Careful What You Wish For

Good day peoples,

We all want to be rich, we all want to be famous, and we all want to be powerful. Most of you spend your entire lives striving to be those things. Sounds like a great life, doesn't it? Who wouldn't want to be adored, have a seven figure bank account, drive a Ferrari, and have a penthouse and a summer home in Monaco, while banging Halle Berry?


It sounds wonderful, but it isn't. Sure, being rich and powerful isn't exactly scrubbing toilets, but it doesn't come without its downside. Because when you're on top, you become a bigger target for all those who want to see you fall. More money, more problems? Absolutely. So the next time you wish to be in the other guy's shoes, don't just look at the nice leather and wish his shoes were yours, look inside his shoes to see what's making his feet stink so bad.

After all, we always want what we can't have. This is not to say you shouldn't be ambitious. Quite the opposite. What I want to warn you about is the fact that having money and power isn't all roses. People don't know what to do with large amounts of money and power (though your local Mercedes car salesman will be more than happy to tell you what to do with that disposable income of yours).

The Good Part About Being Made
So before I highlight some of the pitfalls of getting everything you wish for, let's go over the positives of being rich and powerful:

1- You can buy whatever you want.

2- You can buy whoever you want, except those with a bigger yacht than yours.

3- You can walk around with "inflated" balls . This is a great thing for most men because most men lack balls (both in the board room and in the bedroom).

4- Mistresses are easier to come by. Women love powerful men, it's like a drug for them. The women you meet will still be call girls, only you don't pay them at the beginning of the night, but rather every month when their rent is due and house payments need to be made.

5- Doors open and opportunities arise, whether you're looking for them or not. The richer you are, the more you get for free, and the more others want to make you richer.

The Pitfalls of Money & Power
Okay, that's great and dandy. Who wouldn't want these perks? We all love having the ability to do what I want, when I want, without blinking at the price. But nothing comes without a cost. In fact, like most others in positions of power, you'll always sleep with one eye open.

Here's why:

1. You Worry About Money
Those who say, "I want to make enough money never to have to think about it again," obviously have no cash flow. The more money you have, the more you worry about it because, after you've stuffed every pillow in your house, you still need to find places to stash your cash. It becomes unmanageable, you can't keep track of all your money, and you worry about which dude in your inner circle has his eyes on your children's meal ticket. Having a lot of money doesn't stop you from stressing about the bills, your bills just have a few extra zeros.

2. With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
Who wouldn't enjoy having power over others' lives, to decide their destiny, their happiness, their financial future? You might feel like a king over there, having the ability to fire, hire, promote, demote, break, make, or even jail a guy, but that's not how it goes.

Sure some sick f*cks treat the ability to toy with other men's lives as an aphrodisiac, one should treat it with incredible responsibility. When you are calling the shots, the buck stops with you. When you have the power to make major decisions, decisions that not only affect your power base but affect those around you, you can't take it lightly.

When I was out on my own, when I had no one to think about but myself, I was a selfish prick looking out for my interests, I didn't give a damn what happened to the dude next to me. But as I grow more and more people depend on me, and decisions I make now must be carefully weighed to make sure I protect myself, as well as those around me.

Some people handle that kind of pressure well, others don't. Worse, some don't even realize the responsibility and act as if they have their own little kingdom, without rules. Politicians, needless to say, top that list, but I hate discussing politics so I'll stop there.

You have to make the tough (and sometimes unpopular) decisions, whether it's selling out your best friend or firing a long time employee. You want to be Boss, you are going to have to take the crap that comes with being Boss. And the stress and venom that comes your way.

3. You Are A Big, Fat, Beached Whale of A Target
People love having a target, an enemy, or even a scapegoat they can point their fingers at, to blame for their own miserable lives, for their stupidities, and for every mistake they ever made.

When you are rich and powerful, you become a target. Not just for the money seekers at every charity under the sun who bother you relentlessly, but for those around you who are jealous of your success, for your competitors, and for people who want to use you as an example.

Get used to it, not everyone is going to love you. Be grateful if your enemies are known to you, there is nothing scarier than being surrounded by people who smile at you and then stab you in the back. People need inspiration, they need a Goliath for their David, and you've just earned the lead role. People will want your job, your money and your power, and even if they can't bring you down, they'll take pleasure in trying.

Building Back Trust

Good day peoples,

Trust, to me, is a simple matter. It boils down to a pure essence, one that smells nothing like a rat. Trust is being where you’re supposed to be, when you're supposed to be, doing what you said you would do. In that respect, trust is just a series of repeat visits that coincide with the expectations of the truster, such that the truster doesn't have to be breathing down the other guy's neck eight days a week.

Trust is difficult to gain, but much more easily lost and almost impossible to win back. It can be lost through no fault of your own, such as by miscommunication or by bad timing. Another way to lose it is by getting sloppy and letting the quality of your work slide. Then there's losing trust by intentional deceit.

