Mike Cernovich

An admixture of mindset and media

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Archives for May 2018

Mindset, Fitness, Success – Two New Speakers Added

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Professional boxer Ed Latimore and fitness and movement expert Alexander Cortes will be joining me for the New York mindset seminar. They will be covering their own material, which means in one day you’ll have access to

  • A complete mindset model to change how you life,
  • Expert fitness and health advice,
  • Mental coaching for athletes and students.

A lot of people have questions about building your own online businesses and brands, and although that won’t be the focus of the seminar, you are welcome to ask any question you might have about branding during the Q&A.

The invitation-only seminar is June 23rd in New York, and will most likely be my last East Coast seminar of the year.

Request an invitation here.

What can you expect at a Gorilla Mindset seminar?

First, you’ll meet some of the best people of your life. Everyone there, regardless of background, shares a commitment to living their best life.

Second, we start off by focusing on the Gorilla Mindset model:

  • Each chapter of Gorilla Mindset is separate yet connected,
  • Self-talk and language patterns,
  • How metaphors embedded in language shape how you view yourself and the world,
  • Proper posture in standing, walking, and working.
  • How to re-write your past to create a new future.

From there we cover story-telling, memories, reality creation, and whatever else is on your mind.

We always have a lengthy question-and-answer.

BEWARE: Our mindset seminars are intense. One complaint I got recently was that I don’t coddle people enough. We don’t sit around crying about the unfairness of life. We identity issues, focus on solutions, and take action.

We do not discuss politics at all.

As anyone who has read Gorilla Mindset knows, it’s an apolitical book. Our only focus is to help people from all over the world live the best life possible.

Besides, I am beyond bored with politics and have been focusing on my mindset work more.

What if you can’t attend a seminar?

No big deal! I have filmed two seminars, and both are available for free viewing here.

I am also going to release my Mindset “Master Class” this Summer.

That said, I only have a few regrets. Two stand out.

When Gerry Spence was trying his last case, the defense of Geoffrey Fieger, a friend of mine flew out to watch it. He had a hotel room for me to stay at. I didn’t want to spend the $298 on a plane ticket. Missing out on watching one of the greatest trial lawyers in history to save a few bucks showed how defective my mindset was.

I used to only look at costs, not benefits. Oscar Wilde defined a cynic, “A man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.” The one exception to this rule was buying books. I always spent “way too much money” on books, and that “bad habit” paid off for me, even if half of my books aren’t fully read yet.

Another regret is that I never watched Dr. Gene Scott preach live at the University Cathedral. I took it for granted that he’d always be alive. Probably more than anyone, Dr. Gene Scott influences my presentation style.

Dr. Scott would go on long diatribes about books, history, philosophy, and religion. He’d rant at his own audience for some perceived slight. For over five years I lived within an hour of his church, and never took the trip down there. Why?

I took opportunities for granted and assumed the world I desired would magically always be there for me.

Contact me to request an invitation.

    What McCabe’s $70,000 Table Tells You about the Media

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    Andrew McCabe paid $70,000 for a conference table, and the FBI covered it up, and not one mainstream outlet is reporting on this.

    Is this a big story? The table itself isn’t. The abuse of the redaction process should be. Democracy dies in darkness, according to the Washington Post.

    And according to the media, it was a huge story when Ben Carson ordered $31,000 in table wear. There are 22,000 results for that.

    And there are 219,000 results for Ryan Zinke’s door, which cost $180,000.

    Not one mainstream media outlet is covering McCabe’s $70,000 table.

    This is a form of fake news based around selective focus.

    There’s overspending on all sides, but if you only focus on one side’s spending, you mislead the reader into believing only one side is doing it.

    Now if you’re a partisan, using selective focus is effective and advised. If you’re a media outlet claiming to be impartial, and freaking out when Elon Musk calls you out, then you should cover the McCabe table.

    And, again, who cares about the $70,000 table. It’s the FBI. The table is probably a cool James Bond thing.

