I used to believe that most of my problems were due to some personal deficiency in talent or skill. I truly thought that if I only put in the time I could gain the competencies needed to propel myself into a newer and better person. While it is true that putting 10,000 hours of hard labor into a specific area would improve and enable one to experience a better life, it’s not the skill or lack of it that is holding one back. Marcus Aurelius says that when one is void of intellect (or talents), he should look inward at what he has the power to control; and what he finds is a character (virtue).

“So display those virtues that are wholly in your own power, integrity, dignity, hard work, self-denial, contentment, frugality, kindness, independence, simplicity, discretion, magnanimity”.

While we may not possess another language, a university degree or specific technical skill, we all equally possess the ability to control our own moral actions through our character. As a classic stoic, Marcus thought that developing one’s inner self; his character was paramount to personal success because one’s character is completely in the domain of one’s control and secondly because it’s development is key to the development of every other area of life. In retrospect, I remember how I would fail to act on my goals and planned tasks due to my habit of spending my precious hours on useless indulgements of entertainment on the web. I kept searching for better techniques (life hacks) to improve my productivity and get on track but all seemed to fail. It was upon reading a simple passage from Meditations that I quickly realized that my problem was a character one. It was my lack of virtue and internal strength that was producing an epicurean and slothful behavior. Many times we are simply either too arrogant or ignorant (or both) to realize that our problems aren’t out there somewhere in the environment but rather in our very hearts. We need to reflect on this day, take a look at the list of virtues and try hard to aim it. There’s an interesting passage in the bible about the importance of emulating athletes such as boxers, who don’t waste their energy tossing their arms in the air but rather focus on aiming and executing on their targets. Likewise, we need to be conscious of our virtues and character and aim to improve that. I guess, but not exactly sure, by setting the moral standard to oneself. It’s very easy to tell other’s how they should live, but the greatest challenge and most difficult being to tame is oneself. But it is quite evident that despite the difficulty, treading in the path with the desired aim, will reap benefits even if the mark is missed, the arrow will still arrive somewhere and probably closer to its target then remaining in the quiver.

Ask yourself the right questions

One of the best tips on perspective changes I have ever learned came from the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. In his amazingly simple yet brilliant book, he teaches that having a ‘growth mindset’ is crucial when it comes to making money. When encountering an opportunity, investment or product that you simply don’t have the funds to pay for, instead of resigning to “I can’t afford it” ask yourself instead “How can I afford it?”. By simply asking yourself this question your brain subconsciously begins to work and starts seeking solutions in your favor.

Gaining by subtracting

We live in an age saturated with information, opinions and advertisements. From my experience, too much information can actually prevent us from taking meaningful action. Instead of focusing too much on perpetually ‘adding’ knowledge, what if you turned it around and trained your mind to look at what isn’t being said or done as much as what is being said or done? True creativity and insights comes from this void. You can apply this concept to financial investments by simply asking where not to invest rather than where to invest. By subtracting harmful information first, you can decrease the chances of incurring a large loss and cutting your investing career short while leaving you in the end with the few positive options that make sense.

Have long term perspective

When it comes to success in real estate it is important to maintain a long-term perspective. This doesn’t mean that you need to forego short-term investment strategies, but you do need to adopt strategies that will keep you in the game longer while ‘subtracting’ potentially dangerous investments as we mentioned earlier. To cultivate a long term perspective, you should start with your desired goal in mind and eliminate smaller and riskier opportunities that appear along the way by focusing instead on the ones that have potential to grow and build a strong foundation of returns. Take Steven Covey’s advice from The Seven Habits by beginning with the end in mind then focus on how to turn it into a reality.

Investing

Generally speaking, investing is the act of allocating money or resources into a business related scheme with the expectation of achieving profit at a future date. An investor is someone who can spot opportunities around him, add value to it and then reap the positive returns at a future date. He is similar to a man who upon spotting an empty field sees potential in it, purchases it and then turns it into a productive farm or industry. An investors main concern is quality, conservative financing and long term gains. The key idea to take away from investing is that it’s a strategy based on low risk purchases accompanied by added value transformations.

