Adversity as Competitive Advantage

Being good at something doesn't promise rewards. It doesn't even promise a compliment. What's rewarded in the world is scarcity, so what matters is what you can do that other people are bad at, writes James Clear.

In my six active years in the financial markets, I have scrutinized my biggest losses, and this is what they reveal:

The business arena is competitive, filled with people overcoming challenges every day. It's the incredibly difficult challenges that give us the opportunity to pull ahead. In a competitive world, adversity is our friend. The harder it gets, the better chance you have of insulating yourself from the competition.

It's like a marathon race: before you can break away from other runners, you have to survive what they cannot survive — a steep hill, a faster pace, weather conditions, etc. You do not break away when it's easy; you break away, if ever you do, when it is hardest for everyone else, including yourself. But, having insulated yourself from failure before, you feel pain, you feel the blows of big losses, but you are not paralyzed by them into inaction. Because you've turned them into a friend. That is, you are more prepared and capable of enduring longer periods of suffering.

I arrived at this observation distinctly while reviewing an investment I made in the commodities market, where I was shaken out with a large loss before the investment proved successful. We'll create another analogy for what it means to be 'shaken' out.

It's more like a large filter, a wall that seems impregnable to inexperienced eyes. If you have run or cycled competitively before, you will understand how difficult the process is: a steep hill will leave you out of breath, a fast pace will force you to walk later on, and hot weather will exhaust you. In business and sports, we face similar challenges. Leverage, which means risking big to win big, will threaten your financial stability. One loss can send you back to your grandmother's house, with little to nothing. Losing months will cause self-doubt and relapse into negative thinking patterns, even relapse into negative lifestyle habits.

But both runner and entrepreneur need to survive these challenges in order to break ahead into victory or profitability. Without risking big, how can you ever break free of relying on JOBS (Just Over Broke)? Without a fast pace, how can you ever get the gold medal?

You have to start by identifying the unspoken rules in your situation. What constraints do others face, and how can you turn those into strengths? Shane Parrish challenges us to introspect.

Cancelo Alvarez

Training Ourselves to Notice Peace

 

Reading time: 2 minutes

You've noticed, surely, how often we take for granted untroubled breathing until we get the flu and air has to negotiate its way in—or how often we take for granted freehand writing until our hand is bandaged from an acute cut. I'm not arguing that we should be kneeling down every hour thanking the heavens for good breathing or writing, but I'm observing something even more underappreciated: peace of mind.

Many philosophers and spiritual writers who made names for themselves agree on this truth:

Life is full of problems. 

On any given day, a typical person is wrestling with a problem in their mind, triggering uncomfortable feelings: lingering anxiety, spotlight pressure, one-way decision, regret that drives away sleep, agony.

I write this to remind us to realize and cherish those moments in a day where we feel at peace with ourselves, with our circumstances, with our life.

We cherish these moments by being present—taking a short walk around the garden, even at work, especially at work. Spending a few minutes looking out of your window, noticing things: children, beggars half-inside waste plastic bags digging for scraps, a dog basking in the sun.

We cherish peace of mind by being present because, really, we do get lost in our problems—they consume every fiber and neuron of our body. They suffocate us.

That's why we must make it a point to catch up with our normal, carefree breathing by being present and grateful. Because ultimately, we're not chasing peace of mind—we're simply training ourselves to notice its presence.

Other Readings:
The Quiet Power of Gratitude
An Op-ed from DUCT Rivers 

Sam Madlala 

Blog 85/95

A News Letter -- Surviving The Middle

 

On Playing the Long Game

“You don’t need to be the fastest learner. You need to make your mind up about the few things that you really want to do, and execute with a much longer timeframe than most people. There isn’t much competition left after the first few years. After a decade, it almost feels lonely.”

— Orange Book

A reminder that the real edge comes not from talent or speed, but from time. Time is the great filter. If you can stick with your craft long enough, what once felt like a competition becomes a quiet path with fewer travelers.

On Mastering the Middle

“People only root for others at two times: First, when they’re at the beginning of the race. Second, when they finish. Neither is when you need it. So, you have to master the middle. The boring, exhausting, soul-crushing middle. That’s where the winning happens. On your own.”

