The Secret of Great Storytelling: Self Education

We will meet plenty of interesting people in our life.

And most importantly, they will be from all walks of life.

Men, women, religious, atheist, small, tall, (maybe aliens), etc.

Interesting people left and right.

When I use the word interesting, it immediately implies ‘different.’

Whoever thinks of the word ‘same’ when thinking of something interesting?

If people are the same, then they are ordinary.

Definitely not interesting.

Despite these people being so different & unique…

There is an underlying thread of unity among all of them.

Can you guess what it is?

‘Hm…no not really.’

It’s self-education.

Their desire to continue to learn leads them to become more interesting over time.

They don’t view an evolved personality as a final goal.

They view it in terms of iterations.

Why Self Education SHOULD be on the Rise

This is the information age.

The era where learning should be rapid.

However, many are blind to the opportunity.

Why?

It’s because they lack grit.

Grit…

Grit is probably not the word you envision when you envision someone who learns.

You probably pictured a nerd.

Not someone who is scrappy.

But that’s not the case in the real world.

The person who learns and self-educates often has more ambition than their peers.

Also, this person has found the formula for the Fountain of Youth.

Fall back Ponce De Leon.

Curiosity keeps you young.

But that’s not necessarily promised.

On the other hand, targeted curiosity will forever keep you young.

Targeted Curiosity

Curiosity is the intense desire to know.

The target is the steering wheel.

Any idea where you are going?

Getting too specific with the target can destroy curiosity.

And make learning feel like work.

On the other hand, a general target works wonders in terms of the mind.

When we see physical matter, it’s great to use exact specifications.

That’s because, with physical matter, it’s easier to measure things.

On the flip side, with the mind, there is a time for specifications.

And there are other times for GRAND goals.

To unlock targeted curiosity, it’s smart to build a grand goal.

This builds a desire to learn more.

This grand goal should be strategic as well.

It should be more for the self rather than for others.

Otherwise, learning will feel like work.

‘What do you mean for the self rather than others?’

It’s when selfishness leads to selflessness.

Learning for the Self, First

When we learn for others, it feels like work.

When we learn for ourselves, it feels like fun.

A lot of our learning lives included learning for others:

-Study this so you pass the class.

-Enroll in this course, otherwise, you will be kicked out of the program.

-Read this chapter, otherwise, you will fail the pop quiz.

Constantly learning for others.

Targeted curiosity is for the self.

Learn because it’s fun, keeps you aware, and gives YOU more energy.

‘You mentioned having a grand goal for the self, right?’

Yea, that’s correct.

‘I’m not too sure how to phrase the grand goal, can you help me out?’

Yessir.

Go for flawless knowledge.

Make that the goal.

And targeted curiosity immediately gets activated.

‘But people are imperfect, they can’t be flawless at anything.’

Doesn’t matter.

Set that as an intention.

• Sometimes the mind needs clear targets.
• Sometimes the mind needs GRAND targets that force it into GRAND actions.

Even if flawless may not be possible, set that as the intention.

And watch yourself learn faster than someone who did not set flawless as the intention.

Why Self Education Leads to Storytelling Skills

If you find some of the greatest storytellers in any field.

Doesn’t quite matter which field they are in…

Film

Writing

Photography

Music

etc

And ask them what they consider a story…

A lot of them will struggle to answer.

‘But this is their profession! How come they can’t explain what a story is?’

Because a story has a multitude of definitions.

The more someone creates stories, the more they come to realize that there is not a CERTAIN way to do it.

There are infinite amounts of ways to ‘tell a story.’

Well, this is where self-education leads to better storytellers.

Self-education leads to infinite ways to process the world.

The more knowledge obtained, the more potential ways to move.

The more potential ways to move, the more angles to be leveraged in a story.

A great story is one that is unpredictable.

Where the next section, let alone the next line, is difficult to predict.

The person who can move in unpredictable ways is the person who sets the intention for flawless knowledge.

At this point, they are operating in a different wavelength.

How to Get Started

Self-education scares plenty.

Why?

You have all the freedom, isn’t that what you wanted??

Not quite.

People say they want freedom until they get it.

And when they get it, they don’t like making too many decisions.

Self-education does not have to be the boogie man.

Heck, I’ll give you the simplest formula out there to get started.

Find 1 topic you are curious about.

No topic is too stupid for you to pick.

Look it up on Google.

And read an article on it.

The article will have an ATLEAST 1 hyperlink on it.

Click any of the hyperlinks that your curiosity grasps onto.

And read that.

Keep the cycle going.

This may seem like a small move.

However, it’s not.

This small move has just started a chain.

‘A chain?’

A chain into the paradigm of self-education.

The chain that leads to targeted curiosity.

Tell Better Stories by Learning

Self-education is not only difficult due to the freedom.

Another word that daunts someone is the world ‘self.’

That’s true.

In terms of self-education, the #1 person to learn about is yourself.

Gotta know that person inside and out.

Otherwise, you aren’t leveraging targeted curiosity that YOU set the intention for.

Instead, you’re just getting your curiosity hooked by the latest marketing trends, media narratives & herd gossip.

• Without the Self, self-education falls apart.
• With the Self, nothing can break you.

By gaining advantage of the mind, the universe slowly becomes unlocked.

Creativity is all about turning the mind from a galaxy to a universe.

And from a universe to a cosmos.

The cosmos is structured.

There is an intelligent force behind it.

Allow your mind to be like that.

No longer junk.

But a structure, that leads to unpredictable, high-quality stories.

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– ArmaniTalks