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[strongestseed]

Arnolds 77 Lessons

1. Everything starts with vision. You have to see it before you can achieve it. You will never regret the time you spend to develop a very clear vision. When I say clear, I mean so clear that it plays in your mind like a movie. Before I stepped on a bodybuilding stage, I saw myself standing on the podium holding the trophy. It was like a memory — one that just hadn’t happened yet.

2. Put down your phone. Let your mind wander. I had all the time in the world. We didn’t have a television. We didn’t even have a telephone. My only escape from boredom was disappearing into my own thoughts and dreams. I was lucky. You aren’t. You have a machine in your pocket that can tell you everything about the world. Put it down. Don’t let it tell you who you want to be. Let your mind do that.

3. If you don’t see your vision right away, there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. It’s normal. You need to explore, try new things, read, meet new mentors, learn. You need to…

4. Be curious. Read books. Read magazines. Watch documentaries. Find a subject that gets you going and dive in as deep as you can. If your vision isn’t clear, curiosity is your best bet. Even when it becomes clear, never stop learning.

5. Decide who — not what — you want to be. Make your vision a part of your identity. Don’t say, “I want to be fit.” Say, “I want to be the type of person who can keep up with my kids and grandkids,” or “I want to be the person who everyone looks at on the beach.”

6. Don’t worry about your motivation sounding silly. When I talk to people in the gym, I hear all kinds of motivations. Some people get motivated to prove their naysayers wrong. Some people get motivated to look good for potential partners. Nothing that keeps you moving forward is too silly.

7. Make sure you know the why behind your next move. I hear from people all the time, “I’m finishing college, and I don’t know what I want to do yet, so I’m going to law school or graduate school.” There are fantastic reasons to go into debt for law school or grad school, but you better know who you want to be. If you want to be the next great constitutional lawyer protecting democracy in front of the Supreme Court, or if you want to fight for justice for underserved people, I could go on and on. If you know why you want to continue your education, your tuition becomes an investment. But if you don’t have the “why” yet, suddenly, that debt isn’t an investment but a burden. Instead of doing something that fulfills you, you’ll spend your life doing whatever it takes just to pay those bills.

8. I hear from a lot of people in their 40s and 50s who have a great family and have found success in their profession, but they still feel that they are missing something. They always ask me if it’s time to look for a new vision. I tell them before they leave behind their job, spend some time giving back. Volunteer to coach kid’s sports. Tutor at an after-school program. Feed people at a homeless shelter. Find some way to give back. I think that 40 to 50-year-old itch isn’t always a sign that you need to change your life completely. Often, I think it’s your mind realizing that you’ve become successful, and you have a responsibility to help others because…

9. None of us make it alone. I am not a self-made man, even though I came to America without any money. Claiming I made it on my own would mean disrespecting my parents, the mentors and early coaches, the training partners and friends like Franco, and every single person who reached out and gave me a hand when I needed it. No matter who you are, someone helped you or laid the groundwork for you along the way. Once you accept that, you can see the tremendous responsibility that comes with it. You have a duty to help the next generation.

10. Your vision will grow and change throughout your life. I love the story of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to climb Mount Everest. The press asked him about the view at the top, and he told them that he saw another peak he’d never seen before and started planning how he’d climb that mountain. When you find success, more doors will open. You can find yourself passionate about something you would have never imagined 20 years earlier. Because the truth is…

11. The joy is not in the victory or in standing at the top of the mountain. The joy is the work that gets you there. If you think that the success you envision is the key to happiness, you’re going to be very disappointed when you achieve it. Once you learn to love the work, you’ll never have to worry about being happy or fulfilled because there is always work to be done.

12. Reps, reps, reps. You might think you only do reps in the gym, but repetitions are the key to life. Whether you want to improve at speaking in public or reading books or just eating better, you will need to do reps. Whatever you work at, it becomes easier and less uncomfortable with every rep you do.

13. Discomfort isn’t a sign to stop, it’s a sign to keep going. Being uncomfortable means you are growing. In the gym, your muscles and strength don’t grow from the first 10 easy, fast reps. They grow from the last 2-3 hard and slow reps. It’s the same with everything in life. Learning something new isn’t supposed to be easy. Doing something you’ve never done before will always be hard.

14. If you can make discomfort your friend, you will find that most limits you’ve placed on yourself or others have placed on you are totally fake.

15. Start small. Do one rep of something that takes you out of your comfort zone every day. The more reps you do, the easier it will become to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

16. There is nothing more comfortable than sitting on the couch watching some great TV. But nobody ever changed their life or changed the world from their couch.

17. Train your mind and your body. The Romans had a saying: Mens sana in corpore sano. A healthy mind in a healthy body. One of my earliest mentors, the first person to really encourage my weightlifting dreams, was a local politician named Fredi Gerstl. Fredi supported our weightlifting club and helped us get the equipment that we needed. All he asked for in return was that we train our minds as much as we trained our bodies. He gave us the classic Greek and Roman texts and talked through them with us. Since he encouraged our physical training, we were more than willing to train our minds with him. There is also a lesson in that…

20. If you don’t love failure, how can you love success? It’s the failures and the struggles that give our success meaning. Why would you care about winning if you didn’t know what it felt like to lose?

21. Many people overestimate the risk of failure and let their fear hold them back. In most cases, if you really assess the risk, you’ll see that your fear is overblown. If you fail to get the promotion you want, you won’t be homeless. You’ll just be right where you are right now. If the furthest you can fall is your current status quo, what are you afraid of?

22. Your mind will also exaggerate the embarrassment of failure. It’s important to be honest with yourself about this. First, very few people will know you failed. Second, anyone who knows you failed and takes joy in it — schadenfreude — wasn’t going to cheer for your success anyway, so why do you care what they think?

23. There will always be people who doubt you, who root against you. Let them. You have your vision, and you know the work it will take to bring the vision from your mind into the real world. So ignore the naysayers.

24. Or, if it helps you, use them as fuel. Do the work to prove them wrong.

25. You will find out throughout your life that your own mind can be your greatest enemy. It can be your biggest naysayer. Learning to

30. Don’t bottle anything up. When you feel grief, let it out. When you feel love, let it out. Anything you hold in and bottle up will eventually find a way out, and the longer you wait, the bigger the pressure becomes. Don’t let it become an explosion.

