Stop Bleeding Energy on Things You Can't Control

The 99% CPU Problem

Imagine opening your computer's task manager right now. The CPU is running at 99%. The fan is screaming. The case is hot to the touch. The spinning wheel of death is on the screen.

But when you look at the screen, nothing is happening. No work is being done. No spreadsheet is calculating. No video is rendering.

The computer is working itself to death, but it is producing zero output.

Why? Because it's processing garbage data. It's running millions of calculations on loops that have no end and no solution. It's trying to solve problems that cannot be solved by the processor.

This is an accurate description of the modern human mind.

Most people are running at 99% CPU usage while producing 5% output. They are exhausted, anxious, and burnt out, yet they look back at their day and realize they accomplished almost nothing of value.

They are suffering from processing leakage. They are directing their limited cognitive energy toward variables that possess a specific, terrifying characteristic:

They are completely impervious to your will.

You are trying to mentally control the weather. You are trying to mentally control the stock market. You are trying to mentally control the opinions of strangers. You are trying to mentally control the past.

You are pouring high-octane energy into a black hole.

The Stoic Firewall

In computer security, a firewall is a system that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules. It establishes a barrier between a trusted internal network and an untrusted external network.

If a packet of data comes from an unauthorized source, the firewall drops it. It doesn't analyze it. It doesn't argue with it. It blocks it.

To secure your nervous system, you need to install a Stoic firewall.

You need a binary filter that sits at the gateway of your mind and asks a single, ruthless question of every concern that tries to enter:

"Is this under my control?"

• If the answer is Yes, the data is allowed in
• If the answer is No, the data is blocked

This is the foundational principle of Stoic philosophy: The Dichotomy of Control.

It is the only way to stop the leakage. It is the only way to reclaim the energy you need to build your life.

The Source Code: Epictetus

The source code for this firewall was written nearly 2,000 years ago by a man who had every reason to be anxious. Epictetus was born a slave. He was physically disabled (his leg was deliberately broken by a cruel master). He owned nothing. He had no legal rights.

Yet, he became one of the most powerful and serene minds in history. Kings and emperors came to sit at his feet to learn how to live.

His philosophy began with this opening statement in the Enchiridion (The Handbook):

"Some things are up to us, and some things are not up to us."

It sounds simplistic. It sounds almost insulting. But do not be deceived by the simplicity. This sentence is the razor that cuts through the knot of human suffering.

Epictetus continues:

"Up to us are perception, intention, desire, aversion, and in a word, whatever is our own doing. Not up to us are body, property, reputation, command, and in one word, whatever is not our own doing."

He draws a line in the sand.

On one side is the Internal (the sovereign domain). On the other side is the External (the chaos domain).

The Stoic promise is this:

If you invest your energy only in the internal, you will be invincible. You will be free. You will be happy.

If you invest your energy in the external—if you try to control what is not yours—you will be "thwarted, miserable, and upset." You will be a slave, even if you are an emperor.

The Modern Delusion: Influence vs. Control

The modern mind rejects this dichotomy. We love to argue with Epictetus.

We say: "Wait a minute. I have influence over my health! I have influence over my reputation! I have influence over my business revenue!"

We confuse influence with control. This confusion is the source of your neurosis.

Let's look at the distinction.

You have influence over your health. You can eat kale, run marathons, and sleep eight hours. But do you have control?

No. You could do all those things and still get cancer tomorrow. You could be hit by a bus. A genetic mutation could trigger a disease.

If you tie your happiness to the outcome (health), you are gambling. You are betting on a variable that can be taken from you without your consent.

You have influence over your business revenue. You can make the calls, improve the product, and run the ads. But do you have control?

No. The market could crash. A competitor could release a better product. A global pandemic could shut down the supply chain.

If you tie your identity to the revenue number, you have handed the keys of your self-worth to the chaotic whim of the marketplace.

The Stoic definition of control is absolute. To a Stoic, "control" means 100%.

If there is even a 1% chance that the outcome can be prevented by external forces, then it is not under your control.

This implies a radical shift in strategy. You must stop setting goals for outcomes (0% control) and start setting goals for process (100% control).

The firewall blocks the outcome. It admits the process.

