solutions

Solana NFTs – Part 1 150 150 admin

Solana NFTs – Part 1

In the past 3 months I’ve dived head first into Solana NFTs. I thought it would be beneficial to recap what I’ve learned about the space.

2020 Crypto Experiments

One of the best things I’ve done in crypto (and I’ve done a lot of bullshit) was experiment in the bear market.

Right at the tail end of 2020, the stars aligned for ya boy. I had extra money, free time and knowledge of crypto from paying attention to the space for years. I noticed that the crypto YouTubers I had subscribed to suddenly started posting again and were hella excited in their videos. I didn’t know it, but it was a perfect time to invest too.

I started learning and using Metamask and Uniswap and buying coins early before they hit Coinbase. I started investing heavier into different coins that were launching and had hype behind them. I kept binge watching crypto YouTube videos and investing in coins they were talking about. I did this all with the expectation that the money I was experimenting with could go to 0.

Crypto is still rewarding me for that experimentation I did years ago through airdrops. The most recent one being Evmos.

So why experiment? Not only for the airdrops, but also because it’s the best time to experiment. The networks aren’t as clogged, so things go faster and things are cheaper. Everything’s calm and settled and you don’t have to learn on-the-fly as much. And ya neeeeeeever know. The things we’re experimenting with today might be normal in the future.

Welcome Solana

In that tail end of 2020, I did a lot of experimenting with ETH-based coins. ETH wasn’t as high priced as it is now and the network wasn’t as congested, so fees were lower.

Nooooooow there is a noticeable fee for everything on ETH! and it’s annoying. At the time of this writing fees are a lot smaller than usual, but I can’t justify using the network as much when Solana is such a cheaper network. Developers are developing high quality games, NFT’s and other resources on it.

I admit it. I had an affair with Solana. I’m sorry ETH.

Random things I’ve noticed or learned while experimenting in Solana NFT’s

  • There’s a lot of younger people in the space with me. Occasionally I’ll see 13-15 year old’s in the space. It’s kinda trippy. Voice chat and spaces expose your voice.
  • NFTs do well in a crypto bear market because it makes for cheap entries to projects that would otherwise price most people out.
  • It’s so great to not have to pay excessive fees. It’s faster and more cost effective. Everything in ETH had a fee and it adds up – staking, unstaking, withdrawing, sending, minting, etc. All fees associated with them. Different airdrops made the fees worthwhile though, so I can’t complain too much about them.
  • It’s more predictable – I don’t have to worry about things like sandwiches or inconsistent fees. I know what I’m going to pay
  • It’s easier to rug – People are starting to figure out the formula for their anonymous rugs and I’m seeing more and more in the space. It’s the wild wild west. Because it’s easier to rug, I appreciate the projects that are transparent and adequately Doxxed and are consistently available through voice and or video or a human social media account. I think this is the way things will eventually go.
  • It all happens on Discord and Twitter – Most of the details of Solana NFT’s are on Discord and/or Twitter. I do see some projects from time to time using Telegram, but for the most part it’s Discord and Twitter. I’ve learned to use Discord and Twitter VERY well.
  • The biggest most well known Solana NFT marketplace is Magic Eden.
  • Some people are happy with the smallest profits. They will mint something for 1 Sol and list it on Magic Eden for 1.01 Sol for a .01 profit (not even taking into account fees).
  • The digital art in the Solana NFT space is absolutely amazing. – There are so much great art that art alone tends to not be enough these days. NFT investors want great art AND some type of utility.
  • Words / phrases / platforms / resources that you gotta know if you’re gonna deal with Solana NFTs – mint date, mint price, supply, volume, hype, WAGMI (we all gonna make it), NGMI (not gonna make it), bluechips, degen, wallet, airdrops, tokens, proof, whitelist (WL), public mint, mint bots, snipers, whales, floor price (FP), Magic Eden and CoralCube.

In Part 1, I wanted to keep it more matter-of-fact style. Find out what happens in Part 2 where I give more of my opinion about the space.

