Survival Of The Fittest Part 3 of 3
The Journey
Sperm's Journey: from the beginning the sperm is up against unimaginable odds. There are 50- 300 million sperm released when a man ejaculates, and only one makes it to be the fertilizer of the women’s egg. All the other millions die. Fertilizer provides key nutrients to plants so that they can grow the way it needs to. When sperm reaches the egg, it fertilizes it, thus giving it the key nutrients it needs to provide for the healthy growth of a child. YOU are that natural fertilizer.
Life’s Journey: think of how in life this is the same way. When you got that job, countless others didn’t. When you got that girl, countless others didn’t, in many cases, depending on the girl you’re dealing with, but you get my point. Life is a race, and instead of racing other sperm, now you’re racing other people. Looking at what it means to be a fertilizer, and what it took to be that fertilizer, you’ll understand that you have this already in you. You have to be a key fertilizer in some shape or form in the lives of others if you ever want to succeed. All great businesses are started and run by people who are great “fertilizers”. They know how to motivate people, they know how to get people to work toward a common goal, they have studied what it takes to be successful, and they apply it. When you do this, people are motivated (fertilized) by you. Knowing how to get to know people on a deeper level, what motivates them, what scares them, what makes them tick, what keeps them getting out of bed every morning, gives you an advantage.
Think about the fact that only one out of millions of sperm makes it and how that relates to life. For every CEO of a company, you have hundreds of thousands of workers. For every big name actor or actress, you have tons of extras. Here goes that race and competition again that you faced in the very beginning in that race for life. Many times those extras go unnoticed; those hundreds of thousands of workers never make it past their current position. This is why it’s important to understand the root from which you came from, once you get back to those roots and understand the competition, and the skills you’re already equipped with, you have a better shot at making it to the top of the food chain. Next time you watch a movie, pay attention to all the people in the background, they are looking for their shot, and would love to be the star. What separates the successful from the ordinary? Many factors. A clear vision: The sperm know exactly what their mission is. A strong team: There are warrior sperm that protect the other sperm through parts of the vagina. Hustle and nonstop work until the mission is accomplished: The sperm deso not take breaks. It keeps the momentum going until it reaches the target or until it dies pursuing it. When I mention this sperm, I’m not talking about some far off entity that is separate from the rest of us. Understand, that sperm is you! You already are that one in a million, but more than likely you’re not living up to your potential. The sperm keeps going, it doesn’t start then stop, because stopping means absolute death, you don’t get another shot at life. In the pursuit of your mission, you must not stop. You must stay in motion until the goal is met, until the vision is realized.
The percentage of people who don’t make it is higher than the percentage of people who do, and most of the time the thing that separates the two is dedication to the vision. Not everyone is going to be rich and powerful, but you can play your position to the best of your ability, and continue your climb. All those other sperms no longer exist after defeat, at least, you live to fight another day, always keep that in mind.
The two parts of success: Getting there & Maintain your position
1. Getting there:
Sperms journey: first the sperm has to make it through those first stages. It’s like an audition, where a huge amount of people don’t make the cut; American Idol has nothing on this reality show. Most of the sperm are killed off in the first half hour. I once heard someone say that nine out of ten new restaurants fail within the first five years. That’s a huge number, but it has nothing on the rate of loss in the race that gave you life. Moreover, again, at least with the failure of the restaurant you live to fight another day.
Life’s Journey: In getting there you have to have soldiers. You have to have people on your team that really believe in your vision. They have to have a part in that vision and understand that they’re not just working so that you can realize your goals; by pushing forward, they are accomplishing theirs as well. It may be your vision, but it’s the whole teams success, and the whole team shares in the gains, just like they’ll share in the losses should there be any. You see when a company fails, everyone is out of an income, or when business slows down, they have no problem laying people off. However, when the company is very profitable nine times out of ten, they don’t want to share the spoils, which causes discontent among the workers. This is the fastest way down. When you win, everyone wins, and this needs to be understood by the people who are putting in work for you.
