"Let him who wants peace, prepare for war."

There can be no peace without war. You will always have to fight for the freedoms you want because there is always someone who wants to take that freedom from you. Before a war, there is always negotiation. Most of the time this is enough and people come to a peaceful solution. But when they don't, and they still want what you have, they'll take it by force.

On a large scale, between 2 groups/countries or more, this will result in a war.

This is simply because violence is always the underpinning of society. After the point where negotiation is no longer possible, violence will be used.

Violence is always an option. Luckily it's almost always the last option on the table, but it’s always there lurking beneath the surface. Nonviolent solutions are always the first to be tried, but when they fail, and they sometimes do, it does come to violence.

There is always a chance that violence may be used, and if you don’t prepare yourself for that option and you're just hoping that it won’t come to that, then you will be too late when violence does occur and you will be decimated by your opponent who did prepare himself.

This entire blog is all about preparing for war, preparing yourself for when things get rough. There’s a beautiful saying that summarizes this concept perfectly:

"The more you sweat during peace, the less you’ll bleed during war."

By preparing yourself for battle by doing everything you can to improve yourself, you will be more prepared when war does come and you’ll have a much better chance of victory.

Most of you don't think about this at all because you're used to peace and prosperity, but if you've ever read a history book you'll know that these prosperous times never last, whether they are ended from within the empire or without.

Preparing for war is about doing everything you can in these comfortable times to prepare yourself for the hard times that you will get to experience in your lifetime.

You need to be ready the moment they arrive, if you have to start preparing when war is already imminent, you’re too late.

This version of preparing for war is based on three larger principles that you can work on every day. The three principles are perfectly summed up in a tweet by the author Robert Greene, where he flawlessly explains the concept of preparing for war and what you need to do. In this blog post, I will go into the three points he mentions.

“Always be prepared for war. Train, gather intelligence, and have a contingency plan. It will give you a critical edge when it arises.” ~ Robert Greene

Train:

Training for war contains a lot of elements. It’s about having the capability of violence, defending yourself and others, being fit, strong, and imposing to your opponents, and being as healthy as possible so you have the most energy to use the time you have as productive and efficient as possible.

Let’s talk about the capability of violence first and get that out of the way:

Most people you are going to meet in life are really nice people who never wish to do you any harm, then there are people, a small percentage who do want to do you harm but don’t have the capability of violence, so they will try to inflict damage to you in indirect, nonconfrontational ways. If you pay enough attention and are ruthless enough, you can counteract all of their attacks with indirect and nonphysical measures as well.

But the last group is the most dangerous one. These are people who are capable of violence and may think about using this capability to hurt you.

You will need to train to be capable of violence, and thus capable of defending yourself if you want to fend off these people. When it comes to violence, when they attack you or make it clear that there is going to be a physical altercation, you need to know what to do if you want to survive.

When you have the capability of violence, you'll also radiate this quality out to the world, and people can see this. There have been studies where they've found that some people just look like victims and some look like predators. People can tell just by looking at others which one they are, and so can everyone around you tell which one you are. The ones who look like victims are always seen as targets. The ones who look like predators are always left alone. You can choose who you want to be.

Secondly, we are training for overall health and energy. A healthy and strong body is a healthy and strong mind. By physically exercising you become a healthier person, you’ll likely have more confidence in your abilities, and you’ll also have a lot more energy throughout the day to do the things you need to do. (See my previous blog about food and the effect your diet has on your energy levels here)

You also need a strong mindset to achieve things and to be able to use violence in a controlled way, because mental strength also involves self-control. As an extra bonus, by exercising and eating right, you’ll have a much lower chance of depression, anxiety, or any other mental/physical illness. Some studies have even shown that exercising is better than any anti-depressant, but they can't tell you that because how could the pharmaceutical companies otherwise reach their quarterly numbers?

To do all the things that are necessary for preparing for war, you need all the energy you can get. The way you get the most energy, in a sustainable way (so you can't just blow coke up your nose, I'm sorry) is to eat right and to physically exercise.

