Stefa really hated typing on KeyHero. The platform was a nightmare for her, with commas that looked like periods and words that seemed jumbled and hard to read. Every session felt like torture. She much preferred MonkeyType, where the words were clear and easy to understand. She felt more confident there and always scored higher. But her tutor Ahmed still made her use KeyHero, saying it was better for structured practice. Stefa dreaded every moment of it and wished she could stick to MonkeyType. After noticing her frustration, Ahmed suggested they could use both platforms, with KeyHero for drills and MonkeyType for readability. Relieved by the compromise, Stefa began practicing on both, finally finding a way to improve her typing without dreading every KeyHero session.
Let me tell you a story about a boy named Jimmy. One years old and his first words were "mine mine gimme". Two years old he was walking, three years old walking quickly, four years old he was running round the pavements of his city. Five years old and his daddy told him "listen here son, you've got to learn to be a man, a man he works for what he wants". Six years old and he's reading, writing, top of the bunch, and when he's seven, his progression made him student number one. Eight years old and he's praised for unusual grades, nine, his parents pay for private school to nurture the flame. Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, he ascends and ascends. His daddy tells him "son, money is the means to all ends". Fourteen solving complex mathematic equations, at fifteen, IQ 150, still elevating. 16 he develops complex software code, that detects weaknesses in cyber security protocol. 17 and he sells his vision, keeping the share. Not yet an adult but he's practically a millionaire. 18 and his daddy tells him "now you're a man. This world don't give a damn about you, so take all that you can". 19 he turns a profit, stocks and shares, invest in product, 20 double down deposits 21 his income rockets. 22 he learns the truth is just an obstacle to wealth. If you manipulate the data, then the lie will sell itself. 23 a life of luxury Crystal and cocaine. 24 he makes the Forbes list, they're applauding his name. 25 and his daddy tells him "listen here son, while you're sitting in the palace that don't mean that you won". 26 a business shift, he switches business to arms, he's 27 dealing nuclear and shells in Iran. 28 inside the Senate, money bought him a seat. He's 29 a role of counsel in the president suite. Now he's 30. His daddy says "you're losing the race, you're just a servant to the king, not even in second place". 31 a big maneuver for his daddy's approval, moving imports over borders from the exports out of Cuba. 32 moving grams, growing kilo to tons. He's 33 filling warehouses with powder and guns. 34 turf war with nobody to stop it. Blind eye from the po po inside of his pocket. 35, he gets a call "I'm sorry, son, but it's your father, had a heart attack, I'm sorry, he's gone". 36 getting pissed off abusing this product. 37 eyes glazed, disposition demonic. 38 with a prostitute, a moment of passion. Heating up the silver spoon and then chasing the dragon. 39 getting reckless and hungry for power. Daddy's words are still driving him to kill and devour. Makes a move against the cartel, but the strategy's flawed. They retaliate and leave him in a hospital ward. A bullet buried in his vertebra, and one in his leg. The doctor sighs and says, "I don't think you'll be walking again" fuck. Let me tell you a story about a boy named Jimmy. He was 40 and he cursed the words "mine mine gimme". 41 he wasn't walking, 42 not walking quickly. 43 never running round the pavements of his city. 44, inside a palace with a mountain of gold, but those riches turn to rubble when perspective evolves. Weighing heavy on his conscience is the value of gold, Lamborghini for a life, trading money for souls. Jimmy followed the code inside the land of the free. Put your hand inside the cookie jar, take more than you need. And his example is exaggerated versions of me, and it's a version of him, and it's a version of she, and it's a version of you. There's no escaping the blame, the way we live, it's parasitic. Fuck the money and fame! Cut the music.
