As you go though life, you will meet two types of people:

1) Those who seek to exploit you in unsustainable relationships

2) Those who negotiate with you, seeking mutually beneficial, sustainable relationships

The first are abusers, and enemies.
The second are allies.

To know who your abusers/enemies are, and who your allies are; DO NOT avoid conflict, for it is in conflict where you see who is who.

Strong men always define, and always protect their boundaries, when others cross them.

Fail at this, and people WILL exploit you.

When in conflict, allies will hear reason & evidence, honor Truth, and negotiate for a relationship that benefits you both.

Abusers will obfuscate Truth, and will try to manipulate you into abandoning your boundaries by invoking in you, feelings of fear, obligation, or guilt.

Objective Truth, and it's mutual acceptance, is what holds together a negotiated, functional, mutually beneficial relationship.

Abusers are interested in exploitation, NOT functional, mutually beneficial relationships.

Thus, the abuser sees Truth as an obstacle -- an enemy.

Abusers are never interested in Truth when they are abusing/exploiting you.

They will ALWAYS obfuscate the Truth when you defend your boundaries, so as to take more from you than they give you.

Abusers treat the Truth as their enemy.

Watch for this, and note who they are.

how do you know when politicians are GUILTY?
when they attempt to make disclaimers of shock when the People tell them through their acts of public challenge that they are full of sh-- for breaching their fiduciary responsibility.
A-1

There has been documented PROOF of election tampering yet multiple Secretary's of State have signed off on FRAUDULENT ballots and voting, meaning their signed their own GUILTY and COLLUSION verdict...
A-2

The electoral college and congress votes to accept the results after receiving NOTICE OF FRAUD - they are NOW ALL GUILTY OF SELF-CONFESSED MISPRISION OF FELONY, Sedition and TREASON against the United States

Any of have a clue what the penalty is for that?

A-3

Do you also recognize that what was at one point plausible deniability and limited liability has now moved to UNLIMITED PERSONAL liability against each and everyone who voted and certified FRAUDULENT voting results?
A-4

Do you realize that ANY public fiduciary pushing the acceptance of same is their self-confession of being an Accessory After the Fact...
A-5

Why talking to your people is the most important thing you can do!

For a new acquisition, there's a general template I follow for the 1st 100 days.

The Number One point on that list is PEOPLE

I have failed this once, and succeeded once, let me share why this is most important.

1. You are in spreadsheet mode

When working on a new acquisition you are in the numbers and in the models.

Net working capital true-up
First 6 mo cash flow
Valuation multiple
Realizable EBITDA
etc

Many new acquirers don't come out of this, and lose customers, employees, and $$

2. Verifying the Model

Post acquisition, you are verifying the model in realtime, adjusting, making sure you are good with the bank, investors, yourself.

You are checking actual expenses to see if they match.

Perhaps you are implementing a few easy cost cuts.

People!

3. Your people hold the answers.

Often the people that have been there, can will be happy to give you the scoop on

1. customers
2. service improvement ideas
3. Plant issues
4. under / over staffing
5. needs & investments

They have been there, and usually not been able to share

4. Small Window

There is a small window of time where they are:

1. looking to see if they will now have input
2. willing to speak up more boldly than normal
3. Evaluating how they feel about you
4. Earning (or losing) respect for you as an owner

You cannot miss this window!

So sitting right where you are in this moment, you can choose what timeline to jump onto, and the stronger your belief in it is, the faster it will manifest. How do you strengthen your belief? By exposing yourself to the ideas you’re trying to manifest. That’s why (26)

...vision boards are so helpful. If you want to heal yourself, start reading articles about people healing themselves. If you want to make yourself sicker, read the garbage *they* program your mind with. Btw, newsflash, sickness does not exist in the way you think it does. (27)

You can heal yourself, you just need to believe you can to create a shift to that timeline. You change your beliefs by exposing your brain to new thoughts and concepts and ideas. You can actively work for your own betterment, or you can go with the flow- both of these (28)

...choices are equal, neither is right or wrong, they are both just a choice. The second you realize you choose what you see and experience, and the second you realize *they* know this and are trying to beat you to the punch, your entire world cracks open, the veil falls, (29)

...and life becomes literally infinitely more fun and exciting. To backtrack a little, Joy is where it’s at, no matter what is happening around you. Nobody dies at the end any more than you die in your dreams. Quantum immortality is a thing- research it. We don’t know (30)

So, yesterday my dad (74) was bored and I was doing a jigsaw puzzle so I said over my shoulder "make a facetime call". He said "How?" like all boomers do when they want YOU to do it, so I said, "Get your iphone and hit facetime". She bought me in the phone and said "Open it how?"

