Our lives are a minefield of personal politics and these minefields extend to and exist in business, sports, tribes and nations. Can we navigate such minefields in our lives and those we come into contact with?
This war outside of us can only be won once we deal with the enemy within, if you are a manager of a small firm or a leader of all you see before you – You will find these useful.
1. Declare war on your Self.
On the path to success we need to realise that as individuals we are born alone and die alone. Our intentions/self-programming is made by family, friends, enemies, culture, tribe, religion, nation and whatever is around us – all of these do not represent the Real us. Understand that the only person who is your worst enemy – and your best friend – is simply Your Own Self. Be ruthless on your self.
2. Do not fight over the past.
Learn from your mistakes, but do not let them weigh you down – be ready to make more mistakes – simply so you can learn from them and strengthen your Self. Yes be happy of your victories if you wish, but do not let them make you egotistical and complacent – they will weigh you down, remove these burdens.
3. Do not lose your presence of mind but be quicker.
Refuse to act from your emotions and look at things objectively so that when the time comes to react or respond – it is with calmness and focus. At the same time create a sense of urgency and desperation within yourself and keep moving towards increasing power within yourself and empowering your life and those you come into contact with.
4. Be respectful of your time and – divide and rule your day.
Use your time wisely, plan two to five things that MUST be done the following day and write them down. Then ruthlessly make sure you do them. Your motivation comes from within you and doing this every day with help keep you focused and moving forward.
5. Pick your enemy carefully.
The worst enemy is within but there are always those outside of you who wish to be your enemy – they wish to be your teachers so honour them by treating them as simply those you can both learn from and in turn seek also to teach them lessons from your own personal and practical art of war. Let your students (opponents) make the first move learn from their good moves and poor decisions out of their impatience and then move in to teach them, remember to focus on making friends afterwards.
6. Refuse to fight out of anger.
Avoid battle if possible, but be impressive in the battles you do fight. Your refusal will anger the enemy and cause them to make mistakes – and if and when you do fight it will be to win and not to play a game.
7. Some battles you should lose instead focus on winning the war.
At times its easier to let your enemies win, so you can conserve your energy, bide your time and build your strengths. You must keep your focus on longer-term goals and let your enemies enjoy their small victories.
8. Know your enemy.
Study your enemies leadership/leader and power centres. Refuse to let your beliefs judge your enemy one way or another – observe how the enemy thinks, moves and behaves even over what you may consider trivial issues. And then when the time is right – pounce.
9. Look beyond your emotions and instead look at the enemies.
The enemies emotions and temperament usually give away clues on what areas you can focus on. But what signals are you giving away to the enemy, how are you behaving and feeling? – centre your own self and look at this war with calmness and focus.
10. Hit them where it hurts.
All life has a source of power and preservation, an ego, sometimes that ego is money, being popular or something where they feel they are great. Their strongest areas are their greatest weaknesses as those areas become their identities and like balloons they inflate – but should you be willing to deflate them?
11. Defeat the enemy in pieces, encircle them and enclose them.
At times the enemy maybe too big to take down in one piece – so focus on dividing them, and dealing with them bit by bit and then encircle them, enclose them and consider your next move with wisdom – not with emotion.
12. The strongest are the weakest and the weakest are the strongest.
Your enemy at all times remains your ego and those who are your enemies outside of you – their enemies are also their own egos which have consumed them, there comes a time when the greatest will fall and the weakest will rise. In fighting the enemy you are now in a position to win – how you win will show whether you are a worthy warrior and leader. Negotiate the enemies surrender with honour and show nobility – or – do you destroy them completely – its really your choice.
13. Know how to end your war.
In war reputation of both sides is at stake. Do not put yourself in a situation that when and if you victorious, you will belittle your opponent to the point that you create an enemy that will strike back in the future.
14. Show Humility.
In winning your war there will still be opponents using guerrilla tactics against you – play to their expectations, cause them to lower their guard as they will fool and show themselves up soon enough if they took you to be unassuming and ordinary as a victor.
15. Occupy the moral high ground and deny them targets.
Weaken your opponents support by reaching out to their base. Help raise up those who fought against you and now surrendered. Be innovative, unpredictable and humble in word and deed, the remnants of the enemy will become frustrated.
16. Give your rivals enough rope to hang themselves.
Let your enemies make mistakes, let them hang themselves. At times even those you consider as allies or friends will attack you from behind the scenes and create problems for you. Reach out to those who they are connecting with and create better relationships.
17. Refuse to be The Great Leader.
Refuse to be the leader, instead help others lead. In influencing and guiding you are actually leading and letting others get the credit for something you may have initiated – but you are not concerned with that – they may have better ideas or become better leaders because of you and their egos may become inflated and you are there to make sure no one pops their balloon and or assist them to deflate their balloon gently.
Mohammed Abbasi 