Theme: Agency

(FB 1542640445 Timestamp) JOHN MARK’S JOURNEY TO LEADERSHIP By John Mark —“John Mark, You’ve made extraordinary progress coming seemingly out of nowhere and rapidly into thought leadership. For the sake of others, can you explain your journey, how long it took, and what advantages you had, and disadvantages you had to overcome? “—Curt Doolittle Thank you Curt. I’d be happy to share. First, I don’t know how to express how grateful I am to have come across you and this community of outstanding quality men (and some great women too). I started as a very motivated Christian. Grandparents and parents missionaries. High empathy gene. I just wanted to help people. Out of this grew a desire to understand truth. Somehow I realized this was the best way to help people in the long run. Started questioning certain commonly taught Christian doctrines (tithing), realized I’d been lied to. Then questioned hell (loving God + hell = does not compute). Spent a couple years researching it in the Bible. Wrote 500-pg book about it, got a niche audience online but couldn’t monetize it enough to be worth it. Also got very frustrated with church people. They punish questioning. I didn’t understand IQ, didn’t know that most of the people I was trying to talk to are practically a different species. Always had right wing economic instinct but almost no political knowledge. Started studying money, figured out banking scam. Got into conspiracy stuff. Then discovered “game”, redpilled on women. Then started trying to figure out the Left, because I truly could not understand them. I thought they could not possibly be sincere. (Now I know they are. At least the grassroots is. I did not fully realize this til I found Curt. Even many of the leaders – e.g. Obama probably is a true believer.) Abandoned the church. Realized the Bible does not inform about too many essential facts or equip how to solve political problems. Ended up stuck in a place where I couldn’t figure out how to stop the cycle of corruption/left advance. Somehow came across Curt, maybe 1.5 years ago (maybe 2?). Found the answer (Propertarianism) and took my understanding to a level I would not have thought possible. Have been feeding on Curt’s feed daily since I found him. I have also learned a lot from many others that contribute in his orbit. Everything I learned previously dovetailed in. From beginning to end, 10 years. Spending most of my “free time” studying/learning. I also learn by trying to teach, even if to myself. Writing, speaking, I teach out loud in the shower and in my bedroom. I record messages/content and listen back. Exposes my gaps. If I can’t explain it to a 12-yr-old, I don’t understand it well enough. And if I can’t predict accurately, I don’t understand. And if I can’t teach/speak decently on a subject off the cuff, I haven’t absorbed it well enough. (I do structure my content, but often stream of consciousness takes over due to familiarity with concepts, mulling them over for years. Often I get insights in the middle of speaking or writing. I’m sure Curt and many others have experienced this.) I did not try to come out with any political content until I was reasonably confident I had something to offer and that I would be more help than hindrance. I’m terrified of being wrong and leading people astray. (KEEP ME HONEST AND ACCURATE EVERYBODY!) I started by experimenting with short comments on Curt posts. Feedback was good so I kept going. I’ve always felt I had potential as a “teacher/explainer”/public speaker politically, but you never know until you test. Feedback was good enough from Curt and his group that I decided to start YouTube channel. Disadvantages:

• Religious background, religious “experiences” I can’t explain. (Hinders scientific thought, wasted a lot of time seeking something unreliable.) A lot of muscle memory to undo.
• Parents were loving (great in most ways) but did not prepare me for the real world. Struggled mightily in my 20s financially and with women (bluepilled) despite being tall, decent-looking, and naturally alpha in some ways. (This was an advantage in the end because it drove me to learn – “What am I doing wrong?”)
• Extremely high creativity (musician), low conscientiousness naturally. Had to learn conscientiousness.
• I don’t care about anything but my immediate family and understanding the world to help my people. This is an advantage but it’s like pulling teeth to get myself to work on my career. Make 6 figs now for big company doing mental/comms work but took me a while. Good socially but I’m not motivated to network with normies.
• Zero support – nothing but rejection – from everyone I knew in meat world throughout my entire growth process. (I’m sure many others share this experience.)
• No detailed historical knowledge, never studied philosophy or economics. Never got heavily into Libertarianism or Classical Liberalism. My time for studying was limited by workday and family, so I was laser-focused on “explain how the world works and why, or you’re wasting my time”. Every time I’d dip my toe into philosophy or econ I got frustrated. These things require sorting through huge volume of fluff/distraction and extracting nuggets and synthesizing, I simply didn’t have the time.

Advantages:

• Curt has been my shortcut on philosophy/econ/synthesis of everything – forever grateful. Curt also helped me realize that talking/preaching to people is not enough to get them to act productively, because it cannot overcome powerful instincts operating in millions of people. There must be rule of law (force) applied. (I kind of bypassed the libertarianism/classical liberal trap because Curt gave me a shortcut on so many subjects.)
• 135-140ish IQ, skewed verbal. I can tell Curt and some/many men in Curt’s orbit are smarter than I am, but my range may be ideal for speaking to normies.
• Extremely high openness (Big 5), learning is a compulsion, not a chore
• Sitting in thousands of church services I learned the power of public speaking. Learned by observing. Contrasting the intolerable speakers from the great ones. T.D. Jakes (black preacher) + actual facts would be near perfection. I’m still improving but that volume of observation experience was helpful. Speak in simple language, be easy to follow (structure, or must be riveting if stream of consciousness), be genuine (don’t try to fake a persona) and passionate, explain why what you’re saying is important, surprise people somehow if you can, have a fresh angle of some sort that people haven’t heard before (even if it’s a new way of saying something that’s been said before). Listen to recordings of yourself – brutal but necessary to remove flaws/bad habits. What you hear on YouTube is somewhat edited for faster speed/pace (less captive audience than real life). Still trying to get better.
• Got some decent experience public speaking in church settings. Enough to test and learn. A lot to youth. If you can keep 16-yr-olds interested for half an hour, you’re doing ok.
• Am extremely comfortable in front of people due to playing music on stage (churches, other venues) hundreds/thousands of times.

One big advantage: An amazing traditional, highly conscientious wife (Eastern European) who follows me everywhere intellectually and physically, is immune to leftist thought due to close knowledge of the effects of communism, and is a great cook! Hope this is helpful. Would be happy to answer any more specific questions. It is an amazing privilege to be a part of this. It’s bigger than any one of us and we all play our part. I hope to play mine with excellence to the best of my ability. Also a huge thank you to all of you who have encouraged me and given me your feedback and thoughts with the YouTube channel. Hugs