Thread by @startupdaemon

LAW 16: Use absence to increase honor and respect.

Gracian: “If presence diminishes fame, absence augments it.”

The law stands on timeless dynamics of society and Mind.

1. Neediness is the ultimate social sin: it contains boredom, but also weakness.

Neediness repels family, friends and clients – and for good reason.

It implies people owe you their time, affection and patronage.

It reveals weakness because to need is to be lacking of.

When you're needy, you're dependent. When you're dependent on the attentions of society, your authentic Being is obliterated by the chaotic motions of the herding crowd.

You cede your power to conditions and circumstance.

2. What’s even, same, unmoving, unchanging is harmful or fragile. What’s varied, different, moving and changing is useful or antifragile.

Familiarity breeds contempt, excess makes the heart grow fonder.

Things get familiar when they lose their energy and become stale. Dynamic people appear extreme to the lo-awarenes mass.

Never fear your authentic Power. It can move the world.

3. Scarcity is a well-known principle in sales. What's more scarce commands greater demand and a higher price.

The scarcity principle found in @RobertCialdini's work isn't just about social proof, status signaling or some other irrationality.

What comes easy requires a much lesser allocation of energy and resources even if you do need it – it's smart to preserve them for what is scarce.

4. You can use the principle of scarcity even at job interviews where you showed up because you need the job.

Highlight your unique mix of skills and talents.

The part people forget – and therefore bomb – is that you also have to show why the employer needs You.

5. Relationships don’t get strong when people get used to each other and their flaws, but when they GROW with each other past their flaws.

If you find a sustainable growth dynamic with a partner – business or family – protect that connection with everything you have.

6. If you don't know what you want or you feel unmotivated, deprive yourself. The law of absence works miracles in the Mind.

Fasting is a powerful practice of scarcity. When you deprive the mind-body of a constant supply of food, your energy goes UP, not down.

But you must have energy to begin with, else you just starve. Mind dynamics work like social dynamics.

Semantics and explanations dilute visceral impressions – they make the deep feel shallow and the broad look narrow.

When fixated on explaining past successes, people easily forget the hard work that went into mastering the fundamentals and obsess over the most obvious details, often calling them “luck” and “talent”.

Things that took a lot to accomplish seem easy and unearned.

Too much of anything clogs the Mind, sudden deprivation unleashes its creative Power.

You can use absence not just as a decision-making tactic, but also to develop directed Attention and Awareness.

It takes work and commitment to Mastery of Mind.

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