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The Art of Strategic Thinking (How to Become Wildly Successful at Anything You Do) — Transcript

by Dan Koe · 9,446 words · 1,392 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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  1. 0:00Everyone is racing to be successful
  2. 0:01right now, and as you'd guess, 99.99%
  3. 0:04of them will not, in fact, become
  4. 0:06successful. Because they're all obsessed
  5. 0:08with the wrong thing. They're obsessed
  6. 0:10with the Claude code skills that they're
  7. 0:12collecting from Instagram posts that
  8. 0:14tell you to comment a keyword in order
  9. 0:16for them to DM you, so you can follow
  10. 0:18them, so that they can send you the link
  11. 0:21to the skill that you're going to try
  12. 0:22once and never use again. They're
  13. 0:24obsessed with the YouTube videos that
  14. 0:26teach them how to build a profitable
  15. 0:28business in five actionable steps, and I
  16. 0:30still don't understand why people are so
  17. 0:32obsessed with actionable steps and
  18. 0:35bullet point summaries, because that's
  19. 0:36not going to help you in the slightest
  20. 0:38if you don't have understanding or
  21. 0:40context or experience. They're obsessed
  22. 0:43with tactics. You know, the same
  23. 0:45knowledge that everyone else has access
  24. 0:46to. Do you not realize that all the
  25. 0:49information you could ever need to make
  26. 0:50a hundred million dollars is readily
  27. 0:52available to you online, in books, or
  28. 0:55just inside of an AI chat if you talk to
  29. 0:57it long enough. Have you ever stopped
  30. 0:59and wondered why everyone in the world
  31. 1:01isn't making millions of dollars right
  32. 1:03now? Have you ever considered that the
  33. 1:04actionable advice you crave so much
  34. 1:06won't get you anywhere unless you know
  35. 1:08how the pieces you're picking up fit
  36. 1:10into the entire puzzle. So, why is this?
  37. 1:12Why are so many people trying to
  38. 1:15desperately aim for success, but get
  39. 1:17nowhere close to achieving it? One is
  40. 1:19because they're exchanging one form of
  41. 1:21cheap dopamine for another more
  42. 1:23insidious form. I would argue that
  43. 1:25endless tactic collection by endlessly
  44. 1:28consuming YouTube videos around business
  45. 1:30and self-improvement is worse than just
  46. 1:33doom scrolling brain rot videos because
  47. 1:36you're getting a sense of fake progress.
  48. 1:39At least with the doom scrolling videos,
  49. 1:40you just feel bad about yourself. But
  50. 1:42with the self-improvement and business,
  51. 1:43and even this video, you feel bad about
  52. 1:45yourself, but you also get this false
  53. 1:47certainty that you're making progress
  54. 1:49just by watching the video. The second
  55. 1:51reason is because they don't have a
  56. 1:53strategy that allows them to use the
  57. 1:56tactics they're collecting to their
  58. 1:57highest degree. Tactic collection or
  59. 1:59tactics in general which is just
  60. 2:01execution. Strategy is positioning,
  61. 2:04tactics is execution. If you don't have
  62. 2:06a strategy that one exposes you to the
  63. 2:09right tactics that you didn't even know
  64. 2:11about in the first place or didn't
  65. 2:13register as an opportunity, then you're
  66. 2:14just going to be thrown around like a
  67. 2:16puppet by internet marketers because
  68. 2:18they know how to capture your attention
  69. 2:19and persuade you that something is
  70. 2:21valuable even if it may not fit your
  71. 2:23specific situation and your specific
  72. 2:25mind. Now, if you're this type of person
  73. 2:27who just collects tactics, I'm not
  74. 2:28trying to belittle you. I do the same
  75. 2:31thing quite often right now and I did it
  76. 2:33a lot more in the past. I got stuck in
  77. 2:35tutorial hell. I took all the courses. I
  78. 2:37tried and failed at seven different
  79. 2:39business models. Facebook ads, SEO, drop
  80. 2:42shipping, web design, digital art and a
  81. 2:44few more and I wouldn't even consider
  82. 2:45them businesses. I would consider them
  83. 2:47hobbies because I would learn the high
  84. 2:49value skill and that felt good. I would
  85. 2:52start the LLC and that felt good. I
  86. 2:55would build the website and try to write
  87. 2:57the copy for it so that it's persuasive
  88. 2:59and that felt good. But when it came to
  89. 3:01actually getting a customer, getting
  90. 3:04someone to pay me, I was nowhere to be
  91. 3:06found. And the missing piece was a
  92. 3:08strategy, but not just a strategy, the
  93. 3:11ability to think strategically because
  94. 3:14how else are you going to create a
  95. 3:15strategy? And that's an incredibly
  96. 3:16difficult thing to learn, but that's
  97. 3:18what we're here to talk about. That's
  98. 3:19the secret behind Steve Jobs, Alexander
  99. 3:23the Great, military strategists in
  100. 3:25general. Most great and successful
  101. 3:27people that we look up to have the
  102. 3:29ability to think strategically. They may
  103. 3:32not say that that is their superpower or
  104. 3:34their secret because they may be
  105. 3:35unconsciously competent, but that is
  106. 3:38exactly it. It all comes down to
  107. 3:39strategy and that's what I'm going to
  108. 3:41show you not only how to learn, but how
  109. 3:43to do in this video. We're going to
  110. 3:44create a life strategy and you're going
  111. 3:47to learn the principles that you can
  112. 3:48take and apply to anything that you do.
  113. 3:50Be it business, sports, relationships,
  114. 3:53anything. We're also going to talk about
  115. 3:55the nine traits of a master strategist,
  116. 3:57and especially how a lack of strategy
  117. 4:00means a lack of control over the outcome
  118. 4:03of your life. As we begin, the only
  119. 4:05thing I ask of you is that you actually
  120. 4:07listen and attempt to implement what I
  121. 4:10say. You take notes, you actually do
  122. 4:12something aside from just watching the
  123. 4:14video and then letting it leave your
  124. 4:16mind 30 minutes later. So, section
  125. 4:18number one, strategy is getting yourself
  126. 4:20into a superior position while at the
  127. 4:22same time making sure your opponent is
  128. 4:24in a worse one. And this section is all
  129. 4:26about understanding the quote, "Tactics
  130. 4:29flow from a superior position." from
  131. 4:31Bobby Fischer, who is a chess
  132. 4:32grandmaster. Now, let's walk through a
  133. 4:34simple chess match. I'll try not to bore
  134. 4:36you here. We'll make it quick just so we
  135. 4:37can get to the point, but player one in
  136. 4:39the chess match spends the first part of
  137. 4:41the game doing things that look boring.
  138. 4:43They aren't attacking, they aren't
  139. 4:44capturing any pieces, and from the
  140. 4:46outside it looks like they're not doing
  141. 4:47anything. They're just moving their
  142. 4:49pieces to certain squares on the board.
  143. 4:51And in a game like chess, you're playing
  144. 4:53on a grid, but not all of the squares on
  145. 4:56that grid are created equal. It's the
  146. 4:58same with life. A piece in the center of
  147. 5:00a board can reach many more places than
  148. 5:03a piece stuck behind a corner. Now, in
  149. 5:05the game, player one slides a rook onto
  150. 5:07an open lane where nothing blocks it.
  151. 5:09They place a bishop on a path that
  152. 5:11points straight at the enemy king. They
  153. 5:13place a knight on a square near the
  154. 5:15middle of the board. And meanwhile,
  155. 5:17player two has pieces just getting in
  156. 5:19each other's way. Their most powerful
  157. 5:20pieces are trapped behind their own
  158. 5:22pawns. Their king is stuck in the middle
  159. 5:24of the board because they never found a
  160. 5:26safe moment to tuck it away in a corner.
