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the art of war by Sun zu so this book is

thousands of years old and it is a very

insightful book because it not only

tells you about the different strategies

and insightful ideas behind war and the

aspects directly related to war however

it contains within a lot of information

regarding on how to carry yourself in

life and how to overcome one of the

greatest obstacles that you have which

is your own ego and aspects of your mind

and your character that you're

essentially in battle with that keeps

you away from doing the things that you

know you have to do to produce the

results that you want it also helps you

with dealing with day-to-day life

dealing with people areas like business

and career so what I've done is I've

pulled some points out of the book and I

want to share with you my insights and

perspectives on this and we're going to

go through each point that I gathered

from the chapters it's 13 of them and

each chapter contains a different topic

and what it does is it explains you know

the contents within it there's a lot of

Proverbs and insightful information no

matter where you are in your life it's

worth reading this book because it's

very revealing it tells you about what

is happening to you from areas that

you're not aware of in life because one

of the important quotes on this book is

all warfare is fought on deception or is

based on deception and everyone is

trying to get your attention in this

world and essentially your attention is

really valuable advertisers pay a lot of

money to get your attention this can be

beneficial because they can offer to you

very valuable products and services but

it can also be disadvantageous if it

takes you away from your purpose or your

grand strategy what you're trying to

accomplish so if you understand the

aspects of war and the strategies and

the concepts of war then it will give

you a deeper multi-level understanding

of reality and yourself a lot of people

shy away from the subject of war and

I've never been one to do that because I

realized that just about any type of

information that is available is valid

in certain areas and we need to learn

understand from different sources even

if areas we don't necessarily agree with

there's a lot of different nuances and

understandings but the important thing

is we have to make peace with what we're

reading and who we are as a person and

one of the best ways to do that is to

study very polarizing subjects so if

you're not a kind of person that studies

war for example or you are opposed to

war that's actually worth reading the

war manuals because you'll gain a lot of

insights to yourself there's a saying

that goes what you resist persists so

the more you try to avoid studying

certain subjects like war the harder it

is for you to overcome the certain

aspects of yourself that the strategies

of war and the concepts covered within

this book can help you overcome so you

can reach an even higher level so I'm

going to start with the points the first

is all warfare is based on deception so

again I'm going to apply this to life in

general I'm not going to apply this to

war might make some references

but because the concepts and strategies

that are contained within this book are

applicable for day-to-day life so that's

we're going to talk about from that

perspective all warfare is based on

deception so to me it's essentially this

world we live in where everyone is

trying to take your attention away from

what you're doing and put it into their

space so advertising for example or

social media or different people are

trying to take your attention away not

necessarily from a sinister perspective

but because they believe they know

what's best for you and they're trying

to take you towards your direction now

this can be advantageous or

disadvantageous a lot of times with the

distractions we have nowadays in the

realm of work for example career in

business they're not very advantageous

and even though the other person will

tell you it's advantageous you in your

heart note it's not advantageous so what

you have to do is you have to put

processes and systems in place to

prevent your attention from going in a

different direction and part of that is

the understanding that all warfare is

based on deception so a lot of things

that you're attracted to are not

necessarily beneficial for you if you

see a very attractive person someone

that you're attracted to understand

something that that's only the surface

what you see there's probably a lot more

to them and a lot more aspects to who

they are that

she might not be beneficial for you okay

so this can be true and it can be false

also but you've got to look at where

you're being deceived from seeing

reality from seeing the truth and it's

usually the things that trigger our

fears and insecurities that pulls us

towards a negative direction or in a

direction that's not favorable to us

next attack him where he is unprepared

appear where you are not expected so

again when you look at software or

certain kinds of apps and Facebook and

things like that

they really understand this concept and

they're really trying to you can say

attack your mind and get you to go in a

different direction when you are

unprepared so the key is to set up

things in your environment to avoid

distraction to place yourself in

environments that motivate and encourage

a high level of focus from prevent and

preventing yourself from being around

people that essentially are looking to

exploit you in a way that's not

beneficial for you when you are

unprepared people are not going to

attack you where you're strong your mind

is not going to be penetrated where

you're strong it's always going to be in

your weak areas and it's going to appear

when you are not expecting it to appear

so the important thing to understand is

to look at all the different scenarios

and situations in your life where you

are unprepared and where you're not

expecting distractions and things that

will move you in a different direction

again based on deception and figure out

how you can remove those so you can

focus on what really matters to you if

your opponent is choleric temper seek to

irritate him pretend to be weak that he

may grow arrogant so again one of the

things that takes us away from what we

are trying to do is emotions people

target our emotions advertisers target

our emotions everything is designed to

target your emotions and one of the most

powerful emotions is anger and

irritation so if people are angering you

or irritating you take a step back and

understand that they may or may not be

aware of what they're doing but the

bottom line is that it's impacting you

so that what you have to do

is remove yourself from those situations

again pretend to be weak that he may

