By Robert Greene

Preface

• The problem for us is that we are trained and prepared for peace, and we are not at all prepared for what confronts us in the real world - war.
• We have aggressive impulses that are impossible to ignore or repress.
• Our successes and failures in life can be traced to how well or how badly we deal with the inevitable conflicts that confront us in society. The common ways that people deal with them - trying to avoid all conflict, getting emotional and lashing out, turning sly and manipulative - are all counterproductive in the long run, because they are not under conscious and rational control and often make the situation worse. Strategic warriors operate much differently. They think ahead toward their long-term goals, decide which fights to avoid and which are inevitable, know how to control and channel their emotions. When forced to fight, they do so with indirection and subtle maneuver, making their manipulations hard to trace. In this way they can maintain the peaceful exterior so cherished in these political times.
• Sun-tzu (The Art of War) - what constitutes the art of war itself in Sun-tzu’s eyes, is the ideal of winning without bloodshed. By playing on the psychological weaknesses of the opponent, by maneuvering him into precarious positions, by inducing feelings of frustration and confusion, a strategist can get the other side to break down mentally before surrendering physically.
• War and strategy have an inexorable logic: if you want or desire anything, you must be ready and able to fight for it.
• Instead of resisting the pull of strategy and the virtues of rational warfare or imagining that it is beneath you, it is far better to confront its necessity. Mastering the art will only make your life more peaceful and productive in the long run, for you will know how to play the game and win without violence. Ignoring it will lead to a life of endless confusion and defeat.
• Look at things as they are, not as your emotions color them
  • War demands the utmost in realism, seeing things as they are. The more you can limit or compensate for your emotional responses, the closer you will come to this ideal.
• Judge people by their actions
  • In looking back at defeat, you must identify the things you could have done differently. It is your own bad strategies, not the unfair opponent, that are to blame for your failures. You are responsible for the good and bad in your life.
• Depend on your own arms
• Worship Athena, not Ares
  • Like Athena, you are always one step ahead, making your moves more indirect. Your goal is to blend philosophy and war, wisdom and battle, into an unbeatable blend.
• Elevate yourself above the battlefield
  • To have the power that only strategy can bring, you must be able to elevate yourself above the battlefield, to focus on your long-term objectives, to craft an entire campaign, to get out of the reactive mode that so many battles in life lock you into.
• Spiritualize your warfare
  • Instead of repressing your doubts and fears, you must face them down, do battle with the,. You want more challenges, and you invite more war. You are forging the warrior’s spirit, and only constant practice will lead you there.
• Events in life mean nothing if you do not reflect on them in a deep way, and ideas from books are pointless if they have no application to life as you live it.

Part I: Self-Directed Warfare

• To become a true strategist, you must take three steps. First, become aware of the weakness and illness that can take hold of the mind, warping its strategic powers. Second, declare a kind of war on yourself to make yourself move forward. Third, wage ruthless and continual battle on the enemies within you by applying certain strategies.

Declare War on Your Enemies

The Polarity Strategy