Let me tell you a story about a boy named Jimmy. One years old and his first words were mine, mine gimme. Two years old, he was walking, three years old, walking quickly. Four years old, he was running around the pavements of his city. Five years old, and his daddy told him, listen here son, you've got to learn to be a man. A man he works for what he wants. Six years old, and he's reading, writing, top of the bunch. And when he's seven, his progression made him student number one. Eight years old and he's praised for unusual grades. Nine, his parents pay for private school to nurture the flame. 10, 11, 12, 13, he ascends and ascends, his daddy tells him, son, money is the means to all ends. 14 solving complex mathematic equations, at 15, IQ 150, still elevating. 16 he develops complex software code that detects weaknesses in cyber security protocol. 17, and he sells his vision, keeping the share, not yet an adult but he's practically a millionaire. 18, and his daddy tells him now you're a man the world don't give a damn about you. So take all that you can. 19, he turns a profit, stocks and shares, invest in product. 20, double down deposits 21, his income rockets. 22, he learns that truth is just an obstacle to wealth, if you manipulate the data, then the lie will sell itself. 23, a life of luxury Crystal and cocaine. 24, he makes the Forbes list, they're applauding his name. 25, and his daddy told him, listen here, son, while you're sitting in the palace that don't mean that you won. 26, a business shift, he switches business to arms. He's 27, dealing nuclear shells in Iran. 28, inside the Senate, money bought him a seat. He's 29, role of counsel in the president suite. Now he's 30, his daddy says, you're losing the race, you're just a servant to the king, not even in second place. 31, a big maneuver for his daddy's approval. Moving imports over borders from the exports out of Cuba. 32, moving grams, growing kilo to tons. He's 33, filling warehouses with powder and guns. 34, turf war with nobody to stop it, blind eye from the Po po inside of his pocket. 35, he gets a call. "I'm sorry, son, but it's your father, had a heart attack, I'm sorry, he's gone". 36, getting pissed off abusing this product. 37, eyes glazed, disposition demonic. 38, with a prostitute, a moment of passion. Heating up the silver spoon and then chasing the dragon. 39, getting reckless and hungry for power. Daddy's words still driving him to kill him and devour. He makes a move against the cartel, but the strategy's flawed. They retaliate and leave him in the hospital ward. A bullet buried in his vertebra, and one in his leg. The doctor sighs and says, I don't think you'll be walking again, fuck. Let me tell you a story about a boy named Jimmy. He was 40 and he cursed the words mine, mine gimme. 41, he wasn't walking, 42, not walking quickly, 43. Never running round the pavements of his city. 44 inside a palace with a mountain of gold, but those riches turn to rubble when perspective evolves. Weighing heavy on his conscience is the value of gold, Lamborghini for a life, trading money for souls. Jimmy followed the code inside the land of the free, put your hand inside the cookie jar, take more than you need. And his example is exaggerated versions of me, and it's a version of him, and it's a version of she, and it's a version of you. There's no escaping the blame, the way we live, it's parasitic. Fuck the money and fame! Cut the music.
The Art of Impossible - Steven Kotler
A Peak Performance Primer
"This is [...] a practical playbook for impractical people."
"The only thing more difficult than the emotional toil of pursuing true excellence is the emotional toil of not pursuing true excellence."
"More meaningful does not typically mean more pleasant."
"Whenever the impossible becomes possible, there's always a formula."
"Personality doesn't scale. Biology scales."
During flow our cognition is massively changed. Creativity, learning, empathy, environmental awareness and collaboration are as much as 500% above baseline.
"Flow is to extreme innovation what oxygen is to breathing."
"When it comes to tackling the impossible, flow is necessary but not sufficient."
“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."
I. Motivation
1. MOTIVATION DECODED
"Motivation [...] is actually a catch-all for three subsets of skills: drive, grit and goals."
Drive is emotional motivation like curiosity, passion, and purpose.
Goals is knowing where we want to get to.
Grit is persistence when things get difficult.
Elite performers "stack" their fuel. Physically by making sure their nutrition, sleep, and health are on point, and psychologically by aligning things like curiosity, passion, and purpose.
Drivers can be split into extrinsic (money, fame, sex) and intrinsic (curiosity, meaning, mastery, autonomy,...).
"As high-minded as something like 'meaning and purpose' might seem as a driver, this is actually evolutions's way of saying: Okay, you've got enough resources for yourself and your family. Now it's time to help your tribe and your species get more."
Intrinsic drivers take over once a basic level of extrinsic ones are met.
Ultimately motivation and drive boil down to neurochemistry, particularly dopamine, norepinephrine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins, and anandamide.
2. THE PASSION RECIPE
"The easiest way to start stacking intrinsic drivers is with a list."
