Maximize Your Life

Since I got introduced to stoicism, I got interested in what this ancient philosophy has to offer and how I can apply their wisdom into my life, which we can call "the modern life". To avoid any confusion, this does not mean I am becoming a Stoic. I am just a student of life, and if I see value in something, chances are that I will apply this into my own life and share the knowledge obtained.  Life can be divided into two categories In my previous video, where I talked about being introduced to this philosophy, I talked about a key principal of stoicism, which is that we should not worry about things beyond our control, because everything in life can be divided into two categories – things that are up to us, and things that are not, and I want to talk further about this.  "It's not things that upset us, it's our judgment ABOUT things" I want to start by sharing a quote I saw on the internet from Epictetus, a Greek philosopher, which says, "It's not ...

A few days ago, a friend called me and told me that he stumbled upon a philosophy called stoicism. He told me, "Wesley, I came across a philosophy called stoicism, and I really think that this is something that fits with us as we are both into improving ourselves on many different levels." I also noticed on YouTube a lot of suggested videos about this topic, so apparently YouTube's algorithm knows I find this topic interesting, and I must admit that I do! These suggested videos, together with that phone call from my friend, made me decide to investigate. I did some quick digging to get started, and I want to share with you what I've learned so far. The first question I wanted an answer to, is an obvious one in my opinion, and that is: What exactly is stoicism about?  What is stoicism about? The friend who called me, also sent me a link to a YouTube video from Ryan Holiday. I will leave a link down below in the description for those who are interested. Ryan has a YouTu...

Sometimes it seems inevitable - those awkward quiet moments during a conversation. Suddenly there's silence, and neither of you knows what to say or get the conversation started or going properly. Of course, this can happen to even the best of people, but it's inconvenient when you're for example trying to sell something, when you are in love and trying to build a relationship with a certain person, or when you simply want to start a new friendship. Fortunately, this can be fixed! You just need to know how. That's why I decided to create this video, because there are a few techniques you can use which will make sure you WILL HAVE those interesting conversations you always wanted to have! So, what to do? Which techniques do I mean?  Ask questions The first one might sound obvious, but I do want to mention it: ASK QUESTIONS. Asking questions is a great way to start and sustain a conversation, and also to revive a conversation when things start to slow down. Just simple qu...

I’m just wondering if you’re familiar with the following scenario: You’re just chilling, and you feel kinda lazy and without motivation, scrolling a bit on social media. You see all kinds of posts from your friends along with a lot of nonsense. While scrolling, you also come across a few quotes here and there, but ONE of those quotes really gets your attention. You start thinking about your life, your relationship, or career or whatever thoughts the quote triggered, but that won’t last for long though. Before you know it, you just continue scrolling because what else are you going to do?  Don't waste this! I’m just gonna be real with you here - taking the path of least resistance is very natural for the majority of mankind, and besides that - turning your whole life around because of a quote you’ve seen on social media? Isn’t that a bit extreme? Well, let me tell you something. It does NOT matter where you get your “AHA” moment from! If you get one, cherish it, and do NOT waste it....

Llately I had a lot to learn from my job, and this got me thinking: how can I learn faster? I took a closer look at my own learning habits, and I also did some research on the topic which eventually led to the making of this blog post and video .  Forget a few things So, let me get straight to the point! First we want to forget a few things:  We want to forget we know already something about the topic We want to forget we already know something about the topic. I think it is a great way to learn something new when you are starting with a beginner's mindset, because it's important to realize that we do not know everything about a particular topic (even when we already do know something). When you look at something as a beginner, the chance is big that you notice things that you did not notice before. We want to forget what's going on with anything not related to the topic Try to set aside everything irrelevant to what you want to learn, because when you are too distracted yo...

I got a request from someone on how to deal with mentally challenging times, and I am dealing with those times myself. Even at this very moment, so this is actually the perfect time that I share with you what helps me along my journey. The best way, for me, is journaling. At the moment I am journaling daily, and it helps me so unbelievably much. It helps me to understand myself better, to stay calm, to learn a lot about life, and it helps me to grow as a person. I note there the fun stuff, but also the tough stuff and when I start writing about it, I not only get a clearer picture of what happened, but also a very deep understanding of why I took the actions I have taken. In the process of writing down my thoughts, I'm also kind of forced to ask myself certain questions. These are not always easy questions. Often times these are very difficult questions which forces me to dive deep into my soul, but formulating an answer to those questions is what helps me so well! The outcome of t...

