The Game is deep. I’m going to introduce you to a concept that’s very simple in theory but contains subtle layers of complexity. One of the first things I was taught when I came across the Game was this saying: “Life is a series of problems that must be solved.” Some people don’t like to use the word “problem” and prefer to replace it with less-threatening terms like, “challenge” or “obstacle”. But changing the name of something doesn’t change what that something is at its core. In science there is something called, "Chaos Theory". Chaos theory is roughly defined as: “When the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future.” In other words, if present events are unpredictable then future events become unpredictable. Think of it like this: Let’s say you go to a job interview. There’s only so much preparation you can do, but as soon as you walk through that door, shake the interviewers hand and sit down, you’re placing yourself into the unknown. By nature, this situation is chaotic – the future is largely unpredictable. There are hundreds of possible outcomes and you can’t prepare for them all. You could have great rapport with the interviewer and make a great impression. Or maybe, the interviewer could be having a bad day and nothing you say seems to make any difference. Perhaps the interview starts out great and then you say 1 wrong thing and destroy any chances of getting the job, etc., etc. You can only guess at the present event and because of that, you really don’t know what can happen. This goes back to cause and effect – you can’t logically foresee all the causes so you can’t predict all the effects. Squares (people without Game) fear chaos - they fear the unknown. A Player however recognizes chaos for what it really is. Chaos is potential energy. And potential energy can be used to your advantage. There is a ton of potential in chaos; the unknown. Chaos must be brought into order. So in the Game we say, “Life is a series of problems that must be solved,” and why do we say that? Because we recognize the potential energy held within events and we accept them. Problems are areas of chaos (unpredictability) that should be brought into as much order (predictability) as possible. For example: If you never cooked a meal before and decided to do it one day, what could possibly happen? With no knowledge of cooking there are hundreds of possible outcomes that cannot be predicted – anything from burning a pot of water to burning down the house. But if you were a chef, you understand what to do and how to do it to get the results you want. Having knowledge, wisdom and understanding of something helps bring order to chaos. Meaning, the potential energy is channeled and used to one’s benefit. For my Hustlers (entrepreneurs) reading this, your day-to-day life is chaotic. There are hundreds of situations that you have to deal with. And most of the events that come your way are unpredictable. But the more knowledge, wisdom and understanding you gain through experience, you can begin to predict certain outcomes. When you recognize the causes, you can begin to predict the effects. You’re taking the potential energy of chaos and bringing order to it; turning it into something that you can work with. Fear is a natural human response to the unknown but we deal with many unpredictable factors everyday. Certain situations you’ve become comfortable with because you have plenty of experience in dealing with them. Driving on the highway is chaotic for example. You know where you want to go but there are hundreds of possible events that can take place on the way there. Conversations with strangers are chaotic. You don’t know how a person will react to what you say and you can’t predict what the person will say to you. Although with Game, you can learn to say certain things to produce certain predictable responses in people. These “regular” everyday occurrences don’t seem chaotic because you’ve gone through them many times before. But think back for a moment. Do you remember when you were first learning to drive? It was new, different and you placed yourself into something completely unfamiliar. You gained knowledge about what you need to do and why you need to do it. You then practiced until you became better and now driving doesn’t take much conscious effort. Every time you get behind-the-wheel, you place yourself into the unpredictable realm of chaos, but because of your past experiences, you can bring a certain amount of order to it. In other words, you use the potential energy to your advantage (if only other drivers were as good as you, right?). When you find yourself feeling fear or hesitation about doing something new, 9 times out of 10, you’re facing chaos. You’re unsure about the unknown. Until you gain the necessary knowledge, wisdom and understanding of something, you’ll be constantly putting yourself in the realm of unpredictability. As a Player you have to accept this and move forward anyway. You want these experiences, positive or negative, so you can learn how to use the potential energy of situations and events to your advantage in the future. Every unknown factor is something not to be feared, but something to learn about and eventually conquer. Chaos represents potential energy and almost all energy can be changed or controlled to a certain degree. Think about it. Until next time… Curious about the Game? Subscribe to the Uncommon Sense Adviser – Higher level Game to help take YOUR Game to the next level. Also receive news, discounts on future books and products along with early access. 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Power has had many interpretations and definitions throughout human history. Thousands of years ago it was raw human strength that was looked upon as a trait of leadership. As time went on, it become the skilled strategist and tactician that was deemed powerful. The Game is based around power. Since the original Game is defined as self-empowerment, you can find the very word power in that definition. This sounds great, but what is power? If we examine the dictionary definitions we get:
It can also be defined as: To inspire; spur; or sustain. And these don’t even begin to touch the many definitions of power. For 1 word to have well over 20 different definitions should be an indication of something. And what is this indicating? Power is not a linear thing – therefore it can't be simply defined. What do I mean? Power is subjective. It’s based entirely of one person’s position over another person; or a person’s position over themselves. And of course when we say something is subjective, it means it’s based off an individual’s Perspective – how they think and feel about it. Let’s say there are 2 men trapped in the wilderness. The 1st man is a Harvard graduate and a successful businessman. The 2nd man is a natural outdoors-man. Our Harvard graduate has spent the majority of his life attaining intellectual pursuits and he doesn’t know how to survive in the wild. Our outdoors-man has spent the majority of his life learning to hunt, fish, forage, trap, and basically survive in the wild. In this situation, who has power? The outdoors-man has the power here. Why? Because to know something gives you power over that thing and also power over those who have no knowledge of it. So while our outdoors-man can live, eat and find water just fine, the Harvard graduate on the other hand is more than likely doomed to get ill or possibly die; either the environment will get to him or he’ll pass of starvation or thirst. If our outdoors-man is a “good-guy”, he’ll probably help the Harvard man survive. But if he’s a “bad-guy”, he can let the Harvard man fend for himself, or even tell him to eat something poisonous. How would the Harvard man know if the outdoors-man is telling the truth or not? In this example, the outdoors-man holds a lot of power over the Harvard graduate, he knows something the Harvard graduate doesn't. If you reversed this situation and placed our outdoors-man in the executive corporate world, who would hold the power then? Our Harvard graduate would. Why? Because in this situation he has the knowledge of how to "survive" in this environment while our outdoors-man would be "out of place". Like I said earlier, this is subjective and also based around the environment you hold knowledge in. The key-word here is knowledge. Knowledge means to know something. Not guess, not theorize, but to actually know. If you don’t know then you really don’t have any knowledge because true knowledge is based on experience. You could study books and videos about how to play basketball for years. But if you never actually play, when you finally hit that court you’ll look foolish. You’d have a ton of information about basketball, but no practical application about how to play basketball. You could sit and watch the Food Network until your eyes bleed. But until you actually get in the kitchen to experiment and apply what you’ve learned, you don’t really know. You just have a lot of information. Knowledge is power. But only if you know how and when to use it! The Value of power is based on an individual’s Perspective and the environment they’re in. Sure there are more factors involved, but these are the roots of genuine power. While I Hustled in the streets I was taught that power was gained through respect and money. And respect was gained through fear; money was used to enforce that fear. In the streets that can be a form of power, but how much power does a street Hustler hold when they’re face-to-face with the law? Very little. Again, power is subjective not objective. For someone to hold power, other people have to agree to it. So, in the Game we speak about self-empowerment. Having the knowledge, wisdom and understanding to make yourself powerful in a particular environment. The root-word of empowerment is power. And if genuine power is to know, then to be self-empowered you have to know yourself. This may sound a little odd to some of you, but many people have a lot of information about themselves, but no real knowledge about themselves. They like to think of themselves as good, patience, helpful, team-players and other good qualities that society deems "acceptable". But this same person can have a bad experience one day and suddenly all these “good” qualities fly out the window. That’s not self-empowerment, that’s being fake. Why? Because what these people claim to be changes with the wind (on how they feel that day). And in the Game, we call these people “Squares”. Genuine power is to know, and genuine knowing comes from experience. And since power is subjective, if you know yourself and know your environment, you'll have more power in that area than others. You'll know what they don’t know. This alone gives you degrees of genuine power. It’s nothing that has to be begged for or forced onto people, it flows naturally because this is the natural order of things - when they accept that, you'll automatically possess genuine power. Just studying something isn’t enough, you have to use it and experience it so that you can begin to really know. How much genuine power do you hold in your life? Peep the Game in that. Until next time… Curious about the Game? Subscribe to the Uncommon Sense Adviser – Higher level Game to help take YOUR Game to the next level. Also receive news, discounts on future books and products along with early access. Join now by clicking [HERE].
Curious about the Game? Subscribe to the Uncommon Sense Adviser – Higher level Game to help take YOUR Game to the next level. Also receive news, discounts on future books and products along with early access. Join now by clicking [HERE].
Curious about the Game? Subscribe to the Uncommon Sense Adviser – Higher level Game to help take YOUR Game to the next level. Also receive news, discounts on future books and products along with early access. Join now by clicking [HERE].
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