  161. 5:28Player two was only reacting to player
  162. 5:30one's moves. So, player one moves their
  163. 5:32knight to a square where it can attack
  164. 5:34player two's king and queen at the same
  165. 5:37time. And in chess, this is called a
  166. 5:39fork. So, your opponent can only save
  167. 5:41one. Those are two very powerful pieces,
  168. 5:44the king and the queen. So, losing
  169. 5:46either one is not good. So, of course,
  170. 5:48player two has to move his king so he
  171. 5:51doesn't lose the game, but that leads to
  172. 5:53player one being able to take their
  173. 5:54queen, which is the most powerful piece
  174. 5:56on the board, and it's essentially game
  175. 5:58over at this point. But, the thing here
  176. 6:00is the lesson is that any player who got
  177. 6:03to that exact arrangement of pieces
  178. 6:05could have played that game-winning
  179. 6:07move. The reason player one got there is
  180. 6:09because they spent the entire game
  181. 6:11building up to it. So, if you were to
  182. 6:13remove any of those boring steps from
  183. 6:15the start, the fork, or the game-winning
  184. 6:17tactic wouldn't exist. The knight would
  185. 6:19have gotten blocked, and the king would
  186. 6:21have escaped as a defending piece
  187. 6:23arrived. So, the real lesson is strategy
  188. 6:26is getting yourself into a superior
  189. 6:28position while at the same time making
  190. 6:30sure your opponent is in a worse one.
  191. 6:32Strategy is the work of making your
  192. 6:34position better and your opponent's
  193. 6:36position worse move by move until the
  194. 6:38gap between the two is so large that
  195. 6:41tactics start appearing on their own.
  196. 6:43Now, the interesting thing here is that
  197. 6:45in the game of life, you are both the
  198. 6:47opponent and the player. Every decision
  199. 6:49you make changes your own position, and
  200. 6:52most people are just completely blind to
  201. 6:54where they are. If the average person's
  202. 6:56life were a chess match, they probably
  203. 6:58have gotten into a game-winning move
  204. 7:00before, but they didn't even realize it.
  205. 7:02They weren't able to act on that
  206. 7:03opportunity because it was just
  207. 7:05unconscious to them. They didn't have
  208. 7:07the cognitive flexibility or
  209. 7:08architecture, which we're going to talk
  210. 7:10about in the next video, to actually
  211. 7:11know when they can execute on a specific
  212. 7:14tactic to get a big reward. That's why
  213. 7:17strategy has to come first because if
  214. 7:19you want to actually succeed at building
  215. 7:21the side business or the creator
  216. 7:23business like we talk about here, or
  217. 7:25just building an aesthetic physique, or
  218. 7:27becoming healthy, or simply getting what
  219. 7:29you want out of life, you can't be like
  220. 7:32most people because most people spend
  221. 7:35zero time strategizing. They don't
  222. 7:37engage in intentional strategic
  223. 7:40thinking. Like, think about your own
  224. 7:42life, right? I do this all the time. We
  225. 7:44all do, but when you're just going about
  226. 7:45your life, are you actually thinking or
  227. 7:47are you just reacting to thoughts and
  228. 7:49emotions? Are you understanding what's
  229. 7:51going on in your head or are you just
  230. 7:53letting it play out? Both have their
  231. 7:54benefits, right? They're different modes
  232. 7:56of thinking. There's creativity and
  233. 7:57there's productivity. Creativity
  234. 7:59benefits from a more open focus, letting
  235. 8:01your mind be kind of chaotic and then
  236. 8:03picking picking certain ideas or pieces
  237. 8:06and synthesizing them together. And then
  238. 8:07productivity is more strategic, more
  239. 8:10focused, more hierarchical. But most
  240. 8:12people don't engage in productivity in
  241. 8:14that way. They engage in a very narrow
  242. 8:17state of stressful focus based on
  243. 8:19urgency or scarcity because they have to
  244. 8:22to survive. And that is not a good place
  245. 8:24to be in. And lastly, if you observe
  246. 8:27society, you will see that plain tactic
  247. 8:29level thinking is very disastrous. And
  248. 8:32that leads into section number two,
  249. 8:34which is that the average person lives
  250. 8:36in a mindless cycle of struggles they
  251. 8:38can't escape. So, thank goodness you
  252. 8:40aren't actually on a battlefield because
  253. 8:43you'd probably be dead. Most people
  254. 8:45commit highly predictable strategic
  255. 8:47mistakes that if they were in a truly
  256. 8:49violent setting, they would lose and
  257. 8:51winners would be studying what they did
  258. 8:53so that they could do the exact
  259. 8:54opposite. Getting married too early or
  260. 8:57late, not developing mastery in
  261. 8:59anything, trusting that AI can do
  262. 9:00everything for you. And I'm saying this
  263. 9:02as someone who is not anti-AI completely
  264. 9:05because everything is a religion
  265. 9:06nowadays and we don't have to treat
  266. 9:08anti-AI or the flavor of the day drama
  267. 9:11that's going on that's been happening
  268. 9:13every 3 months. It's just a different
  269. 9:15thing that people get obsessed with and
  270. 9:17cry about and play victim with and
  271. 9:20virtue signal on social media. You don't
  272. 9:21have to engage in that and you can see
  273. 9:24the signs of lower levels of thinking in
  274. 9:26those people and you can avoid them.
  275. 9:28Again, we're going to talk about that in
  276. 9:29the next video. But other examples,
  277. 9:31chasing money over meaning,
  278. 9:32irresponsibly going into debt, staying
  279. 9:34in a bad relationship, not investing in
  280. 9:36education, climbing a corporate ladder
  281. 9:38that leads to nowhere. The list just
  282. 9:40goes on. The average person does not try
  283. 9:43to solve their problems or their
  284. 9:45struggles. They get stuck in a routine
  285. 9:47where they live the same day over and
  286. 9:49over again because that's what the
  287. 9:51conditioning process led to in their
  288. 9:53lives. When they were born, their
  289. 9:55parents and teachers injected values and
  290. 9:57beliefs into their head that put them on
  291. 9:59the default path heading toward the goal
  292. 10:01that society wanted for them, which is
  293. 10:03go to school, get a job, retire at 65.
  294. 10:05the industrial paradigm, and most people
  295. 10:07never question that. And by the time
  296. 10:09they turn 20, it had become so
  297. 10:11conditioned in their mind that it's just
  298. 10:13habitual. It's just unconscious. It's
  299. 10:14just what they do. It doesn't cross
  300. 10:16their minds to snap out of it, engage in
  301. 10:18strategic thinking, and change the
  302. 10:20direction of their life so that they can
  303. 10:23eventually reach a more advantageous
  304. 10:25position where their problems aren't so
  305. 10:27painful. They still have problems.
  306. 10:29Everyone still has problems, but they're
  307. 10:31of a lesser magnitude. They're more fun
  308. 10:33and creative problems to solve. You
  309. 10:35start to see life as a puzzle rather
  310. 10:37than a death sentence. So, what I'm
  311. 10:39saying is that everyone has a strategy,
  312. 10:41but for most people, it's not one that
  313. 10:44they created. It's one that they were
  314. 10:45assigned. Their strategy is, again, go
  315. 10:47to school, get a job, retire at 65, be a
  316. 10:49good student, make a decent amount of
  317. 10:52money even though it's not that much, be
  318. 10:54humble, don't stick your nose out. Your
  319. 10:56dreams aren't worth pursuing because
  320. 10:58they're risky, which doesn't make sense
  321. 11:00because risk is the only way to get
  322. 11:02reward. It all just doesn't make sense
  323. 11:04when you actually think about it,
  324. 11:05especially going into the new paradigm,
  325. 11:08which is AI, information, all of that
  326. 11:10stuff. It requires a completely
  327. 11:12different strategy whether or not you
  328. 11:14agree that culture and society should be
  329. 11:16heading in this direction of AI and
  330. 11:18information. That doesn't mean that it's
  331. 11:20not happening. People are so mad that,
  332. 11:22oh, jobs are going to be replaced even
  333. 11:24though I don't know if that's going to
  334. 11:25be the case, but that's what people are
  335. 11:26saying. No matter what it is, you need
  336. 11:28to create a a strategy so that you can
  337. 11:31thrive in the future rather than being
  338. 11:34stuck in the one that you were assigned
  339. 11:37that was only somewhat beneficial to the
  340. 11:40old way of life, the American dream. So,
  341. 11:42how do you actually start to get out of
  342. 11:44this mindless and honestly meaningless
  343. 11:47way of living? And you may not be
  344. 11:48completely in it, but this still applies
  345. 11:50to you to start to create your own
  346. 11:52strategy. Well, you think of it as if
  347. 11:54you're on an actual battlefield because
  348. 11:56in many ways you are. You're living
  349. 11:58under this guise of modern comfort and
  350. 12:01convenience where everything is just
  351. 12:03easy and you're allowed to just coast
  352. 12:05through life and do the bare minimum in
  353. 12:07order to survive, but if you were on a
  354. 12:09battlefield, think of the general. His
  355. 12:11own life was on the line. That forced
  356. 12:14strategic depth. He had to be strategic
  357. 12:18in order to win or else he would die.
