The Battle for Involvement

Dear Younger Me,

I’ve been pondering the idea of involvement. It’s something we’ve been interested in since the early days of elementary school. Involvement in sports, camps, activities, and so much more.

Involvement is a mindset that is pushed onto children from a very early age. By the time kids are in high school, if you aren’t overly involved you aren’t doing it right.

You were hyper-involved: clubs, sports, friendships, volunteering. You were not alone. You will not be alone later. Society pushes for involvement. Younger me, listen when I tell you you’ve been doing it wrong.

You can take my word for it. If not just look towards the ancient wisdom from cinema: The Matrix.

In a particular scene from the Matrix, Morpheus is taking Neo through a busy city. Morpheus is imparting some wisdom onto Neo, but Neo isn’t listening. Why? Amidst there crowd there is a woman in a beautiful red dress. Neo can’t look away. She’s beautiful. She’s enticing. He wants her.

Morpheus taps Neo on the shoulder asking if he had understood the wisdom… shamefully Neo says no. Morpheus tells him to look back at the woman in the red dress, but to Neo‘s surprise, it’s Agent Smith holding a gun to his head.

There is a powerful message behind the woman in the red dress. Taken metaphorically the woman represents your desire. The new side hustle. The new passive income stream. The new way to add to your business. It looks perfect.

However, if we aren’t focused on the task at hand the woman turns into a gun. Into danger. Into destruction.

Younger self, hear me when I say do not let the woman in the dress steer you off your path. You may feel you have capacity. You have energy. You have the strength to take her on. You may, but it will take your attention off from the task at hand. You will be a little less focused. A little less engaged. A little worse.

Younger me, I challenge you with this: pour everything into the one thing you know is the best thing. Trust your intuition. You’ve been doing many good things… entertaining many a women in red dresses. But imagine you just entertain one. Involve yourself in one thing. Focus on the #1 priority. Younger me, you would go from good to great.

Do the one,

Older You

P.S here are some red dresses you may run into:

• Instagram reels on how to get rich

• Various options for how to build passive income

• Lists to build 10k/month GPT businesses

Here’s what you should really be focusing on:

• The part of your gut you are ignoring

• The one passion you want to turn into business

• The action you know you need to take… but you haven’t