31. Tell people what they mean to you now. I’ve always hated that everybody stands up at a funeral and gives a beautiful eulogy but they didn’t share those thoughts when the person could hear them! I started a new tradition. You might not know this, but every newspaper pre-writes the obituaries for well-known people. Some newspapers have even asked to interview me for my own obituary! It sounds morbid, but it gave me an idea. When one of my dear friends was facing terminal cancer, I knew that I would write a eulogy. Instead of waiting, I did it early. I was able to share it with her before she left us. It was so meaningful that I’ve done the same thing for friends and mentors who are getting older. Trust me — tell them what they mean to you now, and you won’t regret it. Don’t save your thoughts until it’s too late for them to hear them.

32. One thing you learn as you get older is that none of us will get to live forever. It sucks. The older you get, the more death you see. Parents, siblings, friends, mentors. It can seem cruel that the reward for living a long life is outliving so many people that made your life what it is. But I’ve always found comfort in realizing that none of the people who die are gone. They’re with us every day. I once heard a pastor at a church say that they’re like ships sailing out of the harbor. Yes, at some point, as they get past the horizon, we can’t see them anymore. But that doesn’t mean they’re gone. I don’t think we ever lose the people who pass away. They stay with us every day, in our memories, but also in the way they shaped our lives. call it Mickey Mouse. But, I was always willing to try it out. I remember Vince Gironda, who owned one of the biggest bodybuilding gyms in LA, showed me this side-lying deltoid exercise with a light dumbbell. Of course, I called it Mickey Mouse, but then I did a bunch of sets to test it for myself. The next day, I couldn’t move my arms. They were so sore that the Mickey Mouse exercise became a staple for me. It is very easy to look at someone who thinks differently or does things differently than you and just decide they’re wrong. That’s the comfortable path. Why not just try their way? What’s the worst that can happen? If you act like you’re a scientist doing an experiment instead of like a televangelist who knows it all, then you’ll confirm some of your beliefs, but you’ll also challenge others and learn new ones.

35. Surround yourself with people who think differently than you. In the age of social media, it’s easier than ever to build your own chamber and protect yourself from ideas you don’t agree with. Don’t do it. When I became Governor, I appointed almost as many Democrats as Republicans to be part of my administration. Some of the Republicans I appointed were much more conservative than I was. I appointed more women than any Governor before me and more minorities. I didn’t do that so people would praise me. I did that because I know how a white Republican man thinks. I don’t need people to tell me that. I need people around me to fill in my blind spots because the job isn’t to be the Governor of all the white Republican men in California. The job was to be the Governor for 40 million Californians who all think differently and come from different backgrounds. Having people who thought differently than me around the table helped create lively debates, and those debates resulted in out-of-the-box ideas to serve the people. If you’re only talking to people who agree with you, you’re missing out on at least 50% of the brainpower available.

36. Don’t fall for the “Yes Man” trap. The more successful you become, the more people will want to massage your ego. Your true friends and mentors and advisors will be willing to push back. Encourage it. Every big decision can benefit from debate. In fact…

37. Do a “murder board” before your big decisions. I do this for any big interview, press tour, or appearance. You can do it before job interviews or presentations. Get together a couple of people you trust. Tell them to ask you every single question they can possibly imagine. Hard questions, crazy questions. Answer them. When you have trouble with one, talk through it with them, and then try it again. This way, when it’s time for the real thing, nothing can take you by surprise. I told you: reps, reps, reps.

38. Sometimes, everything matters. My team sometimes makes fun of me because I will notice little things like one light bulb out of a hundred that needs to be changed or a spot on the carpet. I believe that getting the little things right is the low-hanging fruit, and if you don’t do it, you risk getting sloppy and taking shortcuts when it really does matter. When you can control something, it doesn’t matter how small it is. It matters because you have the power to change it. And every time you change something when you have the power, that’s a rep to remind yourself you can create change. It’s a rep to remind yourself the shortcuts just cheat you. It’s a rep to remind yourself to get the basics right.

39. Sometimes, nothing fckin’ matters. There are other times that my team makes fun of me because I am so relaxed. We will come to someone else’s event where I’m supposed to speak, and they’ll tell me they’re sorry, but we don’t know when I’ll be on stage. I say, “It doesn’t fckin matter.” Because it doesn’t. We don’t have control. Trying to control something we can’t will only make all of us stressed out, and that won’t help anybody.

40. In fact, most of the time, nothing matters. Focus on the basics. Focus on what you can control. Nothing else matters. I will have people who have never worked out in their life come up to me and ask, “Should I do a push-pull split, or a bodybuilding split, or full body workouts?” I say, “It doesn’t matter. Anything is more than you’re doing now. Just do something.” People will ask about supplements to help their diet when all they eat is processed food. It doesn’t matter. Get the basics right!

41. Don’t major in the minor. There are so many people who worry about the last 5% so much that they never start working on the first 95%. Which supplements should I take? Which workout is optimal? Which diet is best? If you haven’t gotten the basics in order — training routinely and eating mostly real food — you’re wasting your time. Approximately 95% of your results will come from a basic foundation of training and good food. 

42. Don’t optimize. Just start. Stop your research. It’s how you procrastinate. Most of the time, we all know what we need to do. This is where our brains become our enemies. Instead of just starting, our brains tell us we need to research and find the perfect plan, so instead of doing some squats and pushups and drinking a protein shake, we can sit in front of a screen reading about the perfect diet while eating a donut.

43. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of progress. I know a lot of people who will start a workout plan that’s supposed to be every other day, and then as soon as something comes up and they miss a day, they give up. You’re never going to be perfect. None of us are. Just accept it. Progress is about moving forward. So you can only do two workout days this week instead of three? That’s still progress compared to zero workouts. Just keep moving forward.

44. Show up—for yourself, for others, just show up. The biggest difference between successful people and everyone else is that successful people get up over and over again when they fall and just keep showing up. Giving up has killed more dreams than failure ever will.

