What do YOU really WANT?
Dear Reader,
I don’t know if you’ve seen First Blood, part III, but in the movie, Colonel Trautman asks Rambo (Stallone) this very pertinent question as we see the battle scarred veteran weary, and saying “I don’t want it anymore” when asked to join yet another WAR going on.
The question the good Colonel asks is PITHY, and to the point — and SOUND.
“When are you going to come full circle, John?”
Background — Trautman is asking Rambo, who by now is working in a monastery (inner devils? Demons? Hehe) to “get away from it all” after the bloodshed and mayhem in First Blood — Part II.
And there was a lot, hehe. Good ole Stallone, and the Rambo flicks. Classic, and for the ages as it were, and will never be forgotten.
Arguably Rocky is the only character he created which was . . . ah, but this ain’t about Stallone is it.
Anyway, so as Rambo declines the “offer”, saying “My war is over”, the Colonel talks to him much as a father would a son.
“When are you going to come full circle, John”, he asks.
What do you mean Rambo replies.
“You may have gotten away from the war outside, but NOT the war within you”.
“I know the reasons you’re here, John. But it doesn’t work that way!” continues Trautman
“I want to belong to something”, Rambo responds.
“You DO belong to something, but not THIS”.
“Not anymore! I don’t want it!”
“That’s too bad . . . because you’re STUCK WITH IT!”
And he goes on to tell Rambo how “they didn’t create the fighting machine that he is”. They simply “chipped away the rough edges”, as “the sculpture was already there”.
And while Trautman asked him about coming full circle the question was really about what he WANTS — and being comfortable with who truly IS at his very core (and the “what is it that you WANT” question was posed at the end of Rambo II, by the way. Stallone is nothing if not an expert storyteller, hehe).
And to be truly comfortable with who you ARE — — at your very core, you have to know yourself well, my friend.
(NB — It might be pertinent here to point out that I once posted a meme in black and white on my WeChat account asking the reader if they could “stand on their own” without all the “accruments” of modern society i.e. a car, bank balance, job etc).
Who are YOU really once we take ALL that away from you?
Can YOU stand on YOUR OWN without these things?
Do you really KNOW YOURSELF?
In “Outwitting the Devil”, Napoleon Hill wrote about something which may be glossed over by a lot of people reading the book . . . but if you’re smart, and “in the know”, that might just be one of the most important sections of the book you read.
As he works up to telling us the two experiences in his life which truly brought his “other self” into play, he lists out his jobs prior to that. His work. His many accomplishments (which weren’t looked upon as accomplishments at all by most people at the time. Sound familiar huh??)
And he talks about going from one job to the next.
One venture to the other.
One profitable biz (which he started, often times with NO capital) to the other, and handing over (by virtue of circumstance amongst others) the profits and proceeds made in said businesses to his partners, while he, often broke, looked for the “next thing”.
The next thing for him.
As he writes this, he tells us, “it became increasingly evident that no amount of money would ever make me happy”.
And often times his friends and family would roundly laugh at him and castigate him for leaving profitable sources of employment or other income, and he’d have little choice but to agree, even so far as his mind (the rational part of it) was concerned!
What man truly knows himself??
These lines were written way back in the mid 1900’s, but they may be some of the most important and “from the heart” lines you ever read, my friend.
And I can relate.
Oh boy . . . can I RELATE . . . both in terms of life and business. And fitness, of course!
What truly makes you HAPPY?
For me, it wasn’t the cushy expat jobs I worked when I FIRST went to China. Jobs that paid me five times more than what the average wage was for the position (but there was good reason behind this, but still) . . . jobs that helped me build up savings to the point that if I KNEW what I was doing, could easily have started my fitness ventures back in 2005 instead of ultimately in 2011 . . .
Boy, time flies does it not? Seems like yesterday when the friendly realtor Tom Song showed me my first apartment in China . . .
Anyway, it wasn’t the jobs that followed thereafter. Not even THAT job I talk about so often!
And it wasn’t jobs I did YEARS later in mainland China again, and certainly NOT what I did in the middle in the middle East.
What man truly KNOWS himself, my friend?
(I hate to carp on it, but the question DOES beget!)
As you set out to find out WHAT exactly you were MEANT to do in terms of life (not “work) . . . this question will crop up many a times, and you’re a lucky man indeed if you can answer it before the age of 40 . . . and well beyond in some cases!
I know of people that started successful online businesses.
Matt Furey, renegade info publisher and bodyweight fanatic for one.
He started his business, built it from scratch and (finally) got to a point where he was wildly successful.
And then, for a period, he let it all slide.
No blog posts. No emails. No products. I still remember Matt’s early emails back in the day in 2005 when yours truly should have started HIS own venture too, but hey, live and learn, no regrets either!
Certainly no regrets. I’ve had a very storied life until now, and it promises to only get BETTER.
Now, in terms of what man truly knows himself, here is a question I’ve been wrestling with for ages, and indeed one that I considered back in 2017 when I “diversified” and put all my “fitness and motivational” eggs into one basket (0 Excuses Fitness) and my other writing under another umbrella.
