A Frameshift & The Man Bites Dog Ten Commandments
...And Three Deadly Sins
Commandments: A solemn, serious directive or set of guiding principles.
At the time of writing this, our collective programs have thousands of students building their businesses or side hustles. Weekly AMAs, monthly Arena sessions, and Quarterly events give us a tremendous amount of feedback. The most interesting - and consistent - thing? Many people are avoiding the fundamentals in search of a shortcut. The fundamentals are the shortcut. “It’s not sexy….until it is”
The Man Bites Dog Three Sins and Ten Commandments are derived from the Guardian Academy Ten Commandments.
The Three Sins (3 D’s)
#1. Dull.
We’re here to provide as much insight and information as we can. The information is useless if you don’t do anything with it. We’ve seen many intelligent people get stuck in consuming without implementation - in those moments they are being dull.
#2. Distracted.
The world is becoming increasingly distracted and disconnected, especially on the internet. If you have so many things going on you can’t move any of them forward, you’re being distracted.
#3. Delusional
If you think you are good at running Facebook ads and aren’t, reality will not meet your expectations(s). If you think you know how to get clients, but you can’t, reality will not meet your expectations(s). It’s okay to be who you are, what you are, and where you are - the key is understanding and accepting it. As long as you refuse to do it, you’re being delusional.
The Ten Commandments
Commandment One1: The Healthy Man Has 1000 Wants, The Sick Man Only Has One. Take care of your health. Always. Commandment One is a great place to start.
Commandment Two: Walk The Earned Path2. Nobody is going to do your pushups for you. There are two sides to this as a business owner. 1) If you carry someone capable of learning to walk, you’re effectively crippling them for life. 2) If you allow someone to carry you when you’re capable of learning to walk, you’re letting them cripple you for life.
Commandment Three: Know Yourself. Everything Is a Mirror. If you want to do well - for a long time - in business you have to be able to see the nature of reality. You can build your strategy and team around your strengths, weaknesses, and preferences - if you know what they are.
Commandment Four: Don’t Choose The Certainty Of Misery. “Most prefer the certainty of misery to the misery of uncertainty” -Virginia Satir. People stay in bad situations because they are comfortable. You must be willing to try new things and cut away old ones. Even if they’re comfortable.
Commandment Five: You Must Be Engaging The Field (Learning)3. The difference between “book smart” and “street smart” is a contact with reality. People that engage in reality develop “street smarts”.
Commandment Six: Raise The Floor4. Instead of trying to be better than your best, strive to consistently be better than your worst. Eventually, your worst is similar to your best - it’s called consistency. Continue this for long enough and eventually, your floor becomes higher than your competition’s ceiling.
Commandment Seven: Wealth Creation > Status Games. Keep the focus on what matters most to you, not chasing status. If you want more free time, focus on getting more free time. If you want to improve your marriage, don’t ruin it by trying to keep up with strangers on the internet. Your definition of wealth is unique to you - keep it front and center.
Commandment Eight: No Insecurities Or Scarcity. Be happy when someone else succeeds. There is no downside to supporting others in their success. Everyone has their preferences for their reasons. “Picking sides” and throwing stones is detrimental to everyone.
Commandment Nine: DALA5. “Directions For Acting Like an Adult” or “Don’t Act Like an Asshole” - DALA simply means: try not to do things that get you further away from what you want. We will never tell you what you should want - but we will encourage you to do fewer things that get you further away from it.
Most business owners are spending their days following some cookie-cutter strategy that is getting them further away from their goal every day.
Commandment Ten: Your Life Plan Should Exceed Your Lifespan. There is nothing wrong with setting goals and achieving them. But what keeps you going once you’ve achieved them? What about posterity?
The Underpinning: “Live To Learn. Give To Earn”
This is not a commandment, it’s an underpinning principle. The Guardian Academy is built on the foundation of live to learn, give to earn6 - and the order is important. If you want to teach people how to run ads profitably, first learn to run them profitably yourself. Duh. The fundamental teaching is: remove your own suffering first, and then help others if you choose.
In solving your problem first, you stop creating problems for others and provide an example to everyone around you.
If you’re not sure what to do, find the tiniest step you can take right now and take it. Not a leap, a small step. It starts the process of “Engaging The Field”. Then, step back and see if there is anything to be learned from taking the step. Rinse and repeat.
Note: If this isn’t the right place for you…that’s okay. The degree of success you can sustain depends highly on how aligned your pursuits stay with your unique disposition.