grow arrogant so another thing is that

on the offensive side you want to be

humble you want to be a kind of person

that is very you know pragmatic and

going about your day to day activities

because then what happens is that those

that are sinister and out to get you

they're going to grow arrogant they're

going to create a false sense of

identity that they're winning and so

forth and that's going to eventually

take them down now that's actually a

good thing because when somebody does

not get results based on reality and

they get results based on arrogance and

egotistical reasons then that's not

serving people and they need to go down

and one of the ways that you can

facilitate that in a way that doesn't

necessarily cause you to fight a battle

with them is to be humble hold out baits

to entice the enemy fiend disorder and

crush them again people are using bait

to try to Lou you in a different

direction now I'm not saying these

things to make the world seem like it's

a negative place that's not what I'm

saying the reality of these things do

exist and what we have to do is

proactively be responsible for

protecting ourselves or protecting our

attention in different areas that are

important to us and understand when

we're being baited by the enemy because

the bait is going to take you astray

it's going to lead you astray

next waging war in war then let your

objective be victory not lengthy

campaigns so this is applicable in a lot

of areas of life for example in business

one of the things that I see people do

in business is they create these lengthy

campaigns these lengthy business

objectives that take forever to

implement in projects that are very

complex and it prolongs the victory or

even if they get there they screw it up

because there's so much complexity to it

and they don't end up actually getting

the victory they end up losing so the

ideal scenario is quick campaigns that

are designed to victory one of the

quickest routes to the end result I

remember I was at an event and I heard

Daymond John speak who was the founder

of FUBU and he said he tries to be one

step away from the money

which essentially what that means is

that you know and he's an investor he's

looking for businesses that are quick

and efficient to produce the outcome

okay so you see the application here and

it's not about creating these lengthy

processes and lengthy steps to get to

the end result because that just adds

unnecessary complexity but for looking

for the quick end result through a short

and efficient campaign now this doesn't

mean get-rich-quick or something that is

essentially a trick that is not

sustainable there's a balance here but

it does mean that you can simplify the

process and it doesn't have to be as

lengthy as it should

next attack by stratagem thus we may

know there are five essentials for

victory he will win who knows when to

fight and when not to fight

so essentially what that means is

conserve your energy live to fight the

battles that are worth fighting don't

give your attention onto things that

when you win

they're just for egotistical reasons

they're not actually moving your

objective forward he will win who knows

how to handle both superior and inferior

forces so understand that some people

are superior and some are inferior you

need to be able to work with those

energies to move your strategy forward

again if you're focused on an objective

outcome that is based on strategy and

not based on egotistical reasons then

you're going to see the possibilities

and opportunities to work with these

different superior and inferior forces

when someone is superior to us we tend

to put on a certain persona we try to

impress them we end up doing things that

don't necessarily move our objective

forward when someone is inferior we try

to take advantage of them we try to be

the right one we try to be the lecturer

instead of the person that works with

them to move the objective forward he

will win whose Army is animated by the

same spirit throughout all its ranks so

when you're creating a team for example

if you're building a business everyone

needs to have that spirit anytime the

spirit is broken you've got a weak link

you have to be able to penetrate your

organization with that same spirit if

you can't penetrate the ranks and

there's hierarchy in it understand

something when it gets up to a certain

level and that spirit is not there

everyone who that poor

person has as far as responsibility if

that person is a leader anyone who is

responsible to them is not going to have

that same spirit because as it trickles

down when it gets to that level where

there's the inefficiency of thinking or

the lack of spirit everyone under that

person is going to have that lack of

spirit because the information which

comes in the top down is not going to be

translated in a way where it's uniform

and that becomes very weak it becomes

cancerous to the organization and it can

be resulting or it can result in taking

down the entire operation and so forth

he who will win he will win who prepared

himself waits to take the enemy

unprepared so you always have to be

prepared you always have to be on this

doesn't mean you can't relax but when

you relax make sure you do in an

environment where you cannot be

persuaded and attacked you can be

vulnerable but it's important to then

place yourself in situations where you

are prepared and where people can't take

your taken advantage of you and you're

able to read the signs you're able to

become very present and know when you're

getting pulled in a direction that is

not favorable for you and when you're

dealing with people and you have to move

the strategy forward and you have to

attack do it in a place where there is

less resistance essentially when they're

unprepared he will win who has military

capacity and is not interfered with by

the sovereign so next we move on to

tactical dispositions what the ancients

called a clever fighter is one who not

only wins but excels in winning with

ease hence his victories bring him

neither reputation for wisdom nor credit

for courage so if you are a very

skillful fighter and you're always win

or you're in the state of mind of

winning when you win it's not a big deal

it's just a way of life it's just what

happens from day to day that's how you

know that you are in the ranks of

someone great is when they're looking at

the victories as just another step

forward this doesn't mean that they are

not appreciative of it it just means

that they don't become arrogant and form

an identity around their victories when

you become arrogant and form an identity

or you fee

the ego around your victories that ego

becomes your weak area you're no longer

performing from the same place that got

you the victories and then when you face

