Anthony Johnson, aka ‘Dream’, is the founding architect and chief executive officer of The 21 Convention.

Anthony was born (August 25th 1988) and raised in south west Florida, graduating from the IB program at Fort Myers High School in May of 2006. From June 2006 to February of 2010 Anthony attended the third largest university in the United States of America, the University of Central Florida.

During this time Anthony managed to fail “How to Start a Business”, twice, while simutaneously travelling the world to run The 21 Convention, and getting featured in the New York Times #1 best seller The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss.

Anthony has since stopped attending college and now focuses his efforts full time on The 21 Convention and his personal blog, The Dream Lounge, where he blogs regularly about life, liberty, exercise, nutrition, and all things related.

Anthony is a self proclaimed

“Floridian first, American second, and friend of liberty and reason above all.”

 
In this presentation Anthony reads his essay “Changing the Course of a Generation“, identifying the following four steps for individuals to take.

• Step 1: Choose uncertainty over unhappiness and act accordingly.
• Step 2: Build your self esteem yourself.
• Step 3: Embrace responsibility for your own actions.
• Step 4: As a man, take control of your life.

Visit Anthony’s blog at TheDreamLounge.net

Follow him on Facebook and Twitter

Read the original essay below with added commentary from Anthony.

 
Changing the Course of a Generation

 
The ideas I am about to communicate are of the utmost importance to me. So important in fact, that I have decided to deliver them in essay format, as I feel strongest communicating my ideas in this medium, despite an almost parallel amount of speaking experience.

So what am I hear to talk about today, and kick start the event with? Pickin up chicks? Exercise? Nutrition? Self confidence? Self esteem? Passion? Truth? Standing up for what you believe is right?

How about a bit of everything, or more aptly put, “Changing the Course of a Generation” – our generation, of which, the leaders – whether they know it or not – are sitting in this very room.

Now, if I am here to discuss changing the course of a generation, this begs the question “What’s wrong with the current course?”

Well, that depends who you ask. And at the end of the day … we are all here for our own reasons, we all have our own interests, and our own world views.

As such, I will not give an arbitrary list of arbitrary problems – I leave you to decide and find your own path, your own values, and your own morals – just as I and many others in this very room have found their own, in their own unique ways.

For arguments sake, and to set at least some stage for the following list of suggestions on how to “change the course of a generation”, I present the following idea (with the full disclaimer that I am not here to discuss economics or “public policy” of any kind).

Some estimates put the total debt of our country – including unfunded liabilities like social security – in excess of $110, trillion, not billion, dollars.

Think about what a staggering sum of money that is – money that simply does not, and will never exist.  Now consider the consequences and repercussions of this debt, that is never going to be repaid, and the promises that simply cannot be kept.

This is but one of many dire problems we face as a generation – and how the hell are we going to deal with it? How are we going to embrace the difficulties sure to spring from this, and at the same time, grow as individuals, as leaders, as men?

Perhaps more importantly for our discussion, where did this staggering, staggering amount of debt stem from? What was the ultimate source?

But enough doom and gloom – let’s dig in to the meat of this essay.
 

~

 

Changing the Course of a Generation

 
Step 1: We must choose uncertainty over unhappiness, and ACT accordingly (which by default entails relentless positivity and deeply masculine optimism).

I believe leading is best done by example, so how have I made this choice and taken this action in my own life?

With The 21 Convention 2010 of Stockholm Sweden.

Some of you are aware of this, most of you aren’t – our event in Sweden almost flopped, flat on its face Wiley Coyote style. I grew arrogant in a way I had never experienced before, and was unaware of it until the result of that arrogance was staring me straight in the face mid April 2010 in the form of ticket sales, that were simply not on track to cover the expenses of the Europe event.

Not even close.

I promptly started freaking out, as a solid chunk of 2010 US event revenue had already gone to produce The Community Tapes documentary series, and there would be no money coming to help compensate for the expenses of doing the convention in Europe.

Sweden had to stand on its own two feet as a convention, or disappear into the history books forever.

After frantically scrambling on the internet for a few weeks trying to generate and direct attention to the event, a choice presented itself to me, a choice that provided two possible conclusions for Sweden.