Speculating

Although every investor speculates from time to time, having a real estate investment strategy based on speculation can be highly risk. In real estate, speculation is usually the strategy of buying a property with the purpose of reselling it later at a higher price. The speculator isn’t as concerned in adding value or tapping into a property’s potential as much as gaming and beating the market. The reason why speculating can be risky is because one is essentially betting on the market to deliver and this can be problematic when there are various unknown factors involved that could directly affect the prices of your real-estate investment.

Investing and speculating in real estate

When it comes to real estate it is advisable to adopt an investors mindset instead of that of a speculator. The reasons for this is that it will you keep longer in the game and ensure that your investments are solid and grounded on added value instead of gaming the market. It is true that speculators can make money but when dealing with unpredictable markets have and investors strategy is safer. Instead of purchasing houses and apartments with the hopes that the market will shoot up, its much more secure to invest in property that can be later flipped, subdivided, developed or generate cash flow. Think long term gains over short term risky ones and also ask yourself how could you add value to a property for greater returns.

The turtle that was focused

One of the most overlooked stories out there is the one found in the Aesop’s Fables about a race between the hare and the turtle. For some reason among the animal kingdom a cocky hare decided to race a slow yet focused turtle just to show off it’s amazing speed (natural talent). The turtle, not ashamed at all for it’s lack of speed and heavy weight decided to take the challenge with a sense of confidence. While at first it seemed that the hare would far outpace the turtle, it soon made the mistake of being overconfident and distracted itself by taking a nap along the side of the racing path. When the hare finaly awoke, it found itself as the loser in the race ending his loss with the saying “steady and easy wins the race”. Although there is the lesson in making sure you don’t allow yourself to be overconfident and too arogant, the story also teaches that natural talent doesn’t always guarantee success. The turtle was clearly at a disadvantage but had the quality of persistance and steadyness which resulted in it winning in the end. Basically the biggest take away is that talent might give us a good head start but in the end it’s the ones who are steady, persistant and dedicated that make it. The turtle kept it’s cool, it didn’t look to how far or how fast the cocky hare ran, it focused on getting it’s ass to the end without distractions. Be consistent, focus on finishing regardless of talent or speed. In the long run, you might get there faster than those imbued with natural talents.

A guy who understood incrimentalism

When we think of strong characters in ancient greece, the biggest name that comes to mind is Hercules. But few people know about the strongest mortal in ancient greece. His name is Milo of Croton. What I like most about this dude is that unlike Hercules, he got his amazing strength through hard, dedicated and consistent work. Basically what he did was to grab an unsuspected calf and carry it up a mountain every day. He kept carrying the same calf every day, making sure to feed it and let it grow. Soon what used to be a light calf became a full grown bull and Milo was carrying the animal on his back up the mountain just as he had when it was a small baby. Because of his method of getting stronger little by little, in time Milo became the strongest wrestler and man in all of ancient greece. Similar to the tortoise, Milo wasn’t the strongest guy around, he simply understood that his body could get stronger by adapting to the slow progression of added weight on his back. This is exactly the method that people train today, by slowly adding heavier weight on the barbell each training session. But this principle of incrementaly challenging oneself also works in other domains other than strength gains. By practicing each day, and progressively adding enough challenge and stress the human body, will and brain adepts and overcomes these challenges; resulting in a stronger version of you. The key lesson of Milo is that personal, physical, mental growth and strength comes from consistency + progressive overload (added stress).

An old man who promoted walking

An ancient scholar, thinker, spiritualist and philosopher living in China once said that “a journey of one thousand miles begins with one step”. The man responsible for the quote is Laozi, the founder of Daoism. Similar to the story of Milo and the Turtle, this maxim stresses on the fact that long journeys (success, challenges, personal missions) are completed and conquered by dedicated small steps. All it takes; is consistency and the simple act of taking the “steps” necessary towards our intended destination. When embarking on a journey lots of people fail to ever take the first step wether due to fear, disbelief, paralysis by analysis or the excuse that it will take too long. The main difference between achievers and dreamers, are that achievers simply dared to take the first step towards their goals while dreamers never left their comfort zone. Taking the first step can be the hardest, but over time, our steps build momentum and the walking turns into running. Be like the turtle which took up the challenge and won the race or like Milo who decided to walk up the mountain each day with a bull on it’s back. They both took their first steps.