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You like that suspense I put in there? lmao

You know you do.

The Benefits of Free Time 150 150 admin

The Benefits of Free Time

In this article I’m going to share with you the benefits I’ve experienced through having lots and lots of free time. If there’s interest I can share the downsides too cuz uh…it hasn’t been all roses.

Backstory of Having Damn Near No Free Time

There was a period of time where I was working a job I hated then doing deliveries on the side and it felt like I was just spinning my wheels. My expenses = money I got from the job I hated + delivery money. I just kept hearing this message in my head that said “you’re wasting your time”.

Then, I went to a conference called Love Rising in Hollywood, CA led by Kyle Cease. A core message I got from that conference was to stop chasing money, and so that’s what I did. He published a book called The Illusion of Money not too long after this workshop.

I tried my best to do everything – especially creative work – from a heart-centered space. I really felt like I was fed up doing work and feeling like a damn slave. I quit my job right after getting out of that conference (because I was doing it just for the money), and life hasn’t been the same since. In many ways it has been amazing, and in many ways it has been horrific. I’m sharing the good stuff here now though.

Online learning

There is literally so much information on online that you can web surf through – especially with YouTube. I also like my local libraries online resources, and if your local library sucks then…I’m sure you can find a way to break some rules…Just don’t hold me responsible.

I tend to gravitate towards the practical information and online courses. People are taking their knowledge and putting it in online resources at a level that has never been seen before – especially with COVID. All i need is an internet connection and a device that can use that internet connection to show me stuffs. I just found another course I wanna take today from Scott Scorch (a little disappointed it’s only 2 hours long). It was a gateway to find the other courses on the platform though.

Finding Money to Play With

I’ve been able to “find” money through different ways. Lowering expenses dramatically helps with this a lot! No more car note draining my finances, and no more expensive rent. HAD I BEEN MORE PATIENT, last year would have been my first 6-figure year by way of crypto. 2020 was the first year ever I felt like I was able to play with money. And it was all because of downsizing, doing independent contract work as a gig worker when COVID hit, and binge watching videos on crypto.

Self Care

Sometimes I wonder how people deal with self care with a job. Meditation, hygiene, fitness, food prep/shopping, self care appointments i.e. doctors/dentists, vehicle care, living space care, fun/hobbies/creative outlets, assessments about all of the above, and learning about how to improve all of the above.

This about this – I’m a single guy, but what about if you’re in a household and have to take care of others? Many of these things can’t be outsourced or helped by a significant other. How do people adequately do self care when a job takes up such huge blocks of time. How do people fit all this in? I think the answer is many people don’t.

Doing Things At Different Times Than The Majority

In a populated city like Houston, Texas it feels so much better to do things when others don’t do them. I don’t have to sit in traffic during lunch time when everyone is one the road. I don’t have to deal with large crowds in stores because I can shop while everyone is at work.

No More Resentment For Things That Were Taking Up My Time

I don’t find myself saying “I don’t know enough time”. I could easily say that when I had a job, and it would make me resentful towards the job. I was spending a lot of those days working feeling resentment.

Lately, if I can deal with what others say and think about me and accept it and not be triggered by it, then I can experience that freedom. That is a part of the freedom. I might be called lazy or a bum, or not self sufficient (nobody’s really self-sufficient) in the short term, but over the long term things start to get really good. You don’t relate to money with this neediness and it can flow to you.

Depth and Quality Creatively

I put depth and quality together because depth has a lot to do with quality. I can’t get to the level of mental depth I could creatively as long as I was using so much mental ram on my job. This is the biggest benefit. It gives me room to breathe. I can step back and see the forest for the trees, and not always be stuck in the trees.

I don’t even think my brain could go into writing an article list this or many of the other articles I’ve written without sufficient space to let my mind wander into different rabbit holes. Eventually, the rabbit holes start to connect together in a way I can’t predict.

Nothing feels rushed now. Even if there is a deadline to things, I don’t feel the intense pressure I would feel going to jobs. I can take my time cooking up good shit. Good plans, good assessments, good articles, good presence with people, good quality overall.

