My name is Francisco Ávila. I was born in 1987 in Linares, so as I write these lines, I am 38 years old and have a considerable number of 'friends' reminding me that I am almost twice as old as I was when we created POUSTA.

POUSTA was a collective phenomenon we built with a group of friends because it was imperative to open the minds of our peers, to show them there's more beyond what they know today. Music, art, design, creative culture in general. It was the time when Fotolog was dying, and Facebook had just arrived in Chile.

In parallel, I worked at one of Chile's first digital agencies with Nico and Camilo, where we were tasked with fulfilling the tech dreams of the founders we met through Webprendedor.

Since then, my professional life has revolved around designing digital products and aiding the scaling of tech businesses, and everything in between. A milestone was Cranberry Chic, at 23, a fashion social network we launched in Chile, with the support of CORFO helping create the first influencers in Chile.

(Don't hate us, it was honest work)

In 2019, I founded REAL is EVERYTHING, my own creative consultancy, where I've had the chance to participate in the incubation and design of over 100 brands so far. A hundred different ways to understand that 90% of businesses fail because people are obsessed with seeming successful rather than solving real problems. That's where this project comes from.

Who am I to write this

As a kid, if you had recommended I read a 'so-called book' named guide to everything, I think the first thing I'd need to pay attention is that it was written by a PhD in something, or a person who dedicated their life to research.

Luckily, I'm no longer that person.

The reason I will write about all this is because my personal interests have led me—since the age of 12, damn it—on a path where everything I will mention are things I've lived, researched, experienced, and in many cases, 'already overcome'.

There would be no guide to everything if I hadn't obsessed as a child with astronomy, technology, colors, and people.

Even so, more important than just sitting and talking about what happens to me, or has happened—just like 99.9% of people who 'create content' today—is the fact that I am neurodivergent.

(I write it 'encrypted', because it's a terrible name; if we are all neurodivergent, then it's not divergence. Oh well)

What does this mean in practice? That my brain is in contrary mode 24/7. It’s like having an inner devil's advocate questioning absolutely everything and constantly in conflict if something 'is not for you'. This is called cognitive rigidity, and as Temple Grandin describes it, it's a well-documented feature in neurodivergent people.

The curious thing is that this same rigidity making me unbearable in social contexts turns into an advantage in a world where peer pressure can lead to very poor decisions. In studies on this, 'neurotypical' people show that most do change their judgments to align with the group in social situations. Neurodivergent people aren't as quick to give in. The brain, the sympathetic system, and even the endocrine system get upset if one isn't aligned.

We aren't very good at even the smallest lies, so imagine the rest.

Unlike Instagram coaches who sell neurodivergence as if you were a being of light, reality is crap because you're still naturally unbearable. You'll always mess it up when it comes to people. BUT (and this is an important 'but'), it turns into a blessing when you finally meet yourself.

This encounter happens when you mature, and stop trying 'to be more normal'. When you embrace that your brain works differently and stop forcing it into molds that aren’t for you. For me, by sheer luck, that moment came at 19.

This process of self-discovery is well-documented in research as being multidimensional and hurting like hell. It’s like pulling a tooth without anesthesia, but in the soul.

Twenty years later, I can look back and realize I have all the resources necessary to compile—in my own personal style—all this crap.

And what does that have to do with anything, Marta

Here's the paradox that has me perplexed: if I, who am literally made to say no, struggle to say no... What the hell is happening with the rest of the people?

Experiments on social conformity show that 75% of people conform to the group at least once, even when the response is obviously wrong. In the real world, where pressures are more subtle, this percentage is obviously higher.

Any transformation process begins with a detox. And every detox starts by saying NO. No to toxic crap, no to relationships that drain you, no to crappy jobs, no to food that inflames you, no to Instagram gurus.

It's an unpleasant stage because if you were in the wrong environment, you might feel very lonely. But those NOs are necessary. They are the entry price to hack this shit.

If I, with my factory-installed opposing brain, struggled to say no... How does it go for the rest? How do normal people stand up to a system designed to make you say yes to everything? How do people with stronger attachments manage?

This guide to EVERYTHING exists to accompany you in that process. So when you cross that threshold of the no's, you have clarity that on the other side, space is created, and it’s space that will be filled with the new yeses you need.

Yes, to taking care of your biology. Yes, to relationships that add value. Yes, to jobs that don’t devour your life. Yes, to a life that doesn’t need filters or complex frames to look good.

It’s like removing all the cheap fast fashion from an overflowing closet and slowly filling that space with timeless jewels that will last you a lifetime.

Your weird, divergent, non-average side is where the keys lie to survive this dystopian movie. Not because we are special, but because our wiring makes us immune to some of the most dangerous traps of the Anthropocene.