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 ANTICIPATION
THE DISCIPLINE BUILD YOUR
(THINKING
OF THE WILL INNER CITADEL
NEGATIVELY)

LOVE
THE ART OF
EVERYTHING PERSEVERANCE
ACQUIESCENCE
THAT HAPPENS:

SOMETHING MEDITATE ON
PREPARE TO
BIGGER THAN YOUR
START AGAIN
YOURSELF MORTALITY

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 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE WILL
 Always prepare ourselves for more difficult times.
 Always accept what we’re unable to change.
 Always manage our expectations.
 Always persevere.
 Always learn to love our fate and what happens to us.
 Always protect our inner self, retreat into ourselves.
 Always submit to a greater, larger cause.
 Always remind ourselves of our own mortality.

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 BUILD YOUR INNER CITADEL
▫ Are you similarly prepared? Could you actually handle
yourself if things suddenly got worse?
▫ No one is born a gladiator. No one is born with an Inner Theodore Roosevelt
Citadel. If we’re going to succeed in achieving our goals
despite the obstacles that may come, this strength in will
must be built
▫ Are you okay being alone? Are you strong enough to go a
few more rounds if it comes to that? Are you comfortable
with challenges? Does uncertainty bother you? How does
pressure feel? Because these things will happen to you. No
one knows when or how, but their appearance is certain.
And life will demand an answer.
ANTICIPATION (THINKING
NEGATIVELY)
▫ Always prepared for disruption, always working that
disruption into our plans. Fitted, as they say, for defeat or
victory. And let’s be honest, a pleasant surprise is a lot better
than an unpleasant one.
▫ What if . . . .
▫ Then I will . . .
▫ What if . . .
▫ Instead I’ll just . . .
▫ What if . . .
▫ No problem, we can always
▫ “What if . . .” is, It will suck but we’ll be okay
THE ART OF ACQUIESCENCE
(learn to accept the things as they are and move
on
▫ Constraints in life are a good thing. Especially if we can
accept them and let them direct us. They push us to
places and to develop skills that we’d otherwise never
have pursued.
▫ When the cause of our problem lies outside of us, we
are better for accepting it and moving on
 LOVE EVERYTHING THAT
HAPPENS:
▫ we need to be able to endure tragedy and
setbacks. We’ve got to love what we do and all
that it entails, good and bad. We have to learn to
find joy in every single thing that happens
▫ The next step after we discard our expectations Jack Johnson
and accept what happens to us,
▫ after understanding that certain things—
particularly bad things—are outside our control,
▫ is this: loving whatever happens to us and facing it
with unfailing cheerfulness.
 PERSEVERANCE
▫ perseverance is something larger. It’s the long game. It’s about
what happens not just in round one but in round two and every
round after—and then the fight after that and the fight after that,
until the end
▫ We will overcome every obstacle—and there will be many in life—
until we get there. Persistence is an action. Perseverance is a
matter of will. One is energy. The other, endurance.
SOMETHING BIGGER THAN
YOURSELF
▫ when we focus on others, on helping them or simply
providing a good example, our own personal fears and
troubles will diminish
▫ Stop making it harder on yourself by thinking about I, I, I.
Stop putting that dangerous “I” in front of events. I did this. I
was so smart. I had that. I deserve better than this. No
wonder you take losses personally, no wonder you feel so
alone. You’ve inflated your own role and importance
 MEDITATE ON YOUR MORTALITY
 Man nearly dies, he takes stock, and emerges from the
experience a completely different, and better, person
 Our fear of death is a looming obstacle in our lives. It shapes
our decisions, our outlook, and our actions.
 What would I change about my life if the doctor told me I had
cancer?
 Reminding ourselves each day that we will die helps us treat
our time as a gift. Someone on a deadline doesn’t indulge
himself with attempts at the impossible, he doesn’t waste time
complaining about how he’d like things to be
 We can learn to adjust and come to terms with death—this
final and most humbling fact of life—and find relief in the
understanding that there is nothing else nearly as hard left
PREPARE TO START AGAIN
▫ law of nature is that it never stops. There is no end.
▫ Each time, you’ll learn something.
▫ Each time, you’ll develop strength, wisdom, and perspective.
▫ Each time, a little more of the competition falls away. Until
all that is left is you: the best version of you.
▫ Knowing that life is a marathon and not a sprint is important.
Conserve your energy. Understand that each battle is only one
of many and that you can use it to make the next one easier.
More important, you must keep them all in real perspective