anymore I just can't live up to his potential he's obviously smart because he has a contract to write a book The problem is that he acts like a loser he can't write a single page of his supposed literary Opus he drinks too much he treats his girlfriend like an ATM we see ourselves in him on our worst days now turns around when Eddie receives an experimental pharmaceutical drug in Limitless the pill called nzt48 gives the main character superhuman brain power Eddie has the power to recall anything he's read solve complex problems and apply monk-like wisdom
of course no one has access to this type of mental enhancement but what the drug symbolizes is the first step required to level up your life it all begins with sorting out your mind Eddie suddenly becomes enlightened so it's obvious to him if he can't live the way he's been living for us Mortals there isn't an instant switch is usually a pain threshold that needs to be reached maybe you suffer every day at a soul-sucking job and you're fed up with it maybe your partner leaves you for someone else maybe you see your friend succeed
while you're stuck in your parents basement what you need is what alcoholics refer to as a Moment of clarity but Clarity is fleeting and we need to overcome other deep-seated issues to move forward with our journey foreign mental obstacles that limit our potential are past trauma and bad conditioning an extreme example of trauma would be if your parents beat you and called you an idiot as a child of course you would internalize this and limit what you could achieve as an adult using video games porn social media marijuana or you name your Vice as coping
mechanisms when you're upset or stressed are probably the most common examples of how we can limit our potential by improper conditioning Eddie's first step is as easy as taking a pill to solve these problems of the Mind in real life achieving Clarity and then overcoming past trauma and conditioning are probably the hardest steps to move past there's no magic pill there's things such as therapy meditation psychedelics journaling and the list goes on it's up to you the individual to find the best modality to help you sort out your mind with Eddie's Newfound superhuman Powers this
is the first thing he does he impresses his landlord's wife with his knowledge helps her with her grad school paper and has sex with her on your leveling up Journey once you make some inroads and are headed in the right direction this is a time when temptation is very strong maybe you have an opportunity to make a quick Buck or maybe a girl or a guy suddenly takes an interest in your newfound confidence it even could be as simple as you starting to slack off because you feel like you should celebrate how far you've come
Eddie has the benefit of nzt48 so although he gets distracted it's a minor detour in real life minor distractions have a tendency to turn into major ones it would be wise to be mindful of this after this somewhat immoral use of his new powers Eddie moves on to the second big step needed to level up Eddie looks at his messy apartment and decides to clean it's a simple action but it's the first step on a long journey Eddie's small initial effort towards greatness is reminiscent of Jordan Peterson's advice to clean your room it's a place
of potential and as soon as you know that then it's it's not your room anymore or General William mcraven's advice to make your bed in the morning and we'll encourage you to do another task and another and another Eddie isn't sure at this point what direction he wants his life to take which could also likely happen to you when you begin to change for the better what he doesn't do is sit in his room obsessing over theoretical plans what he does next is arguably the most effective thing to do when your Life Path isn't clear
he physically goes out into the world he meets new people and socializes with them he experiences new environments he enters various flow States this culminates in a cliff dive which is almost certainly a reference to Heidegger's leap of faith when he surfaces from the water it's clear to him what he needs to do and how to do it Eddie's Grand plans are never fully explained to the audience we know it's to change the world in some way we're not sure if it's for altruistic or selfish reasons but this moment is important because he develops a
purpose to fully engage with life and level up there is a Holy Trinity which Eddie has reached there's the mind which we talked about there's the body basically using it to master taking action and then there's purpose the reason why you're pursuing the goal if you have these three things dialed in then you have the necessary components to move forward Eddie with his Trinity of Mind Body and purpose in place sets about accomplishing his goal and he does this just like anyone else should he he breaks down his vision into small achievable steps first he
uses the stock market to make cash then using the momentum of his success he meets powerful people who he helps with brokering an international deal finally he uses this capital and momentum to become a senator Our Lives won't have as quick or as big of jumps as Eddie with his magic pill but the same principle applies determine what your big goal is break it down into small steps and then pursue it methodically there's also a few more interesting aspects of Eddie's Journey that will probably mimic our own Journeys as well he decides to settle down
with his girlfriend why would he do this when he could probably be with a new supermodel every night to accomplish the things he wants Eddie can't put in the massive effort to pursue girls constantly him settling down with his girlfriend is symbolic of moving past distractions although in your leveling up Journey you won't necessarily take the form of settling down with a partner you will need to put aside toxic and distracting relationships with people and things also something happens to Eddie in Limitless that we will most likely experience in our own Journeys in fact Heroes
of stories and of real life have had to deal with this issue for thousands of years just when Eddie seems like he's on the verge of finishing the merger deal something catastrophic happens his supply of nzt-48 gets stolen he spirals into a horrible hangover and he needs to fight for his survival in philosopher Joseph Campbell's hero's journey which lays out the patterns of Mythic stories this moment is known as the Supreme ordeal its recurring event in mythology and also in our own lives just as we are on the brink of success there is often an
enormous disaster that sets us back sometimes to square one in our leveling up Journey we need to be aware that this is a possibility so that it doesn't psychologically crush us and Limitless Eddie's nzt-48 stash gets stolen by a prominent lawyer and without access to this miracle drug Eddie can't complete the merger and thereby move on to his ultimate goal besides that the effects of detoxing off the drug are so bad that it could kill him Eddie has two choices in such a bad scenario he can lay down and die or he can fight tooth
and nail to survive he chooses a ladder obviously as all heroes do as a hero of our own stories we must choose to do the same at this ultimate crisis moment we all have a little bit of Eddie and Us in different areas of our life with so much potential being squandered away because we just can't figure out how to deliver on the Promises to ourselves and others Limitless is more than an entertaining action thriller movie it's an important Fable that Taps into modern humans deep desire to scale the social hierarchy and live up to
our potentials becoming as much as we can be Limitless