The Ancient Chinese Built Pyramids to bury their Kings

For most people, the thought of pyramids usually conjurs up images of the deserts of Egypt populated by roaming camels. For the more historicaly adept one can even point out the pyramids built by the Aztecs and Ancient Mesopotamians. But very people are able to point that the ancient Chinese built their very own pyramids as well. The first Emperor of China known in the west as Qin Shihuang was buried in one which was built around 210 BC with the original height of 76 meters. Like it’s egyptian counterpart the Chinese pyramids were used to house the body of the deceased Emperors which included steps for the Emperor (now dead) to rise up to heavens and rule from above.

The first capital of the Chinese Empire was in modern day Xi’an

Many people will point out that Beijing is the modern day capital of China and even that it had been in the past. This is true but when the Empire of China was first founded by the Qin dynasty, the first capital was established in the ancient city of Chang’an (Modern day Xi’an). This is really interesting because it shows that the heart of China grew out of the center and then moved north partly due to geographical concerns with it’s security and partly due to foreign invasion from the Mongols up north.

Ancient China had it share of intellectual debates much like the West

Being an advanced civiliation surrounded by countless peoples and ethnic groups it is of no doubt that China would have it’s share of differencing scholars and public intellectuals. Much like the way Ancient Rome and Greece were dominated by different schools of thought who competed for intellectual dominace such as the stoics, epicureans and neo-platonists, China had its fair share of intellectual debates that at times won due to political means. Despite having an amalgamation of differing views and philosophies the three main schools of thought in China were the Legalists, the Confucionists and the Taoists. In brief these three groups could be diveded into realists (legalists), idealists (confucionists) and spiritualists (taoists). All three schools of thought believed in the importance of maintainin order (or balance) with the legalists believing that order is maintained through fear and harsh law, the confucionists through education, morality and hiererchy while the Taoists believed it best achieved through the contemplation of the dao (the way). In the end confucionism became the most influential school of thought but not the only pervasive. Despite having existed more than 2000 years the three philosophies along with Bhuddhism and Ancient Chinese Mythology has been an important and characterization factor in Modern Chinese society dispite the advant of a strong Marxist regime.

China’s first Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi set China towards history

There are few people throughout history that can be remembered for doing something great and even fewerer for doing something consequential but very people throughout history is able to pull off the amount of stuff this one guy did. On top of being able to unify the remainding warring kingdoms of China (230 BC — 221 BC), a feat that had previously never happened but had always plagued China by making it suceptible to foreign invasions, Qin Shi Huandi also like to build. Similar to Donald Trump he loved building projects, and even more similarly he was said to be the man behind the Great Wall which alone is already a massive achievement to this day. Not only did he push for the construction of the Great Wall to protect his empire from the north, he also built roads, irrigation systems and bridges. Along with the heavy infrasture projects he also cleverly pushed for one currency to be used in all of China which had the positive effect of boostering trade and improving the economy. Being a reformer in the political sphere, especially in the way he centralized his government to his capital, many critizise him also of being a tyrant due to his extreme methods of heavily punishing his people for the smallest of crimes (Legalism). Qin Shi Huangdi also had a particular fear of books which resulted in a policy of eradicating any books that were found in his domain. Upon death, he was said to be buried in a massive Mausoleumin residing in Xi’an accompanied by the famed Terracota warriors. In short the Qin Shi was considered China’s first Emperor, unifier, centralizar and builder of the Great Wall and was a figure whom Mao Zedong later said tried to emulate in mind and policy.

What You Buy

When it comes to investing on real estate the first thing one needs to take into consideration is on what they want to invest on. It is important to have a standard and looking for single family homes or homes for singles? Location is also an important factor to to consider since knowing the land and the local context of the property is key to investing. In short you should have a non-negotiable criterion that filters your choices of investments, leaving only the best and less risky opportunities. Have a good criteria and knowing what you want is key to good real estate investing.

How You Buy

The second component of started successfully is knowing how you plan on investments. This covers everything from understanding the terms of a deal to the more technical aspects of the deal such as the interest rates, pricing, occupancy and costs. After knowing what you want, you now need to know on how to negotiate and push for the best deals towards acquiring that property. Knowing how you buy is simply about knowing what a good deal is when you see one and setting the terms towards your favor. Similar to the criteria filter it also about knowing when to walk away from a bad deal no matter how appealing that property looked. A good property purchased with the wrong terms is recipe for disaster.

