Life is generally full of ups and downs. Some days you wake up feeling like a rockstar, and some days you just don’t want to wake up. Some days you can finish everything on your to-do list, while on others you’re sitting on one task for hours. Some days you can socialise with ease, and on others you just want to lock yourself up and not talk to anyone. It’s a constant fluctuation.

And yet, there are some whom are simply their best every single day. There are some who can continuously give their 100% in everything they do. These guys are of course an exception right? Of course, we know that if we are in the right state of mind and “in the zone”, we could probably do the same or even better.  But we don’t. Not because we are not in the right state of mind, but we are never in the right state of mind.

This state of mind can be affected by a multitude of factors, many of which are often not within one’s control. It could be the bad food you ate for dinner that’s causing your stomach to be upset on the morning of an important presentation. Or it could be that one of your close friends is migrating that is causing you to be worried on the day of your final exam. Maybe its just that the weather is too cozy, and your mind is a little hazy.  Many factors can affect the state of mind, and we simply cannot find the root of the problem in most of these cases.

However, when we constantly feel like one thing or another leads to us not being able to give a 100% in what we do, it becomes a question of can we ever really give a 100%? Is that perfect state of mind ever achievable? Or do some just have the ability to switch on this perfect state whenever required?

The truth is, nobody is ever in a perfect state of mind.

We are all human, mere mortals limited to the constraints and abilities of our human body and functions. We all possess similar neural capabilities, admittedly some more superior than the others, and similar physical capabilities. What is it then, that makes this handful of people constantly motivated, constantly enthusiastic and constantly performing?

A constant.

In the constant fluctuations of our lives, everything is prone to constant change. The physical world is perpetually transforming. People change. Relationships change. Places change. Even the entire planet changes. However, we humans hate change. We fucking hate it.

That’s why we try to find a constant in wealth, money, cars, bags, shoes and objects that we can call our own. The bigger the possession the better. Some try to find a constant in people; family or friends. The “Best Friend Forever” terminology, in my opinion, was born out of the innate need to have such a person as a constant in one’s life. Romantic relationships can also get very intimate and unhealthy when one attaches himself or herself completely to the partner, hoping for the other person to be a constant in their lives. Places are also often constants in people’s lives. We fear migrating and living the nomadic lifestyle, only because we fear the changes that might happen when we leave our home. “Home” itself is only a home when one attaches himself to the place, making it a constant. We constantly find constants in material possession, places and people, making them the reality that define our day to day lives.

One little thing out of place frustrates us beyond comprehension. When your laptop crashes, it becomes the end of the world. When your phone is lost, what is life anymore. It does not stop at material possessions. Cities get reconstructed. Natural disasters destroy hundreds of homes. More importantly, people change. Friends might forget you. Lovers might leave you. Family might cease to exist. After all, we are mere mortals.

In reality, nothing that we see as a constant is truly a constant. Nothing at all. Null.

Then what is truly the constant?

I would say God. However my faith in a God has only recently been sparked, so such a claim would not be faithful to my own beliefs. I shall call it the light. A single non-material “concept” that every person has within themselves. This light can be in the form of a God, or a personal God. It could be a philosophy, or a philosopher. It could be a motto, or a phrase out of a Star Wars movie. It could be a person who means the world to you, the idea of the person. But most importantly, it needs to completely resonate with your heart and soul. It needs to encapsulate your entire life purpose. Even if it is for the time being. It needs to serve as the constant that you wake up to, and go back to sleep with. It needs to become a routine. A discipline.

And finding such a constant is the greatest struggle. For all these material, physical constants can diminish over time. But such a constant will remain a true constant. So search for it. Keep searching if you have not found it. But once you find it, cherish it. Live by it every single day. Meditate on it in your free time. Get disciplined to live by it. For this constant is the one thing that will be able to align your thoughts and actions in the right direction. It will be the sole motivator in the darkest of times, and the extra boost that is gonna give you the 100% that you need in your day to day lives.

Keep searching, keep glitching.

The Art of War is a medieval Chinese military manuscript by Sun Tzu, on the strategies and techniques of winning wars. It goes into the nuances of interpersonal relationships, diplomatic negotiations, psychological readiness and many of the more subtle elements of fighting a war. The lessons and strategies taught by Sun Tzu have been applied up till modern military operations, and even business negotiations.

 “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” 

― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Winning a war is nothing like winning a battle. Winning a war takes strategising. Winning some and losing some. Re-strategising based on the wins and losses. Fighting again. Winning some and losing some. It is a continuous process of evaluation and execution, as plans have to constantly change and adapt according to the outcome on the battlefield. There is no such thing as a single winning strategy. Politics come into play. Intelligence comes into play. Interpersonal relationships with the soldiers come into play. Every element adds or takes away from the chances of winning the battles, and eventually the war.

