Latest / The Strategize, Adapt, and Overcome Podcast by Brad Young / The Art of Adapting: Turning Chaos Into Your Greatest Advantage

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The Art of Adapting: Turning Chaos Into Your Greatest Advantage · The Strategize, Adapt, and Overcome Podcast by Brad Young

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  Speaker 1: The art of adapting, turning chaos into your greatest advantage.
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  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody, Welcome back to strategize, adapt, overcome. I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, Bradjung, and I'm genuinely glad you're here with
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  Speaker 1: me today because we're about to talk about something that
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  Speaker 1: every single one of us deals with, whether we like
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  Speaker 1: it or not. We're talking about chaos, disruption, the moment
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  Speaker 1: your plan blows up in your face and life throws
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  Speaker 1: you something you never saw coming. And to help us
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  Speaker 1: with this, we're going back way back, more than two
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  Speaker 1: thousand years to a Chinese general and strategist named Sun
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  Speaker 1: Sue and his legendary book The Art of War. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if you caught our last episode, you know Sunsu wasn't
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  Speaker 1: really writing about swords and chariots. He was writing about
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  Speaker 1: how to win. And the deepest, most powerful idea in
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  Speaker 1: his entire philosophy isn't about strength or aggression. It's about
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  Speaker 1: something far more useful for your real life. It's about flow, flexibility,
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  Speaker 1: the ability to adapt. Here's the big idea we're building
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  Speaker 1: everything on today. Son Sou said, water shapes its course
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  Speaker 1: according to the nature of the ground over which it flows,
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  Speaker 1: and then he said something that I want you to
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  Speaker 1: tattoo on your brain. In war, the way is to
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  Speaker 1: avoid what is strong and to strike it what is weak.
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  Speaker 1: Just as water adapts itself to the contours of the ground,
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  Speaker 1: so should an army adapt to the enemy it faces.
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  Speaker 1: The greatest strategist in history didn't tell us to be
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  Speaker 1: like a rock, hard and immovable. He told us to
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  Speaker 1: be like water, fluid, adaptable able to take any shape,
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  Speaker 1: find any opening, and flow around any obstacle. And today
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to show you exactly how to do that.
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  Speaker 1: When life gets messy, let's get into it. So let's
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  Speaker 1: start with a hard truth that I think most of
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  Speaker 1: us resist with everything we've got. Life does not go
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  Speaker 1: according to plan. Ever, you build the perfect strategy, you
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  Speaker 1: map out your year, you set your goals, and then
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  Speaker 1: what happens. You lose the job, the deal falls through,
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  Speaker 1: someone you love gets sick, the market shifts, the plan
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  Speaker 1: you spent months on becomes useless overnight. And here's where
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  Speaker 1: most people make their fatal mistake. When chaos hits, they freeze,
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  Speaker 1: or worse, they dig in. They cling to the original
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  Speaker 1: plan even as it's failing. Because they're attached to it.
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  Speaker 1: They told everyone about it, They invested in it. So
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  Speaker 1: they keep marching forward into a wall, getting more frustrated
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  Speaker 1: and more stuck, refusing to bend. Sun Sue would look
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  Speaker 1: at that and shake his head, because rigidity in his
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  Speaker 1: world is death. He wrote. The general who advances without
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  Speaker 1: coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought
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  Speaker 1: is to protect his country and do good service for
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  Speaker 1: his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom. Read between
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  Speaker 1: the lines there. The master isn't attached to looking good
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  Speaker 1: or sticking to the plan. The Master adapts to what
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  Speaker 1: the situation acts needs, even if that means changing course completely.
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  Speaker 1: Think about water for a second. Water never argues with
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  Speaker 1: the rock in its path. It doesn't stop and complain
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  Speaker 1: that the rock shouldn't be there. It doesn't waste energy
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  Speaker 1: trying to smash through. It simply flows around it. And
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  Speaker 1: here's the wild part. Given enough time, that soft yielding
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  Speaker 1: water carves the rock into a canyon, the flexible thing
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  Speaker 1: defeats the rigid thing, not by being harder, but by
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  Speaker 1: being adaptable. So today I want to give you three
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  Speaker 1: principles from Soon Su for turning chaos into your advantage.
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  Speaker 1: The first is fluidity, learning to flow instead of fight.
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  Speaker 1: The second is calm, mastering your interstate so you can
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  Speaker 1: think clearly under pressure. And the third, the real secret
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  Speaker 1: is opportunity, learning to see the hidden advantage inside every disruption.
