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young grasshopper.
gm.
My friend Jordan, founder of hoo.be came into visit at the Dojo last night.
The dojo is looking fiire too:
Jordan and B at the dojo
And yes, i’m going to call my new spot the dojo.
Anyway, jordan is always pumping my tires but he said something to me that gave me the topic for this morning’s email.
He said, something along the lines of, “i’ve always been jealous of the kid who just somehow always had straight A’s, was always in great shape, popular, and never really showed a hint of major struggle. And in that sense, I’m jealous of you arlin. You’ve got this 1 person setup, you’ve just been able to seemingly float through life."
“Float” through life… Yes.
Sort of.
There’s a law in the 48 laws of power that i’ve always subconsciously aimed to take seriously.
“Law 30: Make your accomplishments seem effortless”
It is relevant to all forms of power, for power depends vitally on appearances and the illusions you create.
Your public actions are like artworks: They must have visual appeal, must create anticipation, and even entertain.
I do view my life & brand as a piece of art. I’m very careful about it. What i choose to share and to keep private are highly intentional.
But more importantly, what I choose to focus on, daily, is what drives my ability to create an aura of effortlessness.
For example, yesterday, I went to disney land. It was pretty fun.
But
…I had just released this promo about being a stone cold ninja. Very serious tone. A pretty specific type of energy that doesn’t exactly align with riding the tea cup ride at disney land with a 2 year old.
I mean, I supposed there’s an angle I could take, which would have looked something like this:
Disney land. The happiest place on earth.
Or is it?
As I walked around with my 2 year old nephew, I was both intensely present and enjoying the moment, riding around on lighting mcqueen ride, and simultaneously hyper vigilent of any threats.
“Who is the most dangerous man in the room?” I asked myself at every turn, in every ride.
“If there were an earth quake, a shooter from the dark, a psycho killer unloading rounds… what would be the best course of action to keep everyone safe?”
Of course, these were all internal thought patterns.
No one knew.
But if danger were around the corner, then they would have known.
I pray they never have to know.
But, instead of posting anything remotely close to disney land, I decided to keep it simple & focused on the swift, effortless Ninjapreneur vibe.
This is a key. A katana for you. Use it wisely.
-arlin