45. Follow through. Don’t start things you don’t finish. Follow through to the end, and then follow through and make sure everything worked. When I was Governor, there were horrible fires in San Diego, and thousands of people had to be evacuated to their football stadium. Everyone immediately felt the echoes of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, so even though I had total faith in my team, I got down to San Diego immediately. I went to the stadium and the other evacuation site at the fairgrounds, and I asked the people on the ground what they needed. Baby formula, diapers, cots, dialysis machines. I got on the phone and called the grocery stores and the military bases and hospitals to marshal supplies all night. The next morning, before I went to sleep, I came back, and the people who had told me what they needed were surprised to see me. I needed to hear from them that the supplies they needed had arrived. I needed to follow through. Don’t assume things are finished. Make damn sure they are.

46. Don’t do half-reps. It hurts me every time I see someone in the gym doing a lat pulldown or a curl or a bench press halfway. Sure, they can do a lot of reps. But if they half-ass their basic exercises, what else are they half-assing? When you cheat an exercise, you only cheat yourself. Whatever you do, go all out. Otherwise, you’ll always have to wonder what would have happened if you gave it a full effort.

47. There is no magic pill. Believe me. I’ve been around the fitness industry for 60 years of trends and fads and shortcuts.

48. The only shortcut is doing something the right way the first time so that you don’t waste any time on the shortcuts.

49. Sell, sell, sell. No matter what you do in life, you need to learn to sell. Whether you have a product or whether you are the product, we all have to sell something. Become comfortable with selling.

50. Like it or not, EVERYONE has to sell, People tell me, “Arnold, I’m a teacher, I don’t need to sell anything.” Bullshit! You need to sell those students on why they should listen to you. You have to sell the principal on why they should hire you.

51. The first step in sales isn’t talking. It’s listening. You need to know your customer. What are their needs? What are their dreams? Learn to ask questions and then really, truly listen to the answers. That’s how you find the message that will connect.

52. Speak to their heart first, not their mind. If you can develop an emotional connection with someone and understand their feelings, you are already a step ahead of the person who is going to bombard them with logic. There is a time for the logic, but first, get into the heart so the brain is ready to hear your arguments.

53. Even when you aren’t selling, listening is a superpower. I love that old adage that God gave us two ears and one mouth, so we should listen twice as much as we talk. So many people just want to feel like someone cares. And you never know what you can learn. When I’m working on a movie set, I try to listen to all of the different crew members. I once learned all the challenges of

58. Develop a sense of humor. People love to laugh. They like being around funny people. You might think you’re either funny or you’re not. That’s not true. Like everything, you can get better with reps. When I wanted to get into Hollywood, I became friends with a very famous comedian, Milton Berle. I asked him to help me with comedy. Milton would write jokes for me, and then he would critique my timing. (He wasn’t very gentle about it, I remember a few, “Schwarzenegger, you Nazi, you fucked it up!”) The more I practiced, by getting in a joke in every TV appearance, the better I became.

59. Develop a sense of humor about yourself, too. The more you can laugh at yourself, the happier you’ll be. When you fail a lift or you screw something up, practice laughing at yourself instead of beating yourself up. We all can take ourselves too seriously. One way to stress just a little less about life is to laugh at yourself instead of beating yourself up.

60. Seriously, don’t beat yourself up, ever. You need a lot of energy to chase a vision. Don’t waste any of your energy being negative to yourself.

61. But be brutally honest with yourself. When I say, “Don’t beat yourself up,” I don’t mean that if your goal is to lose 20 pounds and you’re stuck that you should ignore that you’re eating dessert every day. You need to be honest with yourself without any negativity. Talk to yourself how you would talk to a friend you’re concerned about. Honesty allows you to figure out a plan to move on from failures. Abusing yourself over it just burns the energy for planning and moving on.

62. If you ever feel stuck, pick three small things you can focus on. Make them so small it’s impossible for you to fail. If your goals are to learn a new language, get in shape, and read more, write all three things on a notecard, and write “5 minutes a day.” When you wake up, do 5 minutes of reading, 5 minutes of pushups and squats, and 5 minutes of language practice before you brush your teeth. Make a tally for each habit on the notecard, and keep it on your nightstand. No matter what, you get that tally every day. Even if you’re about to climb into bed and you realize you didn’t do all three things, you do it and then go to sleep.

63. Slowly grow your goals. Progressive resistance works in the gym and in life, right? After a month, take one of your goals and make it 10 minutes a day.

64. Just to show you the compounding power of progressive resistance in life, if you started in January with 5-minute workouts and added 5 minutes each month, by June, you’d be training a half hour a day. It sure beats those New Year’s resolutions where you commit to training 30 minutes a day and then quit after three weeks, right?

65. Harness the power of small wins. The reason I say to start with small goals is that you need to learn the value of any wins. If you can start your day with three, 5-minute wins, then you’re going to feel that you accomplished something. And you did! Celebrate those little wins. Because here is the reality: you need fuel. Celebrating the little wins teaches you that those little wins compound and build up.

66. You need momentum, not motivation. No matter how fired up you are, motivation will run out. Believe me. I’ve been training for 62 years. There is no motivation that lasts that long. There are going to be days — probably soon — when you don’t want to get out of bed. Those are the days when you need momentum, not motivation. You need a routine. It is going to suck. Just do it.

67. You need patience. It takes time for little wins to build. When you look at someone successful, it’s easy to imagine it happening overnight, but it’s almost never true. They just kept moving forward, sometimes with big jumps, sometimes with tiny steps, and I guarantee there were days they went backward or stayed still. But the trend went upward. I see this all the time in our app. People will say, “I lost 20 pounds in the last 4 months, thank you,” and other members respond, “Wow! Unbelievable!” But at the same time, you’ll see people say, “I only lost a pound this week, what am I doing wrong?” Do the math. 4 months is about 18 weeks. The big transformation looks huge, but it’s

1. 1 pounds per month. Most people won’t get excited about progress that slow — until they see what it means over 4 or 6 or 12 months. In a year, that would be 57 pounds of weight loss. Sadly, most people will never see that success because they’ll be too impatient to see how small wins can build up into huge success. Be patient.