higher challenges that ego is going to

hold you back you're going to need to

break it down

thus it is war that is that in war that

victorious strategist only seeks battle

after the victory has been won whereas

he who is destined to defeat first

fights and afterwards looks for victory

so this is about controlling your

emotions getting really present and

understanding that you need to look at

strategy and you got to see the end

result and you got to go down the

pathway that is statistically likely to

produce the result that you want if you

don't see the steps that lead to the

outcome you need to figure out how to

see the steps because if you don't see

the steps then you're essentially going

and fighting a battle when you don't

necessarily know the outcome now there's

going to be situations where the odds

are not in your favor and if you have

the opportunity to go in the direction

another direction where the odds are in

your favor and that can move your grand

strategy forward why wouldn't you pick

it so it's important to think like a

strategist and understanding strategy is

a massive subject it takes a lot of

experience a lot of studying to really

grasp the magnitude and it goes on

forever the study of becoming a better

strategist goes on forever it deploys

both in the moment thinking and being

present to the variables that are

contained within the moment as well as

long-range thinking so you can see the

domino effect the trickle effect the

pattern recognition the possible

scenarios that can occur in the position

that you're taking or in the environment

that you're going in and knowing how to

work with it when it shows up energy

sons who said the control of large

forces is the same principle as the

control of a few men it is merely a

question of dividing up their numbers so

what this means is that you've got to

create a system you've got to create a

process and that system in process will

allow it to scale to higher levels when

you're building a team the same

ideologies that you instill at a lower

level with a few people are instilled as

the organization grows and as the

organization grows there are people

there are processes and systems that are

put in place to infuse the new people

that are brought on board with the ways

of how it works and the spirit and as it

starts to increase the control is

maintained through hierarchy and

reporting and certain things in place

that when a decision needs to be

executed from the top down it flows

through the entire organization and

everybody executes in synergy now it's a

lot simpler than it sounds because

you're dealing with people and people

can be rational and overly emotional and

have their own agendas but you try to do

it the best you can ok so next in the

battle there are not more than two

methods of attack the direct and the

indirect yet these two combinations give

rise to an endless series of maneuvers

so think about in life when it's

important to be direct when dealing with

people and when it's important to be

indirect sometimes when you're dealing

with people you have to be direct

because they can handle it or they can

handle it in certain times or they

require it to feel your trustworthiness

but in other times it's important to be

indirect because by being indirect you

give them some space you help them

understand things in a level where they

figure it out on their own one of my

favorite sayings is let the thoughts you

are provoking come to them as if they

were their own that's done through

indirect methods through indirect

methods you're not being manipulative

but you're rather just being supportive

you're stepping back and understanding

that people are in different levels they

have fears they have insecurities they

have different agendas and goals and

certain priorities and so forth and you

got to be able to work with that in a

way that might require

being indirect energy might be likened

to bending of a crossbow decision to the

releasing of a trigger so energy is

essentially a lot of presents a lot of

awareness and a buildup a buildup of

focus and then you are able to look at

what you're trying to accomplish and

releasing that build-up of energy you

have to be able to feel it you can feel

the energy a lot of people nowadays are

not really becoming present to the

energy of their environment the energy

when it comes to dealing with people

it's almost become kind of a far-out

concept it really isn't

you can feel when somebody has good

energy charismatic energy negative

energy you can feel it and you can get

better at feeling it and within yourself

when you've got focused energy or

powerful present energy or energy that's

very positive or it's purposeful you can

allow that energy to build up so it

intensifies and then when it's time to

make your move you can release and

infuse that move with your energy emit

the turmoil and tumult a battle there

may be seeming disorder and yet no real

disorder at all amid confusion and chaos

your array may be without head or tail

yet it will be proof against defeat so

when you look at an environment a

marketplace life in general you'll tend

to notice chaos you will see disorder

things won't make sense understand

something that within that chaos there

is a process there is order your goal as

a strategist is to be able to see order

through the chaos not be pulled in

through the chaos I know people that

consider themselves to be strategists

but they're not able to hold composure

during tough situations or they might be

at a level where they are not able to be

a strategist so the way I look at it

different different levels require

different levels of strategic thinking

different kinds of chaotic environments

required different strategies someone

who's a grand strategist when a really

high level is able to maintain their

presence of mind and see the process in

the chaos and they're able to take what

they see and translate it into the

maneuvers that they get their team to do

this is something that is very apparent

in people that have a lot of experience

there is a concept of German military

term called finger spritzing befool

essentially what it means

it's fingertip field and essentially

it's the ability to feel the environment

that you're in and while you have a lot

of different strategies in your mind

while you have a lot of different

tactics based on the environment and

what you feel be able to deploy the

right strategy to move it forward to

move the objective forward this comes

through experience those that were

masterful war generals were said to have

possessed finger spits and go full so

what you need to realize is that you

need to train yourself so that when you

are in chaos you can maintain presence

of mind one of the best ways to do it is

to place yourself in chaotic situations

