When I heard Marc Andreeson of Andreeson Horowitz mention retardmaxxing as his updated philosophy, I stopped - thought it was a joke, but then continued through his interview, and his subsequent X posting.

Ironically, it was not a joke.

After digging into this myself, it makes sense.

So... quick intro to Retardmaxxing.

To the uninitiated, it sounds incredibly adolescent.

Once you get under the hood, you see that it's a sophisticated way of approaching self development and high agency.

Retardmaxxing is when you ignore the inner dialog and focus on taking action even if you look stupid or lose, or publicly humiliate yourself.

But Marc Andreeson wasn't the first to bring this up.

David Deida said years ago that you can either go the therapy route and focus on introspection, or you can transcend the "broken" and "troubled" parts of yourself and act with high agency DESPITE them.

But this is the argument that got me, Marc brings up a solid point.

You don't see the great conquorers, leaders, founders spending time endlessly navel gazing, wondering how to improve themselves.

Marcus Aurelius said, "Don't you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can?".

His point being, they get up, they do their work. They aren't debating the rationality, or trying to eliminate humilation, or posture.

They get out there and get shit done.

That's the fucking point.

Stop taking yourself (and life) so seriously.

Take massive action.

Take bigger risks.