I’ve learned not to want for things. The only thing that I’ve ever wanted was to move to a higher-stakes table. This enables me to see the world from a higher plane and learn more, faster.
So either I was to chill and read a book or play the game with the sole aim of moving to the higher stakes table. There is no mid-ground.
Unlike popular thought, a higher stakes table is not just measured in $ or BTC. It is measured by the access you have to other minds. Think Gandhi could write a letter and talk to every great mind of his time.
So I imagine, I should be in a position to be able to write to someone like Peter Thiel, Peter Diamandis, Bob Dylan, Chuck Lorre, Vince Gilligan, or Paul Graham, and jam on ideas. Just like sitting at the same poker table.
There was a time in my life when I thought the only way to achieve this was to make a lot of money or to get famous.
Yes, those are means to get to the tables where stakes are much higher. But I discovered something very simple that I am implementing currently.
Two things that people at the high-stakes tables have that most people don’t. The higher you go, the higher the need for truth and courage.
Sounds simplistic but my current thesis is that truth and courage will take me there. This means I do not lie, to myself or to others. And that I have the courage to stand for what I believe in, speak the truth, bear consequences for what I do, and admit when I’m wrong.
There is just too much murk when it comes to lying. It occupies too much of our brains, it directs and distracts us from anything that is real. Higher the stakes, lower the tolerance for dishonesty of any kind.
And, the biggest problem in the world may not be poverty of things but the poverty of courage. Without courage, how do I know if the other person is even real or not? Are they yes (wo)men? I just don’t have the time to deal with this.
PS: I do not think high-stakes tables are poker games. They’re actually marshmallow challenges. And those at the top have these two unsaid rules before they admit one to their team.