  358. 12:20You need pressure. You need tactical
  359. 12:23stress. You need to put yourself in a
  360. 12:24position where you must craft a strategy
  361. 12:27or you lose. Or else you're just going
  362. 12:29to lose either way. Move into an
  363. 12:31apartment you can't afford. Book the
  364. 12:32plane ticket to somewhere you've never
  365. 12:34been. Invest in the business software,
  366. 12:36the course, or coaching even if you
  367. 12:38think it's a scam because at least your
  368. 12:39finances will be put on the line and you
  369. 12:41can't live in a shroud of false comfort
  370. 12:43anymore. So, you get it. You need a
  371. 12:45strategy and you need to develop the
  372. 12:46skill of strategic thinking because
  373. 12:48without those every single decision you
  374. 12:50make in life becomes arbitrary. It
  375. 12:52doesn't matter. It is quite literally
  376. 12:53meaningless because it's not aimed in a
  377. 12:55specific direction. That doesn't feel
  378. 12:57good to think about that every single
  379. 13:00thing that you do every single day
  380. 13:01without a strategy does not get you
  381. 13:04anywhere. I'm being hyperbolic, but
  382. 13:05that's for a reason to actually get you
  383. 13:07to take this seriously. And if the
  384. 13:09outcome of your life is the accumulation
  385. 13:11of the decisions you make, then this is
  386. 13:13arguably one of the most important
  387. 13:15things you could ever do. That leads to
  388. 13:17section number three, how to build a
  389. 13:19superior life position by going so deep
  390. 13:22you see patterns in everything you do.
  391. 13:24Now, in the Book of Five Rings by
  392. 13:25Miyamoto Musashi, there are nine
  393. 13:27precepts or principles every strategist
  394. 13:29should follow. One is don't think
  395. 13:31dishonestly. Two, training is the way
  396. 13:34itself. Three, get acquainted with every
  397. 13:36art. Four, know the ways of all
  398. 13:38professions. Five, understand gain and
  399. 13:41loss in worldly dealings. Six, develop
  400. 13:43intuitive judgment about everything.
  401. 13:45Seven, perceive what can't be seen.
  402. 13:48Eight, attend even to small things.
  403. 13:50Nine, do nothing useless. A strategist
  404. 13:54in Musashi's mind is someone who goes so
  405. 13:56deep into one discipline that they
  406. 13:58discover something universal at the
  407. 13:59bottom of it. You notice patterns that
  408. 14:01aren't specific to business or
  409. 14:03relationships or swordsmanship or chess.
  410. 14:05They are constants and once you see
  411. 14:07those patterns and notice them across
  412. 14:09domains, you become far more effective
  413. 14:11within all domains because you are never
  414. 14:13really starting from scratch. You have
  415. 14:14an understanding of reality as a whole
  416. 14:16on your side. We'll go into how to
  417. 14:18uncover these like universal patterns,
  418. 14:20so to say, but the first time I became
  419. 14:22aware of this is when I started in
  420. 14:25business because for most of my life I
  421. 14:27had been into fitness and in the gym and
  422. 14:30studying nutrition and all of this stuff
  423. 14:32just in my free time. And when I started
  424. 14:34building the business and actually
  425. 14:35seeing some success with it, I'm like,
  426. 14:37"This is progressive overload." Right?
  427. 14:40If you know what progressive overload
  428. 14:41is, where it's like slowly increasing
  429. 14:43the weight over time. You're not trying
  430. 14:45to jump up in huge leaps and bounds of
  431. 14:47weight. You increase by 2.5 lb or 5 lb.
  432. 14:51And the nutrition you eat has to fuel
  433. 14:52the recovery to facilitate that and you
  434. 14:55use that as a metric for how much you're
  435. 14:56growing. Because if you can focus on
  436. 14:58that, that is a great proxy for muscle
  437. 15:00growth, for understanding how much
  438. 15:02muscle you're actually building and
  439. 15:03whether or not you're building muscle is
  440. 15:05if you're consistently getting stronger
  441. 15:07over time. So, all of the variables have
  442. 15:09to come together in order to build
  443. 15:11muscle, which is the end result. But in
  444. 15:13business, making money, the same exact
  445. 15:15thing happens. You need all of the
  446. 15:17variables to come together and you're
  447. 15:18not aiming for a a viral explosion of
  448. 15:21sales like many of the startups are.
  449. 15:23You're aiming for the slow, consistent
  450. 15:25growth, and year after year you look
  451. 15:28back and you're like, holy crap, this
  452. 15:30has been an exponential line. Now, the
  453. 15:33nine precepts or principles that we went
  454. 15:35over define what this strategist or
  455. 15:37master strategist looks like on the
  456. 15:39outside. So, the modern idea of a
  457. 15:41generalist is usually someone who knows
  458. 15:44a little about a lot. They're a jack of
  459. 15:45all trades, but what Musashi is
  460. 15:47describing here is a bit different.
  461. 15:48There's the generalist, there's the
  462. 15:50specialist, and then there's the master
  463. 15:53or the strategist. And this also maps
  464. 15:54quite well to the stages of ego
  465. 15:56development in spiral dynamics. The
  466. 15:58strategist stage is quite achievable and
  467. 16:01comes with the following qualities. The
  468. 16:02first is systems thinking. So,
  469. 16:04strategists see competing systems and
  470. 16:06perspectives simultaneously while
  471. 16:08achievers, who are the self-helpers or
  472. 16:10the businessmen, operate within a single
  473. 16:12system of success and achievement.
  474. 16:14They're also comfortable with paradox,
  475. 16:16so they can hold contradictions like
  476. 16:18being both pro and anti-AI, rather than
  477. 16:21resolving them into clear or false
  478. 16:23answers. They focus on process over
  479. 16:26outcome, so they care about how things
  480. 16:28happen and the principles at play, not
  481. 16:29just the results. They're aware of
  482. 16:31constraints, so they see how their
  483. 16:33assumptions and frameworks shape what
  484. 16:34they perceive. They have a sense of
  485. 16:36meta-awareness, so strategists can
  486. 16:38observe their own meaning-making and not
  487. 16:40just deploy expertise or navigate social
  488. 16:42dynamics, and they have principled
  489. 16:44flexibility. They have strong values but
  490. 16:46adapt methods fluidly versus rigid rules
  491. 16:49or social conformity. The most important
  492. 16:51trait there, in my opinion, is the
  493. 16:53ability to hold paradox or to hold
  494. 16:56multiple frameworks or perspectives.
  495. 16:58What that means is not engaging in black
  496. 17:00and white thinking, which is the lowest
  497. 17:02form of intelligence. And this is one
  498. 17:03massive trap of social media. Every time
  499. 17:05you log on, that's all you see, and you
  500. 17:08react to it, and you get addicted to it
  501. 17:10without even knowing it, and you slowly
  502. 17:12degrade your mental capacity to hold
  503. 17:15paradox. So, as a side note, the
  504. 17:17solution to that is to become a curator.
