Monday, November 17th, 2025
Writing to you from Uruguay
“I neither know nor think I know”
-Socrates
It’s very fitting for one of the wisest men to walk the earth to openly say that he, in fact, knows nothing. On the outside looking in, as someone who’s magnitudes more ignorant, Socrates’ statement seems silly.
This is a man who knew how to wrestle, demonstrated unwavering courage as a hoplite in the Peloponnesian War, could strategically pick apart arguments of rhetoricians—men who thought themselves to be persuasion artists (as seen in Plato’s Gorgias)…
Socrates, despite not dedicating himself to many of the common trades, had a greater understanding of the work of a surgeon or stonemason than most others would. He held his own while facing down the wrath of his own people: being put on trial for impiety and corrupting the youth. He stuck to his principles and held to the eternal virtues which guided him despite his defiance leading to his death soon thereafter.
Centuries after Socrates’ death in 399BC, Marcus Aurelius described him as the one true stoic sage—a stoic in perfect form. And, more than 1,500 years later, the impact he had on the greats remained: Ben Franklin would seek to “Imitate Jesus and Socrates” in his list of 13 Virtues.
Still, a man with such gravitas, wisdom, and life experience so as to be regarded in awe by great men thousands of years after his time really did believe he knew nothing.
I think he was hitting on a deep truth in saying that, but we’ll save that for another time.
Shifting the view
What’s important here is an idea intertwined with Socrates’ words: being comfortable looking like a fool. Not just knowing that it’s good to accept it, but truly understanding how little you actually know.
Why?
The man who steps into the cockpit of an airplane for the first time has two choices with two wildly different outcomes. He can portray false competence—lying to himself, disrespecting his instructor, and putting peoples’ lives at risk. Or he can accept full ignorance—opening up an immeasurably positive path…
True competence, a good relationship with those around him, and a strong personal constitution are (and will be) given to him...all from one simple act.
All it takes is a shift in your frame of mind.
This is something I’ve been thinking about recently. Especially after reading Scott Adams’ How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big. Per the title, Scott goes into detail about the many failures in his life, many of which came from ignorance. But, what you’re waiting for on each page is how he utilized those failures to win big…
Well, there’s two ways he did it, but the most important one is the Systems > Goals framework that changed everything for him…
I’ll go into this more soon. So stay tuned…
Systems > Goals
After reading the book this past week I realized something: I’ve focused way too much on hitting goals and checking boxes this year than I did last year…and yet I’ve checked fewer boxes and hit fewer goals.
Funny how that’s worked out…
Thinking back over last year I came to the conclusion that, despite not knowing it, I was doing things right the first time around. Last year I would wake up and think Today is the day.
Today is the day I learn more, do more, and make more progress—moving me closer to where I want to be.
I think it’s fair to say that I’m less ignorant in some ways than I was back then, but man I made insane progress last year, checked a lot of boxes, and got a lot done by having that frame of mind.
I’d say I made more progress last year than I did this year…at least so far.
So, this is to say that the ideas of Socrates coupled with Scott Adams’ Systems > Goals framework is a major wakeup call to me. They remind me about what actually matters and how to think about it. This has been an important realization in the past week.
Going into the rest of the year I’m going to bring back my old ways and do things right.
Putting things together
You may remember that I’ve been putting together a direct mail ad for my agricultural drone business. A while ago I was tasked with doing this for the AWAI copywriting course I took, but I did a poor job of it.
Turns out that having to write persuasively about dog food or flower arrangements for a course in copywriting isn’t all that fun knowing that you have no real potential costumers to send it to…
But, sending your own ad for your own business to people who will either want to shell out cash or never want to hear from you again is fun.
Well, I also told you that I’d give you the opportunity to judge it, so here it is (minus a few personal details):
The ad is finished. Once they are printed in color I’ll be distributing them myself—leaving them on farmer’s/rancher’s gates in my area. It’s a small test, and harder to do without good mailing services, but it’s worthwhile.
The response, if any, will be interesting.
Along with that, I set up another Facebook ad this past week, but I’ll be making a few tweaks to it soon.
Electives
Lifted weights (4 out of 7 days)
Not much to say about this. I’ve gotten in a pretty consistent routine of working out and eating well. It’s definitely improving my mood and energy throughout the day.
Chess practice (5 out of 7 days)
Not going well. I need to go back to the basics and focus on the principles.
Guitar practice (3 out of 7 days)
It’s going alright at the moment, but I want to see if there are any good music theory guitar courses. Do you know of any that you’d recommend?
Reading
Finished How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams
Very good book for helping you think about things differently. I recommend it.
Finished reading one of the Little Blue Books about Confucianism
Things I Published
Are these updates informative? Are they useful? Entertaining?
Leave a comment below if you’ve got any suggestions or questions for me.
And don’t forget to send this to someone who might benefit.
I’ll see you next week.
-Maxim Benjamin Smith
I am acting as a guinea pig for a program which is meant to prepare young men for the future. This program is designed to be a replacement for the only three routes advertised to young men today - go to college, the military, or a dead-end job.
All of these typical routes of life are designed to shape us into cogs for a wheel that doesn’t serve us. Wasted time, debt, lack of skills, and a soul crushing job define many who follow the traditional route.
This program, which we can call “The Preparation”, is meant to guide young men on a path where they properly utilize their time to gain skills, build relationships, and reach a state of being truly educated. The Preparation is meant to set young men up for success.
What appeals to me about The Preparation is the idea of the type of man I could be. The path to becoming a skilled, dangerous, and competent man is much more clear now. I’ve always been impressed by characters like The Count of Monte Cristo, men who accumulated knowledge and skills over a long period of time and eventually became incredibly capable men.
Young men today do not have a guiding light. We have few mentors and no one to emulate. We have been told that there are only a few paths to success in this world. For intelligent and ambitious people - college is sold to us as the one true path. And yet that path seems completely uncertain today.
We desperately need something real to grab onto. I think this is it.
I’m putting the ideas into action. Will it work? I can’t be sure, but I’m doing my best. I’m more than 60 weeks into the program at this point. So far, so good.
You can follow me along as I follow the program. Each week, I summarize all that I did.
My objective in sharing this is three fold:
Documenting my progress holds me accountable.
I hope these updates will show other young men that there is another path we can take.
For the parents who stumble upon this log, I want to prove to you that telling your children that the conventional path - college, debt, and a job is not the foolproof path you think it is.
I like reading the updates - please keep them coming.
This was an exceptional piece.