Sup nerds.

Last week, I had coffee with a friend who is starting to pursue writing on a deeper level. Our convo went something like:

I felt like an absolute stoner telling him to start underthinking, but it’s so true. Underthinkers have a bias towards action. They are doers and doers win. .

I think my hidden power sometimes is that I just do shit. I don’t wait for the perfect time or for peace and quiet. I just get shit done.

If you came to my friend’s Super Bowl Party this year, you would have found me typing away on a ghostwriting project. It didn’t matter there was screaming and people drinking. It had to get done so I got it done.

I’ve published so many bad tweets. I don’t think about it for too long before pressing send. The only question I ask myself is “Will this get me cancelled?” and then I press send. If it doesn’t get a lot of favorites, no one is gonna ruin my life for it. I just delete it and try again next time.

Don’t make things more complicated than they need to be.

On Wednesday, I read Valerie Zhang’s An Overthinker’s Guide to Overthinking and I knew I had to make a parody about my pseudophilosophy of underthinking. Underthinking as per usual, I sent her a DM and she was down to be a co-author of this piece.

An Underthinker’s Guide to Underthinking

How to Underthink Like Me

Next time you’re on a subway, put on loud rap music in your headphones. Don’t think about where you’re going. You know you’ll probably figure it out.

Start typing away on whatever project you are working on. Look up for a few seconds at every stop. Don’t think about the homeless man crying, the banker with white powder under his nose, or the woman across from you who’s eating salad with her bare hands. Not your circus, not your monkeys. Just write.

Next time you’re thinking about sending a cold message to someone in the business elite, don’t think about what happens if he sends a sneering screenshot of your message to his groupchat.

He probably won’t (and if he does, he’s not someone you’d want to be friends with anyways). Either way, you gotta risk it for the biscuit. Send the DM and then go eat a nice ham-and-cheese sandwich. While eating the ham-and-cheese sandwich and watching tv, send messages to 3 more business elite.

And next time you’re at a party, don’t worry about if someone will think you’re weird if you come up and say hi. You’re at a party, parties are social, go be social. Think of a funny opening line and before you have time to talk yourself out of doing it, start walking towards whoever you want to talk to.

Always Prioritize

Does this sound familiar?

You’re thinking of working harder at your day job or doubling down on your freelance business when you remember getting called a try-hard in middle school. Suddenly you second-guess yourself and consider taking the easier route instead, giving up and becoming a pineapple farmer.

Here’s how to stop that train of thought the next time it happens. Ask yourself, does your success come above what people think of you? Or would you rather peak in high school and never do anything cool or exciting in your career because you’re overthinking and trying to preserve your “perfect reputation”?

Ok, let me say this more bluntly, does paying for rent come above what your sixth grade arch-nemesis thinks of you?

I would really hope so.

People say not to worry about what people think of you. That’s impossible and terrible career advice. We’re social animals. Plus your reputation matters.

But here’s the kicker.

It doesn’t matter if people used to laugh at you. The only laugh that matters now is laughing your way to the bank. So stop overanalyzing the opinions of old classmates and start worrying about what people who can help you get rich think about you instead. Does it really matter that you were a loser in high school if you’re eating fancy cheeses with your heroes now?

Use Your Big Ass Gut, Ignore Your Small Ass Brain

Brains are easily tricked through cognitive distortions. I’ve done a lot of therapy, but have never heard of gut distortions.

Your brain is dumb, your gut is smart. Trust your intuition.

You don’t need to first taste a moldy piece of bread that has worms coming out of it in order to know you shouldn’t eat it.

If you get the creeps from someone, there’s probably a reason why. If your gut says that someone would be a bad employee, don’t hire them. If you get a bad feeling about investing in a company, don’t invest.

Your gut is often a better bs-detector than your brain.

Like optimism, your gut (intuition) is a muscle. You build that muscle by continuously trusting your gut and seeing proof you were right. The only way to do that is to be an optimist and put your faith in your gut.

Feel Grateful All The Time

I almost died back in 2019 a few times. Long story, lots of drugs, would rather not get into it. But the point is that it’s a miracle I’m alive.

I’m grateful that I made it to age 25. Every day past 2019 has been a gift. And I do not intend on wasting that gift.

When you’re grateful to be alive, you realize how precious time is — and it pushes you to work harder, meet new people, and make cooler stuff.

In the words of Naval Ravikant, “Value your time. It is all you have. It’s more important than your money. It’s more important than your friends. It is more important than anything. Your time is all you have. Do not waste your time.”

My grandpa published 15+ books, but died at 73 angry he didn’t publish more. I do not intend to die angry. I hope to die satisfied. So in this lifetime, I’m gonna write as cool stuff much as I can.

Underthinkers are full of gratitude and optimism. Meanwhile, overthinkers are full of fear and anxiety. Tough choice, but who would you rather be?

Cyberpunk Hyperlinks

😂 MemeMorph is an AI tool that puts your face onto 127+ memes for $7. It was the best $7 I ever spent. I even made a TikTok about it.

🤩 Remember the MSCHF Red Boots every celeb was wearing? Here’s the master plan for influencer marketing campaigns.

🧲 I’ve been thinking a lot about Steve Jobs’ speech on marketing strategies: why brands matter more than fancy features.

Thanks for reading nerds.

Create some cool shit this week.

Jason Levin