When I would work at jobs, I very rarely got to see my own work. It was purchasing and data entry, so…it was gone as soon as I did it. I never got to see it or marvel at it or add to it or build on top of it. I’ve created a lot that I get to look back on these past years. It makes me waaaaaay more proud.

That’s it folks

That’s all I got. I’m thankful that I made it a priority to downsize and take my time investments away from chasing money and started to embrace and cherish the time I have on this earth. There is nothing like it.

If You Order From DoorDash… 150 150 admin

If You Order From DoorDash…

Through Favor and DoorDash I’ve done almost 1200 deliveries combined…not to mention the extra deliveries family and friends request when they find out this is what you do.  If you order Door Dash or Uber Eats or Favor or any other P2P food delivery service follow these small tips to have a faster, smoother and cleaner delivery experience:

  • Be able to tell me how to get in your gate.
    • If you live in an apartment, please learn how to get in your own gate.  If you don’t know how to get in, then how can you expect me to?  If you don’t know how to get in your gate, please don’t order from any food delivery service until you can find out how or are willing to meet outside of the gate.  Yes, we can wait on other people to come or leave and go in behind them, but in most places that’s prohibited and we shouldn’t have to do it anyways.  It shows a total disrespect for our time.  I’m willing to bet that more often than not, you KNOW you don’t know how to get in your gate, you’re just hoping the driver can figure something out.  Please figure it out first.  Please.
    • I remember there was one time I pulled into an apartment (not realizing it was an apartment when the order first showed up).  I called the customer to ask how to get in the gate, and she didn’t know.  So I’m at the dial pad stuck…There are cars that are behind me honking at me, there’s no space to turn around or go in the exit gate, and I’m pretty upset at this point.  She then says she’s going to send someone out to pick up the food.  After a while I see someone walk towards me with a slow, smooth bop in his step (if you’ve ever watched Bruh Man from the show Martin walk, that was the walk).  WHAT ARE YOU DOING DUDE?!?!  HURRY YOUR ASS UP MAN.  THIS AINT THE TIME TO BE TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL.
    • If you live in a gated community, please let the person at the front know who I am and/or that you’re expecting a delivery.  Many times I feel like I’m crossing a border with all the identification I have to provide to them for delivering your smoothie from Sonic.  Name, license plate number, license, passport, social security, birth corticate, actual mom that birthed me, etc.
  • Give detailed directions 
    • I’m tired of driving around your horribly lit apartments at night looking for your building number.  Then I look to your directions for some semblance of guidance…it says “thanks!” or “I’m in the back”.  You only have to give the directions once.  Come on yo!
  • Put your animals away
    • Through many deliveries I’ve noticed quite a few things about the dynamic between you and your pets:
      • Your pets don’t listen to you.  As well as you think you have them trained, when you talk they pretty much ignore you…at least while I’m there.  “BACK! GET BACK! SIT!”  I see you squeeze through the door trying not to let the dog out.  The dog completely ignores this weak ass request, euro-steps you and starts sniffing me.  Then I hear you say something I don’t think any delivery driver wants to hear – “oh he don’t worry, he doesn’t bite!”.  How do you know this animal is going to do?  You can tell me what he probably will do.  You can tell me what he has or hasn’t done in the past.  You can’t tell what he’s going to do in the future.  I don’t want to hear it, and please stop saying it.  If he’s a dog with teeth, I’m going to assume he bites.
      • Some of you are way too damn intimate with your pets.  I don’t want the type of intimacy with your pets that you might have.  I don’t want your pets licking, sniffing, or biting me.  I just want to deliver the food and leave.
  • Give me the right address
    • I know.  Everyone makes mistakes, and granted this has only happened like 3 times to me, but this really is a bad one to make…the worst.  When you put the wrong address a driver either ends up looking for an address that doesn’t exist or delivering to a person that isn’t expecting an order.  I actually had a customer who didn’t speak must English at all and didn’t know her real address.  The address she gave me didn’t exist, and when I called her for directions, all she kept saying was that her place was “by the trees” *insert blank stare emoji here*.  There were literally trees everywhere.  Needless to say this food took forever to deliver, and of course I got the negative rating.  This could have all been avoided if she knew her own address BEFORE she requested someone deliver food to her.

