I have this as a podcast on my profile if you would rather listen to it than read it
Be Yourself
In essence all good things come to those who be themselves. It puts you outside the box. Others see the difference and they become attracted. They want to be with you and warm themselves at your independence.
You may attract the weak - it's an occupational hazard. If you attract too many of them you will attract those that prey on them. They will see you as competition - and you can do without that.
So you have to ration yourself - by being careful about when and where you come out to play.
Reject Guilt
If anyone tries to make you feel guilty that should set off immediate warning bells. They will be only trying to manipulate and control you. Your mission does not allow you the time to get sucked into those games.
It says in the Art of War that you defeat the enemy by attacking his strategy. It says in the Celestine Prophecy that you collapse a strategy by naming it.
So just say - you wouldn't be trying to make me feel guilty are you? or I don't suppose you're trying to intimidate me are you? They've got nowhere to go then and you can ignore them.
Defend yourself
The world needs you to do whatever the hell it is that you do. This means you have to look after yourself. Keep Fit, Eat Healthy Shite, Ya da, Ya da.
You also need to be able to handle the manipulative, spot trouble coming and intimidate it or keep out of the way. Looking like Phil Mitchell can be handy. Being able to give as good as you get is useful. But always remember there's no rule that says you have to stick around and finish the fight. He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.
Stay in contact with the whole
You are a child of the Universe. That means you have to maintain contact with the source and the intelligence that lies within everything. If you can align yourself with it your power becomes unstoppable. However Religion and too much alcohol can get in the way of this.
It's all about learning when to be open, when to channel the flow and when to shut down and pretend to be a rock. But the rock is still part of the whole - whether it, the whole or the observers like it or not.
Develop your creativity
This is the next step. To be creative you have to be outside the box. To be outside the box you have to be yourself. In order to marshall the resources you have to be connected to the whole. And you have to be the rock to get leverage.
Creativity uses all parts of the self - left and right brain, thinking and instinct, people and systems. It looks for the elegant solution that works. It can't be bothered with rules, conforming and itsy bitsy rules for itsy bitsy people. But it DOES have to be sound and accurate. This is engineering we're talking about here.
It marries being in tune with the whole with having a purpose. Its holism with attitude.
Find allies
Having found yourself you need to find a gang. You can't do it all on your own. You need to work with others who love to do the things that you find a drag. Then you create something that is more than the sum of its parts and takes on a life and momentum of its own.
If you do it right the buggers will never get the genie back in the bottle.
Map the terrain
Sun Tzu said "know yourself, know the enemy and know the terrain in which you're going to fight and you've got a better chance of winning than if you don't."
True in today's world, the arena of engagement behaves more like the weather map than a stable terrain - but the trick is to identify the waves of pressure differentials that you can surf to give yourself a temporary energy injection and be able to move onto the next one as the old one uses up its potential.
You have to know the detail because strategy is bottom up. It's no accident that the first chapter of the Art of War is called estimates.
Integrate
The key skill of the leader is to integrate - to be the patch between different blocks of competence. You have to set the agenda, pick the best people for the job and let them get on with it.
The Tao says its about working with who's there, humbly, and supporting them in their actions - like cooking delicate fish. Alan Sugar says you need to be in the middle, intervening if they get it wrong and generally encouraging them to blame each other.
You take your pick.
Have Fun
If you can't laugh you can't be yourself - and then it all turns to ratshit. Find excuses for everyone to get slaughtered together - doesn't have to be often - 3 times a year is enough.
If you face a disaster together - laugh at it. Laughter is shared bravery. That's what being human is.
Start co-operative - then play tit for tat
Game theory tells us that there are nice strategies and nasty strategies. A nice strategy starts by assuming co-operation. If it gets it then it co-operates more. If it gets shafted it retaliates. But only at about 90%. This sends the right signal but avoids escalation.
Funny thing is nice strategies nearly always win in the long run. You can't win hearts and minds by leading them by the balls whatever Lyndon Johnson might have said.
Someone should tell the Israelis.
David Icke's right - they're all bloody lizards
In the world as it is, to advance within the system involves surrender of humanity. Because if you don't do that they won't include you in. So you have to find the
Only I don't believe that they're biologically lizards - they just might as well be.
Look for the light
Only if you look for the best in people will you escape from the burden of focusing on crap.
Beneficial vengeance is about staying cool, doing no evil and waiting for the Universe to do its worst to those who cross you. Generally doesn't take long.
Snigger.
Expand the pool
If you want to avoid being one of the 2 bald men fighting for a comb you've got to find a way of expanding the cake.
The trouble is, the lizards want to entangle us all in their way of looking at the world - which is a mug-trap.
The only way out is to avoid getting sucked in. Focus on what's real and try and do more with less. That way you can build the lee-way you need into a big enough structure to have the luxury of treating others decently.
Connections
Dudley Lynch divides the world into sharks, carps and dolphins. Sharks don't understand lag, they do more of the same harder when things get tough.
Carp hid their heads in the sand and wait to be eaten.
But Dolphins swim all over the pool, try and make it bigger and collaborate with each other. And once a few Dolphins start collaborating it's all over for the sharks.
Our challenge is to make this story come true.
Emergence
Because what we are about is creating the field, the space, the diversity and the richness so that new structures can take root, grow and thrive. So that they can produce the work and life opportunities that the people need.
This means some information but mainly it means being on purpose to create purpose. To allow individuals the space and tools to create their own life support systems and to associate with each other to build arrangements that are new, powerful lizard-resisting and shark-repellent.
Be competent
It's no good lying on the foam and waiting for heaven on earth to materialise in our laps.
It needs the way of the engineer, the cunning man
It takes competence and cold hard wisdom used with humour and lightness of touch to build new structures to displace the old paradigms.
It needs the head and heart, logic and intuition, magic and engineering to build what we need to build. We need to be wizards to be the change.
To provide the space in which emergent structures can grow to out-compete the corporate wasteland is our purpose.
That's beneficial vengeance.