Write down 25 things you're curious about. The more detailed and specific, the better.
Then look for overlaps of several of them. When multiple interests intersect, it triggers your pattern matching mechanism, and leads to powerful releases of dopamine.
"By stacking motivations, that is, layering curiosity atop curiosity, we're increasing drive but not effort.”
Learning about the history and technical language of a subject might feel like a waste of time, but it's actually a powerful anchor that helps our memory and understanding.
Adding "public successes" where you talk about your interests, even just to friends, and get positive reinforcement can be a massive boost to our passion.
"At this point in the process, it's time to transform the fire of passion into the rocket fuel of purpose."
"Neurobiologically, purpose alters the brain. It decreases the reactivity of the amygdala, decreases the volume of the medial temporal cortex, and increases the volume of the right insular cortex. [...] All these changes seem to have a profound impact on our long-term health. [...] Additionally, from a performance standpoint, purpose boosts motivation, productivity, resilience, and focus."
By shifting the attention away from self-rumination, it's also a protector against anxiety and depression.
Want to dream big, identifying a "massively transformative purpose" MTP that intersects with our passions.
3. THE FULL INTRINSIC STACK
Curiosity, passion and purpose are a great start, but they are not enough to reach the impossible. For that we also need to add autonomy and mastery.
"If autonomy is the desire to steer your own ship, mastery is the drive to steer that ship well."
Companies like Google and 3M show how giving even just a few hours of autonomy to each employee can have huge results.
Making your own schedule can be critical for sleep and making sure you are aligned with your chronotype.
"Exercise is a non-negotiable for peak performance."
Building flow activities into our day that are playful and not part of work is also important.
"Mastery is the desire to get better at the things we do. It's devotion to craft, the need for progress, the urge to continually improve."
"When we work hard toward an important goal - that is, when we pursue mastery - dopamine levels spike."
"Flow follows focus."
Flow triggers all help us shift our attention to the present moment, either through dopamine/norepinephrine release, or by reducing cognitive load.
"Start chasing the high of incremental improvements."
4. GOALS
Want to break down the impossible into a long series of difficult but achievable goals, to give clear direction to our drive.
Clear goals are one of the easiest ways to increase motivation and boost performance.
"Because the brain is a prediction engine and consciousness is a limited resource, fear and goals are the basic building blocks of our reality."
[q] "Big goals significantly outperform small goals, medium-sized goals, and vague goals." - Gary Latham
"MTPs, utilized properly, aren't aspirational, they're filtrational: they weed out the work that doesn't matter."
"High, hard goals" (HHGs) are the sub-step that helps us accomplish our larger mission.
Counterintuitively, research shows that talking about your goals publicly reduces the chances of achieving them.
"The act of telling someone about your goal gives you the feeling that the goal's already been achieved. It releases the dopamine you're supposed to get afterward, prematurely."
HHGs should be further broken down into clear short-term (say daily) goals.
"At a very basic level, this is exactly what the road to impossible looks like - a well-crafted to-do list, executed daily."
"Clear goals act as a priority list for the brain, lowering cognitive load and telling the system where to expand its energy."
Clear daily goals are great triggers for flow.
"Impossible is always a checklist."
5. GRIT
[q] “No pressure, no diamonds.” - Thomas Carlyle
Regularly doing hard things teaches the brain to associate persistence with dopamine rewards.
Six types of grit. The grit to…
persevere
control your thoughts
master fear
be your best when you’re at your worst
train your weaknesses
recover
Psychologists consider three levels of wellbeing:
Moment-to-moment “happiness,” a hedonic approach to life.
“Engagement,” a high-flow life where happiness comes through a pursuit of challenges rather than pleasure.
“Purpose,” same as engagement but with an added sense of having a bigger impact.
Studies show that the grittier a person, the higher their level of wellbeing, and despite embracing hard things, they actually experience a deeper sense of happiness.
Willpower is a big part of perseverance. It’s linked to our energy levels, and depletes throughout the day, so it helps to schedule things right (hard things first) and carefully choose/design our environment.
“For sustained perseverance, the research shows, a growth mindset is indispensable.”