The choices boiled down to this – I can be uncertain over my own future, and the future of this convention, or I can be unhappy, and this convention (and everything it represents) will never happen in Europe.

My decision was made in a single night – uncertainty over unhappiness, and not seeing this convention continue to approach its fullest potential.

By no means was this decision – the decision to IMMEDIATELY fly to Europe, and make The 21 Convention there happen at all costs – easy to make. In fact, it nearly brought me to tears, as this was one of the most terrifying decisions of my life.

Which leads us to the final point of step 1 for changing the course of a generation – the “why”? WHY did I make this decision? Why did I put my entire financial life, and the fate of The 21 Convention ON THE LINE?

Because it’s the only true choice I, or anyone else has left.

If the course of our generation is to change, this choice has to be chosen, individual by individual, day by day. The buck stops with us, and the individual weight of the world rests on our shoulders.

In my case, the “individual weight of the world” I had to bear was our first convention in Europe. I believed the uncertainty of trying to make the convention happen was the “right action”, and I chose accordingly.

The ensuing 5 weeks of my life were by far the most difficult of my life to date, but I have never looked backed. I chose the happiness of following my passion, and I am better because of it, along with all those involved with The 21 Convention 2010 of Stockholm Sweden.
 

~

 

Changing the Course of a Generation

 
Step 2: We have to build our self esteem, ourselves.

Self esteem is an interesting concept, and even more interesting catch phrase thrown around in our social language from time to time, often meaningless at this point along with other such terms as “food” “exercise” and “health”.

Never defined, only abused and pillaged.

For our purposes, I will quote Ayn Rand from The Virtue of Selfishness

“The attack on “selfishness” is an attack on man’s self-esteem; to surrender one, is to surrender the other. “

So how have I built, or perhaps uncovered the layers of non sense surrounding the self esteem I have possessed since birth?

____

 
[Note: "Built" is more accurate in this statement if correlated with esteeming oneself. "Possessing since birth" is accurate when correlated with being born with the foundations for a rational self interest.]

____

In two ways.

One is that I have chosen to become inflexible and “unflappable” in my DEMAND and thirst for truth (hint: the unifying theme of The 21 Convention since July of 2007, regardless of the topic being discussed).

No exceptions, no “buts”, no “ifs”, NO variables. Just truth.

The truth that is always there, irrelevant of all opinions, all meddling, and universal to all fields and subjects.

The second way is that I have become increasingly selfish, in a paradoxically, voluntarily, generous way. At some point I have yet to identify in my life, I decided that a gift I was born with was the unique desire and passion to bring others together.

This transformed into the following, perhaps unique, guiding principal – one of, if not the best way to help myself, is to voluntarily help others.

Solidifying this principal was a quote I read from Marcus Aurelius while in Stockholm this past May.

“No one objects to what is useful to him.

To be of use to others is natural.

Then don’t object to what is useful to you – being of use.”

My interpretation of this was to stop being ASHAMED for doing what was in my best interest – helping others in the most effective and efficient ways I know how.

____

 
[Note: better interpreted, this is translated as taking pride and finding joy in your own ability, and leveraging that ability to your own maximum benefit, without doing so at the expense of others. Or boiled down to it's simplest form: living for your own sake.]

____

 
Your own expression of doing what is in your best interest may be different than my own, but I strongly encourage you to follow it – for your own sake, and mine.

…

The “why” of this step is hidden within the preceding line “and mine”.

Doing what is in your own best interest, is ultimately, in everyone else’s best interest. If you need proof, look around yourself right now, and once again at the closing of the event – and remember this part of my speech.

“We can help each other best, by helping ourselves first”.
 

~

 

Changing the Course of a Generation

 
Step 3: We have to embrace responsibility for our own actions.

No one is responsible for you, or your actions, but you.

This at first seems dis-empowering, and distancing. We are a social species after all. Shouldn’t we help each other? Shouldn’t we care for others?

Indeed these are true statements and well intentioned questions – and I agree, we should help each other, and we should care for each other – voluntarily.

