> [!TIP] Mission > Realize your full potential in the digital age. > > Create a meaningful life through the practical mix of digital tools, life management systems, and humanistic philosophies. ## Why The internet is turning into a toxic wasteland, burying its true beauty as a space for [[Digital Universe|infinite learning and growth]]. Soul-less [[AI generated self improvement videos]] are flooding our feeds with carbon-copy ideas and retention editing, rehashing empty platitudes to prioritize hijacking your attention over having valuable insights for cultivating [[Wisdom]]. Despite knowing their damaging effects, I still find myself unwillingly trapped by their biologically addictive nature. [[Capitalist Creator|Capitalist creators]] prey on your insecurities and coerce you through [[Sales dark practices|dark practices]], manipulating you to impulsively purchase their empty promises—I mean, products containing "secret life-changing" answers. Because of this, the internet feels like a stubborn salesman that won't go away until every dollar is drained from your bank account (and them some more). Online gurus are telling you how to make $10,000 a month without even giving you a chance to think of what to do once you achieve these milestones, continuing your own desperate pursuit towards unfulfilling milestones. All because they're stuck in the same endless pursuit themselves. Whenever I see these success stories in my social media feeds, I find myself envious, critical of my own accomplishments and priorities. %% Add summary of what the world would look like due to the above %% As this becomes the norm, people will only want to find more meaningful paths for personal development to actually achieve the lifelong journey of growth they desire. But what could that look like? For me, it's simply valuing humanity above everything else. Instead of deteriorating your attention to escape from reality, you become intrinsically immersed in the insightful media you learn with a [[Growth Mindset]]. Instead of succumbing to your insecurities, you transcend limiting beliefs through radical [[Self-Love]]. Instead of focusing on external metrics like wealth or growth, we use our inner values as a compass to pave [[The pathless path]] of [[Self-awareness]] so we can discover our meaningful [[Purpose]] in the world. **This is what I aim to facilitate with [[My Personal Brand]] through Digital Self-Actualization.** Digital Self-Actualization is my attempt to outshine the emerging shallow, unrealistic, or capitalist sludge surrounding self-improvement content. Because the internet can provide so much more. Now, why do I care so much? I used to waste my life. At 17 years old, I felt overwhelmed by all the responsibilities and information when transitioning into adult life. I was uncertain about who I was and what my future was going to look like; to cope from the stress and uncertainty, I kept distracting myself by playing games for up to 16 hours a day. This totalled over 15,000+ hours of time I vaguely remember. On top of other unfulfilling activities like PMO and mindlessly scrolling, it becomes some nauseating amount of time I’ll never get back. And for what? Self-indulgence? Yikes. Life is short. Especially in the grand scheme of existence. It will inevitably end, and the universe will continue. Would I really want to spend such precious and limited time solely on myself, on cheap pleasures and shallow experiences that dissolve along with my consciousness? Instead, I adopted an altruistic mindset to contribute to something greater. I want to help the lives of others and the world in ways that will precede my physical existence on earth. Once I realized that [[Altruism is my most empowering source of motivation and meaning]], I started my journey to become someone capable of helping others through my skills and knowledge to inspire a similar transformation for others. This began my journey of Digital Self-Actualization. But you might be wondering, what does this term specifically mean to me? ## What ### Digital Digital refers to the modern technologies available to us we can leverage to accelerate our learning, productivity, and personal growth. This is manifested through: - The internet - Software - Artificial Intelligence #### The internet We're no longer limited to the resources and people of our local environment (see [[Why I choose to live online]]). With the limitless knowledge of the internet, we can pave our own personal paths towards our personal dreams and ideal life. This optimistic understanding is what I refer to as the [[Digital Universe]]. We now have access to insights from the brightest minds in the world at our fingertips: - We can immerse ourselves in influential ideas, sources, and role models through our [[Information Diet]] using apps like [[Readwise Reader]] and mindfully curated [[Social Media Algorithms]] - We can cultivate [[Wisdom]] by [[Learning]] and sharpening our [[Thinking]] with [[Obsidian]] - The search for this information can now be highly personalized thanks to [[Artificial Intelligence]] It doesn't matter what age, gender, race, or any other differentiating or previously discriminating feature. If you have an internet connection and your [[Having mode|Deficiency needs]] met, you can tap into this new opportunity of boundless growth. %% Feeling %% With this, humanity can work towards [[Collective learning pursuit]] and [[Self-Love]]. #### Software Next, we now have highly customizable and functional apps to leverage during our personal growth journeys: - Establish our values and visions through [[My Alignment Philosophy]] - Break down our goals and projects through [[Task management apps]] into manageable steps - Take action on them through [[Time management apps]] - Create schedules that optimize for flow and energy through calendar apps like [[Morgen]] - Measure our progress and alignment towards our goals and intentions through the power of [[The Measured Self]] - See how we spend our time with [[Toggl Track]] - Measure other [[Keystone habits]] and metrics with [[Obsidian Tracker Plugin]] - Have a space for being in touch with our emotions and inner self through [[Journaling]] apps Through these tools, we can set up [[#Systems]] to help us cultivate our ideal self. This can be imagined to be your spaceship for navigating your [[Digital Galaxy]]. #### Artifical Intelligence [[Artificial Intelligence]] accelerates both frontiers. - We can more effectively personalize and navigate online information - We can now delegate manual cognitive labor to focus on the things only our primary brain can do #### Closing But these [[#Tools]] are only as powerful as the systems and philosophies we operate them with. To learn more, you can check out the idea of a [[Digital Galaxy]]. ### Self-Actualization [[Self-Actualization]] refers to striving towards our full potential, the final but unattainable stage of [[Maslow's hierarchy of needs]], prioritizing [[Journey before destination]]. During self-actualization, you have all your basic living needs met so you can focus mostly on your purpose, your growth, and your impact on the world. You lose the need to indulge the [[Ego]] through shallow desires in [[Buddhism]] fashion, and instead just want to experience and serve the world. But to work towards such an ambitious purpose, you must embark on creative, intellectual, and social growth.[^1] Creative outputs in the form of sharing your knowledge through [[Content Creation]] or building things to serve the world via [[Entrepreneurship]]. Intellectual potential by [[Knowing]] the world and ourselves. Social potential by meeting others self-actualizing in their own ways to collaborate and have a [[My Community|community]] of like-minded people. I'm obsessed with Digital Self-Actualization because of how it's given me the mindsets, methods, and tools to navigate what I want to achieve within my lifetime and how. Yes it's an ambitious and naively optimistic for someone young, but I feel that self-actualization is a fundamental human need. [[Self-actualization is a moral obligation]]. I want to help others do the same, especially for those who might need it most [[Why I create|but might be neglected]]. It's the people who leverage this boundless opportunity that will live in a state of growth, not survival, which is ever more crucial in the age of emerging uncertainty from [[Artificial Intelligence]] and the suppression of the self from [[Late Stage Capitalism]] . For a more applicable framework highlighting the different stages of this journey, I recommend Cal Newport's [[The Deep Life Stack V2]]. But to make progress on this meaningful pursuit, we need to transform it into something practical 😊 ## How The components of DSA, modelled off of [[Mindsets methods tools pyramid]]. ### Mindset > "Humanistic philosophies", the core values and worldview of DSA Replacing [[Hustle Culture]] productivity with [[Attention-centred productivity]]. [[The Deep Life Stack V2]] for our path of personal transformation. Improving ourselves and following our curiosities through [[Self-Actualization]]. [[Life is a game]]. [[Buddhism]] for [[Self-transcendence]] [[Stoicism]] on living a virtuous life ### Methods > "Life management systems", the actionable frameworks and strategies you can take to implement the mindsets. This is what I refer to as your [[Digital Galaxy]]. Right now they are mostly encapsulated in [[USV Workflows]], but will eventually be branched out to cover other apps. The main systems are for: - [[Alignment]] - [[Personal Knowledge Management]] - [[Productivity]] #### Alignment Making sure your actions and goals are aligned with your values. [[My Alignment Philosophy]] - [[Values]] - [[Wheel of life]] - [[Periodic reviews]] - [[Goal setting]] - [[My tracking workflows]] This is the orbit of [[Digital life solar systems]] #### Personal knowledge management [[Digital Interstellar Medium]] #### Productivity Working towards your ideal life - [[Project management]] - [[Task management]] - [[Time Management]] - [[My Resources/My MOCs/Habits]] The objects in [[Digital life solar systems]]. ### Tools > "Digital tools", technology that lets you do the methods I'm currently using: - [[Obsidian]] for [[My Alignment Philosophy]] and [[Personal Knowledge Management]] - [[Akiflow]] for task and time management - [[Fleeting Notes App]] for capturing ideas - [[Toggl Track]] for [[Time tracking]] - [[Readwise Reader]] for managing my [[Information Diet]] - [[Hevy]] for workouts - [[How We Feel App]] for emotional self-awareness - [[ChatGPT]] for personalized learning and cognitive delegation ## Join me To keep up to date with my latest ideas and developments of DSA, join [[My Weekly Wonderings Newsletter]] for raw updates and thoughts, or better yet, be a part of the journey by joining [[My Community]] 😊 ## Inspirations *For me to refer to* ### People [[Abraham Maslow]] - Self-actualization - Not just for your own success, but to also do the most you can in the world [[My Prominent People/Tiago Forte]] - Information-related tips - System - [[PARA Method]] - Process - [[CODE Method]] [[Cal Newport]] - [[The Deep Life Stack]] - [[Discipline]] - [[Deep Work]] - hyperfocus - Discipline is destiny - Discipline is freedom - Hyperfocus - Indistractible - overcome internal triggers - anxiety from writing -> go on phone - external triggers - something -> - pre-commitments - Values - Essentialism - [[Life Design]] - Calm - [[Task management]] - **Capture**: don't store anything in your head. Your ideas, info, commitments, plans. - **Configure**: make effort organizing. Gather relevant info in one place. - **Control**: proactively make a plan for your time in advance: quarterly, weekly, daily - [[Time Management]] - [[Time blocking]] - Plan - Start quantifying your ratings so you know what to improve in - Habit trackers - Charts and journalling - Time tracking - [[Periodic reviews]] - 12 week year - [[Attention-centred productivity]] [[David Allen]] - [[Task management]] - Capturing - Organizing - Executing - [[Periodic reviews]] [[August Bradley]] - Life design system - Still need to look into it more [[Ali Abdaal]] - [[The Ideal Week]] [[Paul Millerd]] - ![[The Pathless Path Application#^i1vnp5]] [[John Vervaeke]] ## Delivery To have the right balance of mindset-shifting advice to see the reasons to do things paired with actionable practices to apply it to your own life. future-proof skills: - learning - ai - understanding yourself ## Notes - [[DSA Slogan Iterations]] ## Queries ```dataview table rows.file.link from [[]] AND !outgoing([[]]) AND !"Hidden" FLATTEN rows GROUP BY file.tags sort file.mtime desc ``` %% why do you ask? yeah i would say my note titled DSA + my whole "digital x" space metaphors explain it the best and encapsulates my initial reasoning, so i'll try and give a slightly different answer. i somewhat mentioned it in my first podcast episode with aidan how when i got covid and got into self-improvement i had a very strong mortality salience which made me really conscious on making sure i made the most of my limited time alive. at times my fear of death / living a life of regret was very ambitious/grand/unhealthy, but the different aspects of DSA have helped tame it. the journey-focused aspect of self-actualization helps me have a more appreciative and sustainable approach to personal growth, and the life design part of DSA helps me clarify what this could look like for me. i've just found obsidian as a sound fit for my productivity and intellectual foundation, both in terms of the app's philosophy as well as it's features. %% # References [^1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/askpsychology/comments/18tgkjs/what_is_self_actualization_actually/