[q] “Get obsessed, stay obsessed.” - John Irving
“Quite often, passion feels like frustration on the inside and looks like obsession from the outside. Peak performers must learn to tolerate enormous amounts of anxiety and overwhelm.”
“Passion doesn’t make us gritty. Passion makes us able to tolerate all the negative emotions produced by grit.”
[q] “High performance is 90 percent mental. And most of the mental edge comes from being able to control your thoughts.” - Micheal Gervais
Positive self-talk, mindfulness, and gratitude all help with controlling our thoughts, and teach us to focus on the positive.
Almost all peak performers struggle with fear of some kind. What sets them apart is that they find it more bearable to run towards the fear rather than away from it.
Fear is a great source of attention and motivation.
Should establish a regular fear practice, taking physical, emotional, intellectual, or creative risks in a controlled but increasing way.
“The goal is to become comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
Peak performers use fear as a compass.
“Going in the direction that scares you the most amplifies attention and this translates into flow. […] Our real potential lies on the other side of our greatest fears.”
[q] “The grit that matters most is learning to be your best when you’re at your worst. This is really the difference between elite-level performers and everyone else. And you have to train this kind of grit.” - Josh Waitzkin
When you’re not feeling great, it’s easy to make excuses. But that’s exactly when you should push, and tap into those energy reserves you didn’t know you had. If you do that in training, you’re prepared for bad situations when it actually matters.
Ask several friends to identify your weaknesses (to avoid your own bias), then find the most mentioned physical, emotional, and cognitive weaknesses and work on them.
“It’s hard for peak performers to relax. […] You absolutely have to get gritty about recovery.”
Key recovery tools should be good sleep, active recovery (e.g. yoga, nature walks, sauna, …) and occasional total resets, stepping away from everything for a few days.
6. THE HABIT OF FEROCITY
“Excellence always has a cost. On a daily basis, if your goal is greatness, then you’re going to put just about every available hour towards that goal.”
“It’s hard to achieve the amazing by accident. You have to dream big.”
Peak performers all share a “habit of ferocity”: When they come across a challenge, they immediately lean in. They are attracted to challenge.
[q] “Figure out what you would die for, then live for it.” - Peter Diamandis
II. Learning
7. THE INGREDIENTS OF IMPOSSIBLE
Since flow requires a certain level of challenge, a continuous flow lifestyle also requires lifelong learning.
“Psychologists consider lifelong learning foundational to satisfaction and wellbeing.”
8. GROWTH MINDSETS AND TRUTH FILTERS
We need to develop our own rigorous “truth filters” to assess the information around us in fast and reliable ways.
“You can’t get to impossible on bad information.”
9. THE ROI ON READING
“If you’re interested in learning, then you’re interested in books.”
Blogs are less condensed than long-form articles, which in turn are less condensed than books.
“Books are the most radically condensed form of knowledge on the planet.”
Talks are great for igniting curiosity but don’t have the depth and detail of books.
10. FIVE NOT-SO-EASY STEPS FOR LEARNING ALMOST ANYTHING
“Step One: The five books of stupid”
Pick five books on a subject and read them without judging your understanding too harshly.
“Biologically, a lot of learning comes down to pattern recognition, and most of that takes place on an unconscious level.”
Take notes in a notebook on three points: the historical narrative, key terminology, and anything that gets you excited.
This stage is about knowledge acquisition, skill acquisition is separate.
“Step two: Be the idiot”
Step one should have filled you with lots of questions. Now it’s time to seek out experts, leaving your own pride at home, and let them do the talking.
“Step three: Explore the gaps”
By following your own curiosity rather than a standard curriculum you should eventually get “slow hunches,” a feeling for gaps in the knowledge which none of the experts covers, or a new relation to a different domain.
“Step four: Always ask the next question”
Seek out experts that disagree with the standard narrative of a field.
“Step five: Find the narrative”
Condense all your learning into a story and tell it to both people with no background, as well as experts.
11. THE SKILL OF SKILL
Pareto’s principle, the 80/20 rule, is great for skill acquisition. Focus on the 20% of material that gets you 80% of the results.
Only the core skills should be approached differently, for anything else 80/20 is the shortcut to overall mastery.
