I recently read an article in which Sahil Bloom talked about the taxes of life you need to metaphorically pay, to live your life at ease and most importantly, authentically. These were taxes like a period of loneliness to foster personal transformation, and boredom of routine that translates into long-term success*. If there was a lightbulb in my room, it surely must have turned on, cause these insights resonated with me intensely. As personal development is one of the cooking pots that are boiling on my stove, I’m very much focused on the principle that in order to get something, you gotta put in the work. Or in other words, if you want to harvest, you gotta put in the seeds first.
Now before you take off with your spading fork, with putting in the work, I don’t necessarily mean hard labor work. I mean the inner work to understand yourself on a deeper level, which is something that needs to be done continuously, simply because you change all the time. The feelings and thoughts of yesterday, could change over the course of one night. Even a small moment, thought, or realization could alter your vision completely. That’s why to me doing inner work is an ongoing relationship that you have to nourish and listen to, in order to understand yourself and live peacefully. It’s comparable with a relationship you have with a partner. Without communication, and the willingness to truly understand each other, the relationship will surely not get stronger and most likely weaken.
But most of all Sahil’s words resonated with me because of the result of experiencing success and strength, when you actually ‘earned’ something. The taxes you just got to pay, in order to live a life you’re happy about. It’s also comparable to the Indian Vedanta tradition* that speaks of three ways to live a life filled with happiness, which are pleasure, involvement and meaning. But when focusing on long-term success, you mostly focus on the last two, involvement and meaning, as pleasure is merely focused on short-term as it gives instant gratification. Pleasure is when you do eat that snack, buy something new, checking your outfit and see it looks nice on you. Those are definitely important factors to have in your life, but eventually they won’t pay the taxes for long-term success.
‘So instead of thinking why it’s so annoying, try to embrace the hard things in life. Cause a fulfilling life is on the other side of what’s hard and painful, and the ultimate goal for so many of us’
What does pay the taxes are the other two focus points, involvement and meaning. These have proven to give long-term satisfaction and are an accelerator to long-term success (which I personally measure in happiness, not an amount of money). And in order to achieve that, you gotta put in some work. Some of these taxes are pretty easy to do when you have the right mindset, because you’re focused on what it will eventually bring to you, like working out or writing your thoughts on paper. Other taxes like ‘having tough conversations to deepen your relationship, or imposter syndrome that will eventually lead to progress’ are a bit more tough to bite into, because they’ll most likely give a negative feeling or association to begin with. Also the reason many of us don’t even get into inner work, cause it could bring up all of these emotions and things you need to work on. Easier to just ignore it, right? Short-term yes, long-term no. Because it’s going to present itself anyway, and when being ignored for many years, it will definitely show you it’s there.
The easiest route to take when you sense a negative emotion while paying a tax, is to focus on the end-result, and not how hard it is while doing it. You know by doing this, you receive something that’s way more valuable, like a friendship that’s rooted on a deep level, or the fact that you’ve overcome your fear and can be proud of yourself. The fact you can enjoy quality time with your family whenever, just because you decided to isolate yourself and work on your craft, or the ease you feel on a daily basis. Because you know yourself. Because you fought your demons in a battle you won with perseverance.
To me it’s like looking at life in the bigger scheme of things, which make the small not so enjoyable moments of the day, way less important. They will affect you less, because you know what you’re doing it for. Eye on the price, that kind of feeling. It’s compared to paying real life taxes for a reason. It’s not so much fun, but something that just has to be done. So instead of thinking why it’s so annoying, try to embrace the hard things in life. Cause a fulfilling life is on the other side of what’s hard, even painful, and the ultimate goal for so many of us.
* The Curiosity Chronicle – Sahil Bloom (newsletter)
* The Power Of Vital Force – Rajshree Patel (book)