The Superpower of Modern Freedom: Elimination

And as Uncle Ben told Peter shortly before he died, "with great power, comes great responsibility."

This superpower is summoned by properly utilizing the most universal word in language. 

"No."

 Pretending To Care Is Wasting Your Time And Attention

The power this word yields has grown tremendously as society focuses on words such as "and", "more", and "yes". 

We opt-in to so many things while deep down, we know we don't want to. I've seen hundreds of videos where people being happy that plans were canceled or saying yes and then making an excuse last second?

That's because everyday, we are told we have to care about so much and we are human and simply not capable of doing so!

And if we're honest with ourselves, most of things vying for our attention don't impact us and we can (or choose to) do nothing about.

• Climate change in India due to record trash deposits
• Friends that live in a different city than you going out and having fun
• Buying the most recent overly-hyped iPhone 
• The rumor around the office that someone in another department is getting fired for misbehaving
• The neighbors complaining about alligator sightings when you live in Florida and have water everywhere
• Human rights issues in South America
• An old friend you haven't talked to in a while who posted online about breaking their leg 

I'm not trying to be harsh, but the reality is when you look at your day, your work, your family, and the 2-3 people you consider close friends, there's not a lot of room to truly care about much else.

And by care, I mean, actually do something about it beyond changing your social media profile picture for "support".

Therefore, the knowledge of all these things does nothing but steal your time and attention from what does matter.

I could go on but all you have to do is look at your phone or social media and something big tech and society thinks you need to CARE ABOUT AND POST YOUR OPINION ABOUT will be pushed to you. 

In reality, they don't care if you care. They just want you to care enough to click and see an ad or two so they can make money.

Case and point. I know who the Kardashians and Jenners are and EVERYTHING I've ever learned about them was against my will. 

So what do we do about this. Put your damn superhero suit on, say "no" and opt-out of caring about everything.

Phase 1: Opt-out Of Your Biggest Distraction And Take Back Your Precious Attention

There's an amazing feature on all smartphones. A simple Google search will show you how to do it if you don't know how.

TURN OFF NOTIFICATIONS.

That's right. Heroes start by eliminating the biggest distraction in their life. 

DISCLAIMER: I do leave one notification on and that's it. Text messages. But I also use Do Not Disturb throughout the day to prevent those as well at times when I need to be productive.

If that thought triggered some FOMO and is causing a panic attack, let's get the NUMBER ONE excuse out of the way. BuT whAt AboUt EmerGenCIES?!

You can select a few people who can notify you even though DND is on. And if someone calls me twice in a row within 5 minutes, it will ring.

So if you're that concerned about the one in a million chance of an emergency, then modify those settings and enjoy experiencing unmedicated focus for the first time in a long time. It's amazing.

Phase 2: Aim Your "No" Power At Stuff

Ever heard of the marshmallow test they use on children? They offer a child one marshmallow now or say if they can wait 10 minutes, they can have two.

This is measure whether or not a child is developing the concept of delayed gratification.

Technology and society has spoiled us rotten and we are stuck chasing dopamine squirts because we can't say "no" for even a few minutes.

TikTok, Instagram and any other vertical social media is being optimized to be a shopping platform. 

Amazon's One-Click Buy button with our credit card so conveniently auto-populated in their database for our ease bypassed our last inhibitiations. We don't think if we need something. We just say "yes" and click.

Time for that to change. Take your money and your will back by eliminating these hacks they've used on us. Say "no". 

• Take your auto-fill credit card off of all shopping sites and Google
• Take your credit card off your phone so you can't double click or pay with your face scan
• If you are shopping in person or online, leave it at the counter or in the shopping bag. Take 10 minutes and think if you need it. If so, go get it. If not, say no.
• In every day life, practice gratitude for what you already have. Contentment is a power we develop by saying "no" to more.

Phase 3: Say "No" To People

When was the last time someone asked you to do something and you just simply replied "No."

Not, "Oh I would TOTALLY love to but I think I have a thing at that time and won't be able to make it there."

Just..."no."

Sure, you can lighten it up with a "no, thanks" if that makes you feel better.

Someone once said that "no is a complete sentence." That person knew their time and attention was valuable.

Many of us are spending time:

• with people that aren't good for us to be around
• dating a person we know we aren't going to marry
• going to events we don't want to be at
• following a routine that doesn't provide any benefit or move you towards what matters to you

Tell them no. 

When you say "yes" to these things, you are giving up on what is important to you.

Eliminate things that aren't important.

Eliminate the desire to need more stuff.

Eliminate people and activities that don't move you to where you want to be in life.

Prioritize the limited amount of time and attention you have in this life and watch things get awesome fast.

Until our paths cross again...

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