Who You Know

Many people have the idea that real estate investing can be done alone but this is simply not true. Networking with the right people is essential to having success in property investing. This can be anything as knowing which bank to borrow from to which property agents to work with. It is important to surround yourself with people who want to help you succeed in order for them to succeed with you. Focus on building a network group with people have specific knowledge and success in fields that you don’t such as the field of accountancy, banking, investing, insurance and lastly in real estate. The stronger and better your network is the more investment opportunities and terms it will generate. Social capital is key.

Increase your real estate investment literacy

Lastly never cease to increase your understanding and knowledge of real estate investing. Increasing one’s knowledge capital on real estate can come from as easy as visiting the local library or bookstore. On top of books there are also lots of other mediums out there such as online videos to actual workshops and mentorship programs happening in major cities such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. Lastly always seek to connect to people who have experience in the field and have had success in investing.

Control over value

Unlike stocks and other forms of investments which depend heavily on the market; real estate allows the owner complete control over his property. The fact that land is something real and concrete as opposed to an abstract number on the stock market index owners can get involved directly add value to their property. Just take a look around, and you will notice that land will be ever more scarce and therefore of greater importance in the future not only for profit generating but also for human flourishing. Because of the increasing demand and scarcity, real estate is considered an appreciating asset which makes it unique as compared to other assets available in the marketplace.

Path to financial freedom

Real Estate is the key to financial freedom. No one can be completely free if he still has rent to pay. At the end of the day the wealthiest men of the world, independent of market and field all own real estate. One reason for this is that real estate can allow for cash flow meaning money that comes in every month regardless of the work that was put out. This grants the option of not having to work for somebody else but yourself and depend on a job to survive. While personal income can be valuable as a means to an end, investments such as those in real estate is wealth creation. Imagine all the things you could do and invest on, now that you don’t have to worry about putting in those long grudging hours at work?

Less Risk

Real Estate is one of the safest investment options out there. As I mentioned before Real Estate has an appreciating quality and tends to go up as it ages much the same way the quality whine does over time. However, there are cases whereby investors have lost money or just not made any at face value due to market speculation. That being said real estate will never go down to zero and always has the option of generating cash even if the price of the land drops.

When real estate investing is done right it’s probably one of the best vehicles to generating wealth out there. While different investment strategies are also sound and have their place such stocks, bonds and funds I believe real estate wins in the end due to the 3 points mentioned in this short article of 1) owner’s control, 2) financial freedom and 3) investment security. Property in the form of houses and workspaces are actual tangible things with direct impact on society, it’s more comfortable for the mind to grasp since it’s not as abstract as a series of numbers on a screen and while adding massive value to the investor when managed properly.

What is this essay on?
Before we begin to assess the issues surrounding the bombardment of Syria by the American government, we must first look at the facts surrounding the conflict and the method’s applied by the American government towards this “threat.” It would be utter hypocrisy to utilize arguments that are designed to appeal to emotions and foster acceptance from an audience that already agrees with what I have to say. The point of this essay is to, first of all, understand what is going on and second to analyze whether the method and foreign policy that the USA employed is just towards the issue.

First Things First
Before beginning, it must be stated that my epistemology in regards to most international issues is of a realist and skeptical bent. I tend to separate significantly what politicians say from what they do, and my overall view of humanity’s potential is equally as harmful as much as it is positive. I am what many would say a follower of Machiavelli though not in practice but evidently in analysis and epistemology. Starting with Lord Acton’s adage that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” I believe that Machiavelli has gotten it right at least in setting the tone on political behavior. A fallen creature in the biblical sense, that is all bent of power, and motivated by fear is capable of masquerading oneself in light to further his evil schemes. The devil represents himself as Lucifer, the angel of light who in the words of John Milton preferred “to reign in hell than to serve in heaven.” Although made in the image of God, men of ambition and power today are closer in nature to that of Satan than that of his maker. One only has to recall the atrocities that were made in the name of progress and equality that cost the lives of millions of innocent people at the hands of tyrants just a century ago. Individuals who rose to power by promising the weak a better way of life, a utopia of sorts in a broken, corrupt world. That being said, along with my view of the deprived view of mankind and its relation to power I also espouse a realist view of international relations. In this view, I hold as a maxim that each country is at heart interested in its security and self-interest first. I am extremely skeptical of liberal and neo-conservative agendas of interference in other countries for humanitarian and ethical reasons nor do I believe they are even beneficial. My view of the international arena closer in sorts to that of Thucydides who stated that rights between states in the international system “is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” This classical observation of relations between states is most evidently noticed in the Middle East regardless of the propaganda and the sanctimonious outcry that political pundits deplore against authoritarian regimes.