"With your finger!" I said, incredulous. She bought me the phone and we both stared at it. I realised I'd never taught him to use it. Most phones have whatsapp, I felt like a dope. What kind of apocalypse father doesn't teach a boomer how to use facetime?

So I said, "How do you think this works?" he studied it and applied his finger to the phone icon, sideways. He struggled for a while with a big dramatic sigh said "Will you please just open facetime?" Apocalypse son was overjoyed: a Teaching moment just dropped in my lap!

I said, "The little icon is designed to do one thing: facetime. Study the phone, study the icon, figure out what Steve Jobs was thinking when they tried to solve this problem (the facetime icon is also the phone call icon, but I explained that part wasn't relevant)

I went back to my jugsaw puzzle. He was next to me grunting and groaning trying to get the ting. I should say that spatial orientation, process visualisation and order of operations are not things he... intuits, I knew this would be a challenge. But it was a rainy weekend.

@johnroderick Ugh. I’m going to struggle with this. Need to contemplate after coffee. Smokey and the Bandit was great. I think if I’m to blame The Dukes, I gotta blame Coy and Vance. Need coffee to be sure.

After some coffee induced thought, I have to agree. What is causing the decline of our nation? I think it comes down to a several things: race relations, corruption in government, and the presumed wisdom/righteousness of rural America. We'll start with the last one first.

The only characters in DoH that were not corrupt, were always shown to be moral and won in the end were the rural Duke family. It's important to note, only one of them had travelled outside of Hazzard County when the show started, Luke. He was a Marine.

Yet despite this lack of worldly ways, the Dukes always came out on top. This set the stage for the mythology of the righteousness of rural America. It's values would always see them through. You see this manifest today in the distrust of city-dwellers and foreigners.

The values of rural America trumps all. (No pun intended.) Now we need to address corruption in government. Hazzard County was rife with corruption and nepotism. The county commissioner was related by marriage to the sheriff. When Enos left for L.A, his replacement was the cousin

10 things that I wish to had learned earlier in life:

1) You're not going to be rich by selling your workforce. Instead, create value for society through a business and own equity on it. (more @naval)

2) Workout 5 days/week is easier than trying to be fit. Find a hobby that burns calories, don't miss it twice. Enjoy. @atosjiujitsuhq

3) Find a reason to be grateful every day is easier than the search for happiness.

4) Great books give you superpowers.

One of the sad things we know about abusive parenting is that it often propagates over generations.

I’m very glad my grandfather broke that chain and didn’t become his abusive step-father. Because it turns out that supportive parenting *also* propagates over generations.

About the time I was 9 I was pissed at my parents for something or other, as kids are. And I angrily thought, “When I have kids, I won’t do xxx to them.”
And then it occurred to me that I really liked who and how I was, and their rules had helped make me that.

So I decided I probably *should* parent the way they did.

In retrospect, that was probably a bit too much faith in nurture over nature. I was an only child, so I didn’t have a counter example. Having two kids abused me of *that* theory. :)

But I really value my supportive dad.

My father was *so* supportive of my endeavors, even as an adult, that my first wife’s dad asked her if there was something wrong with me that I needed that much support. (He was the dad she had to actively deceive to study math, and to come to the US).

And it wasn’t just big stuff, it was little things. Like when I had a cloth board for my cosmic wimpout game, and the edges were fraying, he surprised me by sewing a border on it. Or the bunk bed he helped me make for college to fit over my desk. And the stereo cabinet we built.

[ NLP TRICK FOR HABIT FORMING ]

If you want to form a new habit (like, for example, working out every day, going to sleep at X time, eating in a certain way)

Define what is the OPPOSITE of the habit (Being lazy, letting video games disrupt your sleep, binge eat)

And then...