Winning the war, however, is not a aggregate sum of all battles won. It is hardly ever the case. One can be losing majority of the battles at hand, and eventually win the war on a strategic move. Winning wars requires a whole different mindset. It takes analysis of information, situational awareness and appropriate strategy and execution. It is not always about having the best technology and weapons. It is rarely just the sheer size of the army. The Art of War is more subtle than that.

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”

I have always avoided engaging in conflict, simply to avoid fighting. I stood by peaceful relationships with everyone, friendly negotiations and mutual agreements. Never forming enemies and never engaging in conflict for anything. Never ever meddling with politics. Be it in academic projects or professional environments, I trusted good intentions in everyone and everything, blindly believing that good intentions will return good results. If I do my part, I will receive what I deserve. A basic system of reciprocity that I believed the world to operate on. I’ve never been keen on politics, strategies and manipulation. I find it moderately disturbing at a core level, to conceive plans which knowingly can negatively affect others. I believed in doing no harm unto others, even those whom are not too kind to me. I saw myself as being the bigger person if a conflict arises, taking upon myself the negative outcomes of the situation, and empathising with the opposite party. Most of the time, never even addressing an unhappiness or disagreement, simply in order to avoid conflicts which might blow up an otherwise friendly relationship. In this sense, I was always the chill guy.

However, life is far from chill. It is a fucking war.

If you are not fighting the war, you are losing. And as long as you are losing, someone else whom does not have the same good intentions and good heart is winning. Some fucking Donald Trump is going to end up becoming a President just because the fucker is good at meddling in politics, strategies and manipulation.

He knows damn well how to make people listen to him, believe in him and vote for him. And at the core he might have no substance at all, but he is fighting the war with a strategy that no other good man has pulled off. And these fuckers are everywhere. In the corporations and banks that handle your money, to the governments and leaders that define your state of existence. Majority of them are simply in it for the wealth and power, with no real intention of contributing to any form of good to the society. However, it is indeed these fuckers whom are in positions of power and influence, simply because they played the right cards, the right people and the right strategies at the right time. It’s simply politics.

Politics is not a bad thing, I realise. Politics is the synergy between awareness and intelligence. There are many intelligent people whom are unaware. And many whom are aware but not applying intelligence to this awareness. Politics can indeed be played without the notion of doing something wrong. Politics can be played the right way, the good way. Politics, in essence, is three things. Knowing yourself, knowing the enemy, and knowing the situation.

1.Knowing thyself

Knowing yourself is the awareness of your strengths and weaknesses. Not being delusional about your capabilities but being realistic. It is the ability to access one’s current status, financial, emotional and psychological. Every aspect of one’s current status must be known. Knowing oneself is not limited to the self however. It also includes knowing your allies. Who is on your team. Who is willing to fight with you. Who is willing to die with you. A comprehensive analysis of oneself cannot be done without knowing all information about oneself. That is the first step.

2. Knowing thy enemies

Next up, one has to understand the enemies. These enemies are not necessarily people. They can be systems, organisations, policies, but in most cases, people. One might often have multiple enemies, given the multiple battles that one might be fighting at any one point in time. Work, academics, health, relationships, enemies can be strewn across all aspects of life. Understanding the enemy is to understand the intentions and motivations of the enemy. What are they in it for? What can they seek to gain out of it? And on top of the motivations, it is also important to understand the strengths of the enemy. What is the size of their army? How has it been deployed? Who is overseeing certain operations? Who are the key players? Sometimes certain information requires intelligence and external sources. Only through the accumulation of information, can one deduce the possible strategies that the enemy might deploy.

3. Knowing the situation

However, these strategies may not always be predictable. Situational knowledge is the ability to access the situation based on the various strategies that are being deployed and how they are performing. Sometimes, regardless of the best strategies, some battles cannot be won. It is important to retreat and refocus the attention on other battles. Sometimes an ally might turn out to be an enemy. This would again require reassessing the situation based on the new knowledge. The war is constant, the struggle is constant, and the awareness and strategising need to be constantly modified and adapted according to the situation.

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One could just stay away from all of this, saying that politics and war is not my thing, and should be left to those whom meddle in these dark arts. However, the darkness associated with politics and war arises from the fact that the good men are failing to strategise and play as much and as well as those whom are less concerned with values and more concerned with strategic play for power and influence. We need to fight. And we need to fight the good fight. It might take losing a lot of battles, a lot of men and resources. But at the end of the day, when goodness wins the war, that will be all that matters.

Keep glitching.