68. Find joy, not happiness. I think one of the nicest things anybody ever said about me came from Jim Lorimer. He said, “If I needed one word to describe Arnold, it’s ‘joy.’ When he’s working, there is joy, when he’s with his friends, there is joy, when he’s with his family, there is joy. I’ve never seen someone have joy in everything they do.” Now, I believe joy is different than happiness. Joy is deeper. People chase happiness, but I think they should chase joy. Happiness is fleeting. You can feel joy when you’re struggling. You can feel joy when you’re grieving the loss of a dear friend. Joy, to me, is having a sense of purpose. It’s what gives meaning to life.

69. We don’t have to be alike to inspire each other. You don’t need to want to be the greatest bodybuilder of all time, a movie star, or the Governor of California to learn from me. You can use these lessons to be the best mom or dad of all time, and I’m inspired daily by all of your stories. If we all took a little more time to focus on how many people there are to potentially inspire us, we’d all realize…

70. The world isn’t as broken as your phone makes it seem. Read your social media feed. Now imagine going to a gym, or a bar, or church, and hearing people talk like that. You’d say, “It’s enough already — stop fucking whining.” But that’s normal on social media! Get out there in the real world as often as you can. Talk to real people, not avatars. You will not find joy on social media.

71. On those days when you feel really hopeless about the world, just go and do something for someone else. Buy a sandwich for a homeless person. Trust me, the second you bring a little positivity into someone’s life, you’ll feel it in your own life. And you’ll prove to yourself that you do have the power to make things better, even if it’s for one person for a few minutes.

72. When you feel down, a quick walk can always get your brain moving. Some days, I wake up, and it feels like the world is a black-and-white movie. It sucks. But when I get moving, even just a little bit, it starts to turn to color. Movement is medicine, and a 5-minute walk can save you a lot of heartache.

73. They have a rule on airplanes that applies to life. You’re supposed to put your oxygen mask on before you help anyone else. Even your kid. It sounds crazy. But I (naturally) asked about it. If you don’t put yours on first, you can pass out before you can help your kid, and then everybody’s screwed. When people tell me they feel selfish working on themselves, whether it’s mentally or physically, I remind them of this. The more you do for yourself, the more you can help others.

74. When I say train your mind as much as your body, I mean in every way. If you injured your leg, you would go to an ortho and a PT and get the help you need. If you feel lost, depressed, or anxious, get the help you need. That isn’t weakness. It’s strength. It’s being honest with yourself and doing the work to get better every day.

75. I need to mention finding a vision one more time because it is that important. It is the real secret to a life of joy. You need a purpose, a reason to live. Take the time.

76. If you take nothing else from this list, please listen to this: leave the world better than you found it. That’s it. If every one of us tries to live up to that simple rule, imagine the world we’ll leave to our grandkids.

77. Put your phone down. Seriously, this was a really long list because I’m so old. Go look around. Take a walk. Find some joy. It’s out there.

[strongestseed]

Buddha

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

[strongestseed]

You might as well be dead.

Bruce had me up to three miles a day, really at a good pace. We’d run the three miles in twenty-one or twenty-two minutes. Just under eight minutes a mile [Note: when running on his own in 1968, Lee would get his time down to six-and-a-half minutes per mile]. So this morning he said to me “We’re going to go five.” I said, “Bruce, I can’t go five. I’m a helluva lot older than you are, and I can’t do five.” He said, “When we get to three, we’ll shift gears and it’s only two more and you’ll do it. ” I said “Okay, hell, I’ll go for it.” So we get to three, we go into the fourth mile and I’m okay for three or four minutes, and then I really begin to give out. I’m tired, my heart’s pounding, I can’t go any more and so I say to him, “Bruce if I run any more,”—and we’re still running—“if I run any more I’m liable to have a heart attack and die.” He said, “Then die.” It made me so mad that I went the full five miles. Afterward I went to the shower and then I wanted to talk to him about it. I said, you know, ‘“Why did you say that?” He said, “Because you might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level

[strongestseed]

Royal Strategy

Buy multi-unit building

Finance with interest only loan

Buy more buildings with the loan

Keep CF for several years up to 10-20 years

Package the whole deal together, sell for profit

Pay off banks (or make buyer pay banks)

Find a new bigger deal/building

Roll profits into a new deal through 1031 exchange in the next 6 month

Reasons:

Depreciation has limit in time

Increase return on money since loan is < CAP rate

Get hold of more buildings

Hedge from inflation (short dollar)

[strongestseed]

Seven Cures for a Lean Purse

1. Start your purse to fattening. For every ten coins you earn in your purse take one and put to another purse, never touch it, spend other nine freely.

2. Control you expenditures so that you spend no more than nine coins out of ten earned.

3. Make your gold multiply. Put each coin to work that it may reproduce its kind like the flocks of the field and help bring to your income, a stream of wealth that shall flow constantly into your purse. 

4. Guard your treasure from loss. Invest your treasure only where your principal is safe, where it may be reclaimed if desirable, and where you will not fail to collect a fair rental. Consult with wise men.

5. Make of your dwelling profitable investment. If any part of nine coins can become profitable investment without detriment to your well-being, then so much faster will your treasures grow. Own your home to not pay rent (only taxes) and love your quarters.

6. Insure a future income.  Provide in advance for the needs of your growing age and protection of your family. Buy insurance or invest more coins from the remaining nine whenever you can.

7. Increase your ability to earn. Cultivate your own powers, study and become wiser, become more skillful.

[strongestseed]

8 Reasons for multifamily

1. Reliable Cash flow

2. Multiplier of money (Leverage)

3. Low cost of debt

4. Hedge Inflation

5. Physical asset - Real thing, not paper

6. Tax right offs - depreciation, deferred tax rule

7. Asset Appreciation

8. Pride of Ownership

[strongestseed]

Black Market of Male achievement

Men want to go out and conquer the world, and conquering the world means making some people uncomfortable.

- Oh look - i just invested a hundred trillion in horse and .. - Oh someone invented a car??? Son of a bitch!

- Oh I have just invested all of my money into 300 Watt Modem technology! What? Somewhat just came up with 9600 Watt technology??? Son of a bitch!

It’s a constant turnover in the civilization, just when you get comfortable, just when you think you have got it nailed.. BOOM there is a sea change, something happens, something changes and your ... is worthless. 

