You’re working out every day.
You’re building the lifestyle of your dreams
You’re building a business and you’re maxing out your sexual market value.
But things are still going wrong…
You’re still struggling more than you should.
Why?
Because other people keep f*cking your sh*t up.
And you keep letting them.
It’s true that no man is an island, and that everyone needs human connection and good relationships.
But it’s also true that many people are unreliable, unaccountable and sometimes times even dangerous to your well being.
To play the game of life at the highest level you need to do three things:
- Protect yourself
- Be careful who you rely on
- Be careful who you give leverage to
PROTECT YOURSELF
Life in Thailand is good.
The people are friendly, the weather is beautiful, and life is sabai sabai.
It’s easy to fall in love with the place.
Which also means it’s easy to get too comfortable.
Despite it’s beauty, Thailand has some serious issues.
Driving is insane, STDs are out of control, and the Visa system is a labyrinth.
Yet every week I see young kids come over here tempting fate.
Good looking guys, who have good money from their online hustle and their whole lives ahead of them, but they:
- F*ck up their Visa and have to leave every other month
- Drive like maniacs with no helmet
The truth is, it doesn’t matter how hard you’re crushing life, all that sh*t can be gone in an instant.
That border guard who makes $200 a month can deny you entry into your adopted homeland and f*ck up your year.
The girl you met at a bar can leave you with an incurable disease.
And that drunk driver can take your life.
The truth is you’re one bad decision away from waking up to reality under the pale lights of the hospital.
To make sure you keep winning, you need to protect yourself.
As a player in the game of life you can’t have certainty, but you can reduce the probability.
The smart move is to:
- Get the right visa, with the right paperwork so you don’t have to leave often and don’t have problems
- Always wear a condom
- Always drive slow and safe
A few small tweaks and you can reduce your risk of keeping it real going wrong by as much as 80%.
This applies wherever you live, the key is finding the leaks in your game and plugging the holes.
BE CAREFUL WHO YOU RELY ON
Since people are unaccountable and unreliable, relying on them to get what you need isn’t a good idea.
Chances are your man isn’t going to make it to the gym every week at the same time to spot you on your lifts.
Even if it was his idea.
And chances are your girlfriend isn’t going to cook and clean for you every week on schedule.
Even if it’s her idea.
Even the best intentioned people aren’t always reliable.
The truth is, you can’t rely on people to consistently give you what you need.
You can’t expect consistency unless you do it yourself, or pay someone to do it.
Instead of having to rely on a spotter, just do exercises you don’t need a spotter for.
Instead of having to rely on your girlfriend, just pay someone to clean your place and do your laundry.
When you do that not only do you get what you want, but you get better relationships with people.
BE CAREFUL WHO YOU GIVE LEVERAGE TO
Every time you involve someone else in a major, high-investment, long-term goal..
You leave yourself vulnerable, this is a fact.
By involving someone in your goals, you give them leverage over your life whether you realize it or not.
And just like investing, the more leverage you use, the more dangerous your position.
You can do everything right and still watch your dream die.
Because no matter how smart you are, you can’t predict or control what other people are going to do.
You can have a terrific product, work your ass off, be a great partner and still have your business go to sh*t.
Because you can’t control what your business partner is going to do.
I’ve had a business partner do no work and then hold our domain for ransom in exchange for buying him out.
I’ve had a developer partner abandon the company, knowing it would put us out of business.
I’ve seen my friends’ business partner steal $40,000 from him.
It’s no coincidence that the business that succeeded for me was the one I did on my own.
And you can be a great husband, a great father, work your ass off and still have your marriage go to sh*t.
Because you can’t control what your wife is going to do.
50% of men end up divorced and every single one of them thought their relationship was different.
Every single one of them thought that they wouldn’t end up a statistic.
They thought their relationship was different.
But the reality is, you can’t predict a woman’s behavior for the next 40 years.
You can do everything right in your marriage and your wife can still leave (and with half your net worth to boot).
It’s no coincidence that my happiest relationships are the ones that involve the least leverage.
The fact is, the more leverage you give someone, the more dangerous your position becomes.
The smart move is to structure your life to get the benefits of a partnership without the downsides.
Instead of getting a business partner, pay a contractor to do the things you need to do.
Instead of getting a wife, get a girlfriend to meet your sex and affection needs.
Instead of diastrous exits, you get easy, frictionless transitions.
Easy, frictionless exits are your ideal outcomes.
That’s not to say you can’t give other people leverage over you…
You just have to be very, very f*cking careful when you do.
And like any good investor, you make sure that your potential reward well outweighs your risk.
Conclusions
Winning in life is as much about what you do as it is about what other people do.
And you can’t predict or control what other people are going to do, no matter how smart you are.
Burn that into your brain: you cannot predict or control what other people are going to do.
You might think you can, but you can’t.
Other people can f*ck up your sh*t in ways you don’t predict.
That’s why it’s so important to protect yourself.
Now that’s not to say you can’t have great relationships or great partnerships.
I’ve got great friends in my life.
I’ve had some amazing women in life.
I’ve had some amazing business partners.
But that doesn’t negate the fact other people present a clear and present danger for every player.
The fact is you can do everything right in business or in marriage and still fail, and the cost of failure is high.
You can’t end a business relationship with a partner who owns half your company without paying the price.
You can’t end a marriage with a woman who has a claim to half your assets without paying the price.
That’s why it’s so important to manage your risk wherever you can.
Epecially when you can still get the same rewards with none of the downside.
The smart move is to
- Protect yourself
- Limit your reliance on other people
- Be very careful who you give leverage to.
When you do that you can have all the good that other people bring to your life without the bad.