Help me, and other delivery drivers help you.  Help us get you your food faster.

Asking Busy People for Help 150 150 admin

Asking Busy People for Help

Have you ever felt like you need help from a person who is already inundated with requests? You know this person has a full inbox, but you still need help and you know this particular person has the specific help you need.

Avoid Taking without Giving

When I first started reaching out to people who I knew received many messages, I would get back messages with template responses.  Something along the lines of “Hello Broderick! We’ve received your message, and someone will get back with you shortly!”.  They rarely did, and it had to do with my energy.  I wanted to take, take, take and not give.

What consistently helps me get answers to my questions a lot faster now is helping the person on the other side somehow…some way.  Thinking win-win.

Another way to put it is Law 13 from Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power.

Law 13:  When asking for help, appeal to people’s self interest, never to their mercy or gratitude.

Give and Take by Adam Grant is another good book that addresses this.

Put yourself in the other person’s position and think about things from their point of view.  What would be valuable to them?   What do they want or need that you could provide?  Money could be one thing, but you can also look for things that aren’t monetary.

Maybe they have a course or a book and they need feedback.  Maybe they’re already inundated with feedback and they need a way to manage the feedback.  Maybe they need a way to have more free time.  Maybe they need new shoes.  Maybe they need a Covid19-free hug.  How can you be of service to them?  How can you create value for them?  If they have a website, they might mention what they need or want.  Coming from a space of service when I need help has been a much more effective strategy to get the help I need.

Show some commitment if you want mentorship

If your question is a how-to/mentor kind of question, show some type of indicator that you’re committed to actually implementing the advice they’re going to give you.  If they have a bestselling book (or multiple best-selling books), its likely they’re receiving many messages.  Each message answered is a time investment.  Again, put yourself in their shoes and imagine someone comes to you for genuine advice.  How would you feel about giving advice to that person knowing it’s falling on deaf ears and that they will just ignore it?  If you want to increase the likelihood that they’ll invest their time in answering your question, show that you’ve already got the ball rolling in some form or fashion.

When I was into self-publishing and I wanted some advice from bestsellers in my genre on how they gained such visibility in the Amazon Kindle Store.  I emailed 4 authors with best-selling books.  Two didn’t respond.  One had an email assistant respond, and the last author directly responded with the exact answer I needed.  An important part of this story is that I had already published books that just needed more visibility, and I led with that in my message to these authors.  I wanted to show that I’m not some person thinking about doing self-publishing, but that I’ve already got works published.  I’m in field.

Whatever you want, give it

If you’re having a tough time getting help from the specific source you’re looking for, consider releasing your attachment to finding your answer in that direction and consider giving help to someone else.  You want advice or help?  Give advice or help.  That sounds crazy right?  Like one of these crazy counter-intuitive solutions I keep rambling about.

Counterintuitive Solutions 150 150 admin

Counterintuitive Solutions

Over the years I’ve come across many counterintuitive solutions.  These solutions when I seek help from other people who have overcome the same problem and get out of my own thinking or I let go of finding the answer completely and move on to something else and then the answer just shows up.  When I find these answers they hit me like a ton of bricks and leave me stunned…like this ?

Here are the solutions I’ve found.

Weight Loss

I remember wanting to learn how to lose weight and just failing by focusing on weight loss.  Eventually, I just let go of the whole idea of trying to lose weight and I started focusing on health.  That’s when I found out about my food group and cut out sugar and flour and they actually taught me how to eat in a way where I could eat normal foods, was way happier, and kept losing weight in a way that felt effortless.

Intuitively I was overweight, so it made sense to focus on weight loss…that led me astray.  Focusing on health was way more effective and ironically resulted in me losing the most weight I’ve ever lost.

