Yeah right.

Meanwhile, the real world was full of gatekeepers, job interviews, unpaid internships, and rejections at every step you tried to take. That version of manifesting always felt disconnected from reality.

But I’ll be honest, I never completely dismissed the idea. Something about it stuck with me. Maybe not the mystical part, but the part about belief. 

The part that said: If you can imagine something clearly enough, and you’re willing to work for it, maybe you can make it happen.

In 2015, I did just that. I slowly started turning nothing into something. I wrote a book. Didn’t cost me anything. I uploaded it through Amazon KDP and a few people bought it. That felt pretty good. I wasn’t rich, but I proved to myself that I could earn money from ideas. That moment changed the way I saw the internet — and myself.

Later, I started a newsletter. Then came courses. I spent $2400 on a Kajabi Pro subscription which I still use to host my courses. That first year, I made about five grand. Not much. But every year after, it grew. Within three years, it became a six-figure business. Just by sharing what I knew and helping people solve problems.

All with very little investment. Just time, effort, and ideas. I didn’t hire a team. I didn’t raise money. I just focused. Wrote every week. Stayed consistent. And kept at it.

It was still hard to start. But now? It’s even easier. The tools are better. The gatekeepers are gone.

You can build solo, and you can do it straightaway. You don’t need to take out loans or chase investors. You can get your first sale within days or weeks.

Forget the woo-woo. Manifesting is about FOCUS.

This isn’t about vision boards or magical thinking. This is about aligning your thoughts with your actions. It’s about identifying what you want and then designing your day around making it real.

Modern manifesting means thinking clearly and focusing on the ONE thing you want to accomplish.

If you chase every idea you have or opportunity you see, you end up with nothing.

It’s clarity, commitment, and creation. That’s it. That’s the formula. And most people still miss it because they want shortcuts. But there are none. The only “secret” is doing the work.

You simply start working towards one thing and then improve as you go. You get in the game. You don’t just dream about it.

And what if it doesn’t work out? You adjust!

Right now, you’ve got access to:

• AI tools that make you work so much faster
• Platforms like Amazon KDP, Substack, and Kajabi
• YouTube and social media to distribute your message
• Communities that can support your growth

We’re talking leverage on a scale that didn’t exist 10 years ago. Most people sit on digital gold mines without even realizing it.

You don’t need permission. You don’t need a team. You don’t even need a lot of money. You just need the guts to start — and the discipline to keep going when it’s not glamorous.

What if you don’t want to start a business or do anything online?

Ever since the start of modern civilization, people have gotten rich through investing and speculation.

People bought land, stocks, and real estate. That was always hard because you needed a lot of money to make money.

That’s no longer true. You can trade stocks for free and you can start with little money.

That has brought in many new participants in markets over the past decade. That means there are always buyers and sellers. And that’s the only thing you need to make money.

It’s just as risky as starting a business. If you start a business, you invest time and money, and many times it doesn’t work out.

Trading stocks or other assets is the same. Like any money-related thing in the world, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you will lose it. 

So if you want to make money with stocks or trading, the key is once again focus.

Since 2020, I’ve beaten the market consistently, not by gambling or day trading, but by:

• Being patient
• Staying invested
• Making selective bets on stocks I deeply understand

I track them daily. I research a lot. I don’t try to predict everything. I just focus on knowing my edge. I don’t jump on hype. I look for companies I believe in. Then, I wait for the right time to buy them at the right price.

What’s the right price?

No one knows. You can make up your own mind about it. And if you’re right, you win, if you’re wrong, you lose. That’s the hard part about investing.

For example, I bought Tesla in the summer of 2024 in the $160s and at a PE ratio in the 40s. Then it ran up to the $400s and a PE of 200. So I sold it in January 2025 because it was just way too expensive for me to hold. And I made a good return.

This kind of manifesting doesn’t get talked about as much. But it’s real. You can turn five figures into six. Six into seven. Not by luck. By learning, by studying, and by acting on what you know. That’s how real wealth is built.

You can still make money from AI and business. But there’s also a serious opportunity in the markets. If you’re willing to learn, this is one of the best times in history to build wealth faster than most think is possible.

What’s stopping you?

It’s not a lack of knowledge. You’re drowning in information. It’s not a lack of tools. You have more power in your pocket than NASA had in the ’60s.

It’s often the normal reasons like hesitation, doubt, and fear of failing. 

Just remember that fear is temporary. Regret is permanent.

But there’s one kind of regret that you want to have in life.

