How to Stop Being An NPC
An NPC is a non-player character.
When I was younger, my favorite game was ‘Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion’.
The game was riddled with NPCs who would say the same lines over and over again.
They stayed within their programmed script and had no autonomy.
If an NPC was meant to be in a particular region of the game they would stay there.
You wouldn’t see them in another city.
Their behavior was predictable.
Here is the shocking truth about NPCs.
They exist in real life as well.
The vast majority of humans are NPCs.
They have no control of their destinies and have been programmed into a form of mental slavery.
The events of 2020 and 2021 highlighted this fact for those who have eyes.
So, how can you stop being an NPC and become a player in the game of life?
How To Stop Being An NPC In 4 Steps
- Meditate
Meditation teaches you how to be mindful. When you are mindful, you are in the seat of power for creating your reality.
I have been reading ‘Tufti the Priestess: Live Stroll Through a Movie’ and discovered a great analogy for what happens in day-to-day life.
We tend to focus on one of two things.
The outer world of forms or the inner world of thoughts, sensations and emotions.
Imagine you are watching a captivating show on Netflix.
Your attention will be fixed on the outer world.
You might get hungry and not even notice because you’re so hypnotized by the external stimuli.
The inner world is the world of thoughts and emotions.
Someone is talking to you, and you blank out and start thinking about what you have planned for dinner.
Or your mind torments you with anxious thoughts and you barely pay attention to your surroundings.
Both of these states deprive you of power.
The idea is to sit in the middle of this spectrum and observe what’s happening with an awareness deeper than all this.
From this place, you can see the world more clearly and consciously decide how you will act.
Try to keep your focus in the middle for just 5 minutes and you will see how difficult this is.
To stop being an NPC, you need to wake up. This is how you do it.
- Plan every day, week and year
NPCs don’t have a plan for their lives.
They follow the script given to them by those who are awake.
To wake up you need to regain control of your time.
You do this by consciously planning your days.
Set goals and plan your days so you are moving closer towards them.
Almost every high performer plans their days; they understand the value of time and ration it appropriately.
NPCs allow their lives to be blown by the wind.
NPCs are what Napoleon Hill calls ‘drifters’.
They drift through life carried by the winds of circumstance.
Not once do they consider grabbing the reins.
- Question everything
NPCs don’t question anything.
Questioning is an act of defiance, and they would rather fit in with other NPCs.
If you want to escape this trap make it a habit to question everything.
Pay special attention to things which have a label and preset beliefs.
Labels like Democrat, Republican, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Black, LGBTQ+, White, American, Chinese, etc.
These should all be questioned.
Whenever you accept a label you unconsciously take on the underlying beliefs consistent with it.
If you call yourself a Vegan, you will feel guilty eating eggs even if you don’t have a problem with them.
Labels make you subject to pendulums.
You become a slave to someone else’s programming and relinquish your capacity to decide.
When you say, “I am…”, you put yourself into a box.
This has been the greatest tool for creating division between people.
Have them identify as ‘Us’ and allow them to go to war with ‘Them’.
This dynamic traps many NPCs like flies with honey.
To wake up you need to free yourself from these categories.
Understand that you are something much more than what you have been told.
You might not know exactly what you are, but don’t allow others to define it for you.
- Become formless and let go of what doesn’t serve you
Bruce Lee famously said,
“Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.”
This is sage advice.
The NPC struggles to adapt to changing environmental conditions.
They put all their faith into what has helped them survive in the past.
The NPC is a victim of the sunk-cost fallacy.
They struggle to let go of things they have invested in.
Occupations, friends and belief systems which no longer serve them are held on with a vice grip.
High performers consistently take audit of their lives.
They observe the changing environment and adjust their course.
High performers are optimistic, choosing to entertain constructive thoughts while being realists.
When they have made a mistake, they are not afraid to change directions.
They simply take the L (lesson) and move on.
The only way to stop being an NPC is through investing time and energy into personal growth.
Do this, and I promise you will be one step closer to living and dying well.