A breach of trust is so difficult to forgive because trust is so vital to daily operations, and lifelong partnerships rely on it. But winning back trust is possible with the following methods.

Act Early
Once you realize that you have betrayed someone's trust, tell the person yourself before someone else does. Put your hat in your hand, step onto the carpet and pipe up. Put some sugar on it and act humble. If the person you betrayed gets angry, take the tirade with style and make it known that you are taking off the cloak and dagger out of loyalty. In other words, grovel with dignity.


Be Persistent
At first, you will probably be rebuffed by the person you let down. Even if someone says, "You're dead to me now," don't give up right away. Put that guilt to work by acting penitent. Don't let the last word be spoken in the heat of the moment. Go away for a while, and then come back once the initial anger has worn down, the edge will be smoother a few days later.

Don't Make Excuses

This is especially important when the problem arose from something beyond your control. Most people have to gamble at times and operate in what bankers call "the float." The float is when your account doesn't quite have the money you need just yet, but a check is on its way, and you go ahead and make another deal as if you were solvent. You lie because business sometimes requires it.

The same thing happens with deliveries and timing. Let's say the bagman arrives much too late with the dough. In the interim, you have to cover the vacuum of missing money using your mouth. Promise confidently to fulfill your original promise. Deals fall through from time to time, it's a part of life, but when you have to tell someone that you lied, at least do it with clarity and dignity.

Learn From Your Mistakes
One reason Al Capone lasted as long as he did is that he surrounded himself with ironclad people who understood the meaning of silence. If you are cast out to the east of your Eden, don't plunge into self-reflection, rather, learn from your mistake. Let your pride down for a moment so that the lesson gets tattooed in your brain.

Parents tell their kids to learn from others’ mistakes, not from their own. But anyone who has lived beyond the age of 40 can assure you of one thing, mistakes will be made no matter what your intentions, just like history will repeat itself. Therefore, knowing that life will never be perfect, you should swallow the lesson of what it feels like to lose someone's trust and don't do it again.

Change Your Behavior
The person you betrayed has no compelling reason to believe your plea unless you show that you have changed. If the problem started because you weren’t paying attention to detail, then become a stickler. Perhaps you were spending more time chasing the girls around than working, so get back on the job every day until your feet hurt.

After a certain age, it becomes difficult to change, but a dire situation requires a new way of thinking. Plenty of guys have gone to Alcoholics Anonymous because they have lost trust. If booze or drugs are the stumbling blocks impeding your progress, figure out how to get out of that cycle.

Fix The Process
Policies, traditions and routines are often flawed and prone to failure. If the system you are working in doesn't have the harmony of the planets, take measures to rectify the irregular parts of your business. Make suggestions to your boss about how to avoid having the same thing happen again. Sometimes it's only one employee who is late, sometimes it's a whole department in the company. Cut the contract, trim the fat or do whatever you must to restore confidence in your end of the business. Rather than passing the buck and finding a cause for your misfortune, rethink the process so that it doesn't happen again.

Start Climbing Again

Keep your nose to the grindstone and your feet moving. Falling down a few ranks doesn't have to break your mind. A demotion is not the end of the world unless you want to roll over. Wake up in the morning and start setting the world on fire.

Get Back Up There
Regardless of how much remorse you feel or how willing you are to change, once people know about your temporary downfall, you will endure a period of sneers and jeers. So be it. In life, you might wash 10,000 windows, but people will only remember the one that you fell through. Self-doubt may eat at you, but if you work hard to prove yourself, the wise d***heads will eventually stop. The betrayal will be forgotten by those fools, and the person you betrayed will begin to notice that you aren't such a deadbeat after all.


the audacious truth

Developing Killer Instincts

Good day peoples,

Everybody from your senile grandmother to your stupid dog has instincts. Everyone has that intuitive thing that gets them out of trouble and tells them what to do when their brains are telling them otherwise.


The difference between gut instincts and killer instincts is that you are born with one; the other is sharpened and perfected with time.

Guess which one is which.

Killer Instincts: Beyond Gut
So what are killer instincts? How do you know if you have them or not? Killer instincts don't refer to the ability to predict that Brazil will win the World Cup or that every Thursday fuel prices go up; it's the ability to correctly predict, through careful study of a situation and experience, the correct outcome of each and every scenario you face.

It can be predicting a guy's first move when you're in a fight, coming up with a product that sells more than water, bluffing the other guy just right in negotiations to maximize your end of the bargain, or knowing exactly which words will get you a free pass when your wife finds out about your mistress.

It's about rarely being wrong when interpreting and calculating the consequences of a situation. It's the innate ability some people have to always be on top of things. In business, it's often the difference between those who make it and those who don't. Killer instincts are your way of saying to Lady Luck, "Screw you, I don't need your help."

It's above and beyond the gut feelings we were all born with. It's much more than listening to the nervous feeling in your stomach. Those instincts, everyone has. A person with killer instincts sees an enemy where others don't see anything, a hotel and casino empire (Bugsy Siegel) where others see desert, and so on and so forth.