This is something that men understand: we are supposed to go out there, elbow the hell out of the world, fighting for what we want, fighting for what we believe in, fighting for our activity, fighting for our vision, fighting for our passion

We are going to go out there elbow the world and people are going to get annoyed. And men, in general, are fine with that. OK, someone is going to get annoyed!

That’s what men do, they go and mess things up. We kick up the umbrellas we just go and do all this stuff. This is where civilization comes from.

So, weren’t YOU out there in the world? Because you know that very men are stuck in this “don’t go out, don’t shoulder the world, don’t go out and innovate, don’t go out and annoy, don’t go out and piss people off, but stay home, in a structured environment, where you get to FEEL like you are doing something”.

Video games are to achievement like porn is to sex. You are never going to make a family out of pornography. And you are never going to achieve anything in the world by playing computer games.

Why have video games displaced men going out into the world and doing stuff and annoying people?

----

Why are men are not out there in the world? We only have civilization because men were willing to go out there and disturb the nature.

- Sorry tree, you’re in the way! WZZZZZZZZ! Now you are a log cabin.

- Sorry river, you need to be dammed, because i need the water somewhere else! WZZZZZ! Massive human beaver moving stuff all over the place

- Sorry field, I need a place to park my car - WZZZZ!

The only reason we have civilization of any kind is because we are willing to go and annoy and disrupt nature. And the only reason we have human rights is because we are willing to go and disturb and annoy the aristocracy, the kings, the entrenched interests.

The only reason we have separation of church and state because we are willing to go to annoy.

[strongestseed]

Blood flow and mindset

You can’t make the most of your mind if you don’t have blood pumping to it. In fact, research has shown the best way to improve your mind is to improve your heart. Ralph Sacco, M.D. and past president of the American Heart Association observed, “Most people don’t understand the connection between heart health and brain health, and as doctors we’re learning more every day.”

[strongestseed]

Focus

What do you want more of? 

What do you want less of? 

Does [person/activity] bring you more of what you want? 

Does [person/activity] bring you less of what you want? 

[strongestseed]

Be around winners

Make a list of people in your city that are super successful, on the move, who are interested in personal growth, active in charities, who invest time to improve the quality of their lives, and are not just complaining all the time. These are the people you should surround yourself with. I am one of those people. My wife, my kids, and the people who work at my companies are all committed to improving ourselves and helping others be the best they can be and achieve financial freedom.

People committed to success want other people to be successful. People committed to the status quo want to be surrounded by the status quo. If you don’t have the kinds of people around you that you want, go get them. One way to find the right people is to continue investing in yourself. Go to conferences, meetings, join mastermind groups, and network marketing groups.

[strongestseed]

Add income flows

The most common mistake people make when creating multiple flows of income is walking away from the current one. The next most common mistake is moving to secondary flows that are not similar to the first and then being unable to give both proper attention.

When you add a second flow, make a commitment to never ignore the first one. If you join a network marketing company, use it to supplement your first flow (both ways) until at some time in the future you can step away from it and never miss it or have someone else manage it for you. Also, make the flows work both ways. Make your new network of people familiar with the first company where you are working and flow business back and forth, strengthening both flows and both companies.

[strongestseed]

Who’s Got My Money

Make a list of who has your money, the money you want, and figure out what you can exchange with them. Whether you have a service, a product, or an idea, the question to ask yourself is always: “Who’s got my money?” You don’t need to make money, you need to connect with those who’ve already collected money, who have money, and exchange what you have (skills and knowledge) with what they have (money).

Start investing most of, if not all of, your time with those people on your list. Get your millionaire mentality wrapped around this idea and spend every waking hour and all your energy on serving those who need what you have.

[strongestseed]

Sales

If you are in a sales position, then you know what you need to do. Sell more! If you are not in sales, then look for every way possible to add income. Don’t say you can’t, it’s a lie—anyone can create income. Go look for things you no longer want and put them up for sale. Don’t even worry about how much or little you sell them for, sell them and prove to yourself you can increase your income. Whatever you can’t sell, give away to charity and take a tax deduction. Instant tax credit is actually income in reverse, but I will save this calculation for a more in-depth book on wealth building. When you have nothing else to sell, go to your brother or sister’s house and take away all the things they no longer want and sell it online to increase your income.

[strongestseed]

Million Dollars:

Salary $50k x 20 years

Salary $100k x 10 years

Salary $250k x 4 years

Earn $114 per hour, every hour of the year

5,000 people buy $200 product

2,000 people buy $500 product

10,000 people buy $100 product

1,000 people buy $1,000 product

5,000 people pay $17 per month for 12 months

2,000 people pay $42 per month for 12 months

1,000 people pay $83 per month for 12 months

500 people pay 167 per month for 12 months

300 people pay $278 per month for 12 months

[strongestseed]

48 Laws of Power

Law 1 Never Outshine the Master

Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.

Law 2 Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies

Be wary of friends-they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.

Law 3 Conceal your Intentions

Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.

Law 4 Always Say Less than Necessary

When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

Law 5 So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life

Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once you slip, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.

Law 6 Court Attention at all Cost

Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious, than the bland and timid masses.

Law 7 Get others to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit

Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourself what others can do for you.

Law 8 Make other People come to you – use Bait if Necessary

When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him with fabulous gains – then attack. You hold the cards.

Law 9 Win through your Actions, Never through Argument

Any momentary triumph you think gained through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory: The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion. It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not explicate.

Law 10 Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky

You can die from someone else’s misery – emotional states are as infectious as disease. You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.

Law 11 Learn to Keep People Dependent on You

To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted. The more you are relied on, the more freedom you have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear. Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.

Law 12 Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm your Victim

One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones. Open-hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely gift – a Trojan horse – will serve the same purpose.

Law 13 When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest,

Never to their Mercy or Gratitude If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion. He will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself.

Law 14 Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy

Knowing about your rival is critical. Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead. Better still: Play the spy yourself. In polite social encounters, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying.

Law 15 Crush your Enemy Totally

All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way.) If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation: The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge. Crush him, not only in body but in spirit.

Law 16 Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor

Too much circulation makes the price go down: The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear. If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about, even more admired. You must learn when to leave. Create value through scarcity.

Law 17 Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability

Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people’s actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.