Every single time I do well in the stock market, I think, “I should’ve bought more.” I’d rather feel that way than say, “I wish I bought.” 

Because the latter is the worst. It means I didn’t act.

And it’s the same with any endeavor. If you want to accomplish something, start working on it. I guarantee you that you will not regret that decision because you will always learn something.

I’ve done many things in my life that seemed stupid or a waste of time at the time, but in hindsight, I’m always glad I did them.

You don’t need to believe in yourself to begin. You just need to act. Belief comes from action, not the other way around.

Despite all the uncertainty and weird things that are going on in the world, this is the best time in history to build something of your own. 

Don’t waste it. Make it happen.

The post Manifesting Sounds Silly, But It’s Real appeared first on Darius Foroux.

But what does “awe” actually mean?

Awe is that feeling we get when we encounter something larger than ourselves. Like watching a beautiful sunset.

You know, the stuff that we’re often too distracted to experience.

Does that mean we should all travel to see these beautiful sights?

Not really. I don’t think that’s sustainable. Also, chasing after pleasant experiences is not a good solution to making ourselves feel more alive.

Instead, we can do these 3 things to feel more alive this year.

1. Go on a road trip

I can’t recommend this enough. Pack up your stuff and drive to a different country or state.

I’ve been doing this now every year since 2022, and I love it. First, I went with my dad. The last several times with my partner.

We’ve done thousands of miles. Every time, we sleep in a different city. Now, you can also do this if you don’t have a car or much time.

You can just travel for a few days and then come back.

The true experience is in the trip itself. You’re constantly exposed to NEW things.

And that’s true gold in today’s routine-based life.

Everyone is crazy about their habits and routines these days. And I get it. Consistency is important.

But so is novelty.

Just do something that requires you to use all your senses. And the best thing in my experience is going on a road trip.

2. Find the three, simple things that soothe you

We feel more alive when we’re in a calmed, relaxed state. It’s definitely harder to be more present and aware of the world if you’re too busy and stressed out at work!

Now, having a vacation is nice. But we can’t do that every single time. So the best alternative is to find three simple things that soothes or relaxes you.

It could be anything small like brewing a cup of tea, listening to your favorite song, or meditating.

Marcus Aurelius said it best:

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”

Allow yourself these moments of serenity, and they will act as your sanctuary amidst the chaos.

3. Cut down on content consumption

Everything you suspect about consuming content is true: It makes you passive, lazy, and addicted.

I’ve been cutting down on content consumption a lot recently. I’ve used YouTube Premium for many years now. But I canceled it.

I consumed A LOT of content on YT. From podcasts to informational videos. I’m done with always opening the YT app.

I’m not really a social media type of guy, so I don’t use it anyway. But if you do, I recommend getting rid of it for a while.

The only content I consume now is audio. I’m back to listening to podcasts, which I didn’t do for years. And reading of course. I still read books and articles. That’s my default.

But getting rid of visual content is a must. We already watch enough content.

Use your time to make progress on your goals. And to DO MORE.

A new year means new chances

What month is it today? It doesn’t matter. Feeling more alive “this year” is always up to you. Whether the year is just starting or ending, it’s up to you whether you’ll start and continue to change something.

So if you want to build new habits, and it’s still January, then great!

Go for it. But even if it’s the middle of the month, or the last month of the year, you can always start to improve your life and happiness. As Seneca said:

“As long as you live, keep learning how to live.”

Every day is a new opportunity to feel more alive. Don’t wait for a new year to revitalize your life; the power for change is always in the present.

The post 3 Ways to Feel More Alive This Year appeared first on Darius Foroux.

Think about it. How does a man like Darwin come up with such a theory?

In fact, how do YOU come up with an idea, service, or product that would make such a significant impact in other people’s lives? Because that’s the key to career success – making other people’s lives better.

1. It takes longer than you think

Unless you’re extremely lucky and you achieve it on your first few tries, career success really takes a long time to happen.

Darwin wasn’t chilling at home, studying fossils, or taking a shower when the idea of natural selection suddenly hit him.

The truth is even more boring: Darwin researched thousands of plant and animal species on various continents for many years. He observed, sketched, traveled, and consulted with locals and fellow scientists, recording his findings in his journal.

He came up with the theory of natural selection little by little over many years of quiet study.

Even after developing his theory, he took time to reflect on it. Darwin discussed it with other scientists for feedback. Then, he dedicated many years to writing his renowned work, On the Origin of Species.

