Do you remember when you felt particularly drawn to certain subjects and activities? (Robert Greene)

Everything in my disjointed past came together to support my book

All of the various writing experiences had given me the skills to tell stories and organize my thoughts.

My reading of books about history gave me the stories that I could draw on.

Random jobs had exposed me to dark corners of the human psyche.

I had given myself the perfect education for the writing of the book about power.


The moral:  We focus on what we see with our eyes.

When we see the transformation in a person's life, we see the visible signs of opportunity.

What allows for dramatic changes are what we can't see
slow accumulation of skills
the improvement of ability to withstand criticism.

If we want to change something in ourselves, we need to build skills.

The key to change ourselves is to stop looking at what other people say or do.

Focus inward.  Focus on the internal changes that helped a person improve himself.


We often enter a career path that is described by other people.

Return to the uniqueness that marked us at birth.  Reflect about the subjects that spark your inner child's curiosity.
Explore the position that suits you best.

Listen to your inner radar.
Some parts of the 
Accumulate skills.

Most people want a straight line to success.

You must welcome wrong turns and mistakes.

Gather new skills.
The goal you are seeking is "getting new skills" (not a fat paycheck)

Go in a direction that lets you sustain interest.  The learning process itself, increasing your skill level.

Immerse yourself in the present.
Develop patience


Eventually you will be fully prepared from within.   You will draw opportunity to you because you will be prepared.

Anders Erikson and the rule of 10,000 hours of practice.  The minds of the people became more fluid and creative.  All of those hours of practice help people become more creative. 

"The way to transform yourself is through your work." "Work is too boring," say most people


We can change ourselves from the inside out.
It is a journey of self discovery.  We contribute to society though our work.

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Robert Greene has counseled more than 100 people
They come to him with problems.

They would come to me with a specific problem. A boss from hell, a business relationship that had gone — turned ugly, a promotion that never came. I would slowly direct their attention away from the boss and the job, and instead get them to search inside themselves, and try to find the emotional root of their discontent.

Often as we talked it out, they would realize that at their core they felt deeply frustrated, their creativity was not being realized, their career had somehow taken a wrong turn. What they actually wanted was something larger, a real and substantial change in their careers and in their lives.

The Key to Transforming Yourself by Robert Greene

Consider the fact that each and every one of you is fundamentally unique, one of a kind. your DNA, the particular configuration of your brain, your life experiences. In early childhood this uniqueness manifested itself by the fact that you felt particularly drawn to certain subjects and activities. You cannot rationally explain why you felt so drawn to words or to music or to particular questions about the world around you, or to social dynamics.

As you get older, you often lose contact with these inclinations. 

* You listen to parents who urge you to follow a particular career path. 

* You listen to teachers and alcoholic magazine editors who tell you what you’re good and bad at. 

* You listen to friends who tell you what’s cool and not cool. 

At a certain point, you can almost become a stranger to yourself. And so you enter career paths that are not suited to you emotionally and intellectually.

Your life’s task, as I call it, is to return to those inclinations and to that uniqueness that marked each and every one of you at birth. At whatever age you find yourself, you must reflect back upon those earliest inclinations. You must look at those subjects in the present that continue to spark that childlike intense curiosity in you. And you must look at those subjects and activities that you’ve been forced to do over the past few years that repel you, that have no emotional resonance.

Based on these reflections, you determine a direction you must take: writing or music or a particular branch of science, or a form of business or public service. You now have a loose overall framework within you which you can explore and to find those angles and positions that suit you best.

You listen closely to yourself to your internal radar. Some parts of that framework, for me journalism and Hollywood, do not feel right. And so you move on slowly narrowing your path all the while accumulating skills. Most people want simple direct straight line paths to the perfect position and to success. But instead you must welcome wrong turns and mistakes. They make you aware of your flaws. They widen your experiences, they toughen you up.

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NOTE TO STUDENTS:  Look for singjupost.com-- the online transcriptions are helpful.  Search for "Tai Lopez singju post transcript read a book a day"