Money and Work

I remember wanting to learn how to earn a lot of money.  I wanted it sooo bad I was willing to take shitty jobs sacrifice everything else, work long hours of overtime.  It didn’t help.  My expenses rose to the level of my earnings and I was living paycheck to paycheck.  Eventually, I decided I would stop chasing money and accept the freedom I had.  It brought me face to face with the question – what would I do if I had all the money in the world.  I would write and work on music, so I really put tons of hours into writing and working on music, and my bank account is as big as it’s ever been.

When I was broke, it made sense to focus on getting a job and earning money.  Writing and sharing with people was my way of volunteering.  It brought about more flow socially and connected me with more people and it was pretty damn rewarding.  More rewarding than any check I ever got from a shitty job, and I think it was all because I didn’t chase money.

Social Circle

In the back of my mind, I would always see people who had big social circle and wonder how it happened for them.  AND…how were people so interested in them.

Eventually, I realized that one great way to attract others is not need others – to be content with yourself.  Do the things you want to do and find interesting.  Follow your own curiosities.  Accomplish the things you want to accomplish.  Have fun.  Stop beating yourself up over the past and learn to be happy with yourself.  Forgive yourself for bad time and money investments.  Practice self care and treat yourself well.  Respect and enforce your boundaries and strive to meet your needs.  That way you relate to others without neediness.  You won’t need anything from others.  People can feel that, and it’s attractive.

Intuitively, when I wanted a bigger social circle I thought that there was something I needed to do “out there”.  I needed to meet more people.  I needed to get out of the house more.  Those things are great, but if you do those things you will have far greater rewards and results if you can learn to be content and happy with yourself first.

The Big Three

It’s been said that these are the big three in personal development.  If you can get health, wealth, and relationships all working in-sync, then you’ll feel that flow of life and things will lean towards spiraling upwards.

Accomplishing Big Things

When I read Atomic Habits, it made me appreciate the small things.  Small habits over time can lead to big accomplishments or big bombs that you have to deal with later.

I think it’s human nature to want to go to big accomplishments quickly.  We want to be able to play and sing the beautiful song we hear right after we hear it.  We want to have the great bodies we see others have instantly.  We want to have success in our careers overnight.

Intuitively I want to jump right into having and accomplishing big things, but ironically they come from the small recurring habits over time.

Are there any counterintuitive solutions that have blown your mind?

Be The Change You Want to See in the World 150 150 admin

Be The Change You Want to See in the World

The title of this blog is a quote by Mahatma Gandhi.

I’ve heard and seen this quote before, but I’ve never written down the changes I want to see in the world.  For every change in the world, it’s a pointer to my own character changes.

Changes I want to see in the world:

  • I want to see people be freer.  According to The Guardian, 1 in every 200 people was a slave (that article was written in February 2019).   WTF?  Come on!
  • I also want to see people accept more of the freedoms they have already.
  • I want to see different infrastructures and cities built up instead of jumping on the ones that are already thriving.  Let’s build up more spaces so we have more options on where to live.
  • I want to see people who aren’t expressing themselves express themselves more uniquely.  This means creating and delivering your work.
  • I want to see the world being more congruent in their character publicly and privately.   Be who you are in private in public…along the lines of Keep the Same Energy.
  • I want to see the world eating healthier.
  • I want to see people aligning decisions of money and financial abundance with oneness.
  • I want to see people have more forgiveness for themselves and others.
  • I want more people focused on personal growth.
    • I want a world more really to try new things, take on new experiments, and make more mistakes (easier when you live in a more forgiving world)
  • I want to see the world value oneness more.
  • I want the world to raise awareness of their habits.  The small things they do over and over that add up over time.
  • I want to see more intelligent and transparent leadership.  I live in Texas so…there’s been such a lack of leadership and consistent terrible decisions at both the state and federal level.