Law 18 Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself – Isolation is Dangerous

The world is dangerous and enemies are everywhere – everyone has to protect themselves. A fortress seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you from – it cuts you off from valuable information, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target. Better to circulate among people find allies, mingle. You are shielded from your enemies by the crowd.

Law 19 Know Who You’re Dealing with – Do Not Offend the Wrong Person

There are many different kinds of people in the world, and you can never assume that everyone will react to your strategies in the same way. Deceive or outmaneuver some people and they will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs’ clothing. Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then – never offend or deceive the wrong person.

Law 20 Do Not Commit to Anyone

It is the fool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself. By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others – playing people against one another, making them pursue you.

Law 21 Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker – Seem Dumber than your Mark

No one likes feeling stupider than the next persons. The trick, is to make your victims feel smart – and not just smart, but smarter than you are. Once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives.

Law 22 Use the Surrender Tactic: Transform Weakness into Power

When you are weaker, never fight for honor’s sake; choose surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to recover, time to torment and irritate your conqueror, time to wait for his power to wane. Do not give him the satisfaction of fighting and defeating you – surrender first. By turning the other check you infuriate and unsettle him. Make surrender a tool of power.

Law 23 Concentrate Your Forces

Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flitting from one shallow mine to another – intensity defeats extensity every time. When looking for sources of power to elevate you, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will give you milk for a long time to come.

Law 24 Play the Perfect Courtier

The perfect courtier thrives in a world where everything revolves around power and political dexterity. He has mastered the art of indirection; he flatters, yields to superiors, and asserts power over others in the mot oblique and graceful manner. Learn and apply the laws of courtier ship and there will be no limit to how far you can rise in the court.

Law 25 Re-Create Yourself

Do not accept the roles that society foists on you. Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience. Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define if for you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.

Law 26 Keep Your Hands Clean

You must seem a paragon of civility and efficiency: Your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain such a spotless appearance by using others as scapegoats and cat’s-paws to disguise your involvement.

Law 27 Play on People’s Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following

People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf. In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold power.

Law 28 Enter Action with Boldness

If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.

Law 29 Plan All the Way to the End

The ending is everything. Plan all the way to it, taking into account all the possible consequences, obstacles, and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give the glory to others. By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop. Gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.

Law 30 Make your Accomplishments Seem Effortless

Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be concealed. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work – it only raises questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you.

Law 31 Control the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards you Deal

The best deceptions are the ones that seem to give the other person a choice: Your victims feel they are in control, but are actually your puppets. Give people options that come out in your favor whichever one they choose. Force them to make choices between the lesser of two evils, both of which serve your purpose. Put them on the horns of a dilemma: They are gored wherever they turn.

Law 32 Play to People’s Fantasies

The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant. Never appeal to truth and reality unless you are prepared for the anger that comes for disenchantment. Life is so harsh and distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oases in the desert: Everyone flocks to them. There is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses.

Law 33 Discover Each Man’s Thumbscrew

Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. That weakness is usual y an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need; it can also be a small secret pleasure. Either way, once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage.

Law 34 Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated like one

The way you carry yourself will often determine how you are treated; In the long run, appearing vulgar or common will make people disrespect you. For a king respects himself and inspires the same sentiment in others. By acting regally and confident of your powers, you make yourself seem destined to wear a crown.

Law 35 Master the Art of Timing

Never seem to be in a hurry – hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself, and over time. Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually. Become a detective of the right moment; sniff out the spirit of the times, the trends that will carry you to power. Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely when it has reached fruition.

Law 36 Disdain Things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best Revenge

By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility. The more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it. It is sometimes best to leave things alone. If there is something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it. The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem.

Law 37 Create Compelling Spectacles

Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura of power – everyone responds to them. Stage spectacles for those around you, then full of arresting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your presence. Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are really doing.

Law 38 Think as you like but Behave like others

If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.

Law 39 Stir up Waters to Catch Fish

Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive. You must always stay calm and objective. But if you can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself, you gain a decided advantage. Put your enemies off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings.

Law 40 Despise the Free Lunch

What is offered for free is dangerous – it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth paying for. By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit. It is also often wise to pay the full price – there is no cutting corners with excellence. Be lavish with your money and keep it circulating, for generosity is a sign and a magnet for power.

Law 41 Avoid Stepping into a Great Man’s Shoes

What happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man or have a famous parent, you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them. Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your own making: Establish your own name and identity by changing course. Slay the overbearing father, disparage his legacy, and gain power by shining in your own way.

Law 42 Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep will Scatter

Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual – the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoned of goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them – they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter.

Law 43 Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others

Coercion creates a reaction that will eventually work against you. You must seduce others into wanting to move in your direction. A person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn. And the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and weaknesses. Soften up the resistant by working on their emotions, playing on what they hold dear and what they fear. Ignore the hearts and minds of others and they will grow to hate you.

Law 44 Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect

The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the perfect tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson. Few can resist the power of Mirror Effect.

Law 45 Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform too much at Once

Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit. Too much innovation is traumatic, and will lead to revolt. If you are new to a position of power, or an outsider trying to build a power base, make a show of respecting the old way of doing things. If change is necessary, make it feel like a gentle improvement on the past.

Law 46 Never appear too Perfect

Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.

Law 47 Do not go Past the Mark you Aimed for; In Victory, Learn when to Stop

The moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril. In the heat of victory, arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed for, and by going too far, you make more enemies than you defeat. Do not allow success to go to your head. There is no substitute for strategy and careful planning. Set a goal, and when you reach it, stop.

Law 48 Assume Formlessness

By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack. Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed. The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting order. Everything changes.

[strongestseed]

Love

“Do you remember what I said about money and about the men who seek to reverse the law of cause and effect? The men who try to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind? Well, the man who despises himself tries to gain self- esteem from sexual adventures–which can’t be done, because sex is not the cause, but an effect and an expression of a man’s sense of his own value.”

“You’d better explain that.”