Gather intelligence:

Gathering intelligence has two parts to it, the first part is just about gathering as much knowledge as you can on things that matter. The second is gathering intelligence on your possible enemies, how they think, what they’re planning, and what impact their actions can have on you.

So firstly, try to gather as much knowledge on useful subjects as you can, and I explicitly say knowledge on useful subjects because most people fill up their brains with what they think is knowledge but is actually garbage. Let me explain by using a quote from one of the smartest people who ever lived, Albert Einstein:

“Why should I fill my brain with facts I can find in two minutes in any standard reference book?”

The amount of mental space you have available is limited, and if you’re going to fill that space up with useless information, you’re not going to be able to do anything great. There will be so much shit in your brain that doesn’t matter, and it will take up precious space that could have been filled with useful knowledge.

Most people use their minds as a garage for facts. They fill this space up with statements, with things they learned in school they can just remember and reiterate. But they can't do anything with this information, it’s not usable, and it’s definitely not important.

It’s crucial that you use your mind as a space for useful knowledge, and supply it with as much useful knowledge as you can get your hands on.

Here are a few things worth gathering knowledge on that I would deem to be important:

History, because history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes, and that is because time and context change, but human nature never does. History makes it easier for you to put things in context and see where things are headed.

Psychology, because everything you do in life is going to involve humans, so it’s extremely important that you know how people work and how you can use the principles and fundamentals of human nature to your advantage.

Strategy and power, because you have to know how to get things done in this world, and you’ll mostly do this with plans and by out-maneuvering people through strategy and playing power games.

As a side note, study the greats like Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, and Alexander the Great. There is a lot to be learned from these figures. They got some things really wrong, and other things really right. Study those things that made them so great. What did they do? What are the larger patterns you can find? What parallels you can draw between great figures and the things they had in common? Look at the larger picture and find out what makes a person great, and then try to implement these things into your life.

Secondly, it is important to know your opponent and know the playing field. With the opponent, I mean, every group or person with a belief system that contradicts your belief system and may want to push their belief system on you.

How are you going to defend your own belief system, and how are you going to see their arguments coming, without really knowing your enemy and being able to prepare yourself for what they'll do to you?

For this, I have an amazing quote that Andrew Tate uses that he got from his father:

“I allow manipulation to find out where my enemy wants me to go. Then I use my mind to break the trap and punish the perpetrators.”

The idea behind this is that you should be aware of the propaganda, that you should know what your opponent believes and wants you to believe. You should allow it into your mind, and make them think you are listening to them.

Then after you’ve consumed the information, analyze it and see why it's nonsense, or why it doesn’t align with your points of view. Now that you have an understanding of what the enemy believes or wants you to believe, you can do something about it. You have to know the situation so you can make plans that have the most likelihood of success.

Have a contingency plan:

This aspect of your preparation involves having options and having a plan B for when events go sideways. This contingency planning involves multiple things: money, connections, and a plan for what you’re going to do when things get worse in your area.

Here are two things you could do right now to prepare:

Stack as much money as possible:

Without money you’re not going to get anywhere, you need money to be able to get out and buy things when you’re out. You can't prepare for war when you have to live like a homeless person if you have to get out of your country. You need resources if you want to live a comfortable life elsewhere and if you want to have a chance to fight back against the tyranny that is coming your way.

For regular people, it is important to at least make sure you have some money stored away that you never touch and preferably that no one knows about, just in case of an emergency. You can use this money if need be, when things really go south. If you believe your normal savings will suffice in times like these, you will probably be wrong. Money is an important factor, so make sure you have enough, preferably as much as you possibly can get your hands on.

Visit other countries:

See where the safe havens are and places you would like to live when you can't live in your own country anymore, and find people there with whom you can connect and who could make things happen for you or provide you with things you need.

Have a real plan of where you’re going to go and what you’re going to do when shit goes south. Know which country you will go to, how you will get your money, how you will get to that country, and what you’re going to do once you’re in it. This will come in very handy when shit hits the fan.

If you prepare for the worst, there won’t be many situations that can faze you.

"War is a game that is played with a smile." ~ Winston Churchill

“Don’t depend on the enemy not coming; depend rather on being ready for him.” ~ Sun Tzu (The Art of War)