The Archer's Paradox

The Stoics used the metaphor of the archer to explain this.

Imagine an archer standing on a field, aiming at a target. He has control over:

1. The quality of the bow he chose
2. The care he took in maintaining the string
3. The hours he spent practicing his form
4. The focus of his eye
5. The moment he releases the string

Up until the millisecond the string snaps, he is the master of the arrow. He is in the sovereign domain.

The moment the arrow leaves the string, he has zero control.

A gust of wind could blow it off course. The target (a deer) could move. The arrow could shatter mid-air.

Once the arrow flies, it belongs to nature. It belongs to the external.

Here is the paradox: The archer who cares only about his form (internal) is more likely to hit the target than the archer who is desperate to hit the target (external).

Why? Because the archer who is obsessed with the target is anxious. His muscles are tight. He is thinking about the prize. He is thinking about the crowd watching him. He is thinking about what happens if he misses.

This anxiety degrades his form. His hand shakes. He releases early. He misses.

The archer who focuses on the form creates the conditions for the hit, but he accepts that the hit itself is not up to him. He shoots with a calm mind. He shoots with detachment.

This is how you must approach your life:

• You control the pitch; you do not control the sale
• You control the workout; you do not control the body fat percentage
• You control the love you give; you do not control the love you receive
• You control the manuscript; you do not control the bestseller list

When you internalize this, the weight of the world drops off your shoulders. You realize you are not responsible for the outcome. You are only responsible for the effort.

The Three Categories of Leakage

Where are you leaking energy? If we audit the average person's mental RAM, we find that 90% of their processing power is consumed by three specific external categories.

These are the "Big Three" leaks that the firewall must block.

Leak 1: Other People's Opinions (The Reputation Trap)

We are evolved social primates. For 200,000 years, rejection by the tribe meant death. We are biologically wired to obsess over what others think of us.

But in the modern world, this wiring is a vulnerability.

You spend hours agonizing over a text message. "Did they misinterpret that emoji?" "Why haven't they replied?" "Do they think I'm annoying?"

You spend days worrying about a presentation. "What if they think I'm unqualified?"

You curate your life on social media. "I need to post this so they know I'm successful."

The Stoic reality check: You have absolutely zero control over what happens inside another human being's skull.

A person's opinion of you is a reflection of their values, their history, their mood, and their neuroses. It has almost nothing to do with you.

You could be the most perfect, virtuous, successful person on Earth, and someone will still hate you because you remind them of their ex-husband.

When you try to control your reputation, you are trying to act as the dictator of other people's minds. It is an impossible task.

Marcus Aurelius, the emperor of Rome, wrote to himself: "It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own."

The firewall rule:

• Incoming data: "What does X think of me?"
• Firewall action: BLOCK
• Redirect to: "Did I act with integrity?"

Leak 2: The Past (The Zombie Data)

The past does not exist. Physics tells us it is gone. It is a memory trace in your neurons. It is data that has already been written to the hard drive and locked. You cannot edit it.

Yet, millions of people spend their days re-litigating the past.

"I should have bought Bitcoin in 2012." "I shouldn't have said that to her." "I should have taken that job."

This is guilt and regret. Guilt is the ego's attempt to change the past by feeling bad about it. The subconscious logic is: "If I suffer enough now, maybe the past will change."

It is magical thinking. It is insanity.

Every unit of energy you spend thinking about the past is a unit of energy stolen from the present. You are robbing the only moment where you have agency (now) to pay tribute to a moment where you have zero agency (then).

The Stoic reality check: The past is "determined." It is as unchangeable as the weather yesterday.

You can learn from it (data extraction), but you cannot dwell in it (emotional processing). Extract the lesson, delete the emotion.

The firewall rule:

• Incoming data: "Regret about Event X"
• Firewall action: BLOCK
• Redirect to: "What can I do right now to improve my situation?"

Leak 3: The Future Outcome (The Anxiety Loop)

The future, like the past, does not exist. It is a projection. A hallucination.

Anxiety is simply the imagination used poorly. It is the rigorous mental rehearsal of future pain.

"What if the market crashes?" "What if she leaves me?" "What if I get fired?"

You are trying to pre-solve problems that haven't happened yet. You think this is "preparation." It is not.

