There’s a certain truth that to get anywhere in this life, professionally or in family life, you need to stand out for the right reasons. Nobody will want to know you if you’re an ass hole, that’s a fact. But people will be drawn to you if you’re over the top interesting or mysterious. Human nature will be drawn toward these types of individuals because the other people you’re trying to impress or draw attention from will become captivated by this person, their mind will want to figure out who the hell you are because we’re problem solving specises. Thus behaving as an engima is going to warrent newfound attention and opportunities.
“Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspious at all costs. Make yourself a maggnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious than the bland and timid masses.” – 48 Laws of Power
Of course there’s a fine line between effective attention and unwanted, destructive attention. With more experience doing ridiculous things like speaking up in front of a group of people, telling a joke that fails, or unwaveringly commmiting yourself to act like you, and not the other perceived cool kid. Being yourself in a world that is constantly trying to morph you into another person is perhaps the hardest thing an adult human has to content with in the age of computers, social media, and constant life comparisons.
“To maintain your independance, you must always be needed and wanted.” – 48 Laws Of Power
If the marketplace doesn’t value your services or product, you can’t be independant. It’s when you actual deliver value that moves the needle in a positive direction do you have real power and real marketplace worth. When you have a sense of independance around your life, you’ll have the means and confidence to break out from the heard and work on this you WANT to work on and that simultaneously have meaning in your life and other’s lives. That’s all we can ask for from our professional work life – meaningful work that we enjoy. If you can hit this mark, you are a success. From there, it’s about making yourself more of a success to go and do more things.
“Don’t commit to anyone. It’s always the fool who rushes to take sides. Dont’ commit yourself to any side but your own. By mantain your independance, you become the master of others – playing people again one another, making them pursue you.” – 48 Laws of Power
This is a political statement if I’ve ever heard one. How effectively are you playing the political game in and around the office? I see quite often the way to get promoted is to ensure the higher up’s in the organization like you. It’s not, unfortunately, how well you work or how effective you are, it’s how much do people like you.
How can you get higher ups to like you more? Show them you put the company and the team first, even before yourself. But secretely, you need to me always looking out for #1 i.e. you. Just don’t let other people know that.
When higher ups believe you’re for the company, you will get promoted more easily. Granted, you still need to perform, but it’s less important than getting the right people to like you.
“Plan all the way to the end. The ending is everything.” 48 Laws Of Power
Smart entrepreneurs plan out their exist strategy on a business opportunity before taking the pludge to cover their risks as much as possible. You shouldn’t be assuming your business will run forever nor should you BE the face of the business. You should build a business that is run by other people or robots. The model of “Kyle is the face of this organization and it would crumple without him” means Kyle is going to have a very tough time exiting the organization or scaling the organization because all the potential customers will be expecting to work with Kyle.
You should be working ON your business, but you shouldn’t BE the business.
Self employed people pay the most in taxes, along with employees. While a business pay’s the least in taxes.