The 33 Strategies Of War Summary

1. DECLARE WAR ON YOUR ENEMIES

You cannot swing a sword without knowing what to hit with it. It's you against the world and it's you against yourself. Fight your inner demons.

2. DO NOT FIGHT THE LAST WAR

What has worked in the past, may not work again. Forget the past. Adapt to current times, ever-changing, ever-evolving.

3. AMIDST THE TURMOIL OF EVENTS, DO NOT LOSE YOUR PRESENCE OF MIND

You have to stay alert, when everyone else is in uproar. Do not be intimidated by chaos. Do not panic. You seek out the conflict reacting swiftly, when the opportunity presents itself.

4. CREATE A SENSE OF URGENCY AND DESPERATION

Once you come face to face with death, you eliminate life's non-essentials. You overcome trivialities we foolishly care about every day taking our lives for granted.

This war exists on several levels. Most obviously, we have our rivals on the other side. The world has become increasingly competitive and nasty. In politics, business, even the arts, we face opponents who will do almost anything to gain an edge. More troubling and complex, however, are the battles we face with those who are supposedly on our side.

There are those who outwardly play the team game, who act very friendly and agreeable, but who sabotage us behind the scenes, use the group to promote their own agenda. Others, more difficult to spot, play subtle games of passive aggression, offering help that never comes, instilling guilt as a secret weapon. On the surface everything seems peaceful enough, but just below it, it is every man and woman for him-or herself, this dynamic infecting even families and relationships. The culture may deny this reality and promote a gentler picture, but we know it and feel it, in our battle scars.

It is not that we and our colleagues are ignoble creatures who fail to live up to ideals of peace and selflessness, but that we cannot help the way we are. We have aggressive impulses that are impossible to ignore or repress. In the past, individuals could expect a group--the state, an extended family, a company--to take care of them, but this is no longer the case, and in this uncaring world we have to think first and foremost of ourselves and our interests.

Too often we think in micro levels and react to present events

But then nothing in life happens in isolation; everything is related to everything else and has a broader context.

When I came across this theory articulated so well by Robert Green, I had to share it

Because this theory was exactly how I expanded my business.

When I fully grasped it, I had so much clarity.

The ability to increase the value of my services and offers without incurring extra costs.

But first you must know how to connect those dots...

1) Everyone wants something without having any idea how to obtain it.

- I call it lack of clarity or laziness

2) But if you know what you want and what others are capable of, you will be completely prepared.

3) The people you treat nicely will take you for granted. They see you as weak and exploitable.

- Yeap this I agree because blind generosity and kindness indeed breeds a spoiled child.

"Do not be lured by the need to be liked: better to be respected, even feared."