The Flow

Warrior Encouragement

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SPEAKER_00 0:01

Warriors. What's going on? What's happening?

unknown 0:11

Huh?

SPEAKER_00 0:14

How you doing, warrior? It's that time again, right? Yeah. Let me say this. If you hear my voice, that means you are on a positive trajectory to getting to your blessings. Yeah. So how are you doing today? Are you doing great? Are you doing so so? Are you angry today? Do you feel defeated today? Whatever it is, you're in the right place. Right? You can lay down your weapon. You can breathe in and breathe out. You will never get attacked here. Because this is your place. This is your place. So no matter how you feel, just know that you are not alone. That you are important. That your feelings matter. And your situation matters. Because, warrior, we are all in a war in some way, shape, or form. Right? We're in a battle right now. And sometimes we win, and sometimes we gather information and come back better, stronger, with more recon. So if there is a situation that we find ourselves challenged with and cannot overcome initially, as a warrior, we understand that knowledge is power. Yeah. Knowledge is power, baby. We don't lose. We just gather information. Yeah. We just gather information so that we can conquer the next time. Yeah. So if you find yourself struggling, don't worry. Just like you did it the last time, you'll make it through this time. Right? If you did it before, you can do it again. If you made it before, you can make it again. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a warrior. Today, I would just like to take this time, right? Your precious time to talk about one of the pillars of being a warrior and having that warrior mentality. Today, I will be discussing the water principle. Let me repeat that. Today I will be discussing the water principle. What is the water principle, you may ask? Well, let me get into it. See, the water principle is the most sophisticated aspect of a warrior's mindset because it replaces brute force with fluid intelligence. Fluid intelligence. See, in the classic sense, a warrior might try to smash through a wall. But the modern warrior simply finds a crack or flows around the obstacle entirely. But see, we here, we already kind of know this, right? Because our mentality is if we see an obstacle that we need to conquer, we're going to do a few things. We're either going to go over it, we're either going to go under it, we're either going to go to the left, we're either going to go to the right. Or if we just really feel like we need to make a statement, we're just going to go through the middle and bust through whatever the situation is, right? But the water principle finds the crack in the obstacle, or it will flow around the obstacle entirely. One of the main aspects of the water principle is being flexible. Flexibility is a major thing that we as warriors have to have anyway. We have to find different ways, different angles to attack. What is bothering us? What is coming against us? Right? We have to do what we need to do in order to get through. So the basis of philosophy of this technique is based on the idea that rigidity is a precursor to death. See, we have to be able to move, we have to be able to dodge and duck sometimes. In nature, a green tree bends in a storm while a dry, brittle tree snaps. See, we don't want to be that dry brittle tree. We want to be able to move and flow. We don't want to have mental rigidity, which is holding on to how things should be. Expectations sometimes can be a killer. Because if we expect something one way and it comes another way, we will be limited in how we process that, right? So holding on to how things should be leads to frustration, stress, and paralysis when reality doesn't align with your expectations. Right? But see, mental fluidity means accepting how things are and immediately looking for the next move. Yeah, warrior. That's how we all need to be. We need to be light on our feet. Right? Next, we have the OODA loop. The warrior's decision format. See, to be water in a professional or personal crisis, you have to utilize the OODA loop, a four-stage cycle developed by military strategist John Byrd to outmaneuver opponents in fast-moving environments. And we know how things can change very quickly in our society. Especially again if you are in the United States, right? We have to be able to adjust to anything at the snap of an instance. Sometimes this is hard. But I'm trying to get us to be prepared, right? Right? See, the four stages of the OODA loop are as follows. The first O, observe. When you observe, you get raw data collection. What is actually happening right now? The next O is orient. This is the most critical step. Filter the data through your experience and culture. This is where you strip away emotion and bias to see the truth. Many people don't do this one. They don't want to see the truth. They want to go on their own narrative, and sometimes their narrative just isn't right. So the first two are you observe and you orient yourself, right? Oh my. Then D, you decide, you formulate a hypothesis or a pivot, even if you need to. Because sometimes we need to pivot, right? We need to change our direction. We need to change the way that we attack something so that we can accomplish it. And the A is act. This is when you test your decision. Again, the OODA loop is you observe first, you orient yourself, you decide to move, and then you act on your decision. See, the faster you can cycle through the loop, the more fluid you become. While others are still complaining that the observed phase went wrong, you are already on your third act. You're moving, baby. While everyone else is contemplating, we're already moving to solve whatever situation it is that we're facing. Now there are some common mistakes when you are trying to flow. The goal is the destination. You want to build a successful business