    There’s a real issue here, namely that McCabe and the FBI lied to Congress about it. Here’s what was uncovered in a now unredacted memo:

    Page: No way to change the room. The table alone was [70k]. (You can’t repeat that!) No, instead it just means we now have to get a small conference table for his actual office, so that he can actually have a meeting that is intimate

    These dishonest media methods aren’t new. I made a film about fake news, and am working on a larger feature, Hoaxed.

    In the meantime, enjoy Unconvention: Exposing Fake News at the RNC and DNC.

    Although focused around a temporal moment in time, the theme is timeless.

     

     

     

     

     

    Anatomy of a Fake Fact Check

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    As Sante Fe school shooter wore a hammer-and-sickle logo, I made the uncontroversial statement that this logo was associated with ANTIFA. Today a fact-checking website that partners with Facebook and foreign governments said ANTIFA does not use the hammer-and-sickle logo. This is fake news.

    Run a Google image search for ANTIFA and hammer-and-sickle. Thousands of results appear. See for yourself:

     

    Here’s a video entitled, “Black Conservative Scolds Black #Antifa For Flying Hammer Sickle Flag #Boston.” As you can see in this screen capture, an ANTIFA member is flying a hammer-and-sickle flag.

    Examples abound, and anyone can confirm this in five seconds.

    Why did the Fake Fact Check Website Lie?

    This is an attack on alternative media. Each time they flag an article as fake news, even when they verifiably lie as they did hear, then alternative media is downgraded in Facebook’s algorithm.

    Their lies cumulatively become part of the narrative. Mike Cernovich, who a fact-checking website said spreads information, claims….

    These lies about me are a way to lie about you, and a way to embolden ANTIFA.

    Fact Check is fake news.

    How to Survive Hell

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    “If you’re going through hell, keep going,” takes on new meaning when your body randomly breaks out into first and second degree burns. After years of taking medications my doctors prescribed for eczema, I was finally diagnosed with Red Skin Syndrome, an iatrogenic condition caused by the very medications doctors prescribed. The only cure was to stop taking all topical corticosteroids. Cold turkey. That’s when the Hell sets it. My face swelled and my eyes closed shut.

    • Hi. There is a 0% chance you know something about my skin condition that I don’t know. Keep those, “Have you tried…” tips to yourself.  :^)

    I’m not sunburned in this picture, this is what’s known as a flare. If you look at my hand, you can see some non-fire skin. I’m not squinting in the image. My eyes had swollen shut and I had to eye them and pry them open to go out to dinner with friends.

    How to Survive Hell? Live your Life.

    Sometimes life sucks, there’s no way to spin it, you’re in pain and life sucks. This is what my face looked like for 8 weeks. I had lost a bunch of hair and my eyes sealed shut due to edema and swelling in my face.

    Once you accept the underlying circumstance of, you have a choice.  Let life suck on its term, or live life on your terms?

    I could have stayed home and hid. I could have wondered if people thought I looked like a hideous freak. I could have let shame and a fear of judgment put me on house arrest.

    Or I could have gone on with my life, to the extent possible.

    I choose to live my life normally.

    I even went to the gym, which offered varying levels of pain.

    Lacking moisture, my skin was a delicate as a butterfly’s wings. My would pull off from the flexion of normal movement. This is what my neck looked like on a normal Tuesday.

    Have you ever heard the expression about putting salt into a wound?

    When most of your body is an open wound, every drop of sweat stings.

    Imagine tearing skin with each reputation at the gym as a salt drip of sweat covered the open wounds. I never cried, but there were whimpers of agony at times.

    I also swam in the Dead Sea after a bad skin flare. Here’s what my arms looked like before diving in. (Well you don’t dive into the Dead Sea, as the saline content keeps your body in a state of floatation.)

    “Low point” takes on a literal meaning when you’re salting wounds over your entire body.

     

    How to survive hell? Keep a gratitude journal.

