It doesn’t have value unless you paid for it
“PAY” doesn’t merely mean money, though it could be money
Your attention, your time, are more valuable
You pay with your attention
You pay with your time
You pay with your energy
You pay with your effort
You pay with your attitude, care
You give that which you value
To get something you value
You PAY,
And then you receive something of value,
And it has a chance of having value — BECAUSE you paid for it
EVEN if you got it for “free”,
You now PROVE that it has value, or doesn’t have value — with your attention, time, energy, etc.
Of course our words mean very little
Yes, words take some effort, and yes, words hold some bearing
But actions mean more, don’t they
See of course there’s a gradation, from no price, through low price, through medium price and high price, all the way to INVALUABLE,
Something could actually be worth everything
So don’t say you want something more than anything
Likely you wouldn’t pay for it with everything, or even half of everything
Why is this important?
For one reason only
You think you want something — when in reality you don’t
And this confusion causes you distress
As well as to those who meet you
See you get what you want anyway
You get what you deserve anyway
If ACTION is what proves what you want,
If PRICE you pay is what proves that something has VALUE to you,
Then you get what you’re willing to TAKE, get what you’re willing to PAY for,
IRRESPECTIVE of what you say and think,
Therefore you get what you want anyway,
So the problem is NOT the failure to get what you want
The problem is the failure to realise WHAT YOU WANT
Failure to be honest with yourself and others
And the resulting inefficiencies and conflicts
And yet the problem is solved once it’s time to pay
Once it’s time to CHOSE
Once it’s time to be serious
What does it mean to be serious?
It means to not be unserious, to not be joking, to not be pretending, to not be halfhearted
Once the PRICE is in front of you,
And once you have to CHOOSE to PAY IT, or go away,
You can’t pretend to be serious no more
You have to BE serious: and make a serious fucking choice
Choose to PAY or choose to leave,
And whatever you had chosen — is now a serious choice
For once
Of course most of us are not serious
We don’t really want to do well, or change — we just want to stay the same, and simultaneously feel a little bit better about ourselves
If someone is not serious — present them with a choice
Demand a price to pay
You’ll learn if they’re serious
And save everyone’s time
Don’t listen to their words
Listen to their choices
I would advice paying for everything
There’s not a single thing you can do in this life — without sacrificing something else, in it’s place
Your days are literally counted
Therefore you’re already having to choose, having to pay, having to sacrifice
You just pretend that you don’t
I would advice realising the massive opportunity cost of EVERY choice you ever make
I would advice becoming very greedy with every minute, every instance of your attention, every action
I would advice putting a STEEP price on it
Then try to top it