.
The more I consumed without executing, the more frustrated and anxious I became—because I've developed the refined taste but couldn’t generate the results I wanted.
"When you're memorizing something, it's an indication that you don't understand it. You should be able to re-derive anything on the spot, and if you can't, you don't know it."— Naval Ravikant
Validate your ideas with reality.
True learning comes from struggle—from iteration, not memorization. You can memorize something all day long, but if you don’t struggle with it through real-life application, you won’t retain a thing.
So learn so deeply that you don’t need to memorize—because real learning happens through experience, struggle, and repetition.
Fall in love with the challenges life presents. You’ll always be overwhelmed by something, so why not let it be something meaningful?
The Passion Project
The alternative I'm introducing stems from curiosity rather than necessity. I firmly believe everyone should have at least one passion project—one that starts with curiosity and evolves into an obsession. Because life is empty without the obsessions curiosity has birthed. Among all projects, building your ideal lifestyle is the ultimate "meta-project." As a starting point, I recommend beginning with just one. However, it would be even more impactful if you developed projects for each domain of your life.
Solving endless stream of problems will shape your character, brand, and business.
Action Steps for The Passion Project.
1) Begin With Intention
Most people lack the will to learn because they’ve been force-fed knowledge since childhood—useless knowledge that constrains them rather than making them smarter.
Details you don't care about, theories that you can’t question and facts that you have to memorize. I was the same—until I started self-educating on topics that actually interested me.
People talk about finding your "why," your "reason," your "purpose." But it's impossible to find it until you try enough things.
And you won’t try new things until you realize your old approach isn’t as effective as you thought.
Start where it hurts.
If you want to push beyond your current comforts and attain something big while enjoying the process of learning, start with a problem. That’s where your hero’s journey begins.
Find a burning problem in your life or something you're curious about, then use learning as a tool to solve it. This will help you separate signal from the infinite noise.
Tie learning to your identity—because if you don’t have a strong reason to keep going, you won’t. That’s why you need a problem.
This can be as simple as extracting one actionable lesson from a book chapter you read. Then from an article. Then from a tweet.
First explore, then exploit.
2) Prime for Flow
Motivation is what gets you into this game; learning is what helps you continue to play; creativity is how you steer; and flow is how you turbo-boost the results beyond all rational standards and reasonable expectations. – Steven Kotler
The peak human state is flow—where neurochemicals create a high no drug can match. But accessing it requires balance—pushing yourself just beyond your edge for an extended period. You need to strike the right balance between your skill and challenge level.
Thinking in terms of problems can feel overwhelming at first.
But you don’t slay a Level 100 dragon when you’re Level 1. So minimize the dragon.
Turn your big problems into small tasks. Build your flow muscle gradually by spending focused time on high-impact tasks everyday.
If you are anxious the solution is self-education and if you are overwhelmed by the information then the solution is execution.
If you're a beginner, just 30–60 minutes of deliberate work can change everything.
3) Invert Problems Into Goals
Your life is an endless web of problems.
And your brain naturally leans toward comfort. That’s why you get fired up one day but fall off track the next.
You can’t master anything if you’re not obsessed with it.
And obsession begins with burning problems.
When a problem bothers you so much that it becomes your passion, you naturally work to solve it.
For example:
If people don’t listen to you, potential solutions include improving your communication or negotiation skills.
If you struggle to learn skills, it's probably because you fail to make skill so important which requires to actualize your goals, projects, and vision.
We humans do everything based on goals, whether we’re aware of them or not—shaped by primal instincts or society.
But identifying problems isn’t enough. You need to invert those problems into big goals you want to achieve.
Think so big you’ve never been there before. Flip the problem into a positive light because you need both negative and positive to make it towards your goals.
Real progress happens at the edge of comfort and discomfort – at the edge of known and unknown.
That’s where flow is found.
4) Zoom Out
When in doubt, remove your emotional glasses.
Go meta. Think from a higher perspective.
Most people zoom in on their problems until they seem bigger than they actually are. But if you zoom out, you’ll see them for what they are—challenges that can be solved with the right approach.
"Being positive" doesn’t always work. Highs don’t exist without lows. Positive loses meaning without negative.
Instead of dwelling on problems, glance over them—then course correct along the way instead of waiting for some “divine feedback” to set you straight.
Zoom out, identify the root of your problem, and set a big goal in one of the four major life domains:
Health
Wealth
Relationships
Happiness
This instantly clears up the "What skill should I learn first?" dilemma.
Because to move toward your big goal, you’ll naturally need to acquire multiple skills along the way.
5) Master the Right Resources
"As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble."— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Humans learn through imitation.
But don’t blindly self-educate—filter your learning through a simple system:
Find the principles of a skill (because the 80/20 rule applies to everything).
Gather resources: Mentors,social media accounts, and books on the topic.
Go to these sources when you’re stuck.
Learn, then validate ideas through real-life execution.
Be both book-smart and street-smart.
6) Gamify Projects
As a former gamer, I find gamifying everything makes learning fun.
This combines high agency with play.
In video games, you’re given hierarchical goals based on your level. The same applies to real life.
Most people get stuck in “theory land.” They’re force-fed knowledge they don’t need—like someone being lectured on car mechanics when all they want to do is learn to drive.
According to Josh Kaufman’s research, the first 20 hours of deliberate practice are all you need to become decent at any skill.
The key is to:
Learn as you go
Create real-life projects
Embrace the suck
Be willing to correct course over time
If you follow the previous steps, by now you should have:
A burning problem
A big goal
Resources to guide you
A system for breaking your big goal into smaller milestones
Now, turn it into a game.
Use productivity tools like the Eisenhower Matrix (Your intuition works fine at first.)
Brain dump all possible actions.
Identify high-impact tasks.
Prioritize execution.
If you follow these steps, everything will feel like a video game.
The math is simple:
More high-impact actions = more progress toward mastery.
7) Prioritize Iteration
If you want to master anything, clocking in hours isn’t enough.
You need to refine faster.
Masters don’t just spend more time—they iterate faster than average people.
Most people get stuck in "how-to" mode—always asking for advice but never executing. But those who achieve mastery start fast and fail faster.
You don’t get better by spending 100 hours on a skill. You get better by going through 1,000 iterations.
Ask questions. Experiment. Refine.
Perfectionism kills progress. Instead, adopt the Kaizen approach—aim to be just a little better than yesterday.
This applies not just to learning but to everything you do in life. You don’t start with Sun Tzu-level strategy—at first, you only have a "you-level" plan.
Refine through feedback, iteration, and experimentation.
8) Build a Holistic Lifestyle
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."— Aristotle
Most people make their problems bigger than they really are.
Instead of obsessing over individual problems, think holistically.
Your life is a meta-project.
Every skill, every lesson, every challenge integrates into a larger framework.
When in doubt, ask yourself:
"What would my ideal self do in this situation?"
Then do that.
You’ll learn from your mistakes.
And soon, you’ll become your ideal self.
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Until the next chapter.
Abhay Gautam.