Socien's Blog

On the hammer and anvil tactic I wrote in one article, “Those who would want to know what anvil and hammer is should look no further than the work of the blacksmith. An anvil is used to keep the