The Promise of Lazy Intelligence

Is it possible to get more for less?

The rational adult says no—everything has a price—but the curious child within us, untarnished by taboo, SCREAMS yes! Show me how!

What would that look like?

Lazy intelligence promises to set you free!

The Hypothesis

All humans are unique; no two people are the same.We differ both on the outside and inside. Our DNA structure, with its 3 billion base pairs, makes it impossible for two people to be identical.

Is it really such a stretch to assume that people perform best in different ways?

Certain people will perform at their best with the help of mental tools. If you are one of them, lazy intelligence will help you. But what is lazy intelligence?

Lazy Intelligence

Lazy intelligence combines two things: the Renaissance ideal of studying the classical masters, and the rediscovery of your brilliant inner child—a state of endless curiosity and openness to the infinite possibilities of the world.

Remember your childhood dreams. They were large, multifaceted, maybe even crazy. But were they unrealistic? No, you have seen them come true around you, maybe just not for you yet.

Many of my dreams have come true, but that is because I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth (we will come to that later). I still have more dreams to realize, and they have to do with you.

My mother, a priest, taught me the power of dreams, optimism and meditation before I was 10. My father, an electrical engineer, introduced me to first principles thinking at 11. At 15, while doing math together at the dinner table, my father told me—in the tone you would use telling a teenager to do the dishes —that I needed to create a toolbox of mental tools.

Lazy intelligence means to use mental tools as leverage for achievement.

Most of you have not been given this privilege. But I have, thanks to a tradition started by my great-grandfather in the late 1800s.

I hope to share the tradition with you.

A Tradition From the 1800s

My great-grandfather August was born in 1882 into poverty. He was weak and sickly but was able to raise himself with the power of his mind.

The only inheritance he received was a single silver spoon from the 1700s. August’s father, an alcoholic laborer working in charcoal production, was prone to drinking binges lasting days. August withdrew and would play by himself in the woods, building houses out of sticks where rich gentlemen would dine, away from hunger, poverty and drunkenness.

August remained sickly, and spent over a year in the hospital, leaving his right arm crippled. But his year spent at the hospital was a blessing in disguise, awakening his inner world and mind.

Returning from the hospital, he was determined to use the only great tool he had left—his mind. He developed a passion for studying the masters: the great thinkers, philosophers and innovators of history, and to understand and use their great lessons. So doing, he was able to raise himself from poverty, starting a tradition that has lasted for four generations.

He became something of a Renaissance man, called the “ironworks philosopher”. He was respected in his town—but at the same time sneered at—for being the most well read sheet metal worker. He sought to understand the great truths and ideas of history, and also his own time. But the darkness of his childhood never left him.

In the late 1930s, sensing doom again looming in the world, he took his own life, leaving his wife, adult son and grandson (my father).

He passed down his two most prized possessions:

1. His 550 page handwritten book about his life and studies of the great thinkers

2. The silver spoon he inherited from his father

From these gifts, at a time when less than 2% had the opportunity, my father was able to go to university and truly raise himself in the world.

And now to me.

My father passed down this tradition to me. In my mid-30s, looking back, I realize I was literally born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Few are taught the master’s great mental tools. And the tools have served me well: they have allowed me to excel in in life, freed me from the shackles of labor and given me a modest degree of financial independence.

I want to pass this silver spoon on to you.

I Will Gift You a Silver Spoon

I will gift you the silver spoon. But there is a price to pay.

You will be joining a secret counterculture that requires study and ambition. It will not demand hard work in the form of physical labor or hustle, but it will exact a different price:

• You must reawaken the brilliant child within you, ready to again expand your world

• You must embody the Renaissance ideal, learning from the great works of the masters who came before us

The others may not understand. Your uniqueness will re-emerge and your reach will widen.

Lazy intelligence means to use mental tools as leverage for achievement.

My dream—yet unrealized—is this:

To spread the use of mental tools