At the same time, I was capitalizing on the newly acquired knowledge by testing different styles and by trying to understand what works and what doesn’t. This resulted in my finally discovering my personal blogging style that is constantly evolving and being refined. Do that with any skill you want to cultivate.

Most of us live our lives totally reliant upon forces that dictate our success or failure. This “attitude” unfortunately contradicts to the antifragility argument raised by the great Nassim Taleb.

We need to be ready to face adversity and unpredicted events. In order to do that we need to possess a diversification-oriented mindset.

If you are an entrepreneur or an investor, for example, I would strongly advise you to not rely only on one project. You should always have a diversified portfolio. If you are an employee, always evolve your skill repertoire and stay up to date with new trends and technologies.

Chaos and complexity urge us to accept that risk should be a crucial parameter of our interactions and decisions. So, embrace it, be strategic, and check out point 9 for further elaboration on the topic of risk.

If you introduce John to Steve and then Steve manages to help John in any way then you made a great connection. Think of this event as another string in the tight network you are constantly trying to build. This network is like a bonus in your video game called life that will eventually help you stand up when you are about to fall down.

It is the invisible power that creates once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and opens new doors in your pursuit of success, they might include:

Finding great employees

Landing difficult interviews

Meeting potential business partners

Extending your social circle

Expanding from the above point, we all need to understand that building a network has never been an easy thing. Nobody wants to help for free. When you embrace this idea, internalize it and always have something to offer. Tangible or intangible, it doesn’t really matter. You can give away anything. Things like:

Ideas

Advice

Help

Small gifts

Anything that will show others that you actually care for them. When you get used to this mindset by making it a regular practice, you will start building the foundations of your network.

Don’t betray anyone. Don’t backstab anyone. Don’t step on anyone’s toes. Don’t gossip.

 All these behaviours imply a scarcity mentality and won’t help you get far. You know how they say that you are what you eat? By the same token, you attract what you are. If you want success and abundance, learn how to behave in a successful and abundant way.

There is enough out there for everyone. Your competition is not other people. Your competition is:

Your procrastination.

Your ego.

The knowledge you neglect to learn.

The antisocial behavior you are nurturing.

The unhealthy food you constantly consume.

Your lack of creativity.

The wrong people you surround yourself with.

I like writing because it helps me discover myself and dive deep into complex topics. And you know what I discovered recently? That once you care too much about what other people think, you lost the game. I’ll support my point with an example. Check out this video of 2 cute babies talking to each other.

Now focus on the dislikes. Way too many dislikes. Why would someone dislike 2 babies that talk to each other? For many reasons. Why would people dislike you? Also for many reasons. Reasons that shouldn’t be of your concern

Whether you are an entrepreneur, a doctor, a lawyer, a young professional, a college student, or you are sitting at home in your sweatpants dreaming of getting that perfect job, you are a brand. Give me a second to illustrate my point.

I know that, normally, when people hear the word brand they naturally think of huge corporations like Apple, Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, Sony, Toyota etc. These huge conglomerates are bombarding you with commercials and subliminal messages on a daily basis in order to increase their brand awareness and stay in your head as an established, well-respected existence.

What does this have to do with you? Everything! The way the above-mentioned companies try to increase their value as a brand, in the same way, you should be doing that too. Examples of people who have managed to do this successfully among others are:

Elon Musk

Tim Ferriss

Russell Brand (even his name includes the word brand!)

They are their own personal brand and they do that by focusing on 4 major principles:

1. Their Expertise. What is your expertise? What is your competitive advantage? What do you know more than others?
2. Their Image. How do you dress? How do you speak? How do you treat others? What does your body language convey?
3. Their Message. What message do you want to pass to others? How do you want to influence them?
4. Their integrity. Are you truly saying what you believe or are you acting just to please others? Is your belief and value system aligned with your words and actions?

Luck? What is luck? Can you please define it for me? According to www.oxforddictionaries.com, luck is defined as follows:

Success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one’s own actions.

I always hated vague terms. Terms that are defined by intuition rather than reason. So let’s shed some light of reasoning on luck’s definition. It seems that luck is defined by using the words “apparently” and “chance.”

Chance: “A possibility of something happening.”

Apparently: “As far as one knows or can see.”

Both terms have something in common. In order for them to exist, they require a person’s action to be initiated. Chances and apparent situations are created by your willingness to pursue them. They are happening when you know where they are. Same does luck. When people use the term luck in the wrong context, always have one thing in mind: They have no idea what luck really means.

Risk is an instance that involves exposure to dangerous situations. It is this fragile factor that can bring you from the bottom to the top and vice versa. It is the partner you really want in your life but you are afraid that will cause trouble anytime.

You are being gentle with them, enjoying them, nurturing them, but, at the same time, you don’t want them to get too excited. You don’t want to let them expose you to their volatility. They know that you can have each other on very strict terms but when you see that these terms are close to jeopardy, you need to know when to let them go.

Success doesn’t come without risk. Learn to embrace it.

People will respect you if you know how to succeed, but at the same time, they will respect you if you know how to fail. Be strategic when it comes to failure. Learn from your mistakes and capitalize on the lessons you learned.

Furthermore, in order to make this idea a practice, you need to be honest with yourself and also with your surroundings. Say what you really believe and express yourself in a confident and elegant manner. Nobody can be an advocate for you if you don’t know how to promote yourself first.

But most importantly be patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Similarly, your new brand needs time to be sculptured. Go slow, take risks, be strategic and enjoy the ride.

I know that I was a bit straightforward and assertive in this article. I know that I have evoked mixed feelings. But I also know that these feelings were hidden deep inside you and for various reasons you were suppressing them and weren’t helping them emerge.

Trust me, it is good that these feelings came out. They are the first step toward your complete awakening. Whether you will really wake up or not, that I don’t know.

The choice is always yours.