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There are many unwritten rules people follow, never questioning if they really make sense. Questioning these dogmas is a great way to expand your comfort zone, have fun, learn something new, and challenge the beliefs of other people, perhaps inspiring some of them to explore alternative perspectives, too. I believe that this is essential to developing an unscripted mind and living the life on your own terms.
As an eccentric/nonconformist by nature, it's kind of a hobby of mine to go against the tide and question traditions, "that's how it's always been done" type of things, etc. For example, here are some dogmas I've broken (in addition to what most of us here are doing, choosing entrepreneurship over a "traditional" career):
As an eccentric/nonconformist by nature, it's kind of a hobby of mine to go against the tide and question traditions, "that's how it's always been done" type of things, etc. For example, here are some dogmas I've broken (in addition to what most of us here are doing, choosing entrepreneurship over a "traditional" career):
- walking barefoot - in some places this is completely normal or pretty common (Australia, New Zealand), while in some people will look at you as if you're crazy despite the fact that it's actually crazy to wear shoes all day long and destroy your feet (there's a lot of evidence showing many negative health effects of modern footwear). When you think about it, it's absurd that some people are so shocked or even take offense at people who are barefoot. If the weather permits it, I usually don't wear shoes anywhere out in the nature and sometimes skip them in public, too.
- coming up with weird date ideas or doing weird things with friends - I can hang out with my friends or go on a date to a "normal" place like a restaurant, but I like to come up with weird ideas to spend time in a more memorable way. Examples include testing our survival skills with a friend in the woods at night (we survived), taking my girlfriend on a date to a goat farm (she loved it), and traveling to exotic places. I discussed some similar things in my other thread. From my point of view, if someone (a date, a potential friend) is always reluctant to do something out of the ordinary, I don't want such a person in my life (note that I said: "always reluctant", I understand that not every weird idea has to appeal to everyone).
- going to a nudist beach - yeah, this is pretty uncomfortable and most people would probably consider me crazy for trying this, but when you think about it logically, what's the big deal about non-creepy non-sexual nudity? Obviously I'm not talking about going around naked in public lol.
- wearing suits and/or formal clothes despite not needing to - for a period of time I enjoyed wearing suits on a daily basis, everywhere I went. Some friends considered it silly, but I enjoyed it, and it was a pretty cool experiment to compare the reactions you get when wearing casual clothes vs wearing formal clothes (people are more polite).
- willingly introducing more discomfort in my life - most people are the opposite, always seeking what's easy and comfortable and avoiding any kind of pain, even if it leads to personal growth. This is largely how the world is today: everything should be easy, painless, and convenient. Some people don't understand that I wake up early even though I don't have to. Some don't get why I take cold showers if I can take hot ones. Some are perplexed that I exercise up to a few times a day.
- employing strategic laziness whenever I can - I have an entire thread about it. The conventional approach is to (pretend to) work as hard as you can and boast that you're busy. The contrarian approach (and one employed by many entrepreneurs and investors) is to identify what's most important, do the most critical tasks well, and don't waste time on what's insignificant. It's silly that people feel more important when they tell everyone around them how busy they are, yet then again, the unfortunate fact of life for those working a 9 to 5 job is that often what counts more is the illusion of work than actually getting results.
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