Associate an uncomfortable feeling to it.

One of the best ones is an upset stomach. Do you remember the last one you had acid reflux? gas? belly cramps? nausea?

Now, once you see the red phone emoji, you're going to 'connect' NOT doing your habit to that feeling.

Ready?

☎️

NOW YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ESCAPE THIS.

For example, upon the mere thought of missing one daily workout, you WILL feel stomach cramps. Even nausea.

The only way to go around it will be to work out. That's it.

Of course, you're not hypnotized or anything...

You have to repeat the association in your mind.

Say, you put an alarm for your workout. And when it goes off, it includes the message:

"Last time you didn't work out, you had nausea for hours"

Even if it isn't true.

Please be aware: Make the 'workout' definition an easy one.

For example, a 'workout' can just be a 15 minute warmup.

So, even if it's a really busy day, you will be able to do your 15 minute routine.

If you can do this for one day, you can do it for two.

If you can do this for one week, you can do it for two.

When your reach 90 days:

Young Professional?

If you don’t have a year plan yet, come let’s look at:

'20 Practical Ways To Improve Oneself in 2021'.

First, thanks for being a part of 2020.

To those who continue to take self development and self improvement a personal goal, 2021 will be a better year. 🙏🏾

Remain consistent, persevere and never let go of your hopes and aspirations.

1. SELF REFLECTION

1st thing you want to do really is reflect.

This is very important as it lays down the foundation for any step you are willing to take regarding your career or self development.

It helps you understand:

- Where you are coming from.
- Where you want to be.

Self reflection speaks the truth to you without sugar coating it.

While working in Mushin back then, I asked myself a lot of questions.

- What is the end goal of this path?
- Am I maximizing my full potential and capacity as a person?

2. OUTLINE YOUR GOALS

Once you've reflected on what you really want and where you want to be, it is time to turn your intentions into clearly defined goals.

Always remember that having goals without having a plan in black and white is still a dream.

Outline you goals clearly.

You know, one of the things I've been thinking about during this time of unimaginable grief has been bereavement leave, and how the little time given for grief points to the marginal space human life is given in the world we live in.

I've commented before that so much of the positive thinking or mindfulness seems to be part of a culture that not only personalizes so much struggle but creates this absurd place where your world could be falling apart yet you're encouraged to continuing performing as if it's not

So you have this really absurd existence where it's seen as embarrassing to speak or openly experience the natural and conditioned tragedies of the world, big and small. You lose somebody and after a while, people see it as a drag that you're still sad or not working again.

There's so many cliches around the "get on with it" attitude that sells it as the idea of strength and maturity, when it's really just one of productivity and avoiding making people uncomfortable. I sometimes think kids have it right when they cry openly when they're in pain.

Anyway, I was thinking about how a world can deal with the collective grief of this pandemic. So many lives have been lost, and lives are never singular. For each person, there's connected lives who will be changed forever by the loss. And even worse, the cruel nature of it.

1/Joe (not real name) is a Beninoise young man who has been my family plumber for over 8 yrs. Very effective, competent, friendly & trustworthy, he graduated from petty kitchen sink fixes in our rented apartment to being the only artisan we did not collect a comparative quote for

2/ He has helped with full house plumbing works for 2 projects in the past 6 years, both costing millions in material and labour. But the more important part is, we introduced him to a big man brother, a bank executive, about 5 yrs ago and he has been their own family plumber too

3/ He has helped the brother to do the plumbing jobs in all the projects he has done since then. Impressed with his work (and character), this VI based brother has also introduced him to his friend/neighbour, another bank executive (husband CEO of a bank, wife ED of another bank)

4/ He has been their go to guy for all water issues in their houses. The last thing I saw on his Whatsapp status was video of him fixing the water system of the swimming pool in the palatial home of these execs.

5/ We that introduced him are probably the smallest fry in his portfolio now. But he remains humble. Still use him for renovation work last week. He still takes small N30k jobs from his low to middle income neighbourhood customers.

24 SELF DEVELOPMENT TIPS

1. Make friends with successful people and occasionally buy them gifts and surprise them with lunch because successful people always give and hardly get, so when you give them, they value the gift a lot.