“Did it ever occur to you that it’s the same issue? The men who think that wealth comes from the material resources and has no intellectual root or meaning, are the men who think–for the same reason–that sex is a physical capacity which functions independently of ones mind, choice or code of values. They think that your body creates a desire and makes a choice for you just about in some such way as if iron ore transformed itself into railroad rails of its own volition. Love is blind, they say; sex is impervious to reason and mocks the power of all philosophers. But, in fact, a man’s sexual choice is the result and the sum of his fundamental convictions. Tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I will tell you his entire philosophy on life. Show me the woman he sleeps with and I will tell you his valuation of himself. No matter what corruption he’s taught about the virtue of selflessness, sex is the most profoundly selfish of all acts, an act which he cannot perform for any motive but his own enjoyment–just try to think of performing it in a spirit of selfless charity!–an act which is not possible in self-abasement, only in self-exaltation, only in confidence of being desired and being worthy of desire. It is an act that forces him to stand naked in spirit, as well as in body, and to accept his real ego as his standard of value. He will always be attracted to the woman who reflects his deepest vision of himself, the woman whose surrender permits him to experience–or to fake–a sense of self-esteem. The man who is proudly certain of his own value, will want the highest type of woman he can find, the woman he admires, the strongest, the hardest to conquer — because only the possession of a heroine will give him the sense of an achievement, not the possession of a brainless slut. He does not seek to . . . what’s the matter?” he asked, seeing the look on Rearden’s face, a look of intensity much beyond mere interest in an abstract discussion.

“Go on,” said Rearden tensely.

“He does not seek to gain his value, he seeks to express it. There is no conflict between the standards of his mind and the desires of his body. But the man who is convinced of his own worthlessness will be drawn to a woman he despises–because she will reflect his own secret self, she will release him from that objective reality in which he is a fraud, she will give him a momentary illusion of his own value and a momentary escape from the morel code that damns him. Observe the ugly mess which most men make of their sex lives–and observe the mess of contradictions which they hold as their moral philosophy. One proceeds from the other. Love is our response to our highest values–and can be nothing else. Let a man corrupt his values and his view of existence, let him profess that love is not self-enjoyment but self-denial, that virtue consists, not of pride, but of pity or pain or weakness or sacrifice, that the noblest love is born, not of admiration, but of charity, not in response to values, but in response to flaws–and he will have cut himself in two. His body will not obey him, it will not respond, it will make him impotent toward the woman he professes to love and draw him to the lowest type of whore he can find. His body will always follow the ultimate logic of his deepest convictions; if he believes that flaws are values, he has damned existence as evil and only the evil will attract him. He has damned himself and he will feel that depravity is all he is worthy of enjoying. He has equated virtue with pain and he will feel that vice is the only realm of pleasure. Then he will scream that his body has vicious desires of its own which his mind cannot conquer, that sex is sin, that true love is a pure emotion of the spirit. And then he will wonder why love brings him nothing but boredom, and sex–nothing but shame.”

Rearden said slowly, looking off, not realizing that he was thinking aloud, “At least . . . I’ve never accepted that other tenet . . . I’ve never felt guilty about making money.”

Francisco missed the significance of the first two words; he smiled and said eagerly, “You do see that it’s the same issue? No, you’d never accept any part of their vicious creed. You wouldn’t be able to force it upon yourself. If you tried to damn sex as evil, you’d still find yourself, against your will, acting on the proper moral premise. You’d be attracted to the highest woman you met. You’d always want a heroine. You’d be incapable of self-contempt. You’d be unable to believe that existence is evil and that you’re a helpless creature caught in an impossible universe. You’re the man who’s spent his life shaping matter to the purpose of his mind. You’re the man who would know that just as an idea unexpressed in physical action is contemptible hypocrisy, so is platonic love–and just as physical action unguided by an idea is a fool’s self-fraud, so is sex when cut off from one’s code of values. Its’ the same issue, and you would know it. Your inviolate sense of self-esteem would know it. You would be incapable of desire for a woman you despised. Only the man who extols the purity of a love devoid of desire, is capable of the depravity of a desire devoid of love. But observe that most people are creatures cut in half who keep swinging desperately to one side or to the other. One kind of half is the man who despises money, factories, skyscrapers and his own body. He holds undefined emotions about non-conceivable subjects as the meaning of life and his claim of virtue. And he cries with despair, because he can feel nothing for the woman he respects, but finds himself in bondage to an irresistible passion for a slut from the gutter. He is the man whom people call an idealist. The other kind of half is the man whom people call practical, the man who despises principles, abstractions, art, philosophy and his own mind. He regards the acquisition of material objects as the only goal of existence– and he laughs at the need to consider their purpose or their source. He expects them to give him pleasure– and he wonders why the more he gets, the less he feels. He is the man who spends his time chasing women. Observe the triple fraud which he perpetrates upon himself. He will not acknowledge his need of self-esteem, since he scoffs at such a concept as moral values; yet he feels the profound self-contempt which comes from believing that he is a piece of meat. He will not acknowledge, but he knows that sex is the physical expression of a tribute to personal values. So he tries, by going through the motions of the effect, to acquire that which should have been the cause. He tries to gain a sense of his own value from the women who surrender to him– and he forgets that the women he picks have neither character nor judgment nor standard of value. he tells himself that all he’s after is physical pleasure– but observe that he tires of his woman in a week or a night, that he despises professional whores and that he loves to imagine he is seducing virtuous girls who make a great exception for his sake. It is the feeling of achievement that he seeks and never finds. What glory can there be in the conquest of a mindless body? Now that is your woman chaser. Does the description fit me?

“God, no!”

“Then you can judge, without asking my word for it, how much chasing of women I’ve done in my life.”

[strongestseed]

Money?

“Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?

“When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears not all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor–your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money, Is this what you consider evil?

“Have you ever looked for the root of production? Take a look at an electric generator and dare tell yourself that it was created by the muscular effort of unthinking brutes. Try to grow a seed of wheat without the knowledge left to you by men who had to discover it for the first time. Try to obtain your food by means of nothing but physical motions–and you’ll learn that man’s mind is the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that has ever existed on earth.

“But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made–before it can be looted or mooched–made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can’t consume more than he has produced.’

