Radical Philosophy

World could be a better place

On a first look, you can notice that people with radical value systems usually accomplish most of global-scale achievements, leading to great stories full of meaningful lessons.

You, likely, have few radical traits that influence your reality as well. Depending on how well you understand, explore and leverage the concept of radical philosophy, your life can change into a never imagined experience. Social acceptance of such behavior is still undefined and lies between ignorance and legal consequences. To fight this unpredictability successfully, you’d need to develop a strong character through continuous series of life-changing decisions.

I noticed a positive connection with many aspects of my life since people started to tell me that if everyone had at least half of my discipline, the world would be a better place. I decided to explore the significance of radical philosophy and share findings with those who strive for self-development.

New normal is actually difficult

Some people always search for ways to challenge the status quo — a manifestation of dangerous disagreement with well-defined social standards leading to new fundamental concepts that can swiftly close the gap between past experience and future reality.

In one of my articles, “Normalized Success,” I wrote:

The cost of being ‘first’ means taking on personal responsibility for a new normal; it comes with a significant number of failures, emotional solitude, and devastation.

Tellingly, radical philosophy is one of the difficult roads to a new normal — an essential element of the world’s progress and personality growth. It turns out that such transformation is available only in extreme shape and form, which makes it sometimes exceptionally ugly to society.

Hint # 1: “It is time to become fully accountable for your existence.”

Twofold human reality

Nearly any skill or behavior you plan to develop can become radical; that is why, for example, there are two layers of the motivation behind the same objective.

• Normal — motivation we like to share with other people. “I’ll spend a few extra hours working daily to secure salary raise, bonus, and promotion that will help my family afford better life in the future.”
• Radical — motivation we are uncomfortable to share even with ourselves. “I can’t let someone else be seen better than me, so I will secretly put extra hours at work to secure the promotion, then they will have to respect my opinion and decisions or else….”

Pick any trait and try to imagine its radical version — how about honesty? Do you see troubling nuances with telling the truth at ALL times? I encourage you to try at least for a few days.

I learned firsthand that traits could be transferred consciously or subconsciously from one state to another. It is essential to remember that the radical version can carry destruction — validate your intentions before you try to switch.

The collection of normal and radical traits, like DNA, defines you as a unique individual with tremendous potential to lose by obeying social rules too much.

Hint # 2: “Life will continue to change and get more complicated; you’d need to learn how to create order out of chaos.”

Elements of radical universe

I have wrestled with the concept of radical philosophy for a while and found a few thrilling things:

• Traits, normal or radical, can be grouped under umbrellas of communication, action, and ideology
• The different number of radical traits in one person can lead to a unique impact on a personal, group, or global level; unfortunately, even a negative one

Work on one radical trait at a time if your goal is self-development — you will attract a lot of attention as changes start to manifest. Maybe get prepared to tell a story about why you are doing it, for instance, why you read books every day after never picking a book before in your life.

Once you have more than one radical trait mastered — you should be able to build better communities, businesses, families, friendships, and partnerships. For example, you are committed to always helping people in need and making it your life mission — inevitably, it will drag people to learn about it and contribute.

Work on developing radical traits in each category from the diagram below to change the world. You will need to communicate like no one else, be able to put your great ideologies to action with no hesitation and be able to surround yourself with like-minded people who can deal with your radical philosophy.

Hint # 3: “In the multiverse of choices — simplification rules, remember it when you explain your ideas to others.”

Levels of impact from real example

Below three people subconsciously have used the concept of radical philosophy to create a significant impact:

• Personal: Michael Phelps won 28 Olympic medals — the most successful Olympian of all time. Secret? Radical discipline — same routine for years, before and after swim race. Sounds boring? Indeed, especially if you are impacted by consumption ideology and universally available life comforts.
• Group: Ray Dalio is one of the most successful finance experts of the 21st century. Classically, he started a business from a small rented apartment and then scaled it into a multi-billion company. Employing thousands, helping investors with generational wealth and global country leaders get professional advice about their economy’s finance strategy. Secret? Radical Transparency and Radical Principles. For example, all company meetings have been recorded and published internally. Another example is establishing a 12-month probation period, and if you pass, he will never fire you.
• Global: Notorious Elon Musk is one of the most influential persons in the world right now who built many great companies that have been considered impossible by experts. Transitioned the world to electric vehicles with Tesla and revolutionized space travel with SpaceX. Secret? Radical vision, dedication, and openness working toward colonization of mars, open patents to Tesla. Musk went from sleeping at factories, living on one dollar a day, and working endless hours to openly challenging IQ and intentions of successful leaders, trying to transfer the human brain to a machine, and never stopping the introduction of new things. He is Iron Man.

Hint # 4: “Continue to pick and develop one radical trait at a time to maximize the effect — experiment with your life; there is a high chance you evolve to a new personality every single time.”

Tool for greatness

Essentially, radical philosophy is a vital tool for greatness. If you ever consider giving it a try, I highly recommend approaching it in the form of a thirty-day challenge. If your experience is meaningful, you can build a habit — it takes an average of 254 days, hence you can validate how committed are you.

Here are a few life-changing experiments that can help you to start:

Radical Communication

• Tell only the truth — have fun and carry candies for people who get upset.
• Compliment 60 strangers — start with people’s outerwear, then learn about them.

Radical Action

• Visit a new location every day — especially if you live in the megapolis.
• Cold Showers — don’t start in February unless you live in the tropics.

Radical Ideology

• Intermittent fasting — bulletproof coffee can save you from craving spasms.
• Help someone — in need or randomly, with money or attention.

Hint # 5: “At the end of the day, keep it radically simple and enjoy the new you.”

(c) Artem Gonchakov

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