“This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.”
What would you have taken if you were asked to?
I bet 80% of you would have said the red pill, 15% the blue pill, 4% both (uh?), and maybe 1% would have said none. So, what’s the right answer? Neither one, because it doesn’t really matter since you’re living in real life. End of the story.
Wait! Shouldn’t I tell you about taking the red pill in life? Ok, just because you are asking…
What is taking the red pill anyway?
In reality, taking the red pill in life means approaching things in a way you weren’t expected to at first. Like a young hacker who find a way to enter confidential information. He wasn’t supposed to do it, but his curiosity and pride were way higher that the fear of getting caught, so he does it anyway. He’s taking the red pill.
Some other examples of people who are constantly taking the red pill are travelers, scientists, entrepreneurs. They are all taking the red pill in some areas of their lives because they are doing new things every day, while growing and learning.
There are different ways you can take the red pill, and not all of them require doing something exciting that could appear in an action movie. Remember that to take the red pill in life, all you have to do is to consciously act in a way you weren’t supposed to initially.
If you are doing like everyone else is doing, there’s something wrong with you.
There’s something wrong because you are taking the blue pill and you are not pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Of course it’s not always convenient to take the red pill in real life, but if you want to grow in life, then the more you take of them, the better.
There are a few tips you can take inspiration from if you want to take the red pill in your life. Below are some examples of them:
- Innovate. Innovation is changing how the old system works. When you innovate you are not sure of how the project could turn out, so you are taking risk, therefore you are taking the red pill.
- Ask why. Be like a baby who tries to understand how something works by using it in unexpected ways. Ask why when you don’t understand something and dig deeper whenever you find something interesting.
- Test the truth, but also the opposite. This one I learned with computer programming, if you are told that product x is the more (put something here) out there, test to see if any other product is doing the same claim.
- Take risk. This is my favorite one. If you don’t take risk in life, you’ll have an hard time getting something out from it.
- Change your mind. Things don’t remain the same forever, therefore test to see if what you believe is still valid today.
- Use your fantasy. You have to be creative. Taking the red pill is acting in a way you weren’t supposed to act, so you have to use your fantasy to find out those different ways.
In real life, the red pill is not what you usually think of.
Some examples of real red pills are:
- Leaving your day job. Do I have to explain why this is risky?
- Starting a new career. I’m a big fan of this. When I reach a good level at something, I tend to pick a new path and start over agan. I do this gradually, but this way I’m never bored.
- Traveling to a foreign country. It’s a red pill only if you are going to stay at least a few weeks and you have to deal with other people who are not your friends (and who probably don’t speak your language).
- Doing a habit change experiment. This is easier than the previous examples but its effects can be life changing. Some people stop smoking with a 30 days challenge, other start their own business and so on. You don’t have to do something exceptional as long as you do something every day that is affecting you thinking.
But…
Taking the red pill it’s not always the best thing to do, you have to rest sometimes!
The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.- Bruce Lee
But don’t be tempted to make this an excuse to stop growing yourself.
If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. – Bruce Lee
So do a favor to yourself. Take the red pill in your life, but do it with your head and your spirit, and you’ll reach unimaginable results.
Posted on September 18 2009
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Nice post, Oscar. I’m starting to take more red pills as of late because I’m heading into the entrepreneurial and lifestyle design direction. I still need to learn to be more innovative, but that will come as I learn more and get more experience.
Cheers.
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Hey Gordie, nice to hear that about you. I wish you all the best.
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Great post Oscar! I think I’ve taken a few red pills myself this year:
I changed the way I think and approach food, nuitrition and excercise. I tried crazy low-carb diets, saturated fat, and training excercises based on the 80/20 rule. The results? Huge fat loss in a short time. Heck, my own aunt didn’t recognize me, my family is positively shocked and my life is a lot a lot different, and most importantly healthier.. The down side is I had to spend tons of euros on new clothes LOL!
Also…
I moved to Perugia where I knew nobody, made many friends, improved my Italian and had some wonderful experinces.
Insomma, I love taking the red pill but as you said you have to know when and when not.
Keep it up!
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Great Adam! It seems like you are an example for everyone else here. Send me an email if you’ll ever come near Pordenone so we can meet each other.
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I love the allusion to The Matrix, one of my favorite movies! The red pill, huh, or go back to sleep? I’ll take it!
“Welcome to the desert of the real…” ~Morpheus
Miche :)
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Hey Miche,
I love that movie too, in fact I re-watched it again yesterday.
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One suggestion, Oscar. Why don’t you add a “recent posts” widget to the sidebar, so anyone reading an old article can go through to more recent/interesting articles. And oh yeah, maybe a “related articles” widget at the end of each post too?
Love the new design!
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Thanks Adam for your suggestion, I’ll try to come up with something usable.
