My love affair with Robert Greene's books continues with The 33 Strategies of War. In his trademark style, Robert Greene covers strategies war, both psychological and physical. As always, the book contains wisdom and actionable advice. I'm sure I'll be revisiting this one again at some point down the road.
Key Takeaways
Memorable Quotes
Rating: 9.5/10
Another great from Robert Greene. I recently started a new job. So I found the studies of organizational dynamics particularly relevant and interesting. I'll definitely be revisiting this on a regular basis. I look forward to seeing what else I take away in the future.
Key Takeaways
- Strategy is the art of looking beyond the present battle. It's the art of laying a set of courses through all the possible battles in front of you.
- The best way to fight a battle is in the indirect fashion. Fight the battle your opponent doesn't realize they're fighting.
- Past success is not a sign of future success.
- As Jocko Willink is fond of saying, "discipline equals freedom."
- Conflict is inevitable, so you need to prepare for when the time comes for a fight.
Memorable Quotes
- Events in life mean nothing if you do not reflect on them in a deep way, and ideas from books are pointless if they have no application to life as you live it.
- Actually, your past successes are your biggest obstacle: every battle, every war, is different, and you cannot assume that what worked before will work today.
- Understand: your mind is weaker than your emotions. But you become aware of this weakness only in moments of adversity--precisely the time when you need strength. What best equips you to cope with tthe heat of battle is neither more knowledge nor more intellect. What makes your mind stronger, and more able to control your emotions, is internal discipline and toughness.No one can teach you this skill; you cannot learn it by reading about it. Like any discipline, it can come only through practice, experience, even a little suffering. The first step in building up presence of mind is to see the need for ii -- to want it badly enough to be willing to work for it.
- You may think that what you’d like to recapture from your youth is your looks, your physical fitness, your simple pleasures, but what you really need is the fluidity of mind you once possessed.
- Think of the mind as a river: the faster it flows, the better it keeps up with the present and responds to change. The faster it flows, also the more it refreshes itself and the greater its energy. Obsessional thoughts, past experiences (whether traumas or successes), and preconceived notions are like boulders or mud in this river, settling and hardening there and damming it up. The river stops moving; stagnation sets in. You must wage constant war on this tendency in the mind.
- Our successes and failures in life can be traced to how well or how badly we deal with the inevitable conflicts that confront us in society.
- Your mind is the starting point of all war and all strategy. A mind that is easily overwhelmed by emotion, that is rooted in the past instead of the present, that cannot see the world with clarity and urgency, will create strategies that will always miss the mark.
- But the greatest battle of all is with yourself—your weaknesses, your emotions, your lack of resolution in seeing things through to the end. You must declare unceasing war on yourself.
- When you have success, be extra wary. When you are angry, take no action. When you are fearful, know you are going to exaggerate the dangers you face.
- Your days are numbered. Will you pass them half awake and halfhearted or will you live with a sense of urgency?
Rating: 9.5/10
Another great from Robert Greene. I recently started a new job. So I found the studies of organizational dynamics particularly relevant and interesting. I'll definitely be revisiting this on a regular basis. I look forward to seeing what else I take away in the future.