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Reality vs Spectacle, Scales and Smartwatches · Ryan's Journal

• 0:07
  You know if you look back at Prime Time Wrestling back in May of nineteen
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  eighty-eight, you had Gorilla Monsoon and you had Bobby The Brain Heenan sitting at
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  that desk.
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  And it, it, it hits you right away because you have got two completely different
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  forces operating at the exact same time.
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  On one side you got Gorilla Monsoon, basically the guy you need when the wildfires
• 0:30
  are breaking out and you just need someone to put out the fire so everyone can
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  breathe.
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  But on the other side, you got Bobby The Brain Heenan, the advocate,
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  the manager, the guy dropping the strategy and giving advice.
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  And the thing is, you cannot just have one or the other.
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  You need both.
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  See, that is where you and I are gonna see it differently right out of the gate.
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  You are talking about a television sport.
• 0:59
  Wrestling is a spectacle, Donna.
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  It is scripted entertainment.
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  In the real world, when real smoke fills the room, when things are actually burning,
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  you do not need a guy in a sharp suit spinning a narrative or giving you flashy
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  advice.
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  You need an enforcer.
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  You need someone who stands there like Monsoon and holds the line.
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  Advice does not put out a fire, real work does.
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  But Jesse, listen to me, momentum is real!
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  Power is real!
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  You can be putting out fires all day long, working your butt off,
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  but if you do not have an advocate in your corner like Bobby The Brain,
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  if you do not have a representative who can control the room and spin the narrative
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  to build leverage, you are gonna get steamrolled!
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  When the rules are unwritten, spectacle and representation are what win
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  games.
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  I have seen political campaigns where the ground crew was working twenty hours a
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  day, but because they did not have a relentless representative out front making the
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  case, they lost!
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  The advocate keeps you in the fight!
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  Well, I, I spent years in the military, and I can tell you what happens when you
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  rely on polished advocates.
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  We had guys who could talk a magnificent game in a briefed presentation,
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  total managers, total Bobby Heenans.
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  But the second real friction hit, the second the plan fell apart under actual heat,
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  those polished representatives collapsed like cheap tents.
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  When things go bad, you do not look around for a manager to give you a speech.
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  You look for the guy who knows how to execute without asking for applause.
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  Gorilla Monsoon was a heavy, a guy who understood real impact.
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  You can keep the manager, I will take the enforcer every single time.
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  You need both though!
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  You got water, you got fire, and you got advice!
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  Without the advocate, you are just taking beatings in silence,
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  Jesse!
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  Speaking of taking beatings, let us talk about how people judge progress,
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  because that whole concept of achievement is completely skewed.
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  You take someone who went from three hundred and seven pounds down to two hundred
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  and fifty-five pounds, maybe even touching two hundred and twenty at one point with
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  a trainer like Aaron.
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  And you factor in that they were taking six hundred milligrams of Seroquel day in
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  and day out.
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  Anyone who knows medication knows Seroquel makes holding weight nearly impossible.
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  Staying at two fifty-five under those conditions is not just progress,
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  it is a miracle.
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  But you step on a basic digital scale from Amazon, and the scale just gives you a
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  plain number.
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  It does not know the context.
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  Exactly!
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  That is a huge achievement!
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  Going from three hundred and seven down to two forty-nine or two fifty-five on that
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  kind of medication regimen is massive!
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  And then Andy in Indianapolis brings in the actual data, right?
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  He points out that keeping off ten to fifteen percent of your body weight puts you
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  in an elite group.
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  Most people drop the weight and gain it right back, but staying in that elite
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  retention group is real momentum!
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  But then what happens?
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  The bullies show up!
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  Someone looks at your Fitbit Inspire three and says, oh, well,
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  Whoop is way better, or Apple is way better.
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  They try to bully your achievement and ruin your confidence!
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  That is the trap right there.
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  You buy a tool that works for you, it gives you good feedback,
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  and then some guy comes along to play expert and tell you your tool is garbage.
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  But here is my take on it, Donna.
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  If your self-esteem collapses because some guy down the street says a Whoop watch is
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  better than your Fitbit, then your baseline was built on sand to begin with.
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  Real standards come from inside.
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  You do not need to broadcast your numbers on every scale in town just to prove you
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  are winning.
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  When you rely on external validation, you hand the bully the stick to beat you with.
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  No, no, Jesse, you have to project your success!
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  Winning is about confidence!
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  If you hit a milestone, you stand on that scale and you claim it!
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  You do not let some critic diminish a forty or fifty pound drop just because they
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  prefer a different brand of technology!
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  You own the momentum!
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  But look at what people do when they get obsessed with those metrics.
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  They start switching devices every two months.
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  Craig actually had a really smart point about this.
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  He said if you keep jumping from Fitbit to Whoop, or Withings,
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  or Apple, you are just gonna fuck up your data.
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  You lose your baseline.
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  And then it gets totally absurd.
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  People end up like consumer reporter Clark Howard, walking around with two,
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  three, or four watches strapped to their arms because they are trying to track
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  everything at once.
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  They got a Fitbit on one wrist and a Medical Guardian emergency alert watch on the
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  other wrist that they gotta charge every single day.
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  It sounds wild, having four watches, but listen!
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  If wearing an emergency watch on one arm and a fitness tracker on the other keeps
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  you safe and keeps your numbers straight, why not?
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  Convenience is a selling point, sure, but safety and accurate data give you
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  security!
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  You gotta protect your progress against outside forces!
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  Is it security though?
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  Or is it just another layer of noise?
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  Because this device shifting connects directly to how institutions operate.
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  Look at how systems treat people.
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  Whether it is a school putting a kid in special English or reading classes and
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  keeping them in for recess, or a town like Rockwell City throwing around cruel
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  nicknames like Screech, or the Housing Authority messing with your status.
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  Institutions love to shift the goalposts.
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  They bully your achievement by constantly changing the scale you are graded on.
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  You think you are making progress, and then the bureaucracy steps in and redefines
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  the test.
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  That is why you need a system that builds undeniable leverage!
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  When institutions try to bully you, when secret bullies try to undermine what you
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  have built, you have to stand firm on your track record.
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  You build a wall of evidence so strong that no local bureaucrat or schoolhouse bully
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  can knock it down!
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  You force them to recognize the win!
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  I do not think more devices or elaborate tracking systems protect you from
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  institutional overreach, Donna.
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  Real protection comes when you stop caring about their scale entirely.
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  If you are constantly looking for a mentor or a Bobby Heenan to validate your story,
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  or waiting for the Housing Authority to give you permission to feel successful,
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  you remain trapped in their game.
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  The moment you decide that your baseline belongs to you, and that no bully on a
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  Ouija board or behind a desk can grade your life, that is the only time you are
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  actually free.