If you’re going to lose everything, you’re going to need to find some endurance and make a commitment to an uncompromising course of action. If you need an idea, you’re in luck; there are hundreds ready-made plans at your disposal. These plans require no insight or expertise.
On Allies, Partners, and Relevant Audiences
There’s no need to prescribe a solution or to understand your enemy. You will be taking no prisoners. Everyone else is an adversary who must be reckoned with. Make sure they know their place. You must not listen or understand or diagnose. You’ll end up letting them into your head and you’ll start speaking with their words in your mouth. Some will call it communion, but it’s not; it’s a form of possession. Always remember that it’s about you, not them.
On Rigid Plans and Optimization
You must start by holding and defending every square inch of land to the death. You can accept no survivors, no false starts or wrong-turns. You must not adapt. Set your goals and stay the path that you started down, and deliver your strategy without deviation.
On Transparency
Secrecy is required. Keep all of your cards and intentions to yourself. Tell no one where you stand – not the enemy and not your unwilling soldiers, for to do so means they will see you, just as you are, raw and exposed. They will expect things of you and depend on your promise. To be counted on means living a life of service to others. They will hold you up and defend you. This will start to get in the way if you are not very careful.
On Measurement
Stay focused. As you venture down this path, it will be tempting to take notice of your surroundings. As patterns become clearer, you will be tempted to organize and measure things and infer meaning. This process of describing your progress will take a life of its own. It will require specialists to maintain. It will take time out of your day to understand. Don’t let this become a distraction.
On The Power of Your Ego
Do it alone. There is no sweeter joy than doing it on your own. That’s how you build an empire, brick by brick, with your own two hands. You will be able to measure your progress by counting the hours that you have spent away from the ground, your family, and yourself.