a lot of people try to avoid chaotic

situations but what you should do is

systematically and strategically and

intentionally place yourself in chaotic

situations so you could see the process

that exists within the chaos next weak

points and strong sons who said whoever

is first in the field and awaits the

coming of the enemy will be fresh for

the fight whoever is second in the field

has to hasten to battle will arrive and

has to hasten to battle will arrive

exhausted

therefore the clever combatant imposes

his will on the enemy but does not allow

the enemy's will to be imposed on him

you have to be prepared organized and

show up to your engagements and things

that you do with a vibe and an energy of

you controlling

the dynamics if you show up with a vibe

of not having control the dynamics and

the other person shows up with a

strategic clear thinking mind to control

the dynamics then you are at the mercy

of them because they will exploit your

weaknesses they will exploit the areas

that you're weak at now the key to this

is to schedule things is to pre-plan

things is to think long-range and look

at all the possible different scenarios

that could show up that could hinder

what you have to do or that could throw

you off and then plan accordingly you

have to be able to show up and prepare

for whatever it is the negotiation the

meeting the discussion the business the

whatever it is by preparing yourself for

that interaction by doing things prior

it could be like working out exercise

eating healthy a lot of different things

I don't know what the routine is for

different scenarios it's different

things but if you come prepared to play

then you're going to be more

advantageous than people that don't what

I find in the business world is that

people show up unprepared far more often

than they should and they go unprepared

not just because you know they might

have liked them the minutes or whatever

else the points the meeting but they're

unprepared emotionally they get an

argument with their spouse or boyfriend

and girlfriend they're having road rage

as are driving to the client meeting and

so forth there's a lot of different

scenarios that throw them off and that's

part of the preparation you have to be

prepared physically mentally emotionally

and spiritually when you show up to the

engagement an army may March great

distances without distress if it marches

through country where the enemy is not

to me this is all about not fighting the

battles that you don't need to fight if

you are able to go to a destination and

take a route that doesn't involve you

fighting the battle or unnecessary

friction why not take it

when you get there you're better

prepared you show up with the presence

of mind now there are some situations

like I said earlier where you want to

put yourself in chaotic situations but

it's not always advantageous to be in

those chaotic situations prior to a

interaction where you have to be your

freshest now sometimes it can mix you up

and get you out of your head and you

should do that but the key to this is

understanding that there are different

kinds of avenues or pathways to get to a

destination and if your enemy or enemy

in this scenario can also be yourself

because you can be triggered by certain

circumstances in the environment throws

you off when you get there you're just

going to end up using your mental

resources or whatever resources

inefficiently rouse him and learn the

principles of his or the principle of

his activity or inactivity force him to

reveal himself as to find out his

vulnerable spots so essentially in the

business world we're looking for

different exploits that exist in the

marketplace and in our competition so

that we can position ourselves at that

exploit and take that market share

penetrate through that exploit and

expansively take the market share over

time there's a lot of them that exists

we have to be able to deny our

competition of these exploits so these

vulnerable spots and we have to be able

to find what these vulnerable spots are

in the market place and with our

competition this requires again direct

and indirect methods I talked about this

earlier direct and indirect methods to

get the person to reveal now what's

interesting is on the internet we have

different tools and software and code

and stuff like that that is able to spy

on the competitor to be able to see what

their vulnerabilities are and so forth

but never underestimate the power of

social engineering the ability to

connect with people and get valuable

data out of them to further your

objective all men can see the tactics

whereby I conquer but what none can see

is

a strategy out of which victory is

evolved a lot of people are too tactical

in their orientation in life they look

at the few things that you do and they

conclude that by you doing those few

things that it produces a result they

will fail to see your grand strategy the

all the other things that happen in the

background and the why you do those

tactical things even if you win or lose

because sometimes it's okay to

strategically lose if it moves the

objective forward they don't see the

strategy and the reason why they don't

see the strategy is because they're not

strategic thinking a lot of people don't

necessarily like thinking from a

strategic standpoint because it actually

forces them to really work the brain to

really work the logical aspects the

ability to recognize patterns an

important aspect of human existence

they're not necessarily motivated to do

it you on the other hand need to become

motivated to do it you need to become

more strategic you can develop your

strategic thinking by looking at

different components analytical data so

forth and looking for the insights and

figuring out why things are why they are

based on what happened and what happens

if you try this other thing and what

direction do you go on looking at

optimization and things like that when

you develop strategic thinking you can

evolve your grand strategy you can

create strategies that other people

won't be able to understand because

their mind is closed off to only seeing

the tactics or not seeing the strategy

you do not repeat the tactics which have

gained you one victory but let your

methods be regulated by the infinite

variety of circumstances finger

spritzing good fool I talked about this

earlier most environments that you place

yourself in are going to be different

actually every environment that you

place yourself in that you fight battle

or whatever it is you're trying to do is

going to be different you have to be

able to train yourself to not be too

fixated on one methodology to get the

results diversify the moves that you

make so you can gain better

understanding and the different aspects

of what makes that environment the way