This quote hits hard. Everyone shows up to clap at the start or the finish. But mastery is earned in that quiet, thankless stretch in between — where no one is watching, and nothing is glamorous.

On Embracing the Silent Struggle

“In any difficult pursuit, there’s a tough middle where motivation fades. The ability to ‘go dark’ — to block out noise, turn inward, and embrace the silent struggle — is a powerful advantage. Flow and resilience come when you stop explaining yourself and just keep moving.”

— Sahil Bloom

To “go dark” is to stop performing for the world and start performing for yourself. It’s a shift from needing applause to needing truth. The greatest work happens when you no longer need to be seen — only to move forward.

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THE DIP — Book by Seth Godin

Almost everything in life worth doing is controlled by the Dip.

And then the Dip happens.

• The Dip is the tough stretch between starting and becoming great — a grind that looks like a wall but is really the way through.
• The Dip is the maze of bureaucracy and paperwork you have to get through just to register your business — policies, forms, and red tape that test your will before you’ve even begun.
• The Dip is the long stretch between beginner’s luck and real accomplishment.
• The Dip is the set of artificial screens set up to keep people like you out.

Successful people don’t just survive the Dip. They lean into it. They push harder, adapt, and change the rules. Recognizing you're in the Dip doesn’t mean accepting it quietly. The Dip shrinks faster when you work it down with intent.

Thanks for Reading -

Cancelo Alvarez 🇿🇦

You Are Not This Moment

 

Hey,

I know right now everything feels overwhelming — like the ground beneath you has shifted. But I need you to remember something: you are not this moment.

You are not their opinions.
You are not your mistakes.
You are not your salary.
You are not broken.
You are becoming.

Yes — things didn’t go the way you planned.
Yes — you said things you regret.
Yes — they looked at you differently after.

But no — you didn’t lose your worth.

You’ve been underestimated before, and you rose.
You’ve been misunderstood before, and you found clarity.
You’ve been bruised before — but never broken.

And that fire you feel right now? That ache in your chest, that rage in your gut?
That’s not destruction.
That’s direction.
It’s your higher self whispering: “This is not where we stop.”

There’s power in your anger.
There’s vision in your silence.
There’s a new chapter forming — and you get to choose the tone.

So take this moment.
Sit with it.
Cry if you need to. Scream if you must.
Then stand up — chest open, eyes forward.
Not because it’s easy.
But because it’s yours to claim.

You’ve worked too hard. You’ve grown too much. You’ve endured too much to fold now.

They may not know who you are.
But you do.
And that’s enough.

So breathe.

And begin again.

With fierce love,

Cancelo Alvarez 

M. Scott Peck — The Road Less Travelled - An Introduction

Summary taken directly from the book

Problems and Pain

Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult — once we truly understand and accept it — then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.

What makes life difficult is that the process of confronting and solving problems is a painful one. Problems, depending upon their nature, evoke in us:

Frustration or grief or sadness or loneliness or guilt or regret or anger or fear or anxiety or anguish or despair. These are uncomfortable feelings, often very uncomfortable, often as painful as any kind of physical pain, sometimes equaling the very worst kind of physical pain.

Indeed, it is because of the pain that events or conflicts engender in us all that we call them problems. And since life poses an endless series of problems, life is always difficult and is full of pain as well as joy.

Yet it is in this whole process of meeting and solving problems that life has its meaning. Problems are the cutting edge that distinguishes between success and failure. Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed, they create our courage and our wisdom. It is only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually. When we desire to encourage the growth of the human spirit, we challenge and encourage the human capacity to solve problems, just as in school we deliberately set problems for our children to solve. It is through the pain of confronting and resolving problems that we learn. As Benjamin Franklin said,

"Those things that hurt, instruct."

It is for this reason that wise people learn not to dread but actually to welcome problems and actually to welcome the pain of problems.

Therefore let us inculcate in ourselves and in our children the means of achieving mental and spiritual health. By this I mean let us teach ourselves and our children the necessity for suffering and the value thereof, the need to face problems directly and to experience the pain involved. When we teach ourselves and our children discipline, we are teaching them and ourselves how to suffer and also how to grow.