The Syrian Context
Before we begin to assess the treatment American foreign policy has had on Syria we must first asses what actually went wrong with Syria. To do that we must first look into Syria’s history and background. The plight that has befallen on the nation of Syria could reach as far back as the creation of the state under the Sykes-Picot agreement which chose to divide different regions of the middle-east into areas convenient for the British and French governments. Ever since it gained independence in 1946 the country, much like the failed states of Africa and modern Iraq failed to gain stability due to the various religious, ethnic and political factions that exist within the region. Because of this, an authoritarian leader arose to prominence under the Baathist party who believed that the main strategic goal of his rule was to bring about internal political stability and national security. This man was also the father of the current president of Syria and much like his son Bashar; he was greatly criticized for his autocratic methods of obtaining political stability. Due to the country’s proximity to Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, and Israel its prime enemy at the time, Syrian’s national budget was greatly spent on arms and military expenditure. By the time of Hafiz’s death, the country was in need of reforms. In the year 2000, Bashar becomes the president of Syria and continues his father’s legacy of authoritarian rule. According to western journalists, this continuation of atocratic ruthlessness kick starts the civil war in Syria, along with the influence of the “Arab Spring” movement that began in Tunisia. Despite these factors in bringing about the collapse of the Baathist grab of power, one piece of information that gets heavily left out by the media is the religious-ethnic context. The factions at war in Syria aren’t just political per say but also have within their teleology a religious and ethnic agenda. Two examples of this are Isis and the YPG, whereas the former wants to create a hyper-Islamic fascist state the latter wants an independent state for the Kurds. On top of this, the country is 3/4 made up of Sunni Muslims while a smaller sect of Muslims known as the Alawites rule the country. This fact has been the cause of so much disagreement within the state of Syria and a determining factor in its geopolitical alignment with Iran which is a country dominated by Shiites who happen to view Alawites more positively compared to the Sunnis. Nevertheless, with the collapse of the regime, the rising strength of Isis and the foreign aid that west and arab states gave to different rebel factions, the Syrian government almost lost it’s grip on power if it wasn’t for Putin’s intervention in the region.

The players in Civil War
For the sake of simplicity; refer to the chart below:

Although the chart above is a simplification of the general groups and factions that exist in the Syrian civil war, it’s a good gist of the various groups although it should be noted that other groups such as Al Queada weren’t mentioned due to its loss of territory by the hands of ISIL (DAESH) and another point that should be said is that within the groups themeselves; sub-factions fight among eachother such as the various smaller factions within the sole called “moderate rebel groups” and the Kurdish factions. This only but highlights the complexity of the issue and chaos which the Syrian state is suffering from at this moment. Now before analyzing America’s role and involvement within the state of Syria, it should be noted that in chaotic and complex systems the best thing to is simply to allow things to play out and support the best method of bringing about stability which in my opinion would be to support the Assad regime which nevertheless has its faults. If nations were to out benevolently towards each other, in my opinion, this would have been the appropiate policy. But unfortunately the opposite happened with the West and the Arab states supporting questionable factions and rebel groups. This could be either due to some ill advised form of idealism or to simply fulfil the classic adage that “the enemy of my enemy is friend” or atleast for now.

