My 200th post is symbolically the post where I celebrate my 4th year as a blogger on this blog. What a ride it has been.

If you want to know more on the changes that I have made, you can read the post I wrote on my 3 year blogging anniversary, as well as the one I wrote on my 2 year blogging anniversary.

What have been the results of my blogging so far?

Amount of money made: 0 (in fact I had spent thousands of dollars/euros for running my blog and getting all the books that I use as sources for my posts, not to mention all the countless hours).

Knowledge gained: Priceless

This proves the power of intrinsic motivation. Had I been driven only by money, I would have ended the blog a long time ago. Instead, what has driven me is my quest for knowledge and self-improvement.

The blog not only helps me to summarize all the stuff I have learned along the way for myself, but also to share it with the world. I thank the few regular readers and supporters that this blog has and I hope the thoughts posted here have been helpful to you in your daily lives as well.

In my 2-year anniversary post, I mentioned how I am building up the Renaissance Man Framework. Whereas, I started off by exploring some of the key basic building blocks for this, things like knowing yourself, having a vision, and all the key traits like willpower and motivation, in the past year or two I have jumped around a bit and started writing about the more complex and higher-level issues like how to think, acquire knowledge and make decisions.

I have explored cognitive biases (if you don’t know these, then you are likely to make the wrong decisions), first principles thinking (a very unique way of coming up with creative solutions), as well as ways to be successful and happy.

One key aspect of the original Renaissance Men was that they went back to Antiquity and used ancient sources to inspire them. There is a lot of wisdom in these sources and that is why I have written about them extensively. Much of this wisdom can guide you even today. The world has changed, but many of the basic problems remain the same.

Boethius – The Consolation of Philosophy and how a man about to die found happiness.

Epictetus – The wisdom of a Stoic master and the secrets to living a good life revealed.

Some of my articles have been read by a lot of people, while some others are almost never visited. Two of these less visited articles however contain some of the key messages of this blog and are quite profound for anyone trying to improve themselves and understand how the world works.

In the article on James Hutton and his discovery of deep time, I explore what makes an idea succeed above other ideas. The answer might surprise you (or not). Have a look:

How a contrarian idea gains traction: the incredible story of James Hutton.

People often want to take lessons from others, but even after taking these lessons to heart, they end up failing. Why is that so? There are reasons for this and I explore them in my article on survivorship bias. Have a look:

Beware of advice: What can we really learn from successful people.

These two articles summarize some very important lessons, and even though they are quite long and heavy reading, if you read something, it should be this.

One key addition that I have made that complements my Renaissance Man Framework is the Hero’s Journey. You need to think of yourself as a hero and your life as a journey towards superhero status. Applying this simple idea to your life can work wonders.

Instead of dreaming, you will start living. You will start doing things, and some things that you thought impossible, will become possible. And maybe your dreams will become reality.

That’s what I have done. Fuck, there are a lot of things in my life that make me unhappy, but I have decided to take matters into my own hands and work on changing things that I can change.

There are a lot of things that I can be grateful for (like family), but also a lot of things that I can do that will give me the feelings of accomplishment (climbing mountains, training martial arts, and many other things).

Going on these micro-adventures has really helped me to keep levelled and to partially atone for the many regrets that I have. Just as they have done for me, these things can do the same thing for you too.

You cannot stop the passage of time, but you can make sure that the time you do spend is done doing things that are meaningful and memorable. It is only up to you not to repeat the mistakes of your past, but instead rise above them.

Most people will never do that and instead live their life whining and not learning from their mistakes. You will not be one of them.

Changing things up is possible for almost everyone. I am not a professional blogger with a location-independent lifestyle, I am not a professional socialite who inherited millions, or a guy who can turn anything into gold.

I am a normal guy, with a normal office job and everyday problems. If I can do this type of stuff, there is nothing stopping you from doing the same.

“I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.” Teddy Roosevelt

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Read More:
Doing hard things is the cure for what ails you.

How do paradigm shifts in how you view the world happen? What leads to scientific revolutions?

Paradigm shifts, scientific revolutions and how you see the world.

How do paradigm shifts in how you work in the world happen? How can you change how things work?

Paradigm shifts, creative destruction and how you change the world.

And of course the primary article of the early parts of my blog:
How to gain weight.

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