  505. 17:20You need to carefully protect your mind
  506. 17:22and curate your own sources of
  507. 17:24information and where you're getting
  508. 17:26information from. This is why we built
  509. 17:28the reader and idea capture inside of
  510. 17:30Eden. You can save a link to anything,
  511. 17:33like this YouTube video, and then open
  512. 17:34it in a reader so you can highlight it
  513. 17:37and keep your curated information in one
  514. 17:39place organized on boards. And for
  515. 17:41people who are creators, who actually
  516. 17:43use social media for research, we have
  517. 17:45feed which shows you the top performing
  518. 17:47posts so then you can save those to
  519. 17:49boards, reverse engineer them, study
  520. 17:51them, and then use them as inspiration
  521. 17:53to synthesize into your own writing or
  522. 17:55work or YouTube scripts or newsletters
  523. 17:57or social posts. So, if you want to
  524. 17:59start building your garden for ideas,
  525. 18:01you can start with Eden, the idea
  526. 18:03capture portion, and reading is free via
  527. 18:05the link in the description. Strategists
  528. 18:07see their own constructions as choices,
  529. 18:10their identity, their values, their
  530. 18:12worldview. The master or strategist
  531. 18:13receives the benefits of both the
  532. 18:15generalist and the specialist, both the
  533. 18:18ability to be good at many things so
  534. 18:20they don't narrow their mind to one area
  535. 18:21of study limiting their potential and
  536. 18:23the ability to excel significantly at
  537. 18:25one thing so they can get outsized
  538. 18:27results, preferably in a meaningful
  539. 18:29domain. So, that is our goal, to become
  540. 18:32someone who can embody these precepts or
  541. 18:34principles of the strategist. And closer
  542. 18:36to the end, I'll actually give you a
  543. 18:38shortcut or as close to a shortcut as
  544. 18:41you can get to just studying these
  545. 18:43universal principles directly so that
  546. 18:45you can notice them in your life. And
  547. 18:47for this section, I think the most
  548. 18:48actionable point is the ninth precept,
  549. 18:51which is to do nothing useless. Make
  550. 18:55that your operating principle for the
  551. 18:57next year and you will do incredible
  552. 18:59things. If you were to simply audit your
  553. 19:01thoughts and behavior for usefulness,
  554. 19:03you would rapidly turn your life around.
  555. 19:05As I said, scrolling on social media,
  556. 19:06getting sucked into the dogmatic black
  557. 19:08and white thinking is useless. The
  558. 19:11mindless way of life is a useless way of
  559. 19:13life. So, the questions now are what do
  560. 19:16you actually master? What is your form
  561. 19:18of training? How do you begin to
  562. 19:19understand gain and loss? How do you
  563. 19:21begin to embody the principles of a
  564. 19:23master strategist? And most importantly,
  565. 19:25in my eyes, how do you do something
  566. 19:27useful? That leads to section four,
  567. 19:29which is how to think so strategically
  568. 19:32you finally take back control of your
  569. 19:33life. So, thankfully, we can study what
  570. 19:36makes a good strategy or what strategic
  571. 19:39thinking looks like. And then we can
  572. 19:41reverse engineer it, take the
  573. 19:42principles, and start to apply them to
  574. 19:44our life. And these principles have been
  575. 19:46refined and iterated on over centuries
  576. 19:48of military and war and sports and
  577. 19:51business. You have a massive amount of
  578. 19:53historical wins and losses that you can
  579. 19:55look at. And the beautiful thing is that
  580. 19:57all of these apply to your own personal
  581. 19:59life and success. I've personally
  582. 20:01compiled seven of them here. So, if you
  583. 20:03sit down and actually do this and follow
  584. 20:05through with this, your life will
  585. 20:07change. That doesn't mean that your
  586. 20:09strategy is going to be a winning
  587. 20:10strategy. You can still lose, but it
  588. 20:13sure helps you in not being trampled
  589. 20:15over by your opponent, which is often
  590. 20:17yourself. So, principle one of strategic
  591. 20:19thinking is vision. And I love this
  592. 20:21quote from the account orange book on X,
  593. 20:24"No one ever suddenly gets lucky. If the
  594. 20:25stars suddenly align for you, you
  595. 20:28actually align them, consciously or not,
  596. 20:30by choosing where to live, who to learn
  597. 20:32from, who to marry, who to befriend,
  598. 20:34what lifestyle to maintain, what risk to
  599. 20:36take, and what vision to believe in."
  600. 20:38Now, if you don't have a vision,
  601. 20:41you're lost. You do not have intention
  602. 20:43behind your actions because you don't
  603. 20:45know what your actions are leading to.
  604. 20:47You're holding 10 darts in your hand,
  605. 20:49and those represent the 10 bold
  606. 20:51decisions that will determine the
  607. 20:52outcome of your life, but you don't even
  608. 20:53have a dartboard to aim at. In other
  609. 20:55words, you don't even have a chance to
  610. 20:57hit the board. You don't know where the
  611. 20:59board is. But of course, there is a
  612. 21:01benefit to actually being lost. I'm not
  613. 21:03saying that you should never feel lost
  614. 21:05in your life. Because when you're lost,
  615. 21:07you have a decision to make. You either
  616. 21:09let entropy drag you into oblivion,
  617. 21:11which is that your life gets slowly
  618. 21:13worse and worse over time without you
  619. 21:15really noticing it until it's so bad
  620. 21:17it's like your room getting messy. You
  621. 21:19don't clean your room one day and then
  622. 21:21shirts appear over here and then you
  623. 21:22don't clean it the next then you start
  624. 21:24to notice dust is gathering and
  625. 21:25eventually day after day it becomes a
  626. 21:27pigsty and it's normal to you. That's
  627. 21:30the dangerous part is that it doesn't
  628. 21:32just rapidly get dirty. It happens
  629. 21:34slowly over time in a way where you
  630. 21:36don't even notice it and then it's so
  631. 21:38much harder to get out and that's what's
  632. 21:40happening when you feel lost. You have
  633. 21:43to make the decision to figure it out,
  634. 21:45experiment with new things until you
  635. 21:47find that one thing that's worth going
  636. 21:49all in on. The void is where success is
  637. 21:51born. Now a vision is the ultimate
  638. 21:54outcome that you're aiming for in life.
  639. 21:56It is not a vague wish. It must be as
  640. 21:58specific as it can possibly be. It must
  641. 22:00be compelling enough to motivate and
  642. 22:02guide every action because until you're
  643. 22:04clear about what you want, you can't
  644. 22:06have a strategy at all. Once you are
  645. 22:08clear, you can reverse engineer every
  646. 22:09step and iterate as you go. So if you
  647. 22:11want to become someone who is
  648. 22:12emotionally resilient or deeply
  649. 22:14self-aware and financially independent
  650. 22:16by 35, that's very specific. That allows
  651. 22:19you to evaluate every daily decision
  652. 22:21against it. Scrolling social media for 2
  653. 22:23hours probably doesn't move you toward
  654. 22:25that and without vision you wouldn't
  655. 22:26even register that as a problem in your
  656. 22:28life. As another example, if you want to
  657. 22:30build a 50,000 follower audience or
  658. 22:32newsletter in the personal development
  659. 22:34space that generates enough revenue to
  660. 22:36quit your job in 18 months. Again, that
  661. 22:38is very specific. That is doable. You
  662. 22:40can actively see whether or not your
  663. 22:42actions are leading toward that and then
  664. 22:44you can course correct when they're not
  665. 22:46or you can educate so that you know what
  666. 22:48to do and you know what tactics to apply
  667. 22:50and you know whether or not the tactics
  668. 22:52apply to you so you don't get sucked
  669. 22:54down the distraction rabbit hole on
  670. 22:56social media of people trying to tell
  671. 22:57you their business model is better.
  672. 22:59Every piece of content that you write,
  673. 23:01every platform choice and where you
  674. 23:02choose to grow on social media. Every
  675. 23:04monetization decision can be evaluated
  676. 23:07against the intent. And now, since
  677. 23:09everyone's talking about building a
  678. 23:10personal brand these days, and I'm with
  679. 23:12them, I do think it is the future in
  680. 23:14many ways, especially as a value
  681. 23:15creator, not necessarily an influencer
  682. 23:17that contributes to brain rot and
  683. 23:19ruining people's minds, but someone who
  684. 23:20explores their curiosity and shares what
  685. 23:22they learn and provide some form of
  686. 23:24value, I do believe that that is a very
  687. 23:26good path to go down for people that
  688. 23:28want to go down it. Now, I actually
  689. 23:29created something pretty cool. The link
  690. 23:31is in the description, but all you do is
  691. 23:33you fill out five questions, and this is
  692. 23:35completely free. I built it kind of just
  693. 23:37for fun. But, you fill out five
  694. 23:38questions, and then it researches what's
  695. 23:40working in the market, and then at the
  696. 23:42end it spits out a personal brand
  697. 23:44strategy for you that you resonate with,
  698. 23:46and it builds a board inside of Eden
  699. 23:48with a swipe file of posts that you can
  700. 23:50use as inspiration to create your first
  701. 23:52post because they're based on what works
  702. 23:54and what's performing in the market. So,
  703. 23:56it's pretty cool. Try it out. And if
  704. 23:58you're listening to the Spotify version
  705. 23:59of this video, just go to
  706. 24:00eden.so/brand-strategy.
