The Code of the Extraordinary Mind: 10 Unconventional Laws to Redefine Your Life and Succeed On Your Own Terms

by Vishen Lakhiani

Law 1: Transcend the culturescape. Extraordinary minds are good at seeing the culturescape and are able to selectively choose the rules and conditions to follow versus those to question or ignore. Therefore, they tend to take the path less traveled and innovate on the idea of what it means to truly live.

You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view. Who’s more foolish, the fool? Or the fool who follows him? —SAYINGS OF OBI-WAN KENOBI, STAR WARS

When we are unsure of how to react to a stimulus or a situation, these theories suggest that we actively look to others for guidance and consciously imitate them.

A better alternative, in my opinion, is not to subscribe to one religion but to pick and choose beliefs from the entire pantheon of global religions and spiritual practices.

Your spirituality should be discovered, not inherited.

Steve Jobs when he was asked to address the graduating class at Stanford: Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Some say the heart is the most selfish organ in the body because it keeps all the good blood for itself. It takes in all the good blood, the most oxygenated blood, and then distributes the rest to every other organ. So, in a sense maybe the heart is selfish. But if the heart didn’t keep the good blood for itself, the heart would die. And if the heart died, it would take every other organ with it. The liver. The kidneys. The brain. The heart, in a way, has to be selfish for its own preservation. So, don’t let people tell you that you’re selfish and wrong to follow your own heart. I urge you, I give you permission, to break the rules, to think outside the norms of traditional society.

Law 3: Practice consciousness engineering. Extraordinary minds understand that their growth depends on two things: their models of reality and their systems for living. They carefully curate the most empowering models and systems and frequently update themselves.

From there, he divided his life into twelve separate categories, and for each category he mapped out four attributes: His beliefs, his vision, his purpose, and his strategy.

1. We all possess human intuition.

3. Happiness at work is the new productivity.

4. It is possible to be spiritual but not religious.

Humanism is the idea that we do not need religion in order to be good. It differs from atheism in the sense that humanists believe that there is a “God,” but He’s certainly not the judgmental, angry being that many religious texts make Him out to be. Instead, to a humanist, “God” might be the universe, or the connectedness of life on Earth, or spirit. Humanism is opening up a new spiritual path for people who want to reject the Brules of religion but who don’t embrace atheism. One billion humanists now exist on the planet, and their numbers are growing.

This new kind of religion asks that you move away from being a follower to being a creator. I foresee a new kind of spiritual creativity, in which we no longer decide whether to believe in a given creed and follow a certain tradition blindly. Now we allow ourselves a healthy and even pious skepticism. Most important, we no longer feel pressure to choose one tradition over another but rather are able to appreciate many routes to spiritual richness. This new religion is a blend of individual inspiration and inspiring tradition.

True brilliance is not a function of understanding one’s view of the world and finding order, logic, and spirituality in it. True brilliance is understanding that your view of order, logic, and spirituality is what created your world and therefore being forever capable of changing everything. —MIKE DOOLEY

A set point is simply a bare-minimum threshold you establish for yourself that you promise you will not go below. A set point differs from a goal. Goals pull you forward, while set points help you maintain what you have. You need both.

Law 5: Upgrade your systems for living. Extraordinary minds consistently spend time discovering, upgrading, and measuring new systems for living applied to life, work, heart, and soul. They are in a perpetual state of growth and self-innovation.

We shouldn’t do things so we can be happy. We should be happy so we can do things.

♥️

Law 6: Bend reality. Extraordinary minds are able to bend reality. They have bold and exciting visions for the future, yet their happiness is not tied to these visions. They are happy in the now. This balance allows them to move toward their visions at a much faster rate while having a ton of fun along the way. To outsiders, they seem “lucky.”

Blissipline System 1: The Power of Gratitude

reverse gap: Dan explains it this way: The moment I start feeling disappointed or discouraged or I start feeling really tense, I immediately say, “Okay, what are you measuring against?” and sure enough, I’m measuring against the ideal. And the moment I say, “Okay, turn around, where did you come from?” And the moment I turn around and I measure backwards [from] my starting point for this particular activity—bang, I feel great…. I’ve learned a lot. We’ve made tremendous progress…. In a matter of a few seconds, I go from the negative zone of being in the gap to the positive zone of measuring my actual progress.

Law 7: Live in Blissipline. Extraordinary minds understand that happiness comes from within. They begin with happiness in the now and use it as a fuel to drive all their other visions and intentions for themselves and the world.

End goals are the beautiful, exciting rewards of being human on planet Earth. End goals are about experiencing love, traveling around the world being truly happy, contributing to the planet because doing so gives you meaning, and learning a new skill for the pure joy of it.

End goals have happiness baked into the pursuit.

THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

I’ve found that all end goals fall into three different buckets. The first is experiences.

The second is growth. Growth deepens our wisdom and awareness.

Growth makes life an endless journey of discovery.

The third is cont...

THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS 1. What experiences do you want to have in this lifetime? 2. How do you want to grow? 3. How do you want to contribute?

If time and money were no object and I did not have to seek anyone’s permission, what kinds of experiences would my soul crave?

Law 8: Create a vision for your future. Extraordinary minds create a vision for their future that is decidedly their own and free from expectations of the culturescape. Their vision is focused on end goals that strike a direct chord with their happiness.

Steve Jobs said it wisely: You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well-worn path; and that will make all the difference.

Unfuckwithable: A Definition When you’re truly at peace and in touch with yourself. Nothing anyone says or does bothers you and no negativity can touch you.

Law 9: Be unfuckwithable. Extraordinary minds do not need to seek validation from outside opinion or through the attainment of goals. Instead, they are truly at peace with themselves and the world around them. They live fearlessly—immune to criticism or praise and fueled by their own inner happiness and self-love.

THE ULTIMATE BEAUTY OF SELF-FUELED END GOALS Below are the three expanded end goals that I currently live by. Can you see what they all have in common? 1. I will always be surrounded by love. 2. I will always have the most amazing and beautiful human experiences. 3. I will always be learning and growing.

Be bold. Act fearlessly. And be happy—now.

THE SECOND COMPONENT OF BEING UNFUCKWITHABLE: REALIZING YOU ARE ENOUGH

There is nothing more attractive than a person who loves himself or herself so deeply that their positive energy and love spill over to others and to the world.

Be present. I took my attention away from the fears and worries. Instead, I focused on the leaves of the plant on the restaurant table before me. I noticed the subtle veins running through the leaves, observed the sunlight falling on the green surfaces, and used my fingers to feel the texture and pliability of the stem. In one minute, I felt as if I had just popped a relaxation pill. Everything went almost back to normal. This is the power of becoming focused on the present. It takes your mind off whatever stress, fear, judgment, anger, or frustration you’re having with the world or the people in it—and it forces you to remember who you are and to be present in the now.

Law 10: Embrace your quest. Extraordinary minds are motivated by a quest or calling—a drive to create some positive change in the world. This drive propels them forward in life and helps them to gain meaning and make a meaningful contribution.

perseverance; it’s having a heartfelt passion and emotionally driven passion—something you want to solve on the planet that wakes you up in the morning and keeps you up at night.

I know a lot of the time, doing anything big and bold in the world is hard, unless you have that emotional guiding star, that passion—most

The world can’t wait to see what you’re going to do next.