Tools for Titans #10 : Hope is not a strategy.

The next person to be featured in Tools for Titans is documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock who was nominated for an Oscar for his work in Super Size Me.

a) Once you get fancy, fancy gets broken

The book does not go into any detail on this idea but it does mention that this applies to a person's gear.

I see potential in this idea. As we live in a consumerist society, everything we buy gets successively more sophisticated as time goes by. Another words, our gadgets becomes progressively more complicated and fancy over time. A setup with many components gets broken more easily.

One example is in photography, amateurs are getting more equipment which is progressively used by professionals.  Having more equipment means that individual components like a lens or a stand may break while the camera is in use. Another interpretation is that progressively more time is required to use the equipment competently.

At a personal level, I have been tinkering with using a Raspberry Pi as a media player. I always encounter problems using this setup because of the minimalist hardware of the Raspberry Pi. My windows desktop does not give me the same problems.

This idea is likely to tie in with minimalism which may become a more popular movement in the future.

b) The Kanye West strategy

Apparently Kanye West has a big portrait of himself on his wall. His justification is that he should cheer for himself before anyone else can cheer for him.

While I agree with the book that this idea is logical, this is also the kind of shit narcissists do. You know, the kind of folks who want a great body just so that they can admire themselves in the mirror.

Why can't Kanye West put a picture of his family on his wall to remind himself of what's driving him to do what he does ?

I can't say anymore because I am not Kanye West.

c) Hope is not a strategy, luck is not a factor, fear is not an option.

I'd like to digress and just talk about Rogue One. The movie expresses the idea that "Rebellions are built on hope." A nice rallying cry for many readers because it gives everyone a warm fuzzy feeling for the Christmas holidays. But in A Man in the High Castle, rebellions are not built on Hope but on exploiting the suffering of other people.

"Hope is not a strategy" is a much better message than those being hawked by MLM and Internet Marketing people.

Once of the central ideas on this blog is that success over passive income and financial independence does not come from motivation but on strategy, self denial and hard work.

There is no point talking about investing your money if you cant save it.

There is no point talking about saving your money if you can't earn it.

There is no point talking about earning money if you do not have the relevant skills and qualifications to hold onto a job.