For a long time I lived my life as if I was in a constant hurry. I always had the feeling that I never had enough time. Quite funny, because I already had that feeling BEFORE I had children. Now that I do have children, I have a greater understanding of this feeling than EVER before! At this point in my life I realize that I had PLENTY of time before, but I just never saw that.  Not anymore experiencing pleasure At this point in my life I have my full-time job as a WMS support engineer (WMS stands for Warehouse Management System), I have a family to take care of and 4 pets (which includes 2 dogs and 2 cats), I have several hobbies like creating YouTube videos and playing video games (yes, I'm back at it every once in a while) and I exercise regularly (and with regularly I mean around 4-6 times a week), doing high repetition calisthenic exercises only, like for example military style burpees, push-ups and squats and several ab exercises. However, I realized something very recently....

I think the majority of humanity has experienced regrets. Regrets of doing "wrong" things in the past. Regrets of certain choices that have been made, opportunities which were not taken or maybe even people which were hurt because of a certain choice one has made. Believe me, I have done a lot of foolish things in the past and I must admit that for a long time I had a lot of troubles overcoming the feeling of regret.  "It was eating me from the inside out" For quite a while regret was eating me from the inside out, and I didn't know how to deal with it. I think most of us have experienced the feeling of regret at some point or at several points in our lives, or maybe you are experiencing it right now. It can be devastating, and in some cases even self-destructive. Because of the problems I had regarding overcoming this emotion, I thought it might be of value to share my experience, because over time I have come to understand a few things about regrets which are ...

One of the hardest but also one of the most important things in life is not to make any conclusions. There have been so many moments in my life where I thought I had it all figured it out, but I keep discovering new things, new insights, new perceptions. I keep broadening my horizons and therefore I want to share with you the importance of not making any conclusions. To not think we have it all figured out and to remain open. Life has so much to offer us, and it's a non-stop learning process.  "THIS IS IT!" Or Maybe Not? We have all gone through different phases in our lives where in one phase we might have experienced a lot of good times, and in another phase we might have been experiencing a lot of challenges. We learn through both and should not assume that there's nothing more to discover. Whenever we make a conclusion, what we're essentially saying is "THIS IS IT!" and that's the point where growth stops because it prevents us from looking furth...

New year's resolutions, clean slates, new beginnings. If done wrong, you could be living inside an illusion the rest of the year. *****  So, it is 2021. A new year, and for many people the time to write new chapters and close old ones. The beginning of a new year is very popular to do so. We make new year's resolutions every year, but of course we can start new chapters at any given time. We don't need to wait for the new year to begin, but for many people it has some kind of psychological benefit. But when I think of new year resolutions, 1 question immediately comes into mind: Why wait? The more we wait, the more time without action taken passes by! When a new chapter needs to be written, just start writing! So what I mean by this, is simply to minimize the "waiting" and to start maximizing "action". Action is what's causing change. Of course, things will also change when you're waiting, but I doubt it that it's for the better.  Start from ...

It's simply the reality that you can't be liked by everyone, and you know what? That's totally fine! It's  impossible anyway. I used to think it was important to be liked by certain people or certain groups. I valued having a certain status. However, as I have traveled further through life, it has become less and less important to me. It simply is what it is.  There will always be people who don't like you or accept you. There will always be people who judge you, or have a prejudice about you. Your whole life, there will always be people who have something to say! This is unavoidable, and you should not even try to avoid it. Instead, just accept it. Let them talk and realize that you don’t need to be liked by others. Accept yourself for who you are. There’s nothing more beautiful than to be just YOU, and I know that can be difficult. So many of us are struggling every single day with just being who they are, but only then everything will eventually fall into place. ...