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  Speaker 1: Let's take them one at a time. Principal number one fluidity,
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  Speaker 1: be water, not stone. Sun Su was obsessed with adaptability.
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  Speaker 1: He said, just as water retains no constant shape in warfare,
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  Speaker 1: there are no constant conditions. Let that sink in. There
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  Speaker 1: are no constant conditions. The situation is always changing, So
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  Speaker 1: the strategy that won you yesterday's battle might lose you tomorrow's.
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  Speaker 1: The plan that was brilliant last month might be foolish today,
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  Speaker 1: And the warrior who can't change with the conditions is finished.
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  Speaker 1: Now here's how this plays out in your real life.
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  Speaker 1: Let me paint you a picture. Imagine someone who's been
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  Speaker 1: working toward a promotion for two years. They've got the
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  Speaker 1: whole path mapped out, and then the company reorganizes, the
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  Speaker 1: position disappears, and that entire two year plan evaporates in
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  Speaker 1: a single meeting. One person in that situation falls apart.
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  Speaker 1: They feel betrayed, They get bitter, They spend the next
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  Speaker 1: six months, stuck replaying what should have happened, refusing to
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  Speaker 1: accept the new reality. But the person who thinks like water,
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  Speaker 1: they feel the disappointment. Sure they're human, But then they adapt.
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  Speaker 1: They look at the new landscape and ask, go, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: the terrain changed, where's the opening now? Maybe that reorganization
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  Speaker 1: created a brand new role nobody's filled yet. Maybe it's
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  Speaker 1: a sign to take their skills somewhere they'll be valued more.
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  Speaker 1: The water doesn't more in the old path, It immediately
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  Speaker 1: starts looking for the new one. So here's your practical application.
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  Speaker 1: The next time your plan gets disrupted. I want you
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  Speaker 1: to catch yourself in that first reaction. Are you fighting
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  Speaker 1: reality or are you flowing with it? Fighting reality sounds
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  Speaker 1: like this shouldn't be happening, This isn't fair. Why me
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  Speaker 1: flowing with it? Sounds like okay, this is what's real? Now?
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  Speaker 1: What's my best move from here? You know, you don't
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  Speaker 1: have to like the new situation. You just have to
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  Speaker 1: deal with the situation that actually exists, not the one
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  Speaker 1: you wish existed. And let me be clear, adapting is
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  Speaker 1: not quitting. This is so important. Water still reaches the ocean,
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  Speaker 1: It still gets where it's going. It just doesn't insist
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  Speaker 1: on one single path to get there. So hold your
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  Speaker 1: goals tightly, but hold your plans loose. The destination can
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  Speaker 1: stay fixed, the root has to stay flexible. The person
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  Speaker 1: who can change their methods a hundred times while never
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  Speaker 1: losing sight of where they're headed, that's the person nothing
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  Speaker 1: can stop. Principle number two, Calm, master the storm inside
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  Speaker 1: before you face the storm outside. Here's something Soon Sue
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  Speaker 1: understood that most people miss completely. You cannot adapt if
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  Speaker 1: you're panicking. When chaos hits and your mind floods with
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  Speaker 1: fear and stress, your ability to think clearly shuts right down.
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  Speaker 1: You make desperate emotional decisions, you react instead of respond,
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  Speaker 1: and in that state, you almost always make the wrong move.
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  Speaker 1: Soon Sue wrote about this directly. He said, he will
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  Speaker 1: win who prepared himself waits to take the enemy unprepared.