it is the components that make up the

whole and how the environment responds

to the different moves you make not just

the moves you make in a one-step way

but in a multi-dimensional way in a

sequential way in a way that combined

the different patterns of possibility

and you have to be able to do that so

when you achieve victory in one area try

to achieve victory in many different

areas even outside of the realm of your

craft so you can develop a more

multi-dimensional mind which thinks more

strategically that looks for more

opportunities for victory when you are

placed in certain scenarios water shapes

its course according to the nature of

the ground over which it flows the

soldier works out his victory in

relation to the foe from whom he is

facing therefore just as water retains

retains no shape so in warfare there's

no constant conditions again this goes

back to my previous point you have to

become like water as Bruce Lee said you

have to be able to flow with the

environment the different things to

happen you can't be pissed off or

offended that the environment didn't go

the way that you want instead you've got

a shape shift and go in a different

direction and you got to be able to do

it smoothly and quick and efficiently

and gracefully like water does and water

is a very powerful force because you

cannot block the building up of water

pressure over time it will break through

unless you've got a wall or a dam that's

strategically or not strategically but

more powerful to hold it in but if the

pressure builds up greater than that

then it's going to break through so now

the key to important aspect to

understand is that if you become like

water you essentially flow and what

you're flowing is against the variables

against the exploits against the

competition and what people are trying

to do to you and you're moving around it

you're moving above that you're moving

below it you're moving sometimes through

it as you move as a force and you're

okay with it you're not being offended

when things don't go your way you're

quickly collaborating or calibrating I

should say to the environment and it's

because of finger spritzing before we're

not fit to lead an army on the march

unless we are familiar with the face of

the country it's mountains and forests

its pitfalls and precipices its marshes

and swamps familiarizing yourself with

the terrain and your environment as much

as you can

is very important this doesn't

necessarily mean you overthink it and

you dedicate all your time to

familiarizing yourself before you take

action but instead it's worth developing

the ability to familiarize your self in

the environment by taking action because

there's way more dynamics at play

sometimes the environment responds to

certain actions that you take so what

happens is by doing that action you stir

up the environment and you see a certain

kind of response so by analyzing the

terrain and everything and then seeing

how everything responds based on

different kinds of actions you're able

to come up with different combinations

and permutations to deploy as far as

strategies towards your objective

outcome let your plans be dark and

impenetrable as night and when you move

fall like a thunderbolt so to put up

unnecessary resistance or to remove

unnecessary resistance work in the

backgrounds reveal very little of what

you're trying to do because that what

you're trying to reveal to somebody or

what you're revealing to somebody will

be used against you too by your

competition so when you work in the

background you're being humble you're

looking at your outcome and your focus

on the outcome and you're not interested

in what other people think of you or how

you look to others instead you do your

daily disciplines you do your work and

it's done in silence in quiet and it

moves forward what needs to move forward

to make the outcome possible and what

needs to be revealed is revealed so

think about that for a moment what you

reveal should be revealed for strategic

reasons either for reasons to recruit

more people into your objective or to

reveal certain kinds of stimulus to the

environment in which you you look at the

response you get and you adjust from

there or to create a form of deception

for your enemies who try to take you out

but the moves that don't need to be

revealed happen in silence those are the

ones that move everything forward

and as they move everything forward

essentially all the facade all that you

know surface level stub is looked at the

way it's supposed to be looked at and it

appears even to your competitors and

your enemies that you're not making any

progress but it turns out that

underground you're making a lot of

progress now a soldier's spirit is

keenest in the morning by noonday it has

began to flag and in the evening his

mind is bent only on returning to camp a

clever general therefore avoids an army

when its spirit is keen but attacks when

it's sluggish and inclined to return

this is the art of studying moods it's a

very self explanatory we've already

covered that variations in tactics there

are five dangerous faults which may

affect a general number one recklessness

which leads to destruction cowardice

which leads to capture a hasty temper

which can be provoked by insults a

delicacy of honor which is sensitive to

shame so these are applicable in

business when dealing with people

relationships and so forth how many

times do we act inappropriately or fail

to act as a result of this you can use

these as a checklist actually to

understand your actions or lack thereof

the art of war teaches us not to rely on

the likelihood of the enemy's not coming

but on our own readiness to receive him

not on the chance of his not attacking

but rather on the fact that we have made

our position unassailable so essentially

what this means is that you've always

got to be prepared you've always got to

be as efficient with what you do how you

work with your team you're learning

you're studying and essentially your

ability to think logically and

critically as well as being present to

the moment understanding the forces and

dynamics in play and essentially just

educating yourself through real life

taking and the results you get based on

the actions you take from the

environment and your competitors and so

forth and not leaving things up to

chance and not being slack on the areas

that you need to improve on if you see

weaknesses go to work and improve those

weaknesses improve them right away

prioritize and focus on the ones that

produce the greatest output or the ones

that have your greatest weaknesses that

can be exploited focus on those first

but make sure you address everything

with time and try to do it as fast as

you can because if you are ready you

don't have to get ready when the enemy