    Each day I said, “You are so lucky that you can afford to work for home. Imagine what it must be like to have a job to go to.” Whenever I couldn’t move, I expressed gratitude that one day I would be able to move.

    I was grateful for friends, who wanted to hang out.

    I was grateful for Shauna, who stood by me.

    And I sought beauty wherever possible.

    After floating in what felt like an acid bath, I enjoyed a sunset over the Dead Sea.

     

    How to Survive Hell? Focus on the Spirit.

    “Spiritual growth is physically painful” became my mantra. I’d reflect on what a gift this suffering was, because my own life had become vainglorious. I only cared about money, sex, and partying. I had become superficial and lacking in empathy.

    The physical pain, and frankly, the physical ugliness of myself, humbled it. The experience put me in touch with the human condition.

    How can I act fearless? Because I’ve faced my fears. My body has been in Hell.

    How to Survive Hell? Have a Vision for Your Future.

    Like all people, I let shame and judgment control me. Don’t take risks, people might laugh at you, people might mock you, people might….

    While going through Hell, I focused on how strong my spirit would be. I treated the experience like a training experience sent to me from the Universe. I was shown what I was capable of overcoming, in order to accomplish more. To stop letting excuses about being introverted stop me from leading.

    Today people wonder how I keep moving forward despite being attacked by powerful media companies, being lied about, being slandered, being stalked….What I face daily is nothing because pain is subjective. What you feel today is measured and defined by what you’ve overcome.

    All of my life I wanted to write a book that people would find decades after I had died, a legacy work.

    Although I didn’t know it at the time, great work is born out of great suffering.

    Gorilla Mindset wasn’t a book of theory. It wasn’t a collection of “scientific studies” conducted using college kids. It was a book born out of suffering.

    Hell is Coming for You.

    My worldview is paradoxical to those with a superficial understanding of Western “logic.” I’m simultaneously the most optimistic and pessimistic person you’ll ever meet.

    Hell is coming for you, or maybe it’s found you.

    And you can get through.

    How?

    Keep moving.

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    What I Learned Producing Documentary Films

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    Hoaxed: The Fake News Simulation, my latest feature-length documentary, is in post-production. Making movies has been a learning experience, and I’ve made some mistakes. Here’s what I’ve learned:

    Stop talking about making a film, Go make a film.

    You can film a documentary on an iPhone. It won’t be the greatest film, but it will be a start.

    Someone put it into the brains of young people that they deserve a six or seven seven-figure budget and staff for a film. You deserve NOTHING.

    Take your iPhone out, make some films, and quit expecting others to do the work for you.

    You’ll learn how to set up a shot, how to be patient when outside circumstances frustrate you, and how to get quality audio. You’ll learn how to edit.

    Someone put it into the brains of people that you learn skills while working on major projects. Wrong. You develop your skills on minor projects.

    I made this film with an iPhone and a GoPro

    I went to the DNC and RNC to embed with protesters, and I got the best footage of any media outlet. We put this into a documentary exposing the fake news media for its dishonest coverage of the Bernie Sanders movement.

    As you can see, I made a lot of mistakes in Un/Convention:

    • I shot videos vertically,
    • The sound quality isn’t perfect,
    • Some of the film is shaky.

    And I made a film.

    Unlike every other a-hole in New York and Los Angeles, I shipped a product.

    Now look at the teaser for my latest film, HOAXED.

    Do you notice any improvements?

    Hoaxed even has original music and a music video.

    Avoid people who talk about wanting to make a film.

    In life, avoid the wanters.

    I want to do this…

    It would be nice to that…

    Every jerk off in LA and NY is going to write a book or make a film. Most never will, because they don’t want to work hard. Avoid these people, as time is zero-sum.

    An hour spent with losers is an hour not spent with winners.

    Shoot way too much b-roll.

    If you’re a filmmaker, New York or Hollywood isn’t a big deal to you. Your audience loves the sights and sounds of unfamiliar places.