In the meantime, we need to recognize the truth of the matter – that I and only I am responsible for my own actions. Nothing else is even possible. Everything else is a distortion or dismissal of reality.

This however, is a powerful realization to make – one of the most powerful of all in fact.

How AWESOME is it that I have complete and total control over my own actions? Sure I can’t control the environment, and sure I (fortunately) can’t control other people – but I have TOTAL control over every action I take.

It is my “god” given free will to choose every action I take, every moment of my life, from birth to death. Nothing can be more liberating than embracing this fundamental truth.

How did I embrace it?

By receiving more passionate, heartfelt, grass roots support for The 21 Convention than I ever dreamed possible , in Europe, many thousands of miles away from Florida of all places!

Ah but there’s more … by receiving SO MUCH help, more than ever before, another truth was revealed to me – self reliance.

A paradox, yes, but that’s exactly what SO MUCH help taught me. An extreme revealed it’s inverse.

I realized I was the one constant individual in this convention … this movement, and that I was the only individual truly responsible for its success, no matter how passionate the support, it is my weight to bear.

At the same time, I quickly realized there were variables simply out of my control for the convention in Sweden – time among them.

This is when I both embraced and accepted my free will, as a man. I accepted that I had absolutely zero control over the time leading up to the event, the location I had chosen to host it in, and other logistical variables.

What I did have complete, 100% control over were my actions however – and I embraced that. I embraced it by IGNORING what didn’t help me – environmental aspects I could not change – and instead, becoming clever with the resources I did have.

Sweden came down to being resourceful, not how many “resources” I had at my disposal.

I didn’t have the money for a massive advertising campaign, but I did find the funds for a speaking tour around Europe to promote the event.

I didn’t have the capital for a sick conference room, but I did have the drive to ask people who knew of better ones, at more affordable rates.

And so on and so forth. The examples are not the point, the point is that I learned very clearly, that whatever potential for success was left in The 21 Convention 2010 of Stockholm Sweden, was in my hands the minute I landed in Stockholm.

And here I am, speaking to you about a convention that was a total success, for everyone involved.
 

~

 

Changing the Course of a Generation

 
Step 4: We have to get our lives handled, as men.

Woman can take right action as well of course, and live their lives as they see fit – these are human, not gender based traits and rights – but when it comes down to ‘it’, the bottom line, the responsibility lies with men to lead.

It is our birth right as men to lead, hunt, and protect. The specifics of those roles change from generation to generation, millennia to millennia … but the roles themselves are constant and ever present.

As such, it is up to us as men to lead the charge, the change in course of an entire generation, men and women alike.

We can do this by focusing intensely on shaping our lives as we see fit, and uncovering the truths of the world hidden all around us.

More specifically …

• We have to get our social, and people skills down PAT. They are beyond foundational.
• We have to dig deep and find the core confidence we were born with that requires nothing but our reason.
• We have to experience the world and to get back to our born innocence.
• We have to try, try and try again to find out what we are meant to be doing for a career. Still can’t figure it out? Lost, dazed and confused? Try again – your purpose is waiting for you behind those failures
• We have to learn to think independently, and become filters of the wealth of information available at our fingertips.
• We have to have the initiative (the balls) to spark new ideas, and begin new ventures.
• We have to challenge the status quo, and conventional wisdom in all fields, be it nutrition, exercise, history, or even government.

Most importantly of all, we have to rise to the call of action, and GET SHIT DONE.

Taken one step, one individual at a time … it is doable.

…

Hell, look around you, it’s already in motion.
 

~

 
And there you have it, that’s my speech, a written essay. Detailing the four steps that I as an individual see for changing the course of our generation.

1. Choosing uncertainty over unhappiness and acting accordingly (don’t forget the ‘act’ part).
2. We have to build our self-esteem, ourselves.
3. We have to embrace responsibility for our own actions (embrace our free will)
4. We have to get out life situations ‘handled’ as MEN.

I hope this essay has helped you in some way, shape or form, and I hope you decide to spread the word through your individual interpretation of what was said today, to your friends, family, and even random strangers.

No questions on stage, I want this to resonate with you for a while. I will take questions personally throughout the event however. Thank you for listening, enjoy The 21 Convention,