“To trade by means of money is the code of the men of good will. Money rests on the axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort. Money allows no power to prescribe the value of your effort except the voluntary choice of the man who is willing to trade you his effort in return. Money permits you to obtain for your goods and your labor that which they are worth to the men who buy them, but no more. Money permits no deals except those to mutual benefit by the unforced judgment of the traders. Money demands of you the recognition that men must work for their own benefit, not for their own injury, for their gain, not their loss–the recognition that they are not beasts of burden, born to carry the weight of your misery–that you must offer them values, not wounds–that the common bond among men is not the exchange of suffering, but the exchange ofgoods. Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men’s stupidity, but your talent to their reason; it demands that you buy, not the shoddiest they offer, but the best that your money can find. And when men live by trade–with reason, not force, as their final arbiter–it is the best product that wins, the best performance, the man of best judgment and highest ability–and the degree of a man’s productiveness is the degree of his reward. This is the code of existence whose tool and symbol is money. Is this what you consider evil?

“But money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. It will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires. Money is the scourge of the men who attempt to reverse the law of causality–the men who seek to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind.

“Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he’s evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he’s evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent. The man who attempts to purchase the brains of his superiors to serve him, with his money replacing his judgment, ends up by becoming the victim of his inferiors. The men of intelligence desert him, but the cheats and the frauds come flocking to him, drawn by a law which he has not discovered: that no man may be smaller than his money. Is this the reason why you call it evil?

“Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth–the man who would make his own fortune no matter where he started. If an heir is equal to his money, it serves him; if not, it destroys him. But you look on and you cry that money corrupted him. Did it? Or did he corrupt his money? Do not envy a worthless heir; his wealth is not yours and you would have done no better with it. Do not think that it should have been distributed among you; loading the world with fifty parasites instead of one, would not bring back the dead virtue which was the fortune. Money is a living power that dies without its root. Money will not serve the mind that cannot match it. Is this the reason why you call it evil?

“Money is your means of survival. The verdict you pronounce upon the source of your livelihood is the verdict you pronounce upon your life. If the source is corrupt, you have damned your own existence. Did you get your money by fraud? By pandering to men’s vices or men’s stupidity? By catering to fools, in the hope of getting more than your ability deserves? By lowering your standards? By doing work you despise for purchasers you scorn? If so, then your money will not give you a moment’s or a penny’s worth of joy. Then all the things you buy will become, not a tribute to you, but a reproach; not an achievement, but a reminder of shame. Then you’ll scream that money is evil. Evil, because it would not pinch-hit for your self-respect? Evil, because it would not let you enjoy your depravity? Is this the root of your hatred of money?

“Money will always remain an effect and refuse to replace you as the cause. Money is the product of virtue, but it will not give you virtue and it will not redeem your vices. Money will not give you the unearned, neither in matter nor in spirit. Is this the root of your hatred of money?

“Or did you say it’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil? To love a thing is to know and love its nature. To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men. It’s the person who would sell his soul for a nickel, who is loudest in proclaiming his hatred of money–and he has good reason to hate it. The lovers of money are willing to work for it. They know they are able to deserve it.

“Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.

“Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter. So long as men live together on earth and need means to deal with one another–their only substitute, if they abandon money, is the muzzle of a gun.

“But money demands of you the highest virtues, if you wish to make it or to keep it. Men who have no courage, pride or self-esteem, men who have no moral sense of their right to their money and are not willing to defend it as they defend their life, men who apologize for being rich–will not remain rich for long. They are the natural bait for the swarms of looters that stay under rocks for centuries, but come crawling out at the first smell of a man who begs to be forgiven for the guilt of owning wealth. They will hasten to relieve him of the guilt–and of his life, as he deserves.

“Then you will see the rise of the men of the double standard–the men who live by force, yet count on those who live by trade to create the value of their looted money–the men who are the hitchhikers of virtue. In a moral society, these are the criminals, and the statutes are written to protect you against them. But when a society establishes criminals-by-right and looters-by-law–men who use force to seize the wealth of disarmed victims–then money becomes its creators’ avenger. Such looters believe it safe to rob defenseless men, once they’ve passed a law to disarm them. But their loot becomes the magnet for other looters, who get it from them as they got it. Then the race goes, not to the ablest at production, but to those most ruthless at brutality. When force is the standard, the murderer wins over the pickpocket. And then that society vanishes, in a spread of ruins and slaughter.

“Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion–when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that is does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot.

“Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked, ‘Account overdrawn.’

“When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, ‘Who is destroying the world? You are.

“You stand in the midst of the greatest achievements of the greatest productive civilization and you wonder why it’s crumbling around you, while you’re damning its life-blood–money. You look upon money as the savages did before you, and you wonder why the jungle is creeping back to the edge of your cities. Throughout men’s history, money was always seized by looters of one brand or another, whose names changed, but whose method remained the same: to seize wealth by force and to keep the producers bound, demeaned, defamed, deprived of honor. That phrase about the evil of money, which you mouth with such righteous recklessness, comes from a time when wealth was produced by the labor of slaves–slaves who repeated the motions once discovered by somebody’s mind and left unimproved for centuries. So long as production was ruled by force, and wealth was obtained by conquest, there was little to conquer, Yet through all the centuries of stagnation and starvation, men exalted the looters, as aristocrats of the sword, as aristocrats of birth, as aristocrats of the bureau, and despised the producers, as slaves, as traders, as shopkeepers–as industrialists.

“To the glory of mankind, there was, for the first and only time in history, acountry of money–and I have no higher, more reverent tribute to pay to America, for this means: a country of reason, justice, freedom, production, achievement. For the first time, man’s mind and money were set free, and there were no fortunes-by-conquest, but only fortunes-by-work, and instead of swordsmen and slaves, there appeared the real maker of wealth, the greatest worker, the highest type of human being–the self-made man–the American industrialist.

“If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose–because it contains all the others–the fact that they were the people who created the phrase ‘to make money.’ No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity–to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created. The words ‘to make money’ hold the essence of human morality.

“Yet these were the words for which Americans were denounced by the rotted cultures of the looters’ continents. Now the looters’ credo has brought you to regard your proudest achievements as a hallmark of shame, your prosperity as guilt, your greatest men, the industrialists, as blackguards, and your magnificent factories as the product and property of muscular labor, the labor of whip-driven slaves, like the pyramids of Egypt. The rotter who simpers that he sees no difference between the power of the dollar and the power of the whip, ought to learn the difference on his own hide– as, I think, he will.

“Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips and guns–or dollars. Take your choice–there is no other–and your time is running out.”