The universe doesn’t give you what you want. It gives you what you are.
We’re taught to believe that we will have earned the feeling after the thing appears. But it doesn’t work like that. The thing will never appear until we embody the feeling.
To know someone, all you have to do is watch.
*Attention to detail.
*Response to stress.
*Drunk on the Kool-Aid.
*Saying things that don’t make sense.
*Positioning themselves as an expert when they are anything but.
*Presuming to teach something they don’t even know how to do.
Some things never change and the way you do one thing is the way you do everything.
Why bring a canon when a pocket knife would suffice?
If your plan for victory is might makes right, it’ll probably work.
Temporarily.
But brute force is a sloppy strategy and don’t be surprised to find yourself undermined, outwitted and alone.
You don’t need bigger guns, you need better aim.
The phrase “letting go of the hilt” has two implications.
It can refer to dropping the ball, failing to win even with ideal conditions and sword in hand.
It can also mean putting the sword down and employing more sophisticated methods.
A parable about helping others with their businesses:
If your friend's house is on fire but they’re not concerned, don’t waste your own water trying to put it out.
Multi-level marketing is more than just a way for moms to lose money.
It's an arena rife with fake experts, pseudoscience, bogus claims, parroted scripts, and grossly overpriced products you could find better versions of at Costco.
Manipulation is the name of the game—and they're good at it.
Really good.
They find your pain points and twist the screw as hard as they can.
It's a skill born of desperation.
The pitches are usually about money, time, freedom, weight, aging, or fear of deadly toxins.
One thing’s for sure: nothing else on the market works, and everything else causes cancer.
I mean, you don't want your kids to get cancer, do you?
And have you seen the photos of me with the new car, chartered jet, exclusive yacht, and private island?
None of them are mine, by the way—but shhh, you don't need to know that.
There are warning signs.
As soon as you hear phrases like “extra cash,” “side hustle,” “sign up three of your friends,” “be a product of the product”—and especially “all in”—there’s only one thing to do:
Run.
Water didn't carve the Grand Canyon in a day. In fact, the desert floor initially said "no," in spite of its desperate thirst.
Water didn’t argue or take offense. It was patient, it was present, it was persistent in its own way.
Knowing that time is on its side, water waits for desire to overcome willpower.
Water doesn’t take no for an answer.
All press is good press.
The key to success is to get people talking about you...and talking, and talking, and talking.
It's easy to do in a country that prioritizes convenience over self-preservation and has a seriously entitled misunderstanding of the phrase "survival of the fittest."
Complacently fat on junk food and reality TV - talking and talking.
It doesn't matter what's being said, just that the name is incessantly repeated.
Every conversation turned that way.
Every news story's inflammatory headline.
Every morning I think, Now what?
Talking and talking and even making signs.
They're right, of course. You should be concerned.
But more than that, unplug the television and put down the device. Go outside and have a genuine conversation with someone that does not involve the obligatory topic. You might be surprised by all the things you actually have in common.
The biggest threat is people who refuse to be played against one another.
If you wonder what the attention whore will do next, the answer is: whatever it takes to keep all eyes on them.
When the rules create an unwinnable game, it's time to walk away.
I was a music major in college. After two years of maximum effort and dismal results, I burned out and quit.
I walked away to save my sanity but it stung. What I perceived as my life's trajectory evaporated in an instant because I couldn't hack it. It was a relief to let it go, but I was sad. I felt like a failure.
A couple years later I went back to school for photography. Photography is not easier than music, but the same effort produced notably better results. In fact, twenty-seven years later, I'm still a professional photographer. I built a career and made a life for myself.
It's not always about trying harder. It's about finding the right thing.
Gene Hackman's wife died of hantavirus.
She lay on the bathroom floor. The dog was in its crate.
A few days later, Gene succumbed to the ghost in the mirror. He was stepping over and around his dead wife until his clock ran out. The dog was still in its crate.
A few days after that the dog died and no one knew.
A family mummified in their home while the sun rose and sank and the mail got delivered.
Money didn't save them.
If there's something you want to do, go do it now.
You could die tomorrow, and the neighbors across the street wouldn't know the difference.
Information is currency.
It's easy to assume that the one talking is in control, but divulgence cripples leverage.
Words have value as does silence.
The one listening quietly and formulating a plan knows that whoever controls the information controls the situation.
I rarely say more than I have to. It's not about being deceptive, it's about staying on point. If it's not relevant, why bring it up?
It's not hard to see but pay attention because it's the roadmap of negotiation and the crystal ball of prediction.
People can be counted on to act in accordance with their true nature. Because the way they do one thing is the way they do everything. Turn on the stress and you'll see.
Avoidance of pain is the guiding light.
Over-the-top behaviors are fueled by under-the-surface beliefs.
When you wonder what someone will do next, look for the overcompensations and reverse engineer. It's not magic, it's just observation.
Before expending time and resources on a solution, ask yourself; "is this my problem?"
Ever been the hardest working person at your company, solving all the problems, only to get fired?
Did all the things and still walked away empty-handed?
Are you solving other people's problems at the expense of your own?
Situations will take as much as you give. Not everything is your problem.
Don't take ownership in things that don't belong to you.
Don’t mistake rhetoric for actual expertise. Anyone can memorize an elevator pitch. If you want to see genius in action (or not), watch what...