Preparation is checking your bank account and saving money (action). Anxiety is spinning scenarios in your head at 3 a.m. (waste).

Seneca said: "We suffer more often in imagination than in reality."

When you worry about the future, you are suffering the event twice. Once in your imagination (which is chronic and drawn out) and once in reality (if it even happens).

Most of the things you worry about never happen. So you suffer for nothing. If they do happen, your worry didn't prevent them. It just weakened you so you were less capable of handling them when they arrived.

The firewall rule:

• Incoming data: "What if [Negative Outcome] happens?"
• Firewall action: BLOCK
• Redirect to: "I will handle it if it comes. What is the next right move?"

The Internal Citadel: What Remains?

If we block the past, the future, opinions, outcomes, health, and wealth... what is left? Does the Stoic just sit in a room and stare at the wall?

No. The Stoic acts with ferocious intensity. But the intensity is confined to the Internal Citadel.

The Citadel contains the only things that are truly yours:

1. Your judgment: The story you tell yourself about what happens
2. Your character: The values you embody
3. Your impulse: The decision to act
4. Your will: The resilience to keep going

This is a massive amount of territory. It is enough to occupy you for a lifetime.

When you pull your energy back from the external and concentrate it entirely on the internal, you achieve density. You become solid.

You stop being a leaf blowing in the wind of circumstance, and you become the rock that breaks the wind.

The Column Exercise (Tactical Protocol)

For the next 7 days, whenever you feel anxiety, anger, or overwhelm, perform the Column Exercise.

Step 1: The Brain Dump

Take a piece of paper. Write down every single thing that is stressing you out.

• "The quarterly review"
• "My mom's health"
• "The traffic"
• "The election"
• "My kid's grades"

Step 2: The Sort

Draw a line down the middle of a second page.

Label the left column: "MINE (100% Control)"

Label the right column: "THEIRS (0% Control)"

Now, sort the items. Be ruthless.

• Item: "The Quarterly Review"
  • Is the outcome under your control? No. The boss decides.
  • What is under your control? The preparation. The slide deck. The rehearsal.
  • Action: Put "Outcome" in the right column. Put "Preparation" in the left column.
• Item: "The Traffic"
  • Control? Zero.
  • Action: Right column.
  • What is mine? My reaction to the traffic. My choice of podcast. Left column.
• Item: "My kid's grades"
  • Control? No. You cannot take the test for them.
  • Action: Right column.
  • What is mine? Hiring a tutor. Creating a quiet study space. Encouraging them. Left column.

Step 3: The Burn

Look at the right column. Realize that every ounce of emotional energy you pour into that column is waste. It is madness.

Visually cross out the right column. Draw a big X through it.

Say to yourself: "This is not my business."

Step 4: The Attack

Look at the left column. This is your job. This is your mission.

Take all the energy you reclaimed from the right column and pour it into the left column. Execute with violence.

The Invincible Man

Let's compare two men.

The Hollow Man has no firewall. He is porous. The news enters his mind and poisons him. His boss's mood enters his mind and ruins his day. The stock market enters his mind and creates panic.

He is a puppet, dancing to a thousand strings pulled by a thousand strangers. He is exhausted because he is trying to hold up the sky.

The Solid Man has a firewall. The news hits the wall and drops. The insult hits the wall and drops. The bad luck hits the wall and drops.

Inside the citadel, he is calm. He is focused on his craft. He is focused on his integrity. He is focused on his family.

He has infinite energy because he wastes none of it.

He is invincible. Not because he cannot be hurt physically or financially—he can be. But because his identity is located entirely within the blast radius of his own will.

And nothing—not an army, not a plague, not a tyrant—can enter that radius without his permission.

Epictetus said: "Who then is invincible? The one who cannot be upset by anything outside their reasoned choice."

Your Next Move

Install the firewall. Run the Column Exercise today.

Take one stressor. Sort it. Burn the right column. Attack the left column.

Repeat for 7 days. Watch your CPU usage drop from 99% to 20%. Watch your output triple.

This is one protocol from Root Access: Reprogramming the Nervous System for Infinite Leverage. The full system—including how to build an unshakable internal citadel—drops June 2026.

Block the signal. Keep the energy. Become invincible.