Pulling the Plug: 6 Strategies to Stop Living an NPC Lifestyle

It’s easier now more than ever to live a life of apathy, ignorance, and overall detachment.

The way our modern society is constructed, if you don’t purposefully orient your life–as in develop goals, plans, things you do and do not engage in, etc…you will end up becoming a side-character in your own life.

You will become what is known as an NPC (*cue shrieking sound*).

This article is going to teach you how to avoid that from happening.

But that’s not all…it’ll also touch on:

• What an NPC is in real life
• Why knowing about this is (super) important
• The creation of an NPC
• The dangers of living an NPC lifestyle
• How to not be an NPC and how to break out of the NPC lifestyle (if you’re in it)

With that, let’s plug in.

This article is also available as a podcast:

What the hell is an NPC (in real life)?

If you’ve ever played any sort of video game (and in 2024 who hasn’t?), especially MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) you’ll see animated characters who interact with the main character (often yourself) in various ways.

Some of them are enemies.

Some of them are allies.

Some of them are guides.

All of them are controlled via algorithmic AI within the game itself.

In the “old days” (whenever that was), these non-player character (NPC) characters were often very stupid. They would run into objects, glitch, and do all sorts of unhelpful behaviors.

Now, the artificial intelligence (AI) in games is very advanced where it seems like the NPC characters are real human beings.

Regardless, their actions are still scripted. No matter how good AI gets, it can’t hold a candle to a real human being.

Now, in real life – you yourself will interact with various people. Again:

Some of them will be “enemies”.

Some of them will be allies.

Some of them will be guides.

But unlike NPCs, humans are more complex – or they’re supposed to be.

Despite this truth, you’ll interact with various people who seem to behave in predictable manners in response to various triggers, like they were scripted AI themselves.

What does this look like in real life?

• If someone gets bored, they’ll flip on the TV or go Internet surfing (easy)
• If someone gets cut off in traffic, they’ll flip shit and cause road rage (predictable)
• If someone feels offended by something, they’ll blame “the government” or “the media” (also very predictable)
• If someone feels like they have to have an opinion on everything, they’ll go searching for every irrelevant tidbit of information and peer-reviewed research in an effort to sound “smart” (a byproduct of living in a society where the mainstream culture says more information = more “smartness”)

Simply put, many people will initiate predictable, routine, conditioned behaviors in response to various triggers that life presents its inhabitants with.

These people are exhibiting NPC-like behaviors. Thus, they are called such.

Why is this important to understand?

On the surface, this seems to be irrelevant and unimportant, even somewhat mocking. But it’s an important concept to understand if you want to live a conscious life and have an answer to the question

“why am I doing all this self-development shit anyway?”

As I said in the intro, our world is set up in a way to create easy access to and for what I call “the NPC lifestyle”.

At no time ever have we had so much access to various “things”.

Despite what the news says or people say, this is THE best time to be alive as a human being.

If you live in Western society, you can:

• Date various people
• Travel the world by plane
• Start a scalable business on the Internet
• Drop out of school and decide to go your own way (or come back later)
• Create your own lifestyle unrestricted from the traditions of your family and/or religion
• Gain access to thousands of years of aggregated and collected human knowledge at the click of a button

The possibilities for a human being in 2024 are almost endless.

But NOT if you’re an NPC AKA “a normie”.

If you’re an NPC, your life will be limited because your actions and responses are limited.

Therefore, you do not live a life by design – but one by default.

Instead of being the hero in your own quest, you become a sideman who see (and helps) other people win.

The Creation of an NPC/”Normie”

Now a question might arise in your mind:

“Are NPCs born or are they created?”

This a good question to ask as a majority of people who are NPCs don’t even know they are living an NPC-like lifestyle and the lifestyle itself is so unsettlingly comfortable that it’s easy to not even know you’re stuck in it.

But the answer to that question is: NPCs are created and they are created via socialization.

While there are some personality traits that may make it easier to become an NPC (such as an extreme aversion to pain or exertion and an extreme gravitation to comfort), no one is born an NPC.

In the West, we have enjoyed a very high standard of living that surpasses anything our ancestors could have dreamt of.

In fact, this is probably the version of the world that they were striving for. Instantaneous communication around the globe and the ability to raise your social class? “Oh, sign me up!” they would have remarked. THIS is paradise.

The Millennials and later Gen X are the first generations in human history that have grown up in a world where avoiding reality was and is a possibility. What do I mean?