  707. 24:05Now, the thing here is that vision is
  708. 24:06very difficult to create just by
  709. 24:09thinking about it or imagining it. It's
  710. 24:11very difficult to think about what you
  711. 24:13want and actually know whether or not
  712. 24:15that's what you want. So, instead, it's
  713. 24:17easier to start with inverting it,
  714. 24:20right? An anti-vision or creating a
  715. 24:21post-mortem for your life. And a
  716. 24:23post-mortem is essentially writing out
  717. 24:25every single thing that went wrong so
  718. 24:27that you can avoid it. So, that's step
  719. 24:29one. That's what I want you to do. I
  720. 24:30want you to stop, take out your notes,
  721. 24:32take out a piece of paper, and just
  722. 24:34quickly write this down, and you can
  723. 24:35iterate it and add to it over time.
  724. 24:37First, write your anti-vision, just one
  725. 24:39paragraph. Think of exactly what you
  726. 24:41don't want the outcome of your life to
  727. 24:43be. The second thing is a post-mortem.
  728. 24:45So, reverse engineer why that
  729. 24:47anti-vision would have happened in the
  730. 24:48first place, and what mistakes were
  731. 24:50made, and how to avoid them. And from
  732. 24:52there, it's much easier now to think
  733. 24:56about what your starting vision could
  734. 24:57be, your MVV or your minimum viable
  735. 25:00vision, because it does evolve over time
  736. 25:02as situations change. So, you just need
  737. 25:04one paragraph, one idea of what your
  738. 25:07vision is right now, so that you have
  739. 25:09something to improve because you can't
  740. 25:11improve what doesn't exist. So,
  741. 25:14principle number two is research, and
  742. 25:16we'll start with a quote from Devin
  743. 25:17Erickson. Worry less about which career
  744. 25:20skills AI will take over and more about
  745. 25:22whether you are training to be and
  746. 25:24training your kids to be high-agency,
  747. 25:26perceptive, self-motivated people who
  748. 25:29can navigate an unknowable future with
  749. 25:31an adaptable mind. So, in a war, a
  750. 25:33general sends out spies, studies the
  751. 25:35terrain, and learns the enemy's habits
  752. 25:37and tendencies because you need intel
  753. 25:39before you act. The question is, when
  754. 25:42was the last time you studied yourself?
  755. 25:44When was the last time you audited your
  756. 25:46habits and what kind of life they were
  757. 25:47compounding into? When was the last time
  758. 25:49you paid attention to how your mind
  759. 25:51reacts to silly little things that end
  760. 25:52up clogging your head space for hours on
  761. 25:54end, removing you from your path. Most
  762. 25:57people have zero intel on how to start a
  763. 25:59business, how to build a career, what
  764. 26:01healthy relationships look like, how to
  765. 26:03stay lean and healthy, or what the
  766. 26:05mastery process looks like. They get a
  767. 26:07little spurt of motivation, like for a
  768. 26:09New Year's resolution, go about it
  769. 26:11blindly, and obviously fail because they
  770. 26:13didn't engage in research and
  771. 26:14self-education. That's not a habit for
  772. 26:16them. So, before you begin improving
  773. 26:18your life with something like a
  774. 26:20spirituality practice or anything else,
  775. 26:22you want to study multiple traditions,
  776. 26:24read the research on different
  777. 26:26techniques, talk to people who've done
  778. 26:27it for years, follow a range of social
  779. 26:29accounts in that domain, and understand
  780. 26:31your own psychological patterns and what
  781. 26:33tends to trigger you. You don't just
  782. 26:35grab the first meditation app that shows
  783. 26:37up on an Instagram ad or the first
  784. 26:39tactic that someone tells you for
  785. 26:40clearing your mind and being happy all
  786. 26:42the time that you saw as a tweet or a
  787. 26:44YouTube video. The same thing goes for
  788. 26:46social media. If you're treating this as
  789. 26:49something that you actually want to do
  790. 26:51well at, you need a strategy. You need
  791. 26:53to study what other people in the market
  792. 26:55are doing. You need to understand what
  793. 26:57works, and you need to let that inform
  794. 26:59your strategy. You need to use a
  795. 27:01research tool like Eden or the other
  796. 27:03ones, and scroll the discover feed and
  797. 27:05see what's working, and scroll social
  798. 27:07media and save posts so that you have
  799. 27:09them ready when it's time to write. You
  800. 27:11curate lists of creators, and you study
  801. 27:14them. You don't just blindly scroll
  802. 27:15social media. And once you have enough
  803. 27:17research, you begin to strategize how
  804. 27:20can you wedge yourself into the market
  805. 27:22by doing what works, but by doing also
  806. 27:24what is unique. This is the downfall of
  807. 27:26starving artists because all they want
  808. 27:28to do is practice their little art, but
  809. 27:30they're they won't merge it with
  810. 27:32business. They won't integrate the two.
  811. 27:34They think that by simply going about it
  812. 27:36in a business way just strips all the
  813. 27:37humanity and soul from it, when that's
  814. 27:39not anywhere close to the case. You're
  815. 27:41just not thinking. Again, you're
  816. 27:43thinking in black and white. You're
  817. 27:44letting other people's beliefs and
  818. 27:47polarizing opinions infect your mind,
  819. 27:49and you're not questioning them. You're
  820. 27:50not coming up with your own opinion on
  821. 27:52the matter because obviously, if your
  822. 27:54goal is to actually see success, and
  823. 27:56then you go and do something completely
  824. 27:58different because your beliefs are
  825. 28:00tainted, then that's not ideal. So, if
  826. 28:02you just want to write as art, then go
  827. 28:06ahead and do it. But don't expect anyone
  828. 28:08to give you your attention just because
  829. 28:10you spent a lot of time writing because
  830. 28:12time does not equate to value. It is
  831. 28:14okay. It is perfectly okay to treat
  832. 28:16writing or art as a hobby. But if you're
  833. 28:19trying to do this as a form of
  834. 28:20meaningful work,
  835. 28:22then it is a business. Now, principle
  836. 28:24number three is preparation. And this is
  837. 28:27where you identify your resources, the
  838. 28:29resources that you specifically have,
  839. 28:31and your gaps. Because you wouldn't just
  840. 28:33drop into a battlefield without food or
  841. 28:36logistics or weapons or support. And so,
  842. 28:39once you know what resources you have or
  843. 28:41the ones that you don't, you can start
  844. 28:43building reserves so so eventually you
  845. 28:46can execute on your strategy. The
  846. 28:48resources that most people need to look
  847. 28:49for are money, time, knowledge, skills,
  848. 28:53the location you live, connections, and
  849. 28:55relationships. All of those things are
  850. 28:57valid resources. Just because you don't
  851. 28:59have money doesn't mean that you can't
  852. 29:01create a strategy to say start a
  853. 29:03business because you can still develop
  854. 29:05skill. You can develop knowledge. And if
  855. 29:07you're young, you have plenty of time on
  856. 29:09your hands, right? The ones who are past
  857. 29:12the age of 20, 25, 30, when they're very
  858. 29:15ingrained in their habits and they have
  859. 29:17bills to pay and all these
  860. 29:18responsibilities, they don't have much
  861. 29:20time or money on their hands. So, if you
  862. 29:22lack those resources and they're very
  863. 29:24difficult to get, what other resources
  864. 29:26can you go after? Where can you leverage
  865. 29:29yourself? As an example, before
  866. 29:31attempting some kind of major life
  867. 29:33change like quitting a job or ending a
  868. 29:34relationship or starting a new project
  869. 29:36or venture, you'd probably want to build
  870. 29:38your financial runway, decrease your
  871. 29:40expenses, develop the emotional
  872. 29:42regulation skills you'll need, and line
  873. 29:43up support systems. You don't just rush
  874. 29:45into battle. In other words, you need to
  875. 29:47hedge against risk because every goal
  876. 29:50comes with risk. And as you go deeper
  877. 29:52and deeper into the hierarchy of goals
  878. 29:54you're trying to achieve, the risk only
  879. 29:56gets greater and greater. You may start
  880. 29:58a business as a one-person business like
  881. 30:00we talk about with something like an
  882. 30:01information product or a simple AI
  883. 30:03product, but then what's next? Are you
  884. 30:05going to build a team? Are you going to
  885. 30:06expand? Are you going to go into
  886. 30:08e-commerce? What else are you going to
  887. 30:09do? Or are you going to stick and make
  888. 30:10it a lifestyle business, which is
  889. 30:12perfectly valid, but if you want a
  890. 30:14greater return, if you want more money,
  891. 30:16or potentially more freedom, or just
  892. 30:19whatever you want in life, what is your
  893. 30:21vision? Then you're going to have to
  894. 30:23build the resources so that the risk of
  895. 30:26doing so doesn't absolutely destroy you.