shows up when the enemy shows up they'll

see how strong you are and they'll turn

around and go away because a lot of

times they're looking to fight you where

you're weak if they know you can win on

the flip side I mention this earlier you

don't fight battles where you know

you're going to lose if they know that

they're going to lose they're not going

to fight you and thus your preparation

your discipline and everything will

prevent a lot of attacks that would have

possibly come to you how to result as a

result or as a result I should say of

all the preparation and proactiveness

that you've taken in everything you do

because I believe how you do one thing

is how you do everything the army on the

march if in training soldiers commands

are habitually enforced the army will be

well-disciplined if not its discipline

will be bad consistency with your people

is very important if you put a process

in place until you actually say the

process is going to end you have to be

consistent with it because if you're not

consistent with it they're not going to

have any respect for you they're going

to say that then this is a weak area

this person has a weak area and they

have probably way more weak areas and I

don't see that person as a leader a

leader goes for first and enforces

certain commands and habits and put

systems and processes in place to make

sure it's consistent as much as possible

the more there is consistently

consistency the more respect there is

but if there is slack the respect will

be lost and the army will follow suit

they'll think it's okay to not have

self-discipline

and the processes that they deploy don't

matter either for the people that they

deploy them to and it's going to be a

chain of chaos and not in the type of

chaos and I mentioned earlier that grows

you but a chaos that essentially will

bring your organization down if a

general shows confidence in his men but

always insists on his orders being

obeyed the gain will be mutual so again

having confidence in people is trusting

but that doesn't mean you don't have

reports and processes in place that

keeps your finger on the pulse so you

can understand what's going on and then

based on what's going on you make

decisions so your order is essentially

are being obeyed but they're not doing

in a way when it makes the person feel

restrained you have to believe in them

but you also have to understand that

there's human nature and you have to put

things in place to prevent the bad

behaviors terrain if fighting is sure to

result in victory then you must fight

even though the ruler forbid it if

fighting will not result in victory then

you must not fight even at the rulers

bidding so this is where you have to be

able to use your own judgment sometimes

you're going to have to break the rules

that's okay if the breaking of the rule

provides the victory then you should do

it and if the breaking of the rule has

no consequences then you should do it

now there's many nuances to this but

that's essentially what it's getting at

sometimes the strategists might deploy a

strategy out there and expect people to

follow it if a person is out in the

arena on the battlefield and they've

encountered a scenario which they feel

that most likely the person who gave the

orders of strategist couldn't see it and

they have to make a decision and they

know that by making the decision it goes

against the orders of the strategist but

however it creates a victory then they

should do it and the strategist should

be able to empower his people or her

people to be able to make decisions on

their own if those kind of regards do

show up regard your soldiers as your

children and they will follow you into

the deep

valleys look upon them as your own loved

sons and they will stand by you even

unto death so this is important to treat

people in your organization like a

family you have to be able to create

that in your organization and you have

to have a lot of respect for them and

compassion for them and you have to be

really interested in them doing better

than you have done and it's interesting

because by having this kind of view

where you want them to do their best

this it's paradoxical because they might

actually leave you but because you've

risen up so much that you care for their

well-being they probably won't leave you

because they recognize that you are a

inspirational source a person in their

life that actually really cares about

them and that's kind of rare in

organizations because a lot of people

who run organizations they don't want

people to leave because then you know

they'll put all these systems in place

to prevent people from leaving its

scarcity thinking essentially they just

want to keep people there and that

restrains them and they don't feel like

they're cared for the people in the

organization don't feel like they're

cared for and then what happens is they

do end up leaving and ends up becoming a

self-fulfilling prophecy however the

paradox of wanting the best for your

people even more so that if they leave

you you will still be happy for them

grows and builds the organization to

such a high level that they can't leave

you and if they do leave you they'll

figure out some partnership with you in

which both parties will win hence the

same if you know the enemy and know

yourself your victory will not stand in

doubt if you know heaven and you know

earth you may make your victory complete

this is again about knowing what battles

you should fight studying the components

of your enemy your competitors etc and

understanding where your strengths and

weaknesses are and focusing if you're

going to battle them on their weaknesses

with your strings understanding what

your weaknesses are and they're going to

essentially attack your weaknesses with

their strengths to put up defensive or

deceptive methods to deflect the

awareness on your weaknesses and put

that awareness on your strengths they

try to attack you with arrogance on your

strengths but meanwhile you're strong

there because you have essentially

smokescreen them to go in a different

direction

that is all the kind of things that's

important to understand prior to getting

into battle prior to going into the

environment now a lot of times you can't

get all that data but the objective is

to get as much of that data as possible

and if you need to fight a battle try to

put it more in your favor as possible

and that comes as a result by knowing

yourself your strengths your weaknesses

your people and so forth that go to

battle with you and that same of the

opponent the nine situations throw your

soldiers into positions where there is

no escape and they will prefer death to

flight if they face death there's

nothing they may not achieve officer

officers and men alike will put forth