In all, Darwin spent decades of his life coming up with natural selection.

As expected, people eventually attributed Darwin’s success to his “genius,” which irritated him. After all, Darwin had spent his life gathering data and forming his theory, not pulling it from thin air. He stressed the hard work behind his theory.

In his other book, The Descent of Man, which came out 12 years after Origin, Darwin said:

“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert.”

Similarly, many successful folks, like Stephen King, have a consistent work routine. As King wrote in On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft:

“I like to get ten pages a day, which amounts to 2,000 words. That’s 180,000 words over a three-month span, a goodish length for a book… only under dire circumstances do I allow myself to shut down before I get my 2,000 words.”

King said that on good days, the ten pages come to him easily and he can be out and doing errands before noon. Most times, he would eat lunch at his desk and finish the day’s work at around one-thirty in the afternoon. When the “words come hard,” he’d spend more of the day on his desk “fiddling around at teatime.”

Either way, King gets his work done, and he does it every single day without excuse.

2. The key is not to miss but to attempt more shots than your peers

Before they hit it big, The Beatles played four to five-hour gig marathons, non-stop, per night and almost every night for two years as an unknown band in German bars and nightclubs.¹

Lennon and McCartney later attributed their meteoric rise to fame to this marathon of practice and performance. The Beatles would go on to release twelve original UK studio albums in a seven-year span (1963 to 1970), with many of these albums reaching multi-platinum status.

This trend of consistently creating high quality work is something consistent with many individuals who achieved lasting career success.

• Mozart and Beethoven each wrote over 600 pieces of music, far surpassing the output of most of their contemporaries, who often composed less than 100 pieces in their entire careers.²
• Picasso was incredibly prolific, creating an estimated 13,500 paintings, 100,000 graphic prints or engravings, 34,000 book illustrations, 300 sculptures and ceramics. His output far surpassed that of most other professional artists.³
• Research indicates that Nobel prize winners generally produce almost twice as much work as their peers in the same fields. ⁴

The idea that success happens due to a “big moment” or a “hit of inspiration” is a myth. Inspiration and success happen by doing the work.

Successful people don’t “find the time” to do what they need to do: They make the time.

Much like in basketball, these folks achieved success not because they never missed, but because they attempted the most shots.

What you do today dictates your career success tomorrow

History and human memory tend to highlight greatness while overlooking the work it took to achieve it. Famous figures like Mark Twain or Picasso may seem like they just effortlessly created masterpieces.

But the truth is, they worked hard at their craft for years to produce the few classics we admire today.

What you do today determines tomorrow. Every choice you make, every task you complete, every goal you set and reach: All of these contribute to your career success.

And while small actions – like doom scrolling social media – may seem insignificant at the time, these add up. And they eventually affect your life’s trajectory.

So start executing today. No more excuses.

Order The Stoic Path to Wealth

My new book, The Stoic Path to Wealth (Portfolio / Penguin), is out now.

Learn more here: stoicpathtowealth.com

The post 2 Harsh Truths on Career Success That People Hate to Admit appeared first on Darius Foroux.

”‘Tis easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.”

This is a timeless truth about human nature and how we’re constantly pursuing our first desire.

Let’s say you’re scrolling through your social media feed and stumble across an ad for a shiny new gadget for your kitchen.

Maybe some magic trash bin that opens automatically when you look at it. The bin has eyes and knows you’re looking at it. Pretty neat, right?

“I need one of those!” You think.

But hold on a second – is it really necessary? Or is it just a fleeting desire sparked by clever marketing?

Remember Benjamin Franklin. In this case, it’s not about the trash bin. It’s about becoming a mindless consumer. If you always think, “I got to have that,” it becomes a lifestyle.

Now, this is a silly example. But Franklin’s advice is so true. We all have so many desires throughout the day. We can’t satisfy every urge we have.

It’s like opening a Pandora’s box of wants that are never fully satisfied.

That’s why it’s better to suppress that initial urge.

No pleasure without non-pleasure

Look, this is a philosophical topic.

Yin and yang.

If you only have pleasure, it becomes your default state, and you don’t realize how good it is.

But if you have some discomfort, some non-pleasure, it helps you fully appreciate the times of pleasure. For example, I’ve talked about how I once moved to Spain to see if I wanted to live there.

Compared to the weather in the Netherlands, where I’m from, Spain looks much better. However, I discovered that I prefer the conveniences I have in the Netherlands. I realized I took those for granted until I missed them in Spain.

The same concept can be applied to our consumerist culture.