• It’s possible to live an existence where you never leave your house to order food, purchase things, or even seek mates. Doordash, Amazon, porn is a click away.
• Instead of talking to people in person about issues, you can start flame wars with random people on the Internet and hide behind a false persona.
• You may have a shitty job, live in a cramped apartment, and struggle to afford the things you want in life but you can always open a credit card.
• Taking L’s may be a way of life for you, but you can viscerally and vicariously live through your favorite sports teams and celebrate their wins and losses.

Your great-grandparents did not live like this.

If they wanted to achieve or do something, they had no virtual world to turn to. They had no line of credit to abuse. They had no forums to bitch on.

They had to go out into the real world with all of its dangers, twists, turns, and achieve real success or die trying (sometimes literally). There was no real escape for them.

But for us? A multitude of escapes all the time everywhere.

Add into the mix the rise of various parental surveillance technologies, overprotective parenting, and general neuroticism – many Millennials and Gen Z (especially those who live in the first world) have had their formative years molded into some variation of this lifestyle.

It is even more likely for men to be NPCs because men tend to be more into things like video games, watching a ton of TV series, pornography, and so on in addition to having more of a tendency to be socially isolated.

The NPC lifestyle often intersects with the “incel” and “doomer” lifestyles – one that avoids personal responsibility and opts for an easy and lackluster existence that blames other people for their shortcomings.

Whether or not you continue along this path is a combination of your unique temperament, exposure (or lack of it) to self-improvement concepts, social circles, and individual life decisions.

How do I know if I’m an NPC? Check These Behaviors

If you’re asking this question, you’re probably not – hell, if you’re still reading this at this point, you’re probably not…but you may have some (or a good amount) of these types of behaviors holding you back from really being your authentic self.

These are a shortlist of some of them. You can probably use your imagination and think of more.

News Media

It’s not uncommon to see an NPC frequently parrotting popular talking points from the news.

These talking points have often not been filtered through the lens of critical thought, they’re just repeated to make the person either:

1. Sound intelligent
2. Sound “not dumb”

In addition to that, these “normies” bow down at the altar of the news media and treat the journalists like gods because they seem so “read up” and “in the know” about numerous things.

Anyone who has common sense knows that the news media will push what will get people clicking and talking because that’s what generates revenue.

But that’s a discussion for another day.

Food

NPCs often go for food that is easy to prepare, tasty, and satiating. On its own, this sounds completely fine but a majority of the food that falls into that category is “fast food”, especially in America.

High carb, high fat, loaded with salt and sugar and very little nutrients.

This type of food often goes hand in glove with an NPC lifestyle because it is mindless and sedating.

Work

Work for many people is means to an end, not a calling or a passion. Which is fine, because at the end of the day, we all have to do what we need to in order to survive.

However, many people just accept the 9-5 status quo.

• Wake up
• Hit snooze 3 (or 4 or 5) times
• Rush to get dressed
• Drive in a caffeinated haze to a place you don’t want to be
• Clock in
• Sit at a desk with your eye on the clock
• Work with people you mildly tolerate
• Deal with office politics and generalized bullshit
• Rush back home with thousands of other people
• Plop onto your couch and stare at the TV screen
• Repeat the cycle until the weekends and dread Sunday nights because the cycle starts all over again

As someone who did some variation of this the first year out of college, I know how it is. It sucks.

But many people never get themselves out of this state because it’s comfortable and even if they wanted to, they don’t have the mental or physical energy to do it.

Relationships/Social Skills

When you talk with people, have you ever noticed them giving you what seems to be “canned responses”?

As in, when you ask them “how are you doing?” many times they’ll say “I’m good, thanks“, when in reality they may not even be “good”.

Have you found yourself doing this? It’s very easy to do.

Another example is when other people just “follow the herd” when it comes to doing things or on a night out.

They’ll do what their friends are doing or they’ll stick close to them in a bar/club/lounge scenario instead of being social with other people.

Sexual Behavior

Modern Western culture in 2024 is highly sexualized. There’s no doubt about that.

But the rise of high-speed Internet porn, OnlyFans, Tinder, and loosening sexual mores is both a symptom and accelerant of that.

The average man in society would think this is a feast for his sexual appetites and doesn’t even question what this is doing to him on a social, physiological, psychological, and spiritual level.

While it’s not my place to tell a man how to live his life, it’s obvious that many men have lopsided relations with women because of lack of discipline in this area.

Entertainment

Have you ever spent an entire day watching Netflix?

As in, you wake up at 9, turn on the TV, binge watch several shows, and then when you look at the clock it’s 9…at night.

Millions of people do that on a daily basis and it doesn’t seem like there’s any end to this behavior in sight.