12. STRONGER
“The best way to increase flow is to spend as much time as possible on activities that utilize one or more of our five top strengths.”
Focusing on our strengths accelerates learning and motivation. Weaknesses get dragged along and improved in the process.
13. THE 80/20 OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Your support network has a big influence over whether you see something as an interesting challenge or a dangerous threat.
Neurobiologically, high EQ means a good ability to manage the brain’s emotional systems: fear, lust, care, play, rage, seeking and panic/grief.
“EQ remains one of the highest indicators of high achievement.”
Four areas of EQ: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.
14. THE SHORTEST PATH TO SUPERMAN
Rather than early specialization, many top performers actually try and abandon a lot of different things, until they find “match fit.”
“When flow is the reward, learning shifts from something done consciously, with energy and effort, to something done automatically, out of habit and joy.”
III. Creativity
15. THE CREATIVE ADVANTAGE
“If your interest is high achievement, creativity matters.”
“In the infinite game of peak performance, motivation gets you into the game, learning allows you to continue to play, but creativity is how you steer.”
Alfred North Whitehead apparently coined the term “creativity” only in 1927.
Our cerebral cortex is much larger than other animals’, allowing us to put a break into the instinctive action-reaction cycle and allowing us to consider options, as well as simulate their results.
Creativity is “the production of novel ideas that have value.”
Three overlapping neural systems are involved in creativity: attention, imagination, and salience.
Imagination network more technically known as default mode network (DMN).
“When switched on, it’s the brain in daydreaming mode, stimulating alternative realities and testing out creative possibilities.”
Default mode network and executive attention network actually work in opposition and switch each other off, but creatives can transition between the two with far more fluidity.
Three Bs: bend, break, and blend.
Salience network is the master switch that orchestrates the other two.
16. HACKING CREATIVITY
An active anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is required for insight moments. And good mood activates the ACC.
ACC monitors the ideas of the DMN and identifies valuable ones, brining them up to our conscious attention.
For creativity, we want to consider the big picture. Mood again is important (fear gets us to focus rather than think wide), but time in nature with literally open view can also help.
Solitude is important for creativity.
When starting a new creative task, starting with something weird or unfamiliar is much better than starting with the easy and familiar. It primes you for making unusual connections.
Constraints and limits drive creativity.
“If creativity is required, not knowing where you’re going is the fastest way to never get there.”
Read outside your core domain and allow yourself to daydream if an idea catches your interest. This gives our pattern recognition system a great chance to come up with new and useful ideas.
17. LONG-HAUL CREATIVITY
Staying creative over decades requires to continually reinvent ourselves.
You have to get comfortable with learning and applying things outside your comfort zone.
“The Ferriss Four”: Daily exercise, keep a maker schedule, take long walks, and ask better questions.
Momentum is critical. Stopping the day’s work while still excited and with clear direction may seem counterproductive but it carries momentum to the next day.
“Long-haul creativity, [Sir Ken] Robinson believes, requires a low-level, near-constant sense of frustration.”
Remembering that the competition is always chasing you can be a great motivator.
“Creativity is almost always a byproduct of passionate hard work and not the other way around.”
“I always set out to write great sentences, but I never set out to write a great sentence.”
Creatives often combine personality traits from opposite extremes. Specifically, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi identified ten “both/and” characteristics of creatives:
Energetic and sedate
Smart and naive
Playful and disciplined
Fantastical and realistic
Extroverted and introverted
Ambitious and selfless
Conservative and rebellious
Humble and proud
Passionate and objective
Sensitive to others and cold as ice
While the source of creativity, these opposites can also lead to emotional rollercoasters and difficult social interactions.
18. THE FLOW OF CREATIVITY
“Nature builds creatives; nurture tears them down. Growing up, according to this research, was the number one risk factor for squelching innovation."
As our executive attention network matures, less creative/divergent ideas pass through its filter. Except in flow, where all the networks work well in harmony.
“Flow is the brain on creative overdrive. It mimics all the inventiveness that comes with being four years old, just, you know, without the downside of having a four-year-old brain.”
IV. Flow
19. THE DECODER RING
Flow can even be a source of mystical experiences.