We are constantly bombarded with ads that tell us what we need or should want. It’s an endless cycle of wanting more and more, always chasing the next shiny new thing.

But things only feel good because you also experience bad things.

Think about it. Rest feels good after work. Food tastes better after an intense workout.

This is why restraint is such an important topic. It helps you enjoy life to the fullest.

The power of restraint

How do we combat these urges that seem so irresistible at the moment? This is where self-restraint comes in. (Which is rare in our culture of instant gratification).

Restraint is not about denying yourself pleasures. It’s about making conscious choices instead of letting your impulsive desires lead your actions.

Always ask yourself: “Do I really need this?” or “Is this truly beneficial for me?”

One practical way to exercise restraint is to practice delayed gratification. This means resisting an immediate reward in favor of a later, often greater, benefit.

Remember the famous ‘Marshmallow Test’? Kids were given a marshmallow and told they could have a second one if they could wait 15 minutes without eating the first.¹

Those who managed to wait generally fared better in life, demonstrating the power of delayed gratification.

6 tips for improving your self-restraint

Self-restraint is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. Here are seven practical tips to help you build this invaluable skill:

1. Practice mindfulness: Being present in the moment can help you recognize impulsive urges and choose not to act on them. Try mindfulness exercises or meditation to enhance your self-awareness.
2. Use healthy distractions: When a desire hits, distract yourself with something beneficial. Go for a walk, read a book, or do some stretches. This can help shift your focus away from the urge.
3. Remember your goals: Every time you follow an impulse desire, you trade away your genuine goals. Take impulse purchases, for example. Money means freedom. Every time you spend money, you lose a bit of that freedom. If you’re saving money for a house and end up spending what you saved on an expensive vacation or a car, you’re delaying your most important goals in exchange for satisfying an urge.
4. Delay for a few minutes: Impulse urges often go away on their own. They just need a bit of time. Practice waiting before indulging in your desires. Start small – wait 15 minutes before giving in to a craving. Gradually increase this time. You’ll be surprised at how often the desire fades.
5. Surround yourself with similar-minded people: It’s easier to exercise restraint when you’re around people who have the same goals. Working out and improving your diet is hard when the folks around you are all couch potatoes and junk food consumers. Same thing for the shopaholics. Stick with friends and family who can keep you accountable.
6. Forgive yourself and move on: Everyone slips up sometimes. If you give in to a desire, don’t beat yourself up. Acknowledge the slip, learn from it, and move forward. It’s all about being consistent.

In our daily lives, we are constantly bombarded with desires – for material possessions, success, recognition, and more.

Giving in to every single one not only exhausts us but also leaves us unsatisfied and always wanting more.

So, the next time you feel that first desire creeping up on you, remember Ben Franklin’s wise words.

Take a moment to reflect, exercise restraint, and consider the power of delayed gratification.

The peace and satisfaction that come from this practice far outweigh the fleeting pleasure of immediate gratification.

The post Don’t Give In To That First Desire appeared first on Darius Foroux.

It’s interesting to see how I’ve used AI over the past two years. First, I liked it, but didn’t use it, then, it became better, and I started using it more.

Anyway, here’s my original article:

When Open AI introduced Chapt GPT on November 22, they blew up the economy… In a good way. Nowadays, AI writing has become a norm.

I can’t believe it’s almost two years with AI now.

Back in Q4 of 2022, the world was in the grip of inflation. People warned of hyperinflation.

We were heading towards the Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic of 100 years ago.¹

Then… AI came to the rescue.

Honestly, AI has single-handedly boosted the economy. Inflation was already peaking at that time, and gradually came down during 2023.

It was really the perfect catalyst for the economy and stock market.

But also for us as individuals.

AI to the rescue

Who can say no to the pitch of AI? It went a bit like this:

“Hi, I’m an AI chatbot. I’m here to help with you all your cognitive tasks. I can do your writing, researching, and even thinking for you!

Need ideas? Got you!

Need to write an annoying email? Got you!”

Look, we’re all suckers for time and money-saving schemes.

And AI is the boss of all bosses when it comes to saving time and money.

So, like millions of other people across the globe, I was enticed.

I started using AI when it came out.

My experience with AI is exactly the same as with flying.

When I went on a plane for the first time and arrived in another country within a few hours, I thought, “WOW, this is amazing.” It was a new experience.

Think of the time you can save traveling by plane.