or what have you. You make that decision. Then you make the plan. The plan is your GPS route. The common mistake is confusing a goal with a plan. See, the goal is the destination again. And the plan is the GPS route. How you get there, right? See, a warrior is obsessed with the goal, but remains completely unattached to the plan. A warrior is obsessed with the goal, but remains completely unattached to the plan. If the road is blocked, water doesn't stop and wait for the road to clear, it finds a new path to the sea, right? It finds a new path to the sea. And here's a big one for you. In martial arts, you don't meet force with force. If someone pushes you, you pull. If they pull, you push. Now, in a modern application, that means if a competitor launches a product that disrupts yours, don't fight them head on. Use the market shift they created to find a niche they overlooked. Adapt your shape to the new container of the industry. Wow. Adapt your shape to the new container of the industry. Another thing for you to realize is the water principle requires a state of mution or mind without mind. This isn't about being empty-headed, it's about being so well trained that your body and mind react intuitively without the lag time of overthinking. I know you already understand this, warrior, because I'm sure you've been in so many battles already that you instinctively know, okay, I need to do this, I need to do that to get through here, I need to do this, I need to do that to get through there. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. We have to do what we have to do. And sometimes you can see what's coming ahead and already know in your mind what you're going to do in order to make it through. Okay, so listen, this is what I want you to do today. Practice adaptability. Right? This is a plan B exercise. Whenever you make a plan, spend sixty seconds visualizing it failing completely. Then ask, what would I do then? This builds the neutral pathways for pivoting. Again, the plan B exercise tried today. Whenever you make a plan, spend sixty seconds visualizing it falling completely apart. Then ask yourself, what would I do then? This builds the neutral pathways that you need for pivoting to something new. Two, practice emotional check-ins. When things go wrong, notice how long you spend in the this shouldn't be happening phase. Your goal is to reduce that time to near zero. Zero. Let me repeat that. When things go wrong, notice how long you spend in the this shouldn't be happening phase. Your goal again is to reduce that time to near zero. And here's another one for you. This is called low stakes improvation. Improvisation, excuse me. Purposely change your routine. Take a different way home. Eat something new. Or change your workout on the fly to get used to the feeling of reorienting. Let me repeat that. This is low stakes improvisation. Purposely change your routine, take a different way home, eat something new, or change your workout on the fly to get used to the feeling of reordering. Wouldn't that be phenomenal if you were doing something of great importance? And all of a sudden, something crashed. Something crashed, and you, since you are used to reorienting yourself, don't look at it as something bad. Don't look at it as a failure. But look at it as an opportunity to learn something new. To learn something awesome. I'm gonna give you an example, right? Okay, listen. Your mind might scream, this can't be happening to me. We work so hard. The water mind observes, the tool is down. We have forty-eight hours. The goal remains the same. Action means this. Gather the facts. What is actually broken? What is still working? Do not attach good or bad labels to the data you find. Just collect it. Here's another scenario for you. This is called the filter. This is where you adjust your internal map to match the new reality. You acknowledge that the old plan is now a ghost, it does not exist anymore. This is your action. Look at your resources. Do you have a manual workaround? Is there a competitors tool you can plug in? Can the launch be soft instead of four? You are orienting your ship to the new wind direction. You're flowing, baby. All right, here's one more for you. Decide. This is the pivot right here. Water doesn't hesitate at a fork in the stream. You pick the path of most impact and least friction. Ah, let's do that again. You pick the path of the most impact and the least friction. Here's your action. You decide we will launch with a manual concierge service for the first a hundred users instead of the automated software. It will be more work. But we stay on schedule. Yeah. Sometimes you have to make a different move. Warriors, I know that you know this. So I hope today that I have helped you, Warrior. Think of things that can help you in your battle. Because, hey, we all have battles. Right? We all have battles. But see, we don't want to lose the war. We don't want to lose the war. Right, yeah, so we have to arm ourselves so we can move and flow like water, flow around over, or through even obstacles, right? And as I leave you today, warrior, I want to remind you that you matter, yeah, and you're important, yeah, you matter, and you're important. Let me say that one more time. I said you matter, and I'm important. Don't you ever forget that, warrior? If no one told you that today, you've heard it here first. You matter, and you are important, and there's nothing that you can do. If you have the tools, it may be easy. If you find yourself lacking some tools, you still have the greatest one. Your mind, your mentality, your perseverance. Yeah, you can do this. You can do this. Yeah, you can do this. You can do this. All right, warrior. Until next time. Know that your warrior Sonny is here. You can email me at Sonny D sevenfifty at gmail.com. That's S-O-N-N-Y-D 750 at gmail dot com. And we can chop it up until you stand up again. All right, warriors. Until next time, I am out.