During extreme focus, to conserve energy the brain can shut down regions that are not critical, such as the right posterior parietal lobe, which helps us navigate through space and gives us a sense of where our body ends. Without that sense it’s essentially like you’re becoming one with the universe, or at least with whatever you are focusing on.
20. FLOW SCIENCE
Nietzsche was maybe the first thinker who studied peak performance through a modern scientific approach.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi coined the term flow and studied the concept intensively in the 1970s and after.
Flow has six core physiological characteristics:
Complete concentration
Merger of action and awareness
Sense of self vanishes
Altered sense of time
Paradox of control
Autotelic experience
“People who scored off the charts for overall well-being and life satisfaction were the people with the most flow in their lives.”
During peak performance and flow, our brain is actually less active, not more.
“Transient hypofrontality”: Our prefrontal cortex shuts down, handing over control to the faster and more energy efficient subconscious thinking. This also shuts down self-monitoring and our sense of past and future.
21. FLOW TRIGGERS
Initial research pointed at three main flow triggers: clear goals, immediate feedback, and challenge-skill-balance. But we now know of 19 more triggers.
All these triggers work by pushing attention into the present moment, through releasing norepinephrine and/or dopamine, and/or by lowering cognitive load.
Complete concentration, autonomy, and curiosity-passion-purpose are three more internal triggers.
“Peak performers routinely turn down opportunities, even fantastic ones, if those opportunities reduce autonomy.”
To really give flow a chance, should block out at least 90 to 120 minutes, ideally more, with completely zero distractions.
Statistically, surgeons are the only type of physician that actually get better over time after leaving medical school, because they receive immediate feedback.
Should set a “feedback buddy,” someone to share clear and concise feedback with without fluff or subjective opinions.
Societal norms and values can be tricky for peak performers and can weigh them down if they don’t manage to navigate/balance them properly.
“Demand more excellence from yourself.”
Extended triggers are high consequences, rich environments, and deep embodiment.
Rich environments actually contain three triggers: novelty, unpredictability, and complexity.
Montessori education offers some of the highest flow educational environment.
Creativity is a combination of pattern recognition and risk taking, both of which neurobiologically aid flow through dopamine release.
“Make creativity a value and a virtue. Your life needs to become your art.”
Flow can also happen in groups with a shared goal and collective ambition.
22. THE FLOW CYCLE
Flow is actually a cycle with four phases that you have to pass through one at a time.
“Unpleasantness is a built-in part of the experience. It’s an unavoidable biological necessity.”
Stage one: Struggle.
“Optimal performance begins in maximum frustration.”
During struggle we acquire knowledge and skills. But at this stage it still feels uncomfortable and effortful.
[q] “Many people find [flow] so great and high an experience that it justifies not only itself, but even living itself.” - Abraham Maslow
Flow redeems the struggle, and lies beyond struggle. For peak performers, frustration and struggle are actually a compass, because they know what lies beyond it.
Stage two: Release.
Release is the incubation period where information moves over from our conscious to our subconscious mind.
Low-grade physical activity (a hike, long car drive, playing an instrument, etc) works best.
Stage three: Flow.
Once in the zone, need to avoid the main flow blockers distraction, negative thinking, non-optimal arousal, and lack of preparation.
Stage four: Recovery.
Flow is a high-energy state, so we need to recover from it. But it requires active recovery.
“After a hard day, even the extra energy it takes to take a long bath can feel like a Herculean task. Well, Hercules up, because there’s no choice.”
23. ALL TOGETHER NOW
Seven daily and six weekly practices that are non-negotiable.
Daily:
90 to 120 minutes of uninterrupted concentration
5 min for distraction management (preparing for the next day)
5 min for making a clear goal list (preparing for the next day)
5 min for daily gratitude practice
20 min for release/mindfulness
25 min to learn and load the pattern recognition system through reading outside your core area
7 to 8 hours of sleep
Weekly:
2 to 6 hours of high-flow fun activity (surfing, dancing, skiing, …)
60 min, 3 times a week: challenging exercise session
20 to 40 min, 3 times a week: active recovery (sauna, massage, light yoga, …)
30 to 60 min, once a week: train a weakness or being your best when you’re feeling the worst
30 to 60 min, once a week: get feedback on the work you do during your daily high focus blocks
120 min once per work: social support, making time for other people
“Creativity and the pursuit of mastery should be built into everything you do."