You must also show no hesitation in going after what you want. Becoming successful is like warfare, and he who hesitates in war is a dead man. Think about it, if you’re in battle, and you draw your weapon, and you hesitate to use it, and you show fear in facing your enemy they will pick up on that and get the drop on you. Life is the same way, you’re almost never the only one who wants what you are after so the minute you hesitate in going after that prize it’s like you’re telling the universe you don’t want it. You’re desire for it doesn’t match the desire that this other person has for it, and the person who wants it the most usually gets it. This is because the person who wants it the most probably prepared the most to get it. Prepare to get what you want, and show no fear or hesitation in going after it.
Life is competition. Many times you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, you have to come out of the gate strong and maintain a winning pace. In life, at least, you get a chance to prepare. You can hit the gym and prepare your body, you can read books and prepare your mind, you can talk to more experienced people and learn new angles and learn from their mistakes. You can plan your moves like a chess player and checkmate your opponent who isn’t dedicating himself like you are. That’s an advantage you didn’t have in the original race. Take advantage of these opportunities. These subjects will set you on the right path: Math-strategy-body language-building relationships.
Fearlessness: fearlessness ties directly into ‘no hesitation’ but just to expand on that thought, whenever you start something new you’re venturing into unfamiliar territory. The willingness to follow through even though you feel fear will automatically put you above 90 percent of everyone else out there. People let that fear paralyze them, and they never act, they think of all the what if’s, the things that could go wrong, instead of preparing a winning strategy to prepare them for those what if’s. Understand, there will always be unknown variables that come up and will throw you for a loop, but once you make it through you’ll know what to do next time. All obstacles do is give you ammunition for the next battle.
2. Maintaining your position: There are certain traits that you must tap into in order to maintain the position you’ve attained for yourself. Those traits are instinct. Knowing what you’re up against, keeping up with the latest trends, keeping a close eye on the up and comers, and not being brought down by greed. I’ll break each down for you:
Instinct: the sperm isn’t given a roadmap on how to get to the egg; it feels its way through. You have it much easier in life. You can read books, you can talk to more experienced people, you can go out and experience things for yourself, all of this gives you the insight to develop those instincts that will guide you through life. You won’t have all the answers to the problems you face already pre-packaged, but what you will have is a wealth of knowledge that will lead you instinctively in the right direction when you’re on foreign territory because you will have these things to draw on. Your rise to the top prepared you for your reign at the top. The key is staying hungry and never forgetting the experiences and lessons from those experiences that got you to the top in the first place. Don’t forget the politics, the times you had to play nice and be diplomatic to achieve your mission. Don’t forget those times when you had to do away with politics and playing nice and get aggressive to send your message. Many people don’t like the word ‘aggressive’ because they see it as being synonymous with bullying which is a hot-button issue nowadays. So we have to be careful with language. Being aggressive is not a bad thing, there're certain arenas in life that call for and justify aggression. If you’re on the football field, and you don’t use aggression, then you’re leaving on a stretcher. Aggression isn’t this wild, uncontrollable force that people get angry and release; it’s a controlled tactic, a means to an end. If you’re a lawyer, and you’re not aggressive and tactful at the same time, then it will almost always result in the loss of that case. Furthermore, if you’re representing someone on a serious matter, then you’re holding someone’s life (or a major part of their life hostage) because you lacked a necessary component to get the job done. All because you ran away from a word and a trait you felt was barbaric. If I were to open up a bagel shop, and someone was to open up their own bagel shop right across the street, then my tactics for winning business and seeing that rival bagel shop out of business would take an aggressive turn. Not in the form of burning the other shop down which would be stupidity, not aggression, but rather in how I run my business. Making sure my ingredients are better, fresher, better tasting. Making sure customer service far exceeds theirs. Becoming more community involved and engraining my company into the fabric of that community, again, aggression and tact.