It's not only about getting out of a jam. It's about having vision, knowing when it's the right time to finish off an enemy, knowing when to freeze a  a stand-up guy because he's about to lose it all, anticipating what the other guy is going to do before he even gives it any thought, etc.

Killer instincts allow you to make the first move, think big and feel confident in your decisions even if you're going against a trend.

All right, you're convinced that you need to "refine" your gut feeling. Now what do you do?

Are you born with killer instincts?


No one comes out of their mother's womb with the instinctive ability to beat the stock market year after year. You are a product of your environment. Absolutely. But just like some people get all the women without even trying while the rest of us have to grow testicles the size of a walrus to even make a move, some guys have killer instincts even if they didn't spend a second of their lives "on the street."

Learning From The School of Life

Good day peoples,

Hope ya'll good and you've got your thing on lock. Been tied for a while but I'm back and this time round on a more serious tip. If you turn on the TV these days (local or international), you'll see all of your favorite windbags talking about education reform. They tell us we need to give the schools more money for textbooks and that we need to improve our focus on certain subjects. If you ask me, this is all a load of bull. Growing up, I wanted the best education in the area I really wanted to achieve in -- my life. Life is a bi**h, but it can teach you things no one else can. Any fool can go through life hoping for a chance to be on top, but it takes a real professional to know what he wants and take it. Most won't ever learn how. Luckily for you, school is in session, and I'll be your teacher. Pay attention and you just might make it through what I call the school of life, understood?

Use Your Head
Like most things, you use it or lose it. I’ve seen plenty of my crew who jumped before they looked and ended up in the piss pot. You’ve got to have smarts to survive in this world. Anytime you need to make a move, stop and think. This small space of time will save you and your crew a huge headache down the road. Obviously there will be times when you need to act fast, but if you’ve been taking the time to plan, you’ll almost always make the right call. Fail to plan, plan to fail. No dude ever stops learning. We would still be wiping our backsides with leaves if we did. If someone in your group is bringing down the operation with their incompetence, well, you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.

Act Like You’ve Got a Pair
The shy get stomped. When you enter a room, you have to command it. You are the best, so know it and act like it. I’m not talking about being a cocky dude. I’m saying you need to exude confidence and have some real balls. Make decisions and stand by them. Don’t piddle around trying to make up your mind. Be firm and decisive. Fear is what kills half of the people around there enivironment. To be victorious, you have to completely eliminate fear. Fear is why you make excuses for not doing what you have to. Anytime I feel that sickening sensation of fear crawling up my back, I do what I need to do anyway. It pays off, too. See, the funny thing about fear is, on the other side of it lies a life of bliss and success. So have some balls and walk with your chin up. It’s the only way to get respect.

Finish The Job
In my job, you finish the job or they finish you. Procrastination and half-assed work is unacceptable. How can you reach the top of a table with two legs? Your focus should be on building a foundation of solid and complete work. Figure out a list of what you have to do and start with the biggest and most difficult task. Knocking out the big guns gives you a snowball effect, making it easier to finish everything else. The key here, class, is focus. You can get anything done if you just focus on it. Be sure to get the whole crew in on it and the rewards will be more than enough to go around. Those who refuse to be team players won’t last long, in or out of the unit.

Respect Your Superiors
Your boss is in his position for a reason, despite what you might think about him. If he’s not following protocol or if he’s a big fesso, be patient and he’ll be out of there soon. In the meantime, you have to be the bigger man and respect him as your superior. That means following orders and biting your tongue. Don’t take anything too personally. You’ll look better in the eyes of your fellow subordinates for keeping your cool. Remember that the way of the world is that everything comes back to you. If you don’t respect your boss, how are you to expect the people under you to do the same? Just keep in mind that true leaders aren’t pompous blowhards. The great ones are down there in the mud with the rest of their men. Your time will come.

Keep Your Cool
You should never let your emotions get the better of you. Sure, sometimes the s*** hits the fan, but you have to keep your cool. Don’t get me wrong; I have lost my temper a couple of times here and there, but there is a time and place. Never lose your cool when dealing in business. It gives the whole thing a bad vibe and will rebound onto the other guys involved. That’s not something you want. When dealing with your lady, you have to be the calm one, too. A true capo uses his brain and gets things back in working order rationally. The key to keeping your cool goes back to confidence. If you’re confident in yourself and what you have to say, what’s to get all hot for? Not everyone is going to agree with you. Just worry about yourself.

School Is Now In Session
I hope you took notes and learned something today class. The school of life can be hard, but if you’re smart and play your cards right, you can come out with an A+. Always be willing to educate yourself. Treat every situation as a learning experience. Isn’t that all this life really is? It’s ultimately up to you. You can go out and take it by the horns or you can sit, hope and wonder. Whatever the case, life is what you make it. And that’s the ultimate test. I hope you’ve studied.

the audacious truth