There is only one solution to infection: quarantine. But by the time you recognize the problem it is often too late. A Lola Montez overwhelms you with her forceful personality. Cassius intrigues you with his confiding nature and the depth of his feelings. How can you protect yourself against such insidious viruses? The answer lies in judging people on the effects they have on the world and not on the reasons they give for their problems. Infectors can be recognized by the misfortune they draw on themselves, their turbulent past, their long line of broken relationships, their unstable careers, and the very force of their character, which sweeps you up and makes you lose your reason. Be forewarned by these signs of an infector; learn to see the discontent in their eye. Most important of all, do not take pity. Do not enmesh yourself in trying to help. The infector will remain unchanged, but you will be unhinged.
There are many kinds of infector to be aware of, but one of the most insidious is the sufferer from chronic dissatisfaction. Cassius, the Roman conspirator against Juslius Caesar, had the discontent that comes from deep envy. He simply could not endure the presence of anyone of greater talent. Probably because Caesar sensed the man's interminable sourness, he passed him up for the position of first praetorship, and gave the position to Brutus instead. Cassius brooded and brooded, his hatred for Caesar becoming pathological. Brutus himself, a devoted republican, disliked Caesar's dictatorship; had he had the patience to wait, he would have become the first man in Rome after Caesar's death, and could have undone the evil that the leader had wrought. But Cassius infected him with his own rancor, bending his ear daily with tales of Caesar's evil. He finally won Brutus over to the conspiracy. It was the beginning of a great tragedy. How many misfortunes could have been avoided had Brutus learned to fear the power of infection.
Understand this: In the game of power, the people you associate with are critical. The risk of associating with infectors is that you will waste valuable time and energy trying to free yourself. Through a kind of guilt by association, you will also suffer in the eyes of others. Never underestimate the dangers of infection.
The incurably unhappy and unstable have a particularly strong infecting power because their characters and emotions are so intense. They often present themselves as victims, making it difficult, at first, to see their miseries as self-inflicted. Before you realize the real nature of their problems you have been infected by them.
Keys To Power
Those misfortunates among us who have been brought down by circumstances beyond their control deserve all the help and sympathy we can give them. But there are others who are not born to misfortune or unhappiness, but who draw it upon themselves by their destructive actions and unsettling effect on others. It would be a great thing if we could raise them up, change their patterns, but more often than not it is their patterns that end up getting inside and changing us. The reason is simple humans are extremely susceptible to the moods, emotions, and even the ways of thinking of those with whom they spend their time.
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much.... I do not know the man I should avoid so soon as that spare Cassius.... Such men as he be never at heart's ease while they behold a greater than themselves, and therefore are they very dangerous.
Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare, 1564-1616
The infecting character type is not restricted to women; it has nothing to do with gender. It stems from an inward instability that radiates outward, drawing disaster upon itself. There is almost a desire to destroy and unsettle. You could spend a lifetime studying the pathology of infecting characters, but don't waste your time just learn the lesson. When you suspect you are in the presence of an infector, don't argue, don't try to help, don't pass the person on to your friends, or you will become enmeshed. Flee the infector's presence or suffer the consequences.
As is often the case with infection, the problems would only arise over time. Lola's inherent instability would begin to get under her lovers' skin. They would find themselves drawn into her problems, but their emotional attachment to her would make them want to help her. This was the crucial point of the disease for Lola Montez could not be helped. Her problems were too deep. Once the lover identified with them, he was lost. He would find himself embroiled in quarrels. The infection would spread to his family and friends, or, in the case of Ludwig, to an entire nation. The only solution would be to cut her off, or suffer an eventual collapse.
Interpretation
Lola Montez attracted men with her wiles, but her power over them went beyond the sexual. It was through the force of her character that she kept her lovers enthralled. Men were sucked into the maelstrom she churned up around her. They felt confused, upset, but the strength of the emotions she stirred also made them feel more alive.
At the age of forty-one, Lola gave away her clothes and finery and turned to God. She toured America, lecturing on religious topics, dressed in white and wearing a halolike white headgear. She died two years later, in 1861.