  896. 30:28So, if you don't have many resources,
  897. 30:30then it probably wouldn't make sense to
  898. 30:32start crypto trading or start stock
  899. 30:35trading or day trading because you're
  900. 30:36just going to lose all your money.
  901. 30:38You're gambling at that point, and
  902. 30:39that's not a strategy. You are much
  903. 30:41better off starting smaller so that you
  904. 30:44can acquire resources. That is the
  905. 30:46beginning of your strategy is how do I
  906. 30:48do something that allows me to get the
  907. 30:51resources I need to do what I eventually
  908. 30:54want to do. So, the way that I went
  909. 30:56about that is social media. I knew that
  910. 30:58it was free to access. I didn't need any
  911. 31:00money to start the business. I didn't
  912. 31:01need any money to create an info
  913. 31:03product. I didn't need any money to
  914. 31:04write a book and then that allowed me to
  915. 31:06acquire the resource of money so that I
  916. 31:08could invest into a bigger business that
  917. 31:10I wanted to build, which is Eden, the
  918. 31:11software business. And eventually, soon,
  919. 31:14Saunder, the nootropic business. So, if
  920. 31:15you have these high and mighty dreams of
  921. 31:18doing something massive, right, which I
  922. 31:20think is a very worthwhile thing to do
  923. 31:22and to think about, but it's not
  924. 31:23feasible for you right now, what are you
  925. 31:25doing about it? Just because you can't
  926. 31:27start the business you want to start now
  927. 31:29doesn't mean you can't start another
  928. 31:31form of a business that allows you to
  929. 31:33start that business. Otherwise, you're
  930. 31:34never going to be able to start the one
  931. 31:35you want to start. Now, speaking
  932. 31:37specifically to young people, you have
  933. 31:40so much time on your hands. You are in
  934. 31:42one of the greatest positions you can
  935. 31:44possibly be right now at this point in
  936. 31:46your life. And if you have these high
  937. 31:48and mighty dreams, in my opinion, the
  938. 31:50best thing you can do is just hedge
  939. 31:51against risk as much as you can so that
  940. 31:53you can take risk and have nothing to
  941. 31:55lose. What that means
  942. 31:57is selling everything you own. Living in
  943. 31:59a depression apartment, as Devon calls
  944. 32:01it, aka an apartment that costs nothing.
  945. 32:04You just have no standard of living for
  946. 32:06your young years and you cut all your
  947. 32:09expenses so that everything you have can
  948. 32:11go into the thing that you're building
  949. 32:13because you have the resource of time,
  950. 32:14but you don't have the resource of
  951. 32:15money. So, you need to pull all of your
  952. 32:18reserves in and put it toward generating
  953. 32:21the resource of money. Now, principle
  954. 32:22number four of strategic thinking is
  955. 32:25focus, specifically concentration of
  956. 32:27force. So, a quote from Greg McKeown
  957. 32:29from the book Essentialism, is there a
  958. 32:32point at which doing more does not
  959. 32:34produce more? Is there a point at which
  960. 32:36doing less, but thinking more, will
  961. 32:38actually produce better outcomes? So,
  962. 32:40focus, or concentration of force, is the
  963. 32:42military principle of focusing all of
  964. 32:44your resources at the decisive point,
  965. 32:47rather than spreading thin. The best
  966. 32:49example of this is France in 1940, where
  967. 32:51the French had more tanks and troops
  968. 32:53than the Germans, and they had far more
  969. 32:55raw resources, but they distributed
  970. 32:57their armor, or tanks, evenly across the
  971. 32:59entire front, so every sector had a few
  972. 33:01tanks. The Germans took every panzer
  973. 33:03they had and drove them through a single
  974. 33:05point, which the French thought was
  975. 33:07impassable, so they barely defended it.
  976. 33:09Focus is about where you put what you
  977. 33:12have, and in life, you only have so much
  978. 33:14of it at any given time. Most people try
  979. 33:16to change their life and place 10% of
  980. 33:18their attention into diet, sleep,
  981. 33:20exercise, meditation, relationships,
  982. 33:22their side hustle, and more, when they
  983. 33:23would get better at all of them faster
  984. 33:27if they focused on the single bottleneck
  985. 33:29holding them back the most. I don't
  986. 33:31think people understand that enough,
  987. 33:33that focus does not decrease your
  988. 33:37progress in all areas. It increases them
  989. 33:39in all areas. By focusing on one thing,
  990. 33:42you increase every other area. And for
  991. 33:45most people, the single bottleneck is
  992. 33:48money, because money buys anything. So,
  993. 33:50if you focused solely on solving your
  994. 33:52financial struggle first, then that
  995. 33:54frees up more resources to put towards
  996. 33:57other areas of your life, like diet. You
  997. 33:59can afford higher quality food. When you
  998. 34:01have more money, you're in a less
  999. 34:03stressful state. You can think more
  1000. 34:05creatively. It benefits your creative
  1001. 34:06work and spirituality. And with those
  1002. 34:08three things, a clearer mind, and a
  1003. 34:10better diet, and more energy, and
  1004. 34:12potentially more time to go and
  1005. 34:13exercise, that benefits your
  1006. 34:15relationships. And the same applies to
  1007. 34:17business. On something like social
  1008. 34:18media, there is more to growth than just
  1009. 34:20content, so cross-posting to all
  1010. 34:22platforms takes away time you could be
  1011. 34:24spending building connections with
  1012. 34:26people that will help you grow. You'd
  1013. 34:27gain more followers by focusing on one
  1014. 34:29platform first, which can then be used
  1015. 34:31as leverage to grow on the other
  1016. 34:33platforms faster than you would have in
  1017. 34:35the same amount of time spreading your
  1018. 34:37force across all platforms. One tangible
  1019. 34:39example of that is that I chose Twitter
  1020. 34:42or X as my first platform and I solely
  1021. 34:44focused on that. I built connections on
  1022. 34:45that platform and I still know and talk
  1023. 34:48to those connections today. But, when I
  1024. 34:50had somewhat of a large following on
  1025. 34:52Twitter, when I decided I wanted to
  1026. 34:54deploy my strategy on Instagram and grow
  1027. 34:57there, I found people with a large
  1028. 34:59following on Instagram and said, "Hey, I
  1029. 35:01have a large following on X. Do you want
  1030. 35:03to help each other grow by sharing each
  1031. 35:06other's content on either platform?" And
  1032. 35:08that alone allowed me to grow on
  1033. 35:10Instagram so much faster than anyone
  1034. 35:12else just starting from scratch. This is
  1035. 35:14something we teach in week four of the
  1036. 35:16Creator Bootcamp. Now, principle number
  1037. 35:17five of strategic thinking is just
  1038. 35:20execute or execution. And from Alex
  1039. 35:22Hormozi, strategy is how you choose to
  1040. 35:25allocate your limited resources against
  1041. 35:27unlimited options. Proper execution of
  1042. 35:29strategy is the continuous act of
  1043. 35:31jumping between macro vision and micro
  1044. 35:34daily action, ensuring that the
  1045. 35:35decisions you make have aim and
  1046. 35:38intention. This is the core of what
  1047. 35:40strategy is, doing the opposite of what
  1048. 35:4299% of people do, because most people do
  1049. 35:45not think outside of their conditioning,
  1050. 35:47assigned goals, or repetitive routines.