For whatever reason though the rahulmookerjee.com site did NOT change.
It’s still the old fashioned site I created way back in 2011. Not many products. Lots of posts though.
Certainly no annoying pop ups as you see on the www.0excusesfitness.com website(hehe, sorry, but they’re necessary!).
And so forth.
And I’ve been thinking.
If the site had built on the same platform the rest of my sites are, then I’d probably leave it as is and just build on there. After all, you’ll still see rahulmookerjee.com pop up a LOT on Google . . .
But it’s not. And that’s part of the conundrum.
Maybe I’ll use it for other business ventures. Who knows! If you have any ideas, feel free to write back and let me know!
And in terms of fitness, the same thing.
What man truly KNOWS himself?
What do YOU REALLY WANT OUT OF LIFE?
I don’t know.
Only you can answer that, but I’ll tell you what I WANT (and GET, and how I live on my own life) . . .
A long time ago, one person asked me just this, as well as how to figure out what HE wanted out of life.
He did NOT know the answer, despite . . .
Despite having a GOOD job . . . and a salary some might regard as being “very comfortable indeed”.
Despite having a happy family, and owning his own home, and a car (they have plans to buy a second one from what I can tell).
And despite being “outwardly successful in all regards”.
“But I’m not really, I don’t know, HAPPY . . . “
It’s amazing, but when you ask people the question as to “what they want out of life” — most of them cannot answer this definitively!
For example, “I’m not sure what I want. I think I want a six pack. But I also want to look strong, big and massively strong!”
And believe it or not, people DO email with questions like this, unable to decide what they WANT.
Either out of life or fitness, and this isn’t just a question “some” people wrestle with.
Most do, until . . .
I know I did until a while back!
What do I WANT.
And I’ll talk life here.
In the last email I spoke about Napoleon Hill mentioning in Outwitting the Devil that no amount of money would ever make him happy.
And this comment, more than any other (although there are plenty of other questions in the book and plenty of other STATEMENTS made that are just as valuable and thought provoking) STUCK . . . in my mind, if not my craw!
And I “flash backed” to all the jobs I’ve left over the years, before finally deciding very definitively that I DID NOT want a job no matter what.
No matter if I was broke (at the time of deciding, sometimes I was!).
No matter if people complained. Moaned. Groaned. No matter if people yelled up and down about “stability working for other people”.
No matter what my “family” thought of me “sitting at home”.
Ah, sitting at home. There we go.
THAT is what I want, my friend . . . in the right environment.
It might sound amazing, but I do NOT want a bazillion dollars as bad as I want the FREEDOM to sit at home and do my own thing . . . in an environment of my OWN choosing.
I do NOT want a bazillion dollars NEAR as bad as I want (and have) FREEDOM.
I do NOT want money, any amount as bad as I prefer and WANT a hill right next door to my house where I can exercise as I like at a TIME OF MY CHOOSING!
And so forth.
YES — — for me, what works is being a caveman, and I’ve structured my life and business accordingly.
Much like it did with Napoleon Hill, Steve Jobs (I know, I know, how dare Rahul Mookerjee DARE to put his name on par with them, hehe) BEFORE they became successful (true and lasting success, not fleeting), this has caused and continues to cause to this day MUCHO friction with family and myself, and friends as well.
Not to mention the casual “person on the road” as it were.
Working? Huh? As a friend recently told me, how can you work from home?
This despite said friend knowing about 0 Excuses Fitness . . .
To work, you have to go to an office, he said. You have to step out of your home! You can’t work from a cave!
And so forth. Exactly what my family keeps telling me (and those that do NOT tell me directly think that, hehe) — — and to all these people, thank you very much my friends and family.
Rahul Mookerjee has just told you what he wants, and Rahul Mookerjee does what he wants, and GETS IT.
And so it shall.
And while I’ve detailed what I want life wise, here’s my question to you.
What really WORKS — FOR YOU, my friend? Let’s talk fitness, or life if you so choose . . .
Fitness wise, or life wise — what do YOU WANT?
Be pithy and direct when answering this, and tell me the FIRST thing that pops into your mind.
Fitness wise, I’ve got a wide array of fitness products for you to use, and they all “work”, but the point is that what works — — really works — — amongst those products for YOU might not be what “really” works for me!
For me it’s always been about intense leg and back work, and I’ve done that through hill climbs, pushups and pull-ups.
But others may find that Hindu squats are their lifetime “to go” exercise.
Or perhaps the “extended arm” pushup (another favorite of mine).
And so forth.
So, again, that very interesting question for you, my friend.
What man truly knows himself? What do YOU truly want out of life?
Write back, and let me know!
Best,
Rahul Mookerjee
P.S. — Remember that no matter what your preferences are, if you’re looking to strip weight off your body in record time, then THIS is the course you need — https://0excusesfitness.com/advanced-hill-training/
P.S #2 — One of my other Medium articles tells you HOW to figure out what exactly you want, and that article is HERE — -https://medium.com/@0excusesfitness/youre-exceptional-276ec184cd56
P.P.S — Sign up (apply) for my life coaching programs right HERE.