In 1853 Lola moved to California, where she met and married a man named Pat Hull. Their relationship was as stormy as all the others, and she left Hull for another man. He took to drink and fell into a deep depression that lasted until he died, four years later, still a relatively young man.
A few years later the man who published Lola Montez's autobiography went bankrupt.
China and Japan have reached an agreement over the release of wastewater from Japan’s destroyed Fukushima nuclear power center. The deal prepares the way for China to restart Japanese seafood shipments it banned because of concerns over the wastewater.
Representatives from both countries announced on September 20 a deal had been reached. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the agreement had established a level of “mutual understanding” on the issue.
China’s government began banning sales of seafood coming from Japan more than a year ago. Officials said they were concerned the wastewater – which was treated to remove radioactive material – might poison seafood products sold in China.
Japan has repeatedly said its testing and monitoring efforts have shown the treated wastewater presents no risk of radioactive poisoning to humans.
Operators of the Fukushima center announced in June 2023 that they had begun testing the process of releasing treated wastewater into the sea. The water first passes through equipment designed to remove harmful materials. Japan’s government says the processed water is considered “treated,” not “radioactive.”
But experts say it is impossible to remove all radioactive material from the wastewater. Government officials have said tritium – a radioactive form of hydrogen – is the only substance that cannot be removed from the water. However, they say the material is not considered harmful in small amounts.
The water release program began in August 2023. Officials said it was a necessary part of cleanup efforts at the Fukushima center. Three reactors there suffered meltdowns after a 2011 earthquake and huge ocean waves destroyed the plant’s cooling systems. The disaster forced 160,000 people to flee surrounding areas that were affected by radioactive material.
The agreement itself does not immediately remove China’s ban on Japanese seafood imports. Kishida told reporters Chinese negotiators said the deal begins the process for China to “revisit its import restrictions” on the seafood products.
The agreement calls for Japan to establish a long-term program in which international experts will carry out independent testing and monitoring. Kishida told reporters the government agreed to additional monitoring methods on the treated wastewater.
A Chinese foreign ministry official said his country still has concerns about the safety of Japanese seafood products. Chinese and Japanese experts are expected to come together in the coming months to work on China’s safety concerns. The official noted the ban will likely be lifted on products over time.
Before the ban, China was Japan’s biggest market for seafood exports. In the first half of 2024, Japanese exports of agriculture, forest and fish products fell for the first time since 2020. The decrease is blamed partly on China’s seafood ban.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has worked with Japan on its monitoring efforts involving the released wastewater. The head of the organization, Director General Rafael Grossi, welcomed the latest agreement between China and Japan.
Grossi praised Japan’s government "for its continued engagement with the IAEA.” He also thanked the Chinese side for taking part in “constructive” negotiations with IAEA officials leading up to completion of the deal.
Lola Montez moved to England. More than anything she needed respectability, and despite being married (she still had not arranged a divorce from the Englishman she had wed years before), she set her sights on George Trafford Heald, a promising young army officer who was the son of an influential barrister. Although he was ten years younger than Lola, and could have chosen a wife among the prettiest and wealthiest young girls of English society, Heald fell under her spell. They were married in 1849. Soon arrested on the charge of bigamy, she skipped bail, and she and Heald made their way to Spain. They quarreled horribly and on one occasion Lola slashed him with a knife. Finally, she drove him away Returning to England, he found he had lost his position in the army. Ostracized from English society, he moved to Portugal, where he lived in poverty. After a few months his short life ended in a boating accident.
By February of 1848, Ludwig was finally unable to withstand the pressure. With great sadness he ordered Lola to leave Bavaria immediately. She left, but not until she was paid off. For the next five weeks the Bavarians' wrath was turned against their formerly beloved king. In March of that year he was forced to abdicate.
While Bavarians who had loved their king now outwardly disrespected him, Lola was made a countess, had a new palace built for herself, and began to dabble in politics, advising Ludwig on policy. She was the most powerful force in the kingdom. Her influence in the king's cabinet continued to grow, and she treated the other ministers with disdain. As a result, riots broke out throughout the realm. A once peaceful land was virtually in the grip of civil war, and students everywhere were chanting, "Raus mit Lola!"