But as the newness fades, you end up with the practicality of flying:

• I might travel once or twice a year by plane
• I hate airports and lines
• I prefer to take my car even if it means I have to travel for longer because driving is more fun, especially when you go on a vacation

AI can save you time

Planes and AI. Both save you time. But the amount of times I use both is very limited these days.

AI only gives you the illusion of progress. You think you’re being this clever futurist who’s saving all this time and getting so much stuff done.

That’s not true.

If you consistently use AI for your cognitive tasks, you might feel better now, but you’re getting lazier in the long term.

I know that for a fact. I had a subscription to Jasper AI, which is used for content creation.

After I started experimenting with AI, I thought, “Well, maybe AI can give me my article ideas.”

So that’s what I did for a few months in 2023. And then I noticed something that I absolutely hate.

I became lazy. I started reading less. After all, why read books if AI can give you the summary or ideas?

WRONG, WRONG, wrong.

Another thing: As I created AI-generated articles, my writing assistant/researcher and I spent even more time in the editing process.

• We had to double-check every fact and quote because AI tends to “hallucinate” and make things up.
• We had to edit large sections of an article because it offered no real insight. That’s just the nature of Large Language Models (LLMs) which operate generative AI. They don’t have “insights” of their own. They can only predict the next best string of words based on the data they were trained on. Useful articles that give you results and convince people to act need depth and helpful insights through personal experience and research.
• There’s also the writing itself. Jasper AI is pretty good at copying your writing voice, especially if you train its LLM on your website (like I did). But when you read enough AI-generated stuff, you eventually recognize AI writing immediately. So we had to edit the writing to make it sound more like a real human.

Then, I gave up using AI in my day-to-day. I also canceled my Jasper subscription because I hadn’t used it all year.

Update January 2025: I‘m back to using AI because it’s SO MUCH better compared to when I wrote this piece first.

AI can make you dumber while making you feel smart

People need to do more research on this, but I suspect that AI will make the average person dumber over time. In fact, there have been smaller studies that show how AI is impacting people’s creativity.

A 2021 behavioral experiment found that over-reliance on AI can lead to humans becoming dumber by losing their unique knowledge.² The study said:

“Collective intelligence emerges in humans and society when diverse minds that have access to different data sources come together to find solutions to problems, also known as the wisdom of crowds… Over reliance on AI can lead to a decrease in the diversity of thinking, leading to suboptimal collective performance.”

AI tends to be monotonous because it doesn’t offer anything new (it’s only good at predicting words and re-purposing existing content). In fact, one concern that the study brought up is how over-reliance on AI is similar to being inside an echo chamber.

Social media platforms, for example, use algorithms that detect which content you engage with to show you more of that type of content.

“Those who rely too much on news from social media platforms, which in turn rely too much on AI tools, can slowly become borgs, subject to the echo chambers of AI-enabled news feeds where diversity of thought is gradually lost,” the study continued. “As different groups separate in their collective thinking, they cannot appreciate different perspectives, and at one extreme, they live in alternative realities.”

People begin to mimic AI and rely less on their own thinking, assuming everyone agrees with them and acting as if they’re smart.

In a recent interview, a Portland State University professor observed that there was a gradual decline in the quality of students’ written assessments.³

After all, when tools do all the work, students don’t learn the important skills they need in life.

“For younger individuals, if they do not exercise the brain by performing complex tasks, important aspects and connections within the brain may not be developed at all,” the professor said.

Progress requires the writing process

There’s this satire film called Idiocracy that I watched many years ago. The film is set in 2505, and everything is so automated that people have become incredibly dumb.

They don’t need to think critically or solve problems. And because people haven’t used their minds, their thinking ability has eroded over time.

This makes me think about the path of AI right now.

We need the process of writing to progress because writing is a form of thinking. It is the writing process that improves you and your life. This applies regardless of your profession.

As the writing professor, William Zinsser puts it:

“People are prevented from doing useful work because they never learned to express themselves. Contrary to general belief, writing isn’t something that only “writers” do; writing is a basic skill for getting through life.”

Back in 2015, before I started blogging, I was stuck and lost in my career. I started journaling to better understand my goals and personal purpose. Then I committed to publishing articles on my blog consistently. This process helped me develop the habit of executing my goals.

Imagine if AI had existed then. I would’ve missed out on all the benefits of writing daily.

The real benefit of writing is in the process. And constantly relying on AI kills our critical thinking skills.

Use your writing and thinking as training for life. Don’t outsource that to AI.

The post AI Writing and the Illusion of Progress appeared first on Darius Foroux.