But it’s not just Netflix. Swap this out with Internet, general TV, video games, or whatever and you have the main diversion of choice for an NPC.

—

While many of these things may be “normal”, many of it arises from relative unconsciousness, which is the hallmark of an NPC.

How many of these resonate with you? One, some, all?

If you felt yourself cringe when you were reading this, there’s a chance you’re living an NPC-type lifestyle.

Read on if you want some tips for breaking out it.

Pulling the Plug: 6 Strategies to Stop Being an NPC and Be the Main Character In Your Own Life

The following 6 strategies are assuming that you are earnest about changing, diligent about doing it, and willing to stick with it until there’s tangible results in your life.

This list is not a cure-all. You’ll still need to add other habits into your lifestyle. In addition, you may require professional help such as a therapist or a counselor.

But if you implement at least a few of these, you should see massive impacts in your day-to-day within a few weeks.

1. Stop running.

If your destination is in the opposite way that you’re headed, the only logical solution would be to stop and turn around.

Many people, when they find out they are not the main character in their lives and they are not living the lives they want to, their first instinct is to go into panic mode and make the problem worse.

Instead, the real solution is to stop running. Then, when you can gather up enough emotional, mental, and physical energy to do so, you head in the direction of your goals and then start moving.

To escape escapist behavior, check out How to Beat Escapism and Stop Running Away From Life With 5 Powerful, Actionable Strategies.

2. Get on the dopamine detox

The “dopamine detox” is a catch all for systematically removing low value activities and replacing them with higher value ones in order to create an intentional life free from or with a minimal amount of mindless, addictive behaviors.

Many people who live some version of a non player character lifestyle habitually engage in activities that release high levels of dopamine for little or no effort put in.

It’s like literally pushing a button at a gum-ball machine and watching goodies come out.

Over time, this will weaken your efforts to be effective in the real world because you’re used to this type of behavior on a consistent basis.

If you want more info on how you can start the dopamine detox, check out Dopamine Detox: A Essential Neural Reset for the Modern World.

3. Fix your mental diet

Most adults know of a physical diet. They know that they have to eat healthy things in order to enjoy health.

But what about their mental diet?

As in, the stuff that you cram into your head on a daily basis. Most adults don’t pay attention to or aren’t even aware of this.

So, they end up subsisting (mentally) on a diet of fear, drama, and negativity.

If you want to leave the non player character lifestyle behind and develop success on your own terms, you’ll need to fix your mental diet.

Basically: stop reading, watching, listening to, and engaging in what is essentially–BULLSHIT!

4. Break bad habits

There’s a lot of bad habits and behaviors that weigh the average person down.

It’s like having an anchor deployed from the ship and expecting the ship to travel far. Without that anchor removed, that boat will stay stuck at dock.

In order to start traversing uncharted waters and escaping the NPC lifestyle, you’ll need to get rid of your bad habits, some sooner than later.

5. Learn how to manage yourself

Without self-management, an individual is lost. Self-management is essential to be a functional adult who can give value to others.

Self-management is the ability to select amongst all of the various stimuli, attractions, and beneficial activities in our world and choose what you’ll give attention to.

Without proper self-management skills, you will never leave the NPC lifestyle behind.

To learn more about self management, read How to Manage Yourself: 3 Tips to Help Your Personal Expansion.

6. Lean into a lifestyle of continuous self-improvement

Famous self-development guru Earl Nightingale once said:

“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.”

This means that your current and future success will be built off of a strong foundation of self-development and conscientiousness.

This is particularly why I created Cornerstone. Cornerstone will teach you how to build that strong and progressively increasing self-development foundation, no matter who you are or where you’ve found yourself.

I highly encourage you to check it out.

Conclusion + Closing Thoughts

If you’re someone who has any type of passing interest in self-development, living like an NPC isn’t for you.

You were not put on this earth to mindlessly consume and give back little or nothing.

While the NPC lifestyle may be “easy” and offers instant gratification, it is ultimately unfulfilling in the long-term and you’ll end up in a place where you have few (if any) skills, few (if any) friends, and no ability to cope with the circumstances of your life.

To leave the NPC lifestyle behind:

• Stop running away from life
• Get on the dopamine detox (ASAP)
• Fix your mental diet (stop reading, watching, and engaging in bullshit)
• Break your bad habits
• Develop strong self-management
• Lean into a lifestyle of continuous self-development

Are you an NPC? If so, what are you doing to leave the lifestyle behind? Were you an NPC and left the lifestyle behind? Definitely let us know your thoughts in the comments below!