“Fire the damn arrows, this is war.” – yesterday’s email (The Violence of Success)
If I may say so…
Yesterday’s email was a banger.
I was as fired up after writing it as y’all were after reading it (those who responded, anyway)…
…But it did raise an issue we need to deal with before it becomes a real problem.
Here’s the deal:
All our talk about…
The “savagery” necessary for success in the modern world…
The brutal nature of high-level goal achievement…
The blood-and-guts reality of creating something that never existed before, using nothing but your mind and the power of your will…
…Left the impression that we should be ruthless and aggressive and hostile and willing to step on anyone’s throat who stands in our way.
And while that’s partially true, it’s also partially dumb.
(picture a big, hairy, drooling monkey beating his chest around the pile of bananas he just stole from his tribe)
The goal isn’t to be violent with people, the goal is to achieve the goal.
And the point of yesterday’s email was to point out just how much violence it takes to achieve big goals (ie. a lot more than we think).
But again, I’m not talking about violence with other people (unless absolutely necessary):
I’m talking about:
Violence in your action — relentless, dynamic action that 99% of the population is unwilling to take (which is why 99% of the population don’t achieve big goals).
Violence in your clarity — the depth and scope and detail of your vision, and your strategy for bringing that vision to life.
Violence in your development — the unreasonable standards of excellence you set for yourself, and the unflinching pursuit of that excellence.
Basically, I’m talking about shutting up and nutting up and doing what needs to be done.
That’s the criteria:
1. What’s the goal?
2. What needs to be done to accomplish it?
3. How can I do it as efficiently as possible, with as little collateral damage as possible?
Going all aggro on your people doesn’t meet any part of that criteria.
Being good to your people so they actually want to help you, on the other hand, is a damn good strategy.
(and, as a side note — being clear, decisive, firm, and setting strong boundaries is part of being good to your people…)
Anyway, I hope that clears things up.
Violence is the answer, but only when paired with clarity and precision and intelligence.
Now get to work.
– T
P.S. As a teacher reminded me a few days ago:
Much of this “intelligent violence” is driven by testosterone.
That may sound funny, but it’s the biological bottom line.
The more testosterone you have, the higher your pain tolerance and the more force you attack your goals with.
And much of testosterone is driven by how you manage your sexual energy.
Therefore:
The stronger your sexual energy, the more horsepower you put into goal achievement.
So I think that’s what we’ll talk about tomorrow…
In the meantime, here’s yesterday’s email in case you want to give it another read.