their utmost strength this is called the

death round strategy and the death

ground strategy is something we can

actually do for ourselves we can take

ourselves from the comfort and luxury of

escaping out of the battle and actually

place ourselves where we have to make

out victorious we have to be victorious

or we end up perishing now you could do

this through accountability one of the

things that I like to do is if I don't

complete my list of tasks in my business

for example by the end of day that have

been outlined in the start of the day

then I have to donate a certain amount

of money to somebody a lot of different

things that you can do that essentially

causes you to feel the burn if you don't

if you're not able to achieve the

outcome and thus it'll motivate you and

force you to do it and you can be very

creative with this but we have to have

something like that if we find ourselves

constantly not hitting our objective

prohibit taking the taking of omens and

do away with superstitious doubts then

until death itself comes no comity need

be feared so one of the things that I

like to do is avoid any type of

superstitious doubts if something is

superstitious

is and it's going to help me think more

empowered and it's going to move me

forward then I'm going to accept it but

if something says that I can't do what

my grand strategy or my purpose in life

is to be I'm not going to believe it the

reason why I'm not going to do that is

because it distorts the mind it's

essentially a weakness when your brain

is injected or infiltrated with a doubt

or an idea that you can't achieve the

outcome that you want by somebody else

so the environment then what will happen

is that you're going to look for ways to

not get the outcome that you want so

it's good to make sure that you only

internalize the concepts that ensure you

victory while being aware of the things

that could hold you back or they could

stand in your way but not becoming

doubtful of yourself as a result of them

next by altering his arrangements and

changing his plans he keeps the enemy

without definite knowledge by shifting

his camp and taking securities roads he

prevents his enemy from anticipating his

purpose so essentially what this means

is that you have to be able to

constantly switch up the routine that

you have in place if you're in a very

competitive environment if you have a

lot of people that are trying to take

your position or if you have a lot of

people that are trying to take you out

not in a positive way then switching up

your things that you do your routines

your plans and everything like that will

mix up your enemy they won't be able to

figure you out and you might want to

deploy some smokescreen strategies so

that they think that they figured you

out from a certain place only to have

them be led astray and wasting their

time essentially while you're actually

making the moves that you need to make

this goes back to what I talked about

earlier where you have to be humble and

not look for validation and certain

kinds of approval from the environment

and so forth you're essentially looking

for objective data to help your strategy

move forward and as a result of that

you're going to have no need to one

impress

people and do things on in a environment

people can see in a conspicuous way

instead you're going to do it

underground where people can't see and

they're only going to know what you want

them to know about you or what they need

to know about you depending on what your

strategic outcome is but your real grand

strategy is done in silence and people

can never figure you out even if they

try their hardest they'll never be able

to figure it out because when you know

they're trying to figure you out you're

going to give them certain information

to lead them astray if the enemy leaves

a door open you must Rush in so again

when it comes to marketplace when it

comes to competition your job is to

exploit it and exploit it in a way

obviously that's ethical but exploit it

when it's open if you miss the

opportunity you might not get it again

every market or every competitor even

yourself

it's very unlikely that you're going to

be a hundred percent spot on with

everything you do like it's very

unlikely

so there are exploits there are weak

areas you have to train yourself to be

able to look for the exploits and the

weak areas train yourself to do that in

people and doesn't mean you actually act

on the exploits and the weak areas but

you study how to look for exploits in

weak areas and if you need to act on

them you do it if it's going to

essentially hold you back if that person

is trying to hold you back or if you

need to so you can move the position

forward again make sure that you're

being ethical when you do this because

there's repercussions in areas like

business and so forth so the key here is

understanding how to determine what an

exploit is and where a door is left open

and figure out how you can get in there

in many different areas of your life and

then knowing when to do it and when not

to do it next the attack of fire move

not unless you see an advantage use not

your troops unless there is something to

be gained fight not unless the position

is critical you have time you have

energy you have opportunity cost you

have resources and you have

be able to work with these if you don't

know how to work with them you're going

to exhaust yourself and you're not going

to achieve your grand strategy same

thing applies to business if you see an

advantage then you move forward if you

don't see an advantage why would you

move forward in that thing when there's

probably other things that you can do

that there is advantage try to focus on

things that have the advantage and then

require as minimum input that can

produce maximum output as possible again

I talked about this earlier in the

example when I brought up a Daymond John

said about opportunity one step away

from the money in the sense that you're

looking for opportunities that are not

like get-rich-quick

but essentially opportunities that are

arbitrage or that can easily be captured

from the environment and executed upon

instead of creating this complex process

and all these different things you got

to do just to eventually and inevitably

hit the same outcome of the same level

of profitability that you could have hit

had you had shifted your thinking more

into a different direction where you

move only on advantages okay and again

your troops and your people are valuable

resources you have to be able to move

towards an advantage as quick as

possible so you can get that outcome so

you can gather more resources so you can

build your troops further and then the

same applies to them you have to instill

that philosophy in them and a lot of

times fighting is not necessary you know