What are these tools, these techniques of suffering, these means of experiencing the pain of problems constructively that I call discipline? There are four:

• Delaying of gratification,
• Acceptance of responsibility,
• Dedication to truth,
• Balancing.

As will be evident, these are not complex tools whose application demands extensive training. To the contrary, they are simple tools, and almost all children are adept in their use by the age of ten. Yet presidents and kings will often forget to use them, to their own downfall. The problem lies not in the complexity of these tools but in the will to use them. For they are tools with which pain is confronted rather than avoided, and if one seeks to avoid legitimate suffering, then one will avoid the use of these tools. Therefore, after analyzing each of these tools, we shall in the next section examine the will to use them, which is love.

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On Parenting 

Since we do not have the benefit of comparison when we are young, our parents are godlike figures to our childish eyes. When parents do things a certain way, it seems to the young child the way to do them, the way they should be done. If a child sees his parents day in and day out behaving with self-discipline, restraint, dignity and a capacity to order their own lives, then the child will come to feel in the deepest fibers of his being that this is the way to live. ⭐

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The parents who devote time to their children even when it is not demanded by glaring misdeeds will perceive in them subtle needs for discipline, to which they will respond with gentle urging or reprimand or structure or praise, administered with thoughtfulness and care. They will observe how their children eat cake, how they study, when they tell subtle falsehoods, when they run away from problems rather than face them. They will take the time to make these minor corrections and adjustments, listening to their children, responding to them, tightening a little here, loosening a little there, giving them little lectures, little stories, little hugs and kisses, little admonishments, little pats on the back.

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The feeling of being valuable — "I am a valuable person"— is essential to mental health and is a cornerstone of self-discipline. It is a direct product of parental love. Such a conviction must be gained in childhood; it is extremely difficult to acquire it during adulthood. Conversely, when children have learned through the love of their parents to feel valuable, it is almost impossible for the vicissitudes of adult-hood to destroy their spirit.

To be continued... 

Bruised But Not Broken

The path that leads to the life you want is full of challenges that you do not want.

At one point in my life, somewhere deep within me, I really thought there was a career, a field of work, a way to make a lot of money without working hard, without facing stress and self-doubt, without growing into a more informed, skilled, and thoughtful person. I believed that there was a shortcut, so to speak, that I could use to skip ahead and avoid difficulty.

This belief has been torn to pieces—thoroughly destroyed.

Now, bruised and humbled, I am wholly convinced there is no such path. The universe is so designed that we humans and animals alike must get acquainted with the fact that life has guaranteed challenges, genuine sadness —phases and seasons that test our character, that can even kill us before our time.

And only by embracing this fact, by growing spiritually—that is, by studying resilience, emotional intelligence, courage — will we also appreciate that life is full of thrilling adventure and meaning. 

Sam Madlala 

The Sovereign Individual - Real Life Examples

 A summary — page 17-34

Get ready — big changes are coming.

The world is changing so fast that many people won't be able to keep up. The Information Revolution offers huge benefits, but many will fight against it because they feel threatened.

You should be ready for this resistance. New technologies are challenging government power more than any political movement in centuries. Those in power don't give up control without a fight.

This clash will define the early years of the new millennium—a time of both danger and opportunity, with less politeness in some areas but much more freedom in others.

Individuals will gain more power while governments become weaker and more desperate. Politics as we know it may fade as governments lose their grip on services and resources. Private businesses may take over most government work.

Why? Information technology will make it impossible for governments to charge people more than their services are truly worth.

New technology is changing how wealth is created and protected, expanding market power. This shift is massive—possibly bigger than the shift from feudalism to industrial society.

A new era of individual economic independence is coming. Just as governments sold off railways and factories, people themselves will be "privatized." Individuals will no longer belong to the state as citizens—they'll become customers.

Governments will have to serve people, not control them. Citizenship will become outdated, like knights and chivalry. Governments will compete for loyalty, and those offering poor value will be ignored.

Old ideas like "equal protection under the law" will seem outdated because the systems behind them will no longer exist.

Holding onto old political traditions—nationalism and centralized citizenship—will be as pointless as knights fighting gunpowder with swords. Future generations will laugh at what we take seriously.