Negotiations: Never forget the negotiations that took place that got you to the top, the give and take that occurred with other power players, the tug-of-war power struggles. These are what made you who you are. Knowing when to compromise and when to stand firm will be key in you maintaining power. When you go to the negotiating table, you should go with one of two things, a solid position, or a negotiating position. Here’s the difference between the two. In a solid position, there is no negotiation. This is your stance, and you’re not backing down, your way or the highway, and you’re completely prepared to walk away should they not agree to meet you where you are, and you’re ready and willing to accept the fallout from that. That’s a solid position, and people usually are already in a power position when taking this stance or they’re standing on principle. In a negotiating stance, you’re coming to the table with an ideal of what you want to walk away with, but it’s not written in stone. You’re willing to give a little if the other side is also willing to make the same sacrifice, usually by giving something of equal value to what it is you’re giving. You have to know what you’re going to the table with, and if you’re already successful, then you know this dance already. The key to maintaining your position is to know how to negotiate, and what position you’re coming to the negotiating table with and why.
Know what you’re up against: this is by far one of the most important things you can do to win at anything, especially life. Knowing what you’re up against has four sides to it, people and situations, the competition and yourself. Sizing up everything you can gives you a tremendous advantage. Why do you think football teams watch game footage of their opponents? They do it, so they know what they’re up against. They want to know the competitions weak points so they can exploit those weaknesses. They want to know where their opponent is strong so they can come up with a strategy to weaken those points in the competitions game plan. Likewise, this is why they watch footage of themselves. You have to know where you’re weak so you can correct those things within yourself. Knowing where you’re weak gives you a clear indication of where the attack is going to come from when dealing with your enemies and competition. They will attack at your weakest point and will try to weaken your strongest areas. Knowing where you’re weak gives you tremendous insight and power over situations and people looking to attack you. Understanding your strengths gives you the opportunity to expand and build on those strengths; you want to be as well-rounded as possible. Once you understand your strengths and weaknesses, you’ll have more control of situations you’ll face because now you have the foundation of knowing how you can attack those situations using your best qualities.
The latest trends: knowing what’s going on in your field is another component in maintaining your position. Keeping up on the latest numbers, what your competition is doing and how that sector of business is doing as a whole will be key in staying informed and ahead of the curve.
Keep an eye on the up and comers: there’s always that young lion coming up that will eventually want to challenge you for your position. Have you ever watched animal planet and observed a pride of lions? There can only be one dominant male per pride. If a female lion has had a kid by another lion, the dominant male lion will kill those male cubs off because he knows that they will one day challenge him for dominance over the pride. There're many different ways of dealing with up and comers who want to capture the market share you’ve carved out for yourself: kill them off, or take them under your wing. Two examples from two different movies come to mind when I think of this: ‘Rocky’ and ‘Carlito’s Way’. In Rocky, a young guy named Tommy guns was eager to be up under Rocky. He wanted to fight like him, to be around him, he wanted Rocky’s life and the glory that came with it. There was a pureness that came with it, though, Tommy guns just wanted to fight on a higher level and make a career out of it. However, the pureness was lost when money and the chance for more glory were introduced. Tommy guns showed his true colors, it was never about admiration and respect for this fighter who helped pave the way, it was about the shine that came with it. After taking Tommy under his wing, Rocky eventually had to crush him. That’s why you must watch people closely and examine their motivation behind cozying up to you. When you take certain types under your wing, eventually they will become tired of living in your shadow, and they will often test and challenge you so others will stop looking at them as being less than you. Most of the time you’ll never see it coming, just like Rocky. In the other movie ‘Carlito’s Way’, Carlito made a fatal mistake of being disrespectful, almost snobbish to the young start-up Benny Blanco, and paid for it with his life. He came to crossroads with Benny and had the opportunity to crush him and didn’t, which in my opinion was a bad move, but more importantly, it should have never escalated to that. He should have played nice, allowed the young upstart to be up under his wing, and used the young guys’ power to solidify his own. Understand: when the young newly established guy openly admires you, so does his followers. Carlito didn’t understand that and made the fatal mistake of thinking his name and his former status allowed him the luxury of thinking he was better. Who knows, Benny Blanco could have eventually turned out to be another Tommy Guns but even if that had of been the case Carlito should have been smart enough to bide his time, get his ducks in a row, and not be disrespectful until he had the resources and power base to be that way, or until he accomplished his plan of leaving that environment completely. Either completely crush the young upstart, or embrace them but don’t spoil them, keep a close eye on them, and make their power base boost your own. This is Survival of the Fittest; don’t forget what post you’re reading! Don’t forget the world we live in. If you’re not winning, you’re losing.