sons who talked about this even though

this book is about war essentially the

the ideal goal is to win the war without

any casualties or to win the war with

the fewest amount of casualties not just

you know brute force go at it this is

strategy strategy's not done that way so

you don't need to fight battles unless

it's absolutely critical because those

battles can be costly and you only fight

the battles if you know you're going to

win or the odds are in favor if you have

to fight a battle and the

odds are not in favor well then maybe

what you've done is you've not

preemptively and proactively figured out

all the dynamics at plate that got you

into that in a situation that could be

too late but that's why it's important

to start now and work with what you have

most likely we're not in a situation

where it's do-or-die and there's things

we can do to prevent ourselves from

being a situation where it's do-or-die

so the key is to focus on that right now

and place ourselves in as many

situations where it's advantageous but

also in situations that we don't find

ourselves in a critical need to fight

again if it isn't if it is to your

advantage make a move forward if it's

not stay where you are one of my

favorite sayings that I got when I was

24 years old from very successful

entrepreneur was I was around that age

very successful he said when in doubt do

nothing and I've been reflecting upon

that for many years when in doubt do

nothing and over the years I tend to

implement it more and more and the

reason why it took me so long to

internalize it is because when you hear

a very simple statement like that

oftentimes we overthink it and we add

more complexity to it and then we don't

end up doing it but then as you move up

to higher levels and you can handle a

higher level of complexity in you place

yourself in different environments and

you study these philosophies and you see

how they work in in the world and so

forth you realize that those very

simplistic truth are oftentimes the way

to go so when you're in doubt there's

probably some aspect of whatever it is

that you want to do that you're not

analyzing or figuring out or being aware

of that essentially if you execute on it

it's not going to result in a favorable

outcome so what I try to do is I try to

place myself in as many situations that

if I execute upon them there's no doubt

but if there is a doubt I don't execute

upon it because in any given moment of

time you can either go left or right

okay they're you right now listening to

this you can stop and do something else

or you could do something outside of

whatever else you were going to do is

only like you know few choices that you

can make but each of those choices have

a trickle effect of other choice

and so forth so there's no point in like

doubting something and sitting on that

doubt because it just burns the mental

resources instead it's better to be

analytical about it and think about what

the what the implications are and so

forth but just simply doubting something

and executing upon it when there are

things that you can execute upon that

have no doubt that are no-brainers that

will produce a result isn't it better to

do that use the spies knowledge of the

enemy's dispositions can be obtained

from other men hence the use of spies of

whom there are five classes local spies

having local spies means employing the

services of the inhabitants of a

district inward spies having inward

spies making use of officials of the

enemy converted spies having converted

spies getting hold of the enemy's spies

and using them for your own purpose

doomed spies having doomed spies doing

things openly for purposes of deception

and allowing our spies to note of them

and report them to the enemy surviving

spies surviving spies finally are those

who bring back news from the enemy's

camp so different kinds of spies and the

spies essentially is designed to help

you understand the enemy again know

yourself and know your enemy you have to

know yourself and you have to know who

you're up against

now there's also the enemy within

yourself and figure out some creative

ways to infiltrate the enemy within

yourself which is your own ego study

yourself and then study your external

world that's how you know yourself

that's how you know your external world

that's how you know the people because

just as we go back to the beginning of

the book all warfare is fought on

deception so that means most likely

you're being deceived by the people in

front of you and again it's not about

being paranoid but rather being

objective and focused and aware that

these dynamics exist and it's a way of

life and if you want to rise up to

higher levels of success or you want to

play in environments where there's high

amounts of competition under

stand that this stuff is being used

don't be in denial about it and then

figure out ways to work with it so you

can come out advantageous the enemy

spies who have come to spy on us must be

sought out tempted with bribes led away

and comfortably housed they will become

converted spies and available for our

own service so again know just as you

are deploying methodologies to research

your competition other people are doing

the same to you and there's many

different ways of working with the

people that they sent to you so that

they can give them misinformation or

give you information from your

competitors and so forth hope you

enjoyed this video this is a lot of

information contained within this book

and I'm not doing it any justice by just

sharing these high-level points as you

can see we've been discussing for about

an hour and we've only covered like a

handful of points here and essentially

this book is something that you need to

refer to as much as possible in

different stages of your life to give

you deeper level insights there's a lot

more of insights if you go and study

this book and again like I mentioned in

the beginning studying war might not be

in the top of the list for people but

however I think it should be because it

reveals an important aspect of human

nature war does exist the war exists you

know not just like traditional war what

we actually consider war but

competitiveness in business environments

career social environments etc and the

war in our own mind with our own ego and

things like that do exist so we have to

be able to study it understand it and

apply it and be aware of the different

aspects and refer to something like Sun

Tzu's Art of War

for insights and revelations for pieces

that we might not have figured out yet

because that's what this book is really

helpful for if you want to copy this

mind map it's in the bottom of this

video in the link in the description

thank you very much for watch this video

I hope you enjoyed it I'll talk to you

soon take care