https://www.actualized.org/forum/topic/79195-magic/?page=20#comment-1420379

The Counter-Intuitive Nature Of Life

https://youtu.be/LGpYE-FZRhA

"Sometimes when you win, you really lose, and sometimes when you lose, you really win." - White Men Can't Jump

• Principle of Life's Counterintuitiveness: Leo introduced the principle that life is counterintuitive, highlighting that success in various aspects, such as business, attraction, relationships, emotions, and spirituality, requires one to rethink the obvious routes and look for non-obvious solutions.
• Folly of the Naive Approach: He notes that fools stumble in life by taking obvious routes, whereas success necessitates avoiding obvious mistakes and instead opting for less apparent, often more emotionally difficult routes.
• Wisdom's Counterintuitive Nature: Wisdom is inherently counterintuitive, with truly profound teachings often appearing foolish to the unwise, but deeply wise to the enlightened.
• Psychology's Counterintuitive Results: Studies in psychology have shown that human behavior is counterintuitive, and understanding this is key to navigating various life aspects successfully.
• Strategic Thinking and Counterintuitiveness: Great strategists, like Sun Tzu, advocate for counterintuitive thinking, outmaneuvering opponents not through brute force but through clever, unexpected tactics.
• Business Strategy and Profits: In business, seeking to maximize profits at all costs is counterintuitive; instead, not pursuing maximum profits can lead to long-term brand strength and company survival.
• Marketing Strategy: Attempting to appeal to everyone dilutes a product's appeal, whereas targeting a specific niche can create a strong resonance and success.
• Salesmanship: Desperation in sales often leads to lost sales. Sales success comes from conveying confidence in a product's value, rather than pushiness, which implies it has little value.
• Female Attraction: Leo observes that being excessively nice, as a man trying to attract women, can be counterproductive. Women are attracted to confidence and self-value, not supplication and desperation.
• Counterintuitive Nature of Attraction: Leo explains that showing less commitment and care towards a woman can paradoxically increase her attraction. He describes the necessity of rewiring his brain away from conventional attraction strategies to become better at attracting women.
• Bragging as an Ineffective Attraction Method: Contrary to what some might assume, boasting about wealth or success can decrease a man's attractiveness. Leo points out that self-deprecation, done tongue-in-cheek, signals confidence and authenticity, making a man more appealing.
• Difference between Attraction and Relationship Phases: There's a distinction between behaviors conducive to attraction and those required for a healthy relationship. In the attraction phase, not overdoing niceness is beneficial, while in a relationship, being genuinely nice is important.
• Humorously Counterintuitive Strategy with Women: Leo humorously suggests that a man should claim to have less desirable traits, like a smaller penis size when interacting with an attractive woman, as it sub-communicates confidence and non-needy behavior, proving effective in his personal experience.
• Investing Counterintuitively: To succeed in the stock market, one should buy when the market is crashing and sell during economic booms, which is opposite to the typical behavior of unseasoned investors who react to market moods.
• Misguided Hedonism: Seeking physical pleasure, such as through luxury or substances, creates more suffering than happiness. The realization counters the instinct that pleasure leads to the best life, opening the possibility to embrace spirituality.
• Perfectionism’s Paradox: Striving for perfection in your work can result in poorer outcomes, counter to the expectation that perfectionism enhances quality.