American Foreign Policy and Hypocrisy
In the last few decades, America has sadly failed to learn from its mistakes. The first of them being its involvement Afghanistan which helped create a fundamentalist group of Islamists known as the Taliban and later indirectly creating the infamous terrorist syndicate known as Al-Qaeda. The story behind America’s involvement in Afghanistan’s intervention was to help free it from the oppressive Soviet Union. This “freedom” which America has ushered over the years has yet to present itself with a positive track-record. Instead every country which the US has tried to export “democracy and liberation” into has resulted in leaving the states in complete chaos and political shambles. Libya and Iraq are two significant cases of the policy errors of this sort of political intervention. Which left Iraq, formerly one the most influential countries in the middle east prey to murderous extremist ideologies such as ISIL. While trasnforming a prosperous Lybia into a failed state. The hypocrisy of America’s foreign policy lies mostly in what it sanctimoniously utters versus what it truly does. Democracy, human rights, and anti-authoritarian sentiments only apply to those states which are either weak enough to be invaded or against the US’s political agenda. Latin America’s history is plagued with instances where America heavily supported corporatist, far-right authoritarian leaders due to their submission to America’s political wishes. My problem with this all isn’t America’s reluctance to buckle down against such regimes but that rather that it sometimes chooses to do so in the worst manner possible. The most hypocritcal aspect of this is America’s longtime alliance with Saudi Arabia which not only supports terrorist groups and extremist Islamic views but also conducts its internal affairs in the most illiberal and despotic manner. Another case of this double standard is China, which although is seen as a contender to American interests and heavily criticized for its Human Rights violations is at the same time one of America’s most prominent trading partners and purchaser of its federal debt. Therefore, when the USA declares it’s intentions in the Middle East as stemming from a humanitarian and moral bent, I raise an eyebrow. Assuming America does have a definite moral interest in the case of Syria, one still has to explain why would it arm rebels such ISIL whom we all know have done nothing but murderous acts of terrorist activities in the both the Middle East and the West. Secondly, if the prime concern of Syria were political stability and peace, the best thing to do would allow the government to obtain stability and then negotiate for reforms through multi-lateral negotiations with Russia and Assad.

What Must Be Happening
What seems to be happening is that Assad is unfortunate enough to be close allies with Iran. This relationship poses a threat to the gulf monarch states and Israel which are all close allies of the USA. This, along with Russia’s growing influence in relations with Iran, Turkey, Syria and the Caspian states bring about a shift in the balance of power within the region. Despite the right opportunity of bringing about stability in the area, Obama decided to destabilize the region, and difficult the ever-growing presence of Iranian and Russian influence in the region. This, however, cost the US a negative image and only extended the war; adding countless collateral damage in the process. Obama’s strategy in Syria was mostly similar to that which was used in Afghanistan. Arm different rebels, use proxies, force Russia to exhaust itself and then leave the country in ruins yet under western supervision. This time, however, Putin played his cards better and due to America’s declining international image, failed. As of current news, the Syrian Government, due to the massive aid of Russia was able to secure a victory.

On the use of chemical weapons
There is still the sizeable remaining question of the use of chemical weapons in the region which I left out of this essay. This is mostly because I don’t particularly trust the news. The facts are real, but the narrative may be utterly false. It is possible for both sides of the war to use chemical weapons but it seems improbable that Assad would use such weapons since he not only knows of the consequence of using it but also since it’s ineffective and of no current strategic value to the Syrian Government. In asymmetric warfare, such tools would be much more beneficial to the weaker, smaller or disadvantaged party than that of the superior one. However, to be fair, this is only my personal opinion and have no way of proving whether Assad used chemical weapons or not.

A conclusive Juxtaposition
To conclude I would juxtapose my reasons for supporting a non-interventionist policy and why the Assad regime with all its shortcoming is a better option than a rebel victory. The chart below was borrowed from the author Naseem Taleb, a man whom I much respect, a genius, philosopher, mathematician and someone who greatly understands complex and stochastic systems. In the chart one can easily see that the Baathist regime is much better overall compared to the extremist alternative.

Note: Origin of this chart is found in https://medium.com/opacity/the-syrian-war-condensed-a-more-rigorous-way-to-look-at-the-conflict-f841404c3b1d

If there’s a character in the Bible which I love and admire despite all his shortcomings, that character is King David. The story of King David is one the most exciting adventures ever told of a man who went from being the forgotten boy in the fields tending sheep to the great warrior, king, and lover of the perfect Being (God). One story particularly fascinates me, and it’s the way that David defeated the great giant Goliath with nothing then a sling and few stones. The thing about David was that he knew himself and God quite well.