2. Get a mentor and follow his instructions

and respect the relationship. Never beg your mentor for money or disrespect his or her privacy.

3. Make new positive friends as often as possible and ensure you keep the communication line open. Create a network of friends and not just connections.

5. Show kindness to everyone. Some small boys today will be big boys tomorrow. The biggest dog in the neighbourhood was once a puppy. Keep the information/secret to yourself.

6. Always plan ahead and be proactive. He that plans the future works less in the future.

7. Listen to speeches and messages from great teachers, both religious and educational.

8. Attend seminars and trainings on any area you need to improve yourself - Train the trainer, personal development, public speaking, sales etc.

9. Have the habit of keeping a pen and a writing pad handy because ideas come in the form of flashes. The smallest pen is bigger and better than the biggest brain.

10. Make sure at every point in time you are reading a book. If you spend 20 minutes reading daily,

Thread:
There is very real Evil afoot in this world and every single one of us with eyes to see and ears to hear know it. It attacks each of us, daily.
My most prescient point? I'll get to that in a moment.

I am an unapologetically fervent Q follower.
Here is why:

You wake up in a dark room. There is a door to your left, a door to your right, and a chest.

You found a wooden sword. You equip it. It smells moldy and low damagey.

You walk through the left door, and into a cavernous room with columns as wide as a large man.

There's also a large man, in a cloak. "Who goes there??" He asks

You say:

"It's just me, chill yo" you say and do a deuce sign with your hand.

"Oh shit I couldn't tell, it's so dark and cinematic in here" he replies. He offers up a chalice.

"I'm Tim, you must be the player character. Wanna drink some magic juice?" he asks.

You chug-a-lug the dragon jizz or whatever the fuck, leaving none for Tim.

"Damn boy you are thirsty lol" says Tim, laughing out loud. "Turn that cup over for a surprise"

You turn it over and notice the base has three buttons that let you choose the magic power you get.

@Will_Bunch OK, so 25 years ago I set off with 3 friends (one who I am now married to) to hike amongst the Dogon people of Eastern Mali. Little did I know that the research I made for that trip was to have this moment for me to shine. A thread:

Those of you who believe in free will. I have some questions for you.

1. When you suddenly wake up at 2am and can't stop thinking about work and can't go back to bed for hours and hours because your brain won't shut off. Would you say you have free will during that time?

2. When you really don't want to do something but you know you have to do it so you do it, would you consider that to be free will?
For instance suppose you're a parent and you've got a sick kid vomiting in their bed, all night. Then they wake you up at 6am hungry and needy.

3.Suppose there's something you know you should do but just aren't doing it. Like getting out of bed on time, or doing exercise, or cleaning the toilet. You know you should and you want to, but you just aren't. So if you want to but aren't doing it, where's the free will in that?

4. Pick a random number from 1-1000. Got one? Is picking something at random free will? You're trying really hard for it to be random, and so you blank out your mind and wait for the first number to pop in. How is what you picked free will? It's a complete throw of the dice...

5. When you do something consistently every day for over a decade, and you know you'll be doing it for another decade to come. Is it really free will when you decide to do it today?

🧵 Learnings from #Year2020

1. 🙋‍♀️ There are no bad questions, only bad answers. So ask away, be brave. Because if you never ask, you will never know. It's better to ask and be stupid for 5 minutes that stay quiet and be stupid forever.

2. ✏️ Being Simple Is Hard, but being simplistic is just..being Supandi. The trick is to be relevant. There is a time to channel your Wordsworth and there’s a time to be a #Spartan. I am still learning the economy of words.

3. 💪 You are hired for your strengths at the cost of your weaknesses. That job description that gives your jitters — is just an ideal scenario. Don’t work for filling those gaps. Rather cement your strengths to overshadow your not-so-great qualities :)

4. 🌸 In a world where you can choose to be anything, be also — kind. So help that new colleague get to know the team better, ask if someone drowning in work has had their lunch, bring some sweets back from your fancy trip to Europe. No one ever forgets how you make them feel.

5. 👩‍✈️ Good leaders ensure that you are never scared of feedback — good or bad. Any critical feedback that I receive is not feedback on me personally but on the work itself. We are all on the same side, we are all trying to solve the same problem.