    Plus, filming b-roll puts you into the mindset of creation. The more you film, the more you’ll see in real life worth filming.

    Filming b-roll is also a safe way to improve your camera skills.

    You may also accidentally film something cool.

    Set up the story of people you’re interviewing.

    How often have you watched a film where a guest was randomly put on the screen. Who is this person? Why should we care about this person?

    B-roll of sets the scene. For example we were interviewing someone who had been attacked by ANTIFA. While the talented directors were setting up the interview shot, I looked at her interesting living situation.

    She lived in a bohemian warehouse, which isn’t unusual in San Francisco, but is still pretty cool. And it also shows that people you think of as “conservative” don’t fit those old definitions.

    Money and Filmmaking.

    I haven’t made a profit from any film yet, so if you’re wondering how to make the big bucks, ask me in a few months or years.

    I have raised enough cash to pay others who work on films with me. As for me, I’ve lost money on every film I’ve made. However I remain optimistic.

    Welcome to the Rule of 5.

    The Rule of 5 holds that if you put your heart and soul into 5 projects, one of them will pay off an order of magnitude greater than the sum of your losses.

    Sometimes you’ll hit the Big Win early. My debut book Gorilla Mindset did far better than I expected. (The average book sells 500 copies, and only 1% of books ever sell 10,000 copies. Gorilla Mindset is at over 80,000 copies sold, and it keeps selling every month.)

    Un/Convention did 80,000 page views. A documentary on the Sweden migrant crisis did 150,000 views before YouTube banned it. Silenced didn’t make a profit, but it sold enough copies to make me optimistic about Hoaxed.

    Learn as you go. Sometimes you’ll hit it big right away. Usually you won’t. Most people quit before they reach the top.

    The 80/20 Rule is an iron law.

    In life, 80% of your upside (or downside) will come from 20% of your activities or endeavors. This is known as the 80/20 Rule or Pareto principle.

    20% of your friends will give you 80% of your fulfillment and happiness. 20% of your friends will give you 80% of your drama.

    80% of a funding for your film will come from 20% of your supporters.

    Some people will pay for a platinum experience, if you offer them one. Think about what you can offer the 20% of your audience that is hardcore into supporting what you do.

    Treat 100% of people well.

    Give immediate refunds to the complainers. People will often email me to complain. I refund them, and then they complain about getting a refund. They just want to complain to someone, and they feel like buying a ticket gives them a license to be nasty and toxic to me. Wrong!

    Get rid of the negative and toxic supporters. You feel like you need everyone, especially when starting off. Time is a zero-sum activity. Focusing on responding to complainers will distract you from giving value to people who support you.

    Over communicate with your supporters.

    Making movies is a lot like litigation. Nothing seems to happen for a long time, and then something huge happens. During that “nothing” time, people wonder if any work is being done. This is because people don’t realize it takes hundreds of hours to edit footage.

    It’s better to over-update than under-update. Even if there’s nothing to report, reach out to your backers to tell them, “We are working hard,” and throw in a picture or short video clip.

    You’re going to go over budget.

    Murphy’s law applies: If something can go wrong, it will. You’re going to lose some equipment, the airline is going to charge you more than you agreed to, people may demand a bribe to get out of your shot. (Yes, this happens. If you’re filming in public, sometimes people will harass you unless you pay them off.)

    Let your film evolve as you work on it.

    Your art will push back.

    You have an idea for a film, and while you’re making it, the art begins taking you in another direction.

    For example Hoaxed started off as a hit piece on the fake news media.

    As we thought more deeply about it, we realized that Fake News is a Simulation.

    We live in a world of lives, and this world of lies was created by the fake news media. Hoaxed took on a more sci-fi vibe, and won’t look like a traditional “media” film.

     

    What else do you know to know about filmmaking?

    Post a comment below!

    You can stream Silenced on Amazon.

    You can watch Un/Convention here.

    And if you grind away like me, you can STAY FOCUSED with Gorilla Mind.