Don't put energy into people who don't appreciate it. Instead, save your energy for the ones who truly value it. Have you ever tried to change someone for the better, but that someone has no intention of changing, regardless of what you’re trying? Did you keep showing up for someone, but that person just keeps taking it for granted? You might even feel ignored by someone, while you are the one putting a lot of energy effort into that relationship. It seems not fair, right? And I think we’ve all been there. We care about a certain individual, a friend, a loved one, and we are prepared to go to the end of the world for them. However, not in all cases, that same individual would do the same for you.  It should come from both ways In my opinion a relationship should come from both ways, whether it’s a business, friendly or intimate relationship. It can be quite frustrating and sometimes even devastating when you give it a 100% but only get 50%, or less, in return. Many of us even s...

What’s one’s purpose in life? Does life have a purpose? These questions seem to be important for many, because many people are seeking the answer. When I think about this, I can come up with 2 ways to approach this subject:  Way 1: Life has a purpose Way 2: Life has no purpose Let’s start with way 1. Life has a purpose When someone wants to find or determine the purpose of his or her life, I think it’s important to determine the way one can spend their time most useful, in a way which gives happiness and contentment in return. Usually this has to do with providing a kind of value, which I think originates from our need to feel fulfilled. The need to live a meaningful life. It’s completely natural to feel that way. We want to feel happy and content, and when you have the sense that you have provided a positive contribution to the world or to someone’s life, it makes you feel good. Making other people feel good, helping and taking care others, random acts of kindness and more of such...

LIMITING BELIEFS! How limiting beliefs are created and how to let them go is what we’ll discuss today. Yes, again we’re talking about beliefs, because it plays such a big role in how you will lead your life. Therefore, to me it’s a very important topic to think and talk about.  We have to take another deep dive into the world of beliefs. In my series about being a prisoner of your identity, I was talking about how to stop being trapped in the illusion of believing that you know who you truly are. This was more about uncovering your true authentic self. In addition to that, I decided to make this video about self limiting beliefs, because they hold us back from living freely and maximizing our potential.  Aware & Unaware limiting beliefs We are capable of unimaginable things. We are extremely powerful (in case you didn’t know). However, there are so many of us who are unable to realize that because of limiting beliefs. Sometimes we are conscious and aware of these beliefs...

Believing and knowing. The ability to distinguish these two is crucial if you don't want to be a prisoner of your identity. Please keep in mind that I am just a student of life which shares his thoughts. Let's take a deep dive once again! What does it mean to believe? Beliefs can be quite extreme in both good and bad ways. People can lose themselves completely in a belief, totally consumed. This can be comforting for someone because they feel safe, but it can be also a disturbing experience. Belief can cause losing self-control, and let one be controlled instead. Belief can lift people up and make people do good deeds, but unfortunately it’s also used to justify cruel acts. This makes me wonder: what does it mean to believe?  For certain, believing is not knowing. Knowing is more certain than belief, and belief is uncertain. When I KNOW something, I don’t need to BELIEVE it because I KNOW it. Believing sounds more as being convinced of something, but that doesn’t mean that it’s...

I am so happy I have evolved, ladies and gentlemen. I know better now! This feels good! It feels so amazing to not be a prisoner if my identity anymore! In this blog post we’ll continue talking about this subject. Welcome, to part number 2!  If you haven't read the first part yet, I strongly recommend you to do that  first. For now, let me share with you where we left off. Because at the end of the first part, we were talking about the following: Recap  The moment you put yourself into a specific category, you slowly become one with it. Once that happens, you’ll be likely to only accept and believe the things that are supporting that category. Categorizing yourself, labelling yourself - to me it’s like building a huge wall. It took a while for me to break it down, actually. It stopped me from seeing the bigger picture. I imagine this as followed:  The wall Over time, a kind of mentally-existing wall has been built. Inside that wall, there's a gate. Above the gate, th...

"Am I a prisoner of my identity?" This is a question I recently asked myself. I think that many of us have no clue of who they truly are. The thing is, that the identity most of us believe we have, has been taught to us from when we were very young. I’m talking about being conditioned or shaped through the years into a certain identity.  I see an identity as a collection of attributes that defines how we see ourselves, which is based on a number of things. Examples are: culture nationality  religion  family and friends political preferences  class of society The path less travelled The more I advance through life, the more I walk on a path less travelled by others. The further I get, the more I feel disconnected with these attributes I just mentioned. I simply don’t want those things to define me. I am a unique human being, just like you - a 100% authentic. I don’t want to be a prisoner of my identity anymore, so I’m going to share with you what’s helping me along my...