Don’t be blinded by greed: The minute greed comes into play the foundation starts to decay. Wanting everything for yourself at the expense of others is a recipe for disaster, and will prove to be your downfall. Greed isn’t good because it’s blinding, and anything that impairs your natural senses and abilities is your enemy. There’s nothing wrong with wanting an abundance and the lion’s share of the profits, but when you neglect to spread it around to the people that helped get you there you leave the door open for the people who helped get you there to take you back to the position that you were in before. Cheating your people in the pursuit of more personal gain is the same as cheating yourself because nobody can bring you down faster than the people who helped you into the position you’re in. Don't let other peoples greed infect you either. I say ‘infect’ because it will prove to be like a disease or some sort of sickness, and it will spread faster than you can imagine. When greed comes into play the team spirit that got you there crumbles.
In maintaining your position, always keep in mind what it took to get there. Many people, once successful, get comfortable and lose the hunger that got them there. They’d rather forget the days of early struggle they had to endure. Those uncertain days when they questioned their ability to make it, those setbacks that seemed like the end of the world, those bad choices and mistakes that set you back. It’s important in maintaining your position to always remember those crossroads; it helps if you have something that helps you remember. Like me, I made a note with the time and date of when my uncle gave my daughter 5 dollars, and I was so broke I had to ask my daughter if I could borrow it so we could put some gas in the car. There're very few times in my life that I’ve felt lower. You couldn’t imagine that type of feeling. I use that note as motivation to continue to push forward in the life I want to build for us. By the way, this wasn’t too long ago.
Breaking through barriers: A barrier is something that blocks your way. It’s something that blocks the free flow of a person or object or substance. Moreover, you will face many barriers in your life.
Sperms journey: Making its way into the egg the sperm has to break through the barrier in a certain amount of time. The sperm cell isn’t the only one trying to do so, there’re other sperms looking for that position, this is crunch time in the race, the deciding factor in who lives and who no longer exists, life and death.
Life’s Journey: There will always be some barrier to break through. However, the good thing is once you break those barriers, they’re broken not just for you but for the people behind you. Just as those that came before you broke barriers that you didn’t have to spend valuable time and energy trying to figure out how to break through. You are a part of a time-honored tradition, an elite group of achievers, be grateful for each barrier you face up against.
The killing fields
Sperm's Journey: When a woman isn’t ovulating, her vagina is very acidic, and something in the women’s body that kills many of the sperm.
Life’s Journey: It’s a jungle out there. Moreover, people want to kill you in order to eat. Think about it, there’s predator, and there’s pray, one feeds off the other in order to stay alive and thrive. Just like in business, many times building and expanding your business means killing a rival business that offers the same thing that you do, or is looking to. This means knowing their weaknesses, and building a business model that doesn’t have those gaps. Come along and offer a better product or service, thus forcing the competition to adapt, or parish. Understand there’s always someone looking to kill you in one way or another. Whether they want your job, your girl, your life, or moving you out of the way, it means the expansion of their empire. They want you out of the way. Knowing how to maintain your position is a component in the survival of the fittest that you shouldn’t neglect, or watch your world crumble.
Timing is everything:
Sperm's Journey: Knowing when the woman is ovulating is key to your sperm being effective in getting her pregnant. Thus as in the conception of life as in the living of life, timing is everything.
Life’s Journey: Knowing when the right time to strike will be key. Timing is everything in many cases and knowing the time to proceed and the time to wait is the key. These have to be very informed decisions and not decisions made out of fear, or inpatients. Many times people want something so bad, they become impatient and end up failing because they didn’t realize that it wasn’t the time to strike, other times people want something but fear holds them back from taking action never taking advantage of the ripe opportunity that they had, thus resulting in their failure.
Ignore these lessons, and witness your downfall. –RulesofLife101 (November 20, 2012)
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