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Wow! The “Change your Mind” tip really struck me. I’ve been so busy doing lately that I haven’t spent much time on validating my thoughts/beliefs. Need to set some time aside this weekend to work on that. Thanks for the inspiration and the fabulous tips!
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Hey Dave, I’m glad you got some inspiration from this, it’s always my goal to do so. Thanks for dropping by.
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Even though I would love the nap and the blue pill, I think I usually take the red pill. Wasn’t always that way, but I took a red pill a year ago and I am not going back. Great advice.
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Hi Jeff. I’m always happy when someone says he took the red pill and now he’s not looking back. Good luck.
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Hey Oscar!
I just moved to a new town, am starting my own business in a new career direction for me, and I am excited beyond belief. I’m a huge subscriber the change big, change often mantra. Thanks for some of the tips you spelled out, it certainly helps keep me on track to see what others do bullet-pointed out.
Keep up the great work!
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Hey Kristin!
Looks like you are into a major change in your life. Good luck with it and I wish you all the best!
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Hey Oscar,
I’m currently chewing on a few red pills! Nice way of putting it. Resting, or doing less to achieve more, from Bruce Lee’s point of view. I like :)
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I really like his point of views. Not only about martial arts but also his philosophy.
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Heya Oscar!
Don’t know why I missed this post! It’s a really good one, you are on fire lately! :)
Really liking the new blog design, looks 100% better.
I love the matrix, the best part is where Neo says:
“I need guns…lots of guns” :)
Stumbled.
Cheers
Diggy
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Hey Diggy, I remember that scene, it’s a really exciting movie. Thanks for the design feedback. I still want to play with widgets and add something but overall I am satisfied with it.
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My two cents – double drop the red pill!
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Hey Joe, I like your spirit. Thanks for dropping by.
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Hey hey! The red pill story. :)
Adding 2 cents — the red pill’s about taking the unconventional route. Knowing that the red pill brings you progress, which translate to happiness too!
I’m still waiting for the next update on your 10k EUR p/mth plan. Cya!
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Hei Daniel, new update will be on October. I plan to do one per month. Thanks for your interest!
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Great use of the matrix. I think people who live inside the matrix are stuck within their own mental slavery while the people of the real world have freed there mind. No limitations on what they can achieve in life. I think positive thinking can free ones mind from mental slavery without a doubt. What do you think Oscar?
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I think the matrix is a limit and I don’t like limits. Thanks for your contribution Jonathan :)
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I know I sound like a parrot for saying this, but I’ll say it anyway: The Matrix is one of my favorite movies and that’s saying a lot, since I’m not a movie fan at all. Thinking about it makes me excited. Now I feel like watching it. Thanks for nothing, Oscar! :-P
That aside (whew, had to get that out of my system)… I really like how you said at the end that it isn’t always good to be constantly pushing yourself. Most people aren’t going to follow through if they feel like they must constantly be on alert for new opportunities. That’s why most of us say we want to take the red pill and yet never actually do it in real life … because it feels like we have to be on it 24/7.
I definitely don’t feel like pushing myself all the time (last week was a perfect example… I didn’t do anything productive… and also why I’m about 4 days late commenting here). But now that I feel re-energized and bored with doing nothing, I can get back on the ball again. Excellent post & stumbled! :)
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Hey Valerie, there’s no timeline here :D
Anyway, I don’t watch much movies, and definitely zero television. Don’t worry about having a non productive week because everyone has them, we need to take a break sometimes.
Oscar
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There’s always something inherently attractive about taking the red pill. One’s course of action may be fraught with risks and uncertainties, but hey, that’s life. That’s what it is essentially right there. But do we want out of it? Guarantees? A nifty purchase return policy? Thank God for red pills. Much of mankind’s progress had been forged by men and women who took the red pill without being squeamish about it. :)
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Hey Jan, we can’t pretend to get much if we risk little. Thanks for your insightful comment!
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It is never too late to take the red pill on the road to success. The problem is that a many people continue with their life the way it is without trying something new. The simple act of never working at a regular job is scary when that is all you know. It takes unwavering courage to continue taking the red pill.
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Hey Shirland, thanks for your contribution. I agree with you, it takes courage to take the red pill many times.
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[…] I like eating healthy. I like reading personal development blogs. It seems that once you’ve taken the red pill there’s no going […]
Interesting post, Oscar. I think it does get harder to take the red pill as you get older, because you have more responsibilities to other people. So, you can’t just up and start a new career, and end an old one, because then your family wouldn’t have an income. Perhaps the answer is to do it how you mentioned – do it gradually, so that the new career is up and running a bit before ending the old one.
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I can see your point Evan, and it makes sense to me. I also think that work is only one area of life and we can change so many other things while keep doing what we are already doing, and who knows, maybe one day we’ll change that too.
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