I look at this list, and I look at pointers to my own character and where I need to grow.  Right now I’d say expression and making expression a habit is where I wanted to do the most work this year – (hence the work on this site!).  I also want to do more work building up other infrastructures.

There’s a lot of work to do, and I take full responsibility for making the necessary changes in my character to get it done.

Too Grounded or Not Grounded Enough? 150 150 admin

Too Grounded or Not Grounded Enough?

Are you feeling too grounded or not grounded enough?

“Too grounded” symptoms:  You feel at peace, and you’ve felt at peace for a long time.  Nothing is really changing in your life from day to day and you feel like you’re just going through the motions.   Your needs are met, but you really feel like you need to spice it up.

If this is you, then do just that – spice it up!  Embrace the New! Commit to something challenging for you.  Face a fear you’ve had.  Volunteering could also be a great way to go here.  Put your willingness to try something new “out there”.  Put more of your skills/time/effort out there.  Since you’re at peace and have your needs met, let your cup flow over to help those who do not have their needs met.  Take some of your groundedness and connect with someone else that might need to feel more grounded.

I’ve been feeling like this lately, so I’ve began guest posting to get some new flow and energy in here!  So, what’s up if you’re new 😉

“Not grounded enough” symptoms:  Here you might feel like things are flying at you quicker than you can handle.  There’s a lot going on.  You might be in a totally new place or around totally new people.  Things have changed for you in a big way.  It feels like you’re walking on air and you don’t have as much control as you normally do.  Maybe you’re having to rely on someone else to do something.

I felt like this when I joined a group that committed to abstaining from products made with sugar and flour.  That was tough.  I ate lots of fast food and junk filled with sugar and flour for decades.  Then, I join this group and they’re telling me that I can’t have ANY product that has sugar or flour in it.  My emotions were like a roller coaster.  Some days I was confused and lost.  Other days I was an emotional wreck, crying for no reason.

During that time, I really appreciated the new things that stayed the same.  The meetings we attended were new for me, but they were constant and happened regularly and had this uniform structure to them.  I was forming new habits and being introduced to new routines and people, but those new habits and routines stayed constant, and the people who committed to the group were always there to connect with.  It gave me a new appreciation for the new things that were constant while I was surrendering the old habits, routines and people that were constant.

The biggest help for me in that situation was connecting with someone who had been where I’d been before and successfully overcome it.  These people will offer you a more grounded perspective on the situation.  The more people you can find to connect with like this when you’re feeling ungrounded, the better.

Listening to meditation audio or someone you feel is grounded (try Eckhart Tolle) could help make you feel more centered during the turbulent times.  Even then, it might just take some time and patience on your part.

The beauty of life is this dynamic.  Things are changing constantly.  Stay aware of what the moment is calling for and adapt.   Take inventory and recognize when things need to be rebalanced.

Too damn grounded and feeling bored?  Words like “spontaneity”, “edge”, “spice”, “new”, “challenge” will help you here.

Feeling like you’re walking on air and would like to get your feet on solid ground?  Connect with someone who’s taken that walk before and ask them questions.  Get used to letting go of control and expectations.  Be patient and let things sink in and integrate where they need to.

 

 

Get The Specific Help You Need 150 150 admin

Get The Specific Help You Need

Think about what you lacked growing up.

Was there structure in your house growing up?  Was it too structured?  Did you lack spontaneity and fun?  Were you missing a father figure or a mother?  Did you have brothers and/or sisters?  Did you grow up alone?  Were you parents physically and emotionally available?  Was there addiction?

For everything you lacked, consider the possibility that those voids can be filled.

I joined the coaching program Conscious Growth Club a little over 3 years ago. One of the biggest benefits was learning how to plan quarters.  I grew up without goal setting or structure in certain areas.  If I see I’m going off of my plans, I can quickly readjust, look at my quarterly plans and get back focused and reevaluate weekly and replan each quarter.

Maybe you aren’t even aware of what you lacked or where there was a void.  That’s OK.  The more you can embrace the new and step into the unknown, the more of these unexpected gifts you’ll find the world has to offer.

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