The Don Quixote of the twenty-first century will not be a knight-errant struggling to revive feudalism but a bureaucrat in a brown suit, a tax collector yearning for a citizen to audit.

As traditional governments weaken, new digital-age groups will take their place. These "merchant republics" will protect members and enforce agreements in a less secure world.

This future will surprise people who still believe in 20th-century democracy. Many think governments control society through votes, polls, and planning. But that's becoming outdated—as outdated as an old factory chimney.

The idea that governments can solve all problems assumes people and resources stay controllable. They won't. Markets—not governments—will drive change. People won't always understand these changes, but they'll happen anyway.

Start seeing the world differently. Question old assumptions. If you don't, you could make serious mistakes that harm your finances, business, and future.

Book Summary ends here:

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So I asked myself - what are obvious examples of outdated thinking still common in 2025, particularly across Africa, and how these mindsets are limiting people in a fast-changing world.

This is what I found:

🌍 1. Blind Loyalty to Government Jobs

Conventional thinking:

“Government jobs are safe, stable, and the best career path.”

Reality in 2025:

Many African governments are deeply in debt, delaying salaries, and cutting back on hiring. The state is no longer a guaranteed provider. Meanwhile, remote work, freelancing, and entrepreneurship are growing globally — but many young Africans aren’t being taught how to tap into these opportunities.

🧭 New mindset needed: Learn digital skills. Sell your talent globally. Create value, don’t just seek employment.

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📺 2. Obsessing Over Formal Education Without Practical Skills

Conventional thinking:

“Just get a degree — success will follow.”

Reality in 2025: Graduating doesn’t mean you’re useful. Skills and execution do. Across Africa, millions of graduates are broke, jobless, or stuck in dead-end roles. Employers don’t care about your certificate—they care what you can do. Yet most waste years memorizing outdated theory, never building a single project, never solving a real problem. It’s intellectual laziness disguised as achievement.

🧭 New mindset needed: Combine education with tech, trade, and self-taught skills. Build things. Solve problems. Don’t wait.

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💵 3. Mistrusting Digital Finance and Blockchain

Conventional thinking:

“Mobile money is fine, but crypto is dangerous or a scam.”

Reality in 2025:

While Western countries and Asian markets are embracing Bitcoin ETFs, tokenized assets, and DeFi, many Africans are still stuck in cash-based systems or fear blockchain technology. This slows financial inclusion, access to global markets, and wealth creation.

🧭 New mindset needed: Learn how crypto, tokenization, and borderless money work. Africa has much to gain — if people are willing to learn beyond the headlines.

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🏢 4. Overreliance on National Identity and Borders

Conventional thinking:

“My future is limited to my country’s economy and leaders.”

Reality in 2025:

The internet has made it possible to live locally but earn globally — yet many still think like their only opportunities come from their own country or government. Meanwhile, young people in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa are building global businesses online — often with zero government support.

🧭 New mindset needed: Think like a Sovereign Individual — build a personal brand, offer services internationally, and diversify your income beyond borders.

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🏘️ 5. Investing in Land or Property as the Only Path to Wealth

Conventional thinking:

“Real estate is the only safe investment.”

Reality in 2025:

Yes, property can be useful — but in many African cities, land is overpriced, mismanaged, and tied to political risk. Meanwhile, those who invested early in stocks, tech ETFs, or online businesses have seen far higher returns with fewer headaches.

🧭 New mindset needed: Think diversified — use digital tools to invest in global markets, not just land.

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✊🏽 6. Believing Change Will Come Through Protests or Politics Alone

Conventional thinking:

“If we just vote harder or protest louder, things will get better.”

Reality in 2025:

While activism is important, real change often comes from creating alternatives, not just fighting the system. A new class of Africans is quietly building startups, platforms, and community ventures that solve problems without waiting for the state.

🧭 New mindset needed: Focus on creating, not just resisting. Build parallel systems — in education, finance, food, and energy.

"The universe rewards us for understanding it and punishes us for not understanding it. When we understand the universe, our plans work and we feel good. Conversely, if we try to fly by jumping off a cliff and flapping our arms, the universe will kill us." — JACK COHEN AND IAN