A Letter To 18-Year-Old Nick

Nick,

I’m so proud of you dude, and I know if you could see the life I’m living here in the future you wouldn’t believe it.

You graduated high school a year ago, and you’re working with Gordon at Contractor Shirts sleeping on the couch.

I know it sucks right now, but what I also know is you’re getting a weird form of pleasure from working 60 hours a week and selling like an animal.

Your cocky ass knows that on the other side of all this suffering is your dreams coming true. I want to tell you that you’re absolutely right, but there are two ways you can go about projecting this to the world.

First, in a very childish “I told you so” manner where you intentionally put people down and make them feel inferior to you, constantly showing off how much smarter you are than them.

Second, in a very humble king-like manner which is the highest form of confidence, you knew what to do and you did it for yourself, not to show it off to others.

You’re going to focus on that first set of behaviors for a few years and you’ll start to see that it pushes people away from you more than it brings people to you.

I want you to understand there’s a lot of insecurity wrapped in this, it comes from you not feeling like you’re enough and I really want you to know that you ARE enough.

Eventually, you’re going to meet some guys who are A LOT more successful than you and they’re going to seriously humble you. You’ll see they have 2x, 5x, or even 10x the success that you’ll have yet they still maintain humility.

Listen to them, you’re going to be viewed as extremely mature for your age because you did.

Also, you’ll meet some guys who do the exact opposite and who live a very flashy lifestyle. Trust me, as cool as they look, this isn’t the path you’re supposed to go down. You won’t understand until later in life, and you’re definitely going to be tempted to go down that route.

Obviously, the only reason I know this is because I lived it. You’ll probably get a little ego boost to know that at 22 you bought a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S and you had a different girl in shotgun almost every weekend.

Yes, I know this sounds fun, it is.

You’ll start to see that you won’t be secure enough to live that kind of lifestyle, your identity will be wrapped in it and it’ll start to make you question everyone around you and even the women in your life.

And from there you’re going to hit rock bottom, but understand that’s okay, it’s a part of your journey and it’ll build your character immensely.

Go to that Drake song on More Life titled Can’t Have Everything and listen to the voicemail his mom left him on the outro of the song, that’ll explain the experience you’re going to have perfectly…

“I can appreciate where your uncertainly stems from

And you have reason to question your anxieties

And how disillusioned you feel

As well as feeling skeptical about who you believe you can trust

But that attitude will just hold you back in this life”

That’s it, you’ll feel this so deeply that one night you’re going to listen to it on repeat while crying. Honestly, you’re going to cry to a lot of Drake songs, that’s okay, we love Drizzy.

The reason you’re going to hit rock bottom is that you’ll understand that the book you read with Jason, Divine Pymander, is your destiny.

Pymander translates to Shepherd Of Men.

It’ll become very apparent that all of the stupid shit you’re doing is just pulling you off the path to becoming a Pymander.

It’ll take that trip to rock bottom for you to see that obtaining that title is immensely more valuable than the short-term pleasure-seeking nihilism which is pulling you off the path.

It’s best for you to focus on building the foundations of masculinity and manhood rather than chasing fun and pleasure, and that’s not to say you won’t still have fun…

It’s just best for it to be 80/20 balance of purpose to pleasure.

Right now at 18, you’re smoking stupid amounts of weed every single day and you’ve been going heavy into psychedelics.

The weed is going to become a problem dude, I really think you should take some time to reflect on why you smoke it so much. I know your answer already, it’s because it makes you feel good and it’s fun.

What you’ll eventually start to realize is that the energy which comes from using something external to create peace, happiness, relaxation, or whatever you’re trying to feel will always be inferior to creating that internally on your own.

It’s hard for you to get this, but life is all about superior energy.

Your goal is to accumulate as much superior energy as possible.

Understand, that everything in this world is a form of energy.

Think of the cells in your body or the couch you’re sleeping on, they’re both made up of nothing more than an accumulation of atoms, which are made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons, all forms of energy.

Money, respect, strength, knowledge, understanding, wisdom…

All of these things are a form of energy, and there are inferior and superior forms of it.

I’m going to warn you right now, you’re going to get lost in the money.

Stop worrying so much about it, you’re going to get really good at making it. It’ll just become a part of your nature. You’re a natural-born hustler, and over the next 5 years, you’re going to become an absolutely world-class salesperson.

For instance, yesterday you (or me?) turned a phone call with a friend into them paying you $7500 and you’ll be flying out to Miami next week to work with him for a few hours a day for 3 days.

Think about that dude!

When you turn 19 you’ll be working an entire month at a restaurant, busting your ass non-stop, and won’t take home more than $2500, kind of crazy how different things will be, right?

The reason everything changed so much with your income is that you decided to focus on learning a high-value skill at 19.

You really should start now. It’s called copywriting, you’re going to get extremely good at it, and you’ll really fall in love with the craft.

You’ll become so obsessed with it that it’ll become the only thing you’ll focus on. You’ll neglect your health, your family, your relationships with others, and the difficult conversations you’ll need to have in order to address the trauma you went through with mama and papa.

Honestly, I hope you know that I don’t think you should do anything all that different, the path you’re on is perfect, but I do think you should focus more on hitting the gym and getting jacked as hell.

Learn about macros, follow a good workout routine, and just hit it every day with one rest day per week. Understand it’s not about lifting as much weight as humanly possible. You should focus on time under tension rather than just seeing the number go up.

Oh let’s also talk about women…

I know that’s really difficult for you now, there are literally no women in your life because they’re all in college and you’re working 24/7.

Understand brother, this is the way it’s supposed to be, you don’t need women right now, you need to focus on building your finances, your health, and your relationships with stronger men.

By the time you hit 22, you’ll start to figure out that you’re not ugly. You’re young and what you don’t understand just yet is there is a dominance hierarchy in the sexual marketplace.

You’re at the very bottom.

You’re a really good-looking dude and your experience in sales is going to make you extremely charismatic with women. The best thing you’ll start to do is learn how to understand your emotions.

What you think is love is really just a massive rush of positive emotion, when you understand this it’ll help you be more reserved and not share everything you’re thinking.

There’s so much I could share with you, but more than anything I just want to say that I have nothing but the utmost respect for you.

You’re doing everything you need to do.

Keep doing that, you’re on the right path.

Love you dude.