According to the story, David refused to use conventional arms to fight the menacing Giant but instead opted for what was familiar to him, which was the sling. Warriors in those days were very well versed with the sling and could shoot down various objects with fantastic precision. David thus chose to fight the great villain with the tool he best knew how to use without the added weight of extra armor. David’s prowess with the sling and unwavering faith in God was enough to give him victory. The last thing that happened to Goliath was to have his head cut by his very own sword. Sometimes in life, we are always seeking for an opportunity to arrive, we are consistently looking for a way out of our present predicament, but we fail to notice or to take advantage of what lays in front of us. David was not so, while he tended the sheep he would defend them against the wild beasts and thus this habit of confronting evil no matter how small or large prepared him to face the great giants of his life. He was never shy of taking advantage of the things around him nor of using the tools he had. When he was an outcast, a fugitive of the mad king Saul he surrounded himself with other outcasts, outlaws and foreigners, transforming his band of misfits into a band of noble warriors. He didn’t lead the best of men, but through his leadership, he transformed his lowly group of soldiers into a strong army. Afterall, the wise adage claims that it’s better for an army of 500 sheep to be led by a lion than an army of lions to be led by a sheep. The true strength of the great King was his humble attentiveness to the small things around his life and his wise use of the tools he was given. A single pistol in the hands of a highly trained soldier is more potent than the best automatic rifle in the arms of an amateur. Jesus himself, while on a hill surrounded by the thousands of hungry people asked his disciples feed the people. Finding only a few fish and loaves of bread, he commanded them to feed the multitude with all that they had no matter how little or impossible the task seemed. Was there a miracle? Yes, but miracles are always preceded by action. There are countless events in history where a smaller and less capable army not only survived but overcame a stronger one. It shows that unless one decides to act, there can be no victory.

There are also times, where we lose our tools and are forced at first to come to grips with reality. This is what happens to the mighty Thor in Marvel’s comics when he loses his most potent weapon the hammer Mjolnir. At first, what appears to have been the most significant blow to the mighty Thor, in the end only makes him stronger. He learns to accept his limitations and forces him to transcend them into something more than a wielder of hammers but instead a hero who overcomes his nemesis with the aid of others and power much stronger than that of any hammer, the strength of will and courage. I recently finished Jordan’s Peterson’s 12 Rules for life, which is an excellent read albeit weighty and soul-provoking from start to finish. There was a part of the book which resonated with me, in which he advised a young man in a similar predicament as myself to do exactly that which David had done, to carpe diem and work the best that I can with what is at hand. Should one strive for better and for more? Yes, but the rule of thumb is to be better today compared to what you were yesterday, and to always attempt for that which is more significant than yourself. In the same manner that Milo, the great wrestler of ancient Greece developed his strength by carrying a young calf up a mountain each day until he was taking a massive bull; one should tackle life’s challenged daily with the same effort and audacity.

Instead of complaining, comparing and daydreaming, one should be looking at what he has at his disposal and do an asset-based assessment of his gifts, opportunities, and tools. To do this one has to stop comparing himself to those around him, stop listening even to the critics that don’t build nor cultivate his growth toward progress. He must selfishly seek the goals that are close to his grasp and use the tools around him to get there. Before David became a King, he leads a band of misfits, before that he leads a group of sheep. When an opportunity to defend the kingdom against the giant appeared, he took it and declared that he had already defeated both the bear and the lion. A giant was merely the next step up the ladder of experience and success. He took the giant down the best tool he had, his sling coupled with the same faith which he had when he defended his sheep. In other words, we all have gifts, refine them and use them; someday these gifts will aid the slaying of giants.

In Health

Via negativa is especially applicable to your health with amazing results. Borrowing the example from Nasseem Taleb ‘if you want to improve your health it is better to remove (via negativa) harm than to simply supplement your body with some new external additive substance such as a fancy new gym gadget or medicinal product (via positiva).’ So instead of drinking that newly marketed yet not properly tested “health beverage”, why not remove smoking, heavy drinking and sleep deprivation from your life? A few years ago I was sick all the time despite my daily regiment of calisthenics training, drinking of vitamin C and cold showers. Nothing that I kept adding to my diet or my daily routine was making me healthier. I got so sick one day that I literally had to take daily injections of antibiotics for two whole weeks with no positive results except for a weakening body and a more anxious mind. The doctors didn’t know what to do so, in the end, I simply restructured my environment by removing all the things which I thought was contributing to my sickness. I started by removing harmful contents from my diet (sugars, chemically processed milk and fried food), and next I reorganized my room in a way to prevent the accumulation of dust, the last thing I removed was stress through the use of hikes and a change of mental state since I had read that high cortisol levels actually contribute to a lower immune system. After about a week of these simple subtractions, my health improved significantly and I haven’t been sick since.