  1051. 35:49But, how do you actually execute
  1052. 35:51effectively? This is where everything
  1053. 35:53starts to come together. First, you
  1054. 35:55practice holding your vision in the back
  1055. 35:57of your mind. Write it down somewhere
  1056. 35:59and look at it every morning. It must
  1057. 36:00become a part of who you are through
  1058. 36:03repeat exposure. Second, take note of
  1059. 36:06what you learn from studying your
  1060. 36:07opponents or yourself. Meditate on it,
  1061. 36:09contemplate it, let it marinate in your
  1062. 36:11mind so that it can start to make
  1063. 36:12connections. Third, identify the primary
  1064. 36:15resource that you can leverage. For
  1065. 36:17young people, it's time and freedom,
  1066. 36:18most likely. For some, it's capital. For
  1067. 36:21others, it's an internet audience. For
  1068. 36:23more, it's a weird set of interests and
  1069. 36:24knowledge. And yes, for many, it's AI,
  1070. 36:27but not from the low-level sense. AI
  1071. 36:29gives high agency people the ability to
  1072. 36:31do so much more, and it gives low agency
  1073. 36:33people a reason to play victim and
  1074. 36:35complain. But, the trap for the high
  1075. 36:37agency person is that now they have
  1076. 36:38unlimited options. They can do anything.
  1077. 36:40So, concentration of force, strategic
  1078. 36:42thinking is even more important than
  1079. 36:44ever, because you can do anything with
  1080. 36:46AI, but that doesn't mean you're going
  1081. 36:47to get anywhere. And fourth, choose your
  1082. 36:50concentration of force play. Where is
  1083. 36:52the single highest leverage point? The
  1084. 36:54one that would unlock progress in more
  1085. 36:56than one domain, the thing that makes
  1086. 36:58everything else easier. And from there,
  1087. 37:00we have a soft plan, but it needs to be
  1088. 37:02crystal clear. We have to reverse
  1089. 37:04engineer our vision down into a
  1090. 37:06hierarchy of goals that allows us to
  1091. 37:09gain perspective and clarity on our
  1092. 37:11daily actions. They can't be so far away
  1093. 37:13from each other. You have to see how
  1094. 37:15your daily actions slowly contribute to
  1095. 37:18your vision, because in many cases,
  1096. 37:20they're not going to directly contribute
  1097. 37:21to it. You're going to take a daily
  1098. 37:22action, and you're not going to be able
  1099. 37:24to see how it actually is creating your
  1100. 37:26vision. That's why you have to break it
  1101. 37:28down and see the entire system. So, take
  1102. 37:30your vision, and then work backward to
  1103. 37:33one your goals, 90-day objectives,
  1104. 37:35weekly priorities, and daily habits.
  1105. 37:37Every step should trace back to the
  1106. 37:39intent or vision. If it doesn't, set it
  1107. 37:41aside. That is your sign to take the
  1108. 37:43piece of paper that you took out earlier
  1109. 37:45and to write this down with everything
  1110. 37:46else. Now, principle number six is adapt
  1111. 37:49or adaptability. And a quote from Mihaly
  1112. 37:51Csikszentmihalyi, "It is not possible to
  1113. 37:53experience a feeling of control unless
  1114. 37:55one is willing to give up the safety of
  1115. 37:57protective routines. Only when a
  1116. 37:59doubtful outcome is at stake, and one is
  1117. 38:01able to influence that outcome, can a
  1118. 38:03person really know whether she is in
  1119. 38:05control." What that means is that a
  1120. 38:07rigid strategy or routine is a losing
  1121. 38:09strategy or routine, especially in
  1122. 38:11today's world where the rate of change
  1123. 38:13is extreme, right? During the industrial
  1124. 38:15age and up until now, not too much
  1125. 38:18change. That's why it's so deeply
  1126. 38:19ingrained to go to school, get a job,
  1127. 38:21retire at 65 because the societal system
  1128. 38:23was built up according to that paradigm
  1129. 38:25with the goal. But now with AI and
  1130. 38:27disruption and all of this stuff,
  1131. 38:29everything is changing every 3 to 6
  1132. 38:32months and the rate of change will only
  1133. 38:34increase and it's going to filter out so
  1134. 38:36many people who get stuck with a rigid
  1135. 38:38strategy and aren't able to adapt. So,
  1136. 38:40in my eyes, the future belongs to the
  1137. 38:42true strategist at this higher level of
  1138. 38:44thinking that we'll dive into more in
  1139. 38:46the next video. Because masters can
  1140. 38:48adapt on the fly because they have the
  1141. 38:50universal principles that they can apply
  1142. 38:52to all domains. They don't necessarily
  1143. 38:54need to relearn everything. They don't
  1144. 38:56need to upskill or reskill or re-educate
  1145. 38:59because they can do that extremely fast
  1146. 39:01on their own. So, your job is to respond
  1147. 39:04to what's actually happening then and
  1148. 39:05there on the battlefield, not your
  1149. 39:07mental fabrications of worst-case
  1150. 39:09scenarios or your fantasies that are not
  1151. 39:11yet real. So, if you committed to a
  1152. 39:13morning routine as an example, but your
  1153. 39:15job schedule changed, you don't just
  1154. 39:17abandon the routine. That's what most
  1155. 39:19people do. Don't do what most people do.
  1156. 39:21The vision and intent of your strategy
  1157. 39:24doesn't change, which is becoming, let's
  1158. 39:26say, more disciplined and grounded.
  1159. 39:27That's why you created a morning
  1160. 39:28routine. But the tactics do. If a
  1161. 39:31particular meditation or business
  1162. 39:33strategy stops working after 6 months,
  1163. 39:35then you need to change. You need to
  1164. 39:37experiment and try something new. You
  1165. 39:38need to be in the constant state of
  1166. 39:40experimentation. And that's just the
  1167. 39:42principle that systems fall apart over
  1168. 39:44time. You should expect that. Think of
  1169. 39:46the Notion system that you built out 6
  1170. 39:48months ago and don't use now. Or the
  1171. 39:50Claude skill you downloaded and don't
  1172. 39:51use anymore. You have to be skilled
  1173. 39:53enough to know when something isn't
  1174. 39:55working. The same is true with social
  1175. 39:57media. I have people come to me all the
  1176. 39:58time and it's like, "Dan, I posted this
  1177. 40:00and it was supposed to work according to
  1178. 40:01all of these things that I learned, but
  1179. 40:03it didn't work. What do I do?" You
  1180. 40:04adapt. You experiment. You keep trying.
  1181. 40:06This isn't a job. You don't just study
  1182. 40:08and train a repeatable set of tasks. You
  1183. 40:11have to have the entrepreneurial mind,
  1184. 40:13the creative mind. You have to be in
  1185. 40:14this constant state of taking in what's
  1186. 40:17going on and interpreting it and then
  1187. 40:19outputting it and then slowly getting
  1188. 40:21better at that entire process over time.
  1189. 40:23Now, the way you actually practice this
  1190. 40:24is review, reflection, and prediction.
  1191. 40:27You need to schedule this weekly. You
  1192. 40:29need to review your week, see if you're
  1193. 40:31on track, reflect on your progress, and
  1194. 40:33predict where you're heading. And this
  1195. 40:35doesn't need to be in any fancy template
  1196. 40:37or thing that you download. This is like
  1197. 40:39just keep a piece of paper
  1198. 40:41by your computer. I have this little
  1199. 40:42tiny notebook where I just jot things
  1200. 40:44down because I understand that if I try
  1201. 40:47to keep up with a note-taking system, I
  1202. 40:49don't keep up with it. That's not how
  1203. 40:50your mind works. It kind of has to be
  1204. 40:53messy. You have to embrace just putting
  1205. 40:55an idea down and letting it get lost.
  1206. 40:57And if it's important, you will remember
  1207. 40:59it. That's the library feature of Eon.
  1208. 41:00You just drop ideas in and we auto-tag,
  1209. 41:03auto-categorize everything for you. But
  1210. 41:05you don't even need that. You can use
  1211. 41:07Apple Notes. You can use the notebook.
  1212. 41:08You can use anything. Just get in the
  1213. 41:10habit of writing things down. Now, the
  1214. 41:12final principle number seven, the
  1215. 41:13principle of all principles of strategic
  1216. 41:16thinking is the study of principles.
  1217. 41:19Now, with this section, I encourage you
  1218. 41:21to adopt the belief that everything is a
  1219. 41:24skill. Everything is a field of study
  1220. 41:27that you can stack experience in and get
  1221. 41:29better at. Money, mindset, beliefs,
  1222. 41:32relationships, business, social media.
