POWER

Required reading: The 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene & The Laws of Human Nature (same author)

How I'm defining power: The ability to get shit done that you want done, the way you want it.

People toss the word 'power' around quite a bit. Who has it? Who doesn't?

If I were feeling lazy I could just write "the rich, duh" and leave it at that. All failings of their imaginations, their frail little bodies, their autistic lack of social skills- it can all be covered for by money. Hell, the law itself was written from top to bottom to benefit the rich, so power really is in the hands of the checkbook holder.

Buuuuut since all of us here are "temporarily embarrassed future millionaires", I'm going to expand on the acquisition of power using a regular man's means. If anyone has more things to add, do so.

To begin with- we of moderate means will realistically only be able to be powerful within a small area... at least to start off with. We can carry our internal power with us everywhere, but that actually only covers the base 10% of BEING powerful. Allow me to expand on this-

Power Over Self-

To my mind, Power Over Self is the base of the pyramid- it's the most important part, but when it comes down to it, is only foundational, the capstone (top of the pyramid) of power is where all the REAL power to get shit done is- but without the base, you'll never have the capstone, (unless you were born rich, in which case, kindly put my entire dick and balls in your mouth) so let's dig in.

You've heard a lot of this shit before- Pump some goddamn iron. Eat a good diet. Develop your personal discipline, grind out the skills you value most, whatever it fucking costs. Meditate. Get into a mindset of agency.

I know so many people who are WAITING for PERMISSION to go forth and BE. Whatever it is that they are wanting to be, they're looking for someone to give them that nudge. Give yourself the goddamn nudge, faggot. Realize that this world is just as gameable as the chubby chick at the bar- you just gotta put in the learning, the blood, sweat, and tears. Life is a game- we're in the matrix after all. Go for the fucking high score or just take a bath with a toaster already.

Additions to what I mentioned: Be good at at least one solid martial art. Boxing is my choice, with some jujitsu on the side. Jujitsu is my plate. Walking around knowing I can handle a rough situation does wonders for the size of my metaphorical balls.

Also, get to at least the benchmarks of strength- Squat- 2xBW

Bench Press- 1.5XBW

Deadlift- 2xBW

OHP- BW— Clean & Jerk

ROW- 1.5 BW

CURLS- 90

Beyond the Power over Self: Affecting the External

Contacts. Whatever your career is, there are other people you rely on to do a good job. Make friends with them- and make friends with their supervisors. Be at a level where you can shoot them a text or call them and they'll feel personally bad if they are fucking up your work day- and they might also give you tips that can save you some trouble or money.

A quick example of that; one time my brother was a sous chef for a fancy restaurant and bar. He was chatting with the food supply guy during a delivery, and during this he dropped a bit of info he was not supposed to pass along- the price of one of their regular-order items was going to nearly triple due to a shortage. My brother thanked him for the nugget, gave the man a beer, then quickly changed the menu (with head chef's knowledge) to substitute something cheaper- when the regulars asked about it, he said it was because it was a healthier substitution. The regulars said they loved it, and the chef was glad they saved a huge amount of money.

Speaking of bars, having a local bar where everyone knows you can be a huge boon. Honestly, walking in the door to a bar with a new plate and having three or four people greet you with a big smile or a hug? HUGE proof for your social life. Bring a new contact to your regular bar and they'll be impressed by your popularity. Don't bring hoes around tho, that's a bad scene.

Now getting into some stuff that looks a whole lot more like power-

Savings (emergency fund) I firmly believe that after wiping away debt, every young man should have an emergency fund he can touch within a day's notice to solve any problem that arises- within reason. Say you get into a car accident, but NEED to be able to get in to work- well, hit up your coworkers first, but if you need to be able to rent a vehicle, have that cash waiting for you. Maybe 2K would do the trick.

Carrying on with the financial stuff-

Diversified income: not relying on just one aspect for income; having a primary career is great but not a safe choice- keep contacts in related fields you could switch to if you need to, as well as having many different revenue streams from different investments- and have a damn side hussle. For me, this ties back in to how I handle my free time: I have three hobbies. One makes me extra money (in this case, I'm a good wood worker, so in my spare I make furniture), one makes me super fucking relaxed, (either hoes or skyrim lol) and one is a developing skillset. (this one switches out so I don't get bored- right now it's guitar)

Once you climb the financial ladder, more opportunities to expand your power open up- such as:

Having your own Agents- people who will act on your behalf where your own agency does not exactly apply.

In this case, I can only think of two examples- Employees or followers.

Employees: Find a PDF of the book "The Four Hour Workweek", dude gives lists of places you can hire personal assistants who will handle everything for you from making presentations for work to handling phone calls to writing apology letters for you.

Followers:

-Social media presence

Attention is the new currency- and more often than not, attention IS currency. I'm not recommending we all try to become the new Pewdiepie, but while you're honing your craft, make some kind of online presence. You don't have to advertise it much- add hashtags to your posts and if what you make interests fellows in the same field, you'll develop a following. Personally, I make a youtube "journal" of what I'm learning/have learned, and just post a summary of the topic. My analytics are pretty good for something that is literally just a tool for me to remember complex things more easily. (I work in a medical field, so I post notes online to myself about, for example, myofascial release techniques, what it is and how I do it).

People looking to get into my field ask me questions, I answer while I'm having a shit, and some of them become long-term correspondents- who turn into useful contacts.

This post is getting a bit fucking long for my tastes, so I'm going to pass it off to you guys now- let's expand this into an overall "how to build power from scratch" worthy of the sidebar.

...Also I suck at formatting give me a minute to make this pretty lol