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  Speaker 1: And he taught that the discipline general remains calm and
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  Speaker 1: unshaken in the middle of turmoil, because that calm is
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  Speaker 1: what lets him see clearly while everyone else is losing
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  Speaker 1: their head. He said, the skilled commander is serene and inscrutable,
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  Speaker 1: serene in the middle of war. That's the level we're
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  Speaker 1: aiming for it. Think about it this way. When the
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  Speaker 1: storm hits, everyone around you is panicking, and if you
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  Speaker 1: can be the one calm person in the room, you
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  Speaker 1: have an enormous advantage. While others are flooded with emotion
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  Speaker 1: and making frantic mistakes, you're thinking clearly. You're seeing options
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  Speaker 1: they can't see. You're spotting the opening because you're not
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  Speaker 1: drowning in fear. You're calm becomes your superpower. So how
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  Speaker 1: do you actually build this? Because I know it's easy
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  Speaker 1: for me to say, just be calm when your world
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  Speaker 1: is falling apart, here's your practical application. When chaos hits
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  Speaker 1: and you feel that panic rising, the very first move
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  Speaker 1: is to pause and breathe. I mean it literally, before
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  Speaker 1: you do anything, take three slow, deep breaths. That simple
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  Speaker 1: act pulls you out of pure reaction mode and gives
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  Speaker 1: your thinking brain a chance to come back online. You
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  Speaker 1: cannot strategize while you're panicking, So calm first, strategy second,
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  Speaker 1: always in that order. Then once you've got that breath,
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  Speaker 1: ask yourself one grounding question, what is actually in my
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  Speaker 1: control right now? Sunzu taught that the wise warrior focuses
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  Speaker 1: his energy where it matters, and waste none of it
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  Speaker 1: on what he can't change. So in the chaos, separate
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  Speaker 1: the two. You can't control that the thing happened, You
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  Speaker 1: can control your next move. You can't control what other
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  Speaker 1: people do. You can control your response. Pour all your
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  Speaker 1: energy into your circle of control and let go of
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  Speaker 1: the rest. That focus is what keeps you calm and
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  Speaker 1: effective when everything's on fire. And here's a deeper layer.
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  Speaker 1: Calm comes from preparation. Remember from our last episode, the
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  Speaker 1: battle is won before it's fought. Well, the calm is
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  Speaker 1: built before the storm. The people who stay steady in
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  Speaker 1: chaos are usually the ones who expected chaos. They knew
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  Speaker 1: disruption was coming someday because it always does. So when
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  Speaker 1: it arrives, they're not shocked. They almost nod and say, ah,
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  Speaker 1: here it is. Expect the storm and you won't be
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  Speaker 1: shattered when it comes. You'll be ready to ride it.
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  Speaker 1: A principal number three opportunity. Find the hidden advantage inside
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  Speaker 1: the chaos. This is the principle that separates the truly
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  Speaker 1: great from everyone else, and it's the heart of what
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  Speaker 1: I want you to take from today. Sun Sue didn't
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  Speaker 1: just see chaos as something to survive. He saw it
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  Speaker 1: as something to use. He wrote, in the midst of chaos,
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  Speaker 1: there is also opportunity. Read that again, In the midst
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  Speaker 1: of chaos, there is also opportunity. The disruption that terrifies
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  Speaker 1: everyone else, the master sees it as the exact moment
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  Speaker 1: when new openings appear. Here's why this is true. When
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  Speaker 1: everything is stable and orderly, the advantages are locked up,
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  Speaker 1: the strong players hold all the good positions. There's no
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  Speaker 1: room to move. But when chaos hits, everything gets shaken loose,
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  Speaker 1: the board gets scrambled, old advantages disappear, and brand new
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  Speaker 1: ones suddenly open up. Son Su loved this because he
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  Speaker 1: knew that disorder is when a small, they're smarter, more
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  Speaker 1: adaptable force can leap ahead of a bigger, slower one.
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  Speaker 1: And let me make this real. Think about almost any
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  Speaker 1: major disruption you've lived through. Some people got crushed by it,
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  Speaker 1: but others, the adaptable ones, They use that exact same
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  Speaker 1: chaos to completely change their lives. They started the business,
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  Speaker 1: they switched careers, They learned the new skill while everyone
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  Speaker 1: else was frozen. The disruption that ended one person's story
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  Speaker 1: became the doorway to someone else's. Same chaos two completely
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  Speaker 1: different outcomes. The difference was perspective. So here's your practical application,
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  Speaker 1: and this one's a mindset shift you can practice today
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  Speaker 1: the next time something disrupts your life, after you've taken
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  Speaker 1: your breath and found your calm, I want you to
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  Speaker 1: ask one powerful question, where's the opportunity in this? Don't
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  Speaker 1: ask it sarcastically, ask it like a detective genuinely hunting
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  Speaker 1: for clues. What door just open that was closed before? Well?
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  Speaker 1: What does this free me from? What can I do
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  Speaker 1: now that I couldn't do yesterday? What problem is everyone
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  Speaker 1: else facing right now that I could solve? I promise
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  Speaker 1: you the opportunity is almost always there, but you'll only
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  Speaker 1: find it if you're looking for it. The person who
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  Speaker 1: only sees the threat will never spot the opening sitting
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  Speaker 1: right next to it. Sunsu trained himself to see both
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  Speaker 1: threat and opportunity always together. So train your eye. Make
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  Speaker 1: this question a habit. Where is the opportunity in this? Like?