  1223. 41:35Everything that you think is luck is not
  1224. 41:36luck. It's skill. It's only luck because
  1225. 41:39you're gambling and you don't have
  1226. 41:40strategy. And strategy itself is a field
  1227. 41:43of study with principles that hold
  1228. 41:45across domains. The more you study
  1229. 41:47strategy and its principles, the better
  1230. 41:49you become at applying them to your own
  1231. 41:51life situation. It is a lifelong ongoing
  1232. 41:54practice. So, read Sun Tzu. Read about
  1233. 41:56cognitive biases. Study how habits form.
  1234. 41:58Learn the principles of negotiation.
  1235. 42:00Study why content goes viral. Study how
  1236. 42:02attention economics works. You don't
  1237. 42:04just copy what other creators do. You
  1238. 42:06study the principles so you can come up
  1239. 42:08with your own moves. That is essentially
  1240. 42:10what originality is because nothing is
  1241. 42:12original, nothing is authentic. It
  1242. 42:14honestly peeves me when people like
  1243. 42:17people get in little arguments on social
  1244. 42:18media of like, "Oh, you copied my idea
  1245. 42:20and you copied my idea." But, you're
  1246. 42:22just looking through the lens of
  1247. 42:23specificity, right? Did they copy your
  1248. 42:25niche? You guys write about the same
  1249. 42:27topics. Did they copy how you walk? You
  1250. 42:29guys both walk, you're both human, you
  1251. 42:30both speak the English language. Did you
  1252. 42:32come up with that all on your own? Did
  1253. 42:34you come up with any of the words that
  1254. 42:37you speak on a daily basis? Did you
  1255. 42:39create the clothes that you wear? Have
  1256. 42:41you actually audited the beliefs in your
  1257. 42:43head? How original and authentic are you
  1258. 42:45actually? Why do you treat this as some
  1259. 42:47form of high value that you can stand on
  1260. 42:49to virtue signal to other people? When
  1261. 42:51you'd get much better results in life
  1262. 42:52when you actually leaned in to what
  1263. 42:53nature and authenticity is. Now, I'm not
  1264. 42:55saying that plagiarism is good by any
  1265. 42:57means, but I am saying that people take
  1266. 42:59it way too seriously and that people are
  1267. 43:02allowed to have similar ideas. They're
  1268. 43:04allowed to post similar ideas under
  1269. 43:07their brand because they resonate with
  1270. 43:08it. But, yeah, if it's a direct rip,
  1271. 43:10then yeah, credit the person. But, if
  1272. 43:12it's just an inspired idea, welcome to
  1273. 43:15how the world works. Now, beyond that, I
  1274. 43:17believe that the best way to study true
  1275. 43:19principles is to study reality itself,
  1276. 43:22because strategy is the application of
  1277. 43:25reality's principles to human goals. So,
  1278. 43:27I want to leave you with many different
  1279. 43:30things that you can go down a rabbit
  1280. 43:31hole afterwards, right? I'm going to
  1281. 43:32give you a long list and I want you to
  1282. 43:34pick one and I want you to go and read
  1283. 43:36that thing or buy the book or whatever
  1284. 43:39it is, just read it. And, I'll break
  1285. 43:40these up into categories. The first
  1286. 43:42category is just formal systems. The
  1287. 43:44first is cybernetics, the study of
  1288. 43:45feedback loops, control, and
  1289. 43:47self-regulation in any system,
  1290. 43:49mechanical, biological, or social. So,
  1291. 43:51go down a rabbit hole with AI or Google
  1292. 43:53about cybernetics. Systems theory, which
  1293. 43:55is the study of holes, interconnections,
  1294. 43:57stocks and flows, emergence, and
  1295. 43:59leverage points. Go and buy a book on
  1296. 44:01systems thinking. Third is
  1297. 44:02thermodynamics, especially the second
  1298. 44:04law, because entropy always increases.
  1299. 44:06Every ordered system requires energy
  1300. 44:08input to resist decay. Your habits and
  1301. 44:10routines will fall apart otherwise, aka
  1302. 44:13clean your room. I'd recommend the book
  1303. 44:15Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi for that
  1304. 44:17one, even though it's not about
  1305. 44:18thermodynamics, it's a good read though.
  1306. 44:19Now, in the category of philosophical
  1307. 44:21traditions, study Taoism, which is the
  1308. 44:23Tao or Dao, I always forget which one it
  1309. 44:26is, as the ineffable underlying
  1310. 44:27principle of reality. It's wu wei, which
  1311. 44:30is action in accordance with nature, not
  1312. 44:32forced action, yin yang, complementary
  1313. 44:34opposites, and cultivation of effortless
  1314. 44:36mastery. And then there's perennial
  1315. 44:38philosophy, which is the claim that all
  1316. 44:40major wisdom traditions share a common
  1317. 44:42metaphysical core. There's an ultimate
  1318. 44:44reality, the human self can participate
  1319. 44:46in it, and the purpose of life is to
  1320. 44:48realize this. This is like the
  1321. 44:49antithesis of black and white dogmatic
  1322. 44:51thinking. The next category is
  1323. 44:53integrative meta-frameworks. The first
  1324. 44:55is integral theory by Ken Wilber, which
  1325. 44:57maps reality across quadrants, levels of
  1326. 44:59development, states of consciousness,
  1327. 45:00and types. And then there's spiral
  1328. 45:02dynamics, which is a model of value
  1329. 45:04systems development through tiers. It
  1330. 45:06models how humans construct meaning at
  1331. 45:08different stages, which for a strategist
  1332. 45:10is studying reality because it's
  1333. 45:12constructed by the observer. The next
  1334. 45:13category is the esoteric or symbolic.
  1335. 45:16So, hermetic principles or the Kybalion,
  1336. 45:18the book. Mentalism, correspondence,
  1337. 45:20vibration, polarity, rhythm, cause and
  1338. 45:22effect, and gender. A compact set of
  1339. 45:24lens that have influenced a lot of new
  1340. 45:25thought traditions. This is where as
  1341. 45:27above, so below comes from. And then
  1342. 45:29there's also Jungian alchemy. So, the
  1343. 45:31psychological and spiritual process of
  1344. 45:33transformation. It's a framework for how
  1345. 45:35deep change actually works in a person
  1346. 45:37or system. And then the last category is
  1347. 45:39the strategic or mathematical. So, game
  1348. 45:41theory, the mathematical study of
  1349. 45:43strategic interaction, zero-sum versus
  1350. 45:45positive-sum games, the prisoner's
  1351. 45:47dilemma, Nash equilibrium. And then
  1352. 45:49there's evolutionary theory. So,
  1353. 45:51selection, adaptation, fitness
  1354. 45:52landscapes, variation, and retention.
  1355. 45:55And all of these are just lenses that
  1356. 45:56point at how a different facet of
  1357. 45:58reality works. If you were to simply
  1358. 46:00study these domains or those things for
  1359. 46:02the next year, your understanding of
  1360. 46:05almost every skill or discipline or
  1361. 46:07domain or area of learning would rise
  1362. 46:10with it. You will naturally be better at
  1363. 46:12everything you do in life. So, I hope
  1364. 46:14all of that was helpful on strategic
  1365. 46:16thinking. Again, if you want a garden
  1366. 46:18for ideas, a place to curate your
  1367. 46:20knowledge, to save ideas, to save social
  1368. 46:22post quickly on mobile, to research top
  1369. 46:24performing content if you're a creator
  1370. 46:25or writer, and to just have a place
  1371. 46:27where you can dump ideas without
  1372. 46:29worrying about the organization while
  1373. 46:31being able to find them later. This is
  1374. 46:32essentially what I do for videos like
  1375. 46:35these is I read a lot of stuff, I save a
  1376. 46:37lot of stuff, I highlight a a lot of
  1377. 46:39stuff, and then when I choose a topic, I
  1378. 46:40just ask the AI chat to look through my
  1379. 46:42library and it can find novel relations
  1380. 46:45and connections between all of the ideas
  1381. 46:47I've saved and give me potential ideas
  1382. 46:49that I can include in videos like these.
  1383. 46:52The quotes that I used throughout each
  1384. 46:54section was actually done via that
  1385. 46:56process. So, I'll leave it at that.
  1386. 46:58Thank you for watching. Again, I hope
  1387. 47:00you enjoyed the video. Like and
  1388. 47:01subscribe while you're still here. It's
  1389. 47:02just a simple button click that most
  1390. 47:04people forget to do. So, if you could do
  1391. 47:06that, I'd appreciate it and I'll see you
  1392. 47:08in the next video. Bye.

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