In Success

Sometimes your life doesn’t need anything more added to it but instead, it needs less of the bad. So instead of asking yourself what habits, mindsets and things you should obtain in order to be successful, ask instead what bad habits, negative mindsets and bad things you should drop out of your life. It’s as simple as cutting out time wasted on social media, cutting out bad influences or cutting out bad financial spending on useless junk. There’s lots of talk about thinking positively which albeit good can also be misleading; in my opinion, it’s much better to see things as they are while cutting our negative responses and negative thinking than to simply add forced positive ones. A good example of this which can lead to amazing results is to cut out the habit of complaining, unnecessary cursing and gossiping of others first before trying to add positively enforced ones. I recently made a list of things which I knew was holding me back and slowly removed them such as the hugely wasted amounts of time I spent on youtube and I can attest that I already noticed incredible gains in my free time and productivity without having to add anything more to my lifestyle. The now largely influential psychologist Jordan Peterson also shares how he started into his path of meaning at the age of 25 by removing bad habits from his life first such as smoking and drinking before he added a healthy dose of working out.

In learning and mental framing

As shown above, Via negativa can be extremely beneficial to us in order to improve our health and our daily habits but it can also be important for our personal epistemology. When we observe things we tend to ask questions such as “why something happened” or what habits so and so have that “contribute to their success” but often times we should be learning from the exact opposite by asking ourselves the negative questions as “what did so and so do wrong” or “why didn’t something happen”. When we observe other successful people around us we can greatly deceive ourselves if we only look to the actions they do and the success they had. Often times it’s much better to look at what actions a certain person doesn’t do and the mistakes they made that we can find so much wisdom. I once overheard a conversation from a group of soccer players concerning the physical prowess of a certain fellow athlete of theirs, and they were mentioning how this person of great athleticism was the strongest, fastest and fittest player on the field due to his hard work and training which he took very seriously. Their comments gave me the impression that this man’s success on the field was simply due to his dedicated and intense training regime but I also knew for a fact that the other players engaging in the conversation worked just as hard as he did. So I thought that perhaps this player was also good because of what he didn’t do just as much as what he did do. Asking them what they thought were major factors of things this player wouldn’t do that contributed to his success and the players told that he would never touch a bottle of alcohol, smoke or ever went out partying late at night on the weekends while the rest of them would. So while they all trained with intensity (positiva) this amazing player had an advantage because at the same time he would remove all the negative habits (negativa) giving him a greater edge on the field. This simple anecdote shows that sometimes we overlook key factors about something because its hard to spot what’s not there than what is there yet the lack of a thing can point to some incredible wisdom and useful knowledge. Nasseem Nicholas Taleb a favorite author of mine who inspired much of the ideas in this post also believes in the importance of getting to knowledge by the subtracting what we know is false without necessarily knowing what is true all the time. It is for this reason that at most times we should be reading books on how people have been wrong and failed versus those who have done right and succeed. With so many books written on how to get rich, one which does the opposite and at the same is very much praised and appreciated by both myself and Nasseem Taleb is Jim Paul’s What I learned from Losing A million Dollars. In it, you learn the valuable lessons and dangers of trusting your psychological biases and poor rationalizations of the market that can ultimately lead to your downfall. In a world with so much information, uncertainty and chaos sometimes, knowing what not to do and what to remove is more beneficial.

How do I start?

In short a via negativa mindset takes a bit of time to cultivate and it’s often a lot harder to get rid of bad habits than it is to add new ones but the simple act of taking a few steps into the right direction will reap long-lasting benefits. I would suggest starting small, probably with a written list of one to three things, habits or mindsets that you know are unconducive towards your desired goals and start removing them from your life today. You can apply via negativa to different domains of your life such as your physical health, psychological health, character or day to day analysis of information. Think of via negativa as a sculptor removing the unnecessary chunks of clay from a mold so that only the masterful work of art is left. With all that being said bear in mind that via positiva is also a necessary and valid component to your success, health, and life but shouldn’t have the limelight. As a rule of thumb, start your journey of change by removing a negative habit and when a blank slate is all that’s left then add habits that in its place that are good.

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