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  Speaker 1: Ask it enough times and you'll start seeing doors that
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  Speaker 1: other people walk right past. And here's one more layer
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  Speaker 1: on opportunity. Speed matters. Sons Su said, speed is the
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  Speaker 1: essence of war. When chaos opens a door. It doesn't
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  Speaker 1: stay open forever. The adaptable warrior doesn't just see the opportunity,
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  Speaker 1: They move on it fast, while others are still frozen
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  Speaker 1: in fear. So when you spot that opening, don't overthink
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  Speaker 1: it into the ground, take the first step quickly. Fluidity
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  Speaker 1: isn't just about seeing the new path, It's about flowing
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  Speaker 1: down it before the window closes. So let me pull
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  Speaker 1: all of this together because I gave you a lot today.
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  Speaker 1: Three principles for turning chaos into your greatest advantage. Be
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  Speaker 1: water not stone, so you flow around obstacles instead of
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  Speaker 1: breaking against them. Master the storm inside, so you stay
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  Speaker 1: calm and clear while everyone else panics and hunt for
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  Speaker 1: the opportunity. Because in the midst of every chaos there
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  Speaker 1: is always a door opening somewhere. Notice what ties all
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  Speaker 1: the three together. None of them try to stop the chaos.
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  Speaker 1: That's the whole shift. Most people spend their energy wishing
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  Speaker 1: the storm wasn't happening, fighting reality, demanding that life go
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  Speaker 1: back to the plan. The master does the opposite. The
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  Speaker 1: master accepts the storm, stays calm inside it, and then
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  Speaker 1: uses its energy to get somewhere new. You're not trying
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  Speaker 1: to control the chaos. You're trying to dance with it.
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  Speaker 1: And here's what I really want you to carry with
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  Speaker 1: you today. The chaos in your life is not your enemy.
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  Speaker 1: Let me say that again because I think you needed
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  Speaker 1: to hear it. The chaos is not your enemy. It
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  Speaker 1: feels like the enemy when the plan falls apart and
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  Speaker 1: the ground shifts under your feet, it feels like the
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  Speaker 1: worst thing in the world. But adversity, disruption, uncertainty, those
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  Speaker 1: are the exact conditions that force you to grow, to
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  Speaker 1: get creative, to discover strength and options you never would
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  Speaker 1: have found in comfort. The storm isn't here to break you.
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  Speaker 1: It's here to make you adapt, and adapting is how
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  Speaker 1: you become someone new. So stop bracing against the chaos
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  Speaker 1: like a rigid wall, because rigid things shatter. Start flowing
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  Speaker 1: through it like water, because water cannot be defeated. You
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  Speaker 1: can damn it, you can block it, you can throw
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  Speaker 1: every rock in the world at it, and it will
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  Speaker 1: simply find another way every single time. And given enough time,
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  Speaker 1: that soft, patient, adaptable water carves mountains into canyons. That's
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  Speaker 1: the power available to you, not the power of force,
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  Speaker 1: the power of flow. Here's your one move for this week,
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  Speaker 1: just one. I want you to think of one area
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  Speaker 1: of your life right now where things have not gone
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  Speaker 1: according to plan, one place where you've been frustrated, stuck
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  Speaker 1: fighting reality, wishing things were different. And I want you
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  Speaker 1: to ask that one question we talked about, where is
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  Speaker 1: the opportunity in this sit with it? Hunt for the
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  Speaker 1: answer like it's hidden treasure, because it is. Find the
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  Speaker 1: one door that disruption opened that you've been too frustrated
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  Speaker 1: to notice, and then take one small step toward it.
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  Speaker 1: That's it. That's how you turn chaos into your advantage.
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  Speaker 1: One reframe, one open door, one step through it, because
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  Speaker 1: that's the truth soon Su understood two thousand years ago,
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  Speaker 1: and most people still fight against every day. You will
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  Speaker 1: never control the storms of life. They're coming whether you
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  Speaker 1: like it or not. But you can absolutely learn to
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  Speaker 1: ride them. You can become so fluid, so calm, so
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  Speaker 1: opportunity minded that the very chaos that breaks other people
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  Speaker 1: becomes the current that carries you forward. Be water, my friends.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing in the world can stop a water that knows
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  Speaker 1: where it's going. This has been strategized, adapt overcome. I'm
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  Speaker 1: brad young. Now go out there, turn your chaos into
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  Speaker 1: your advantage and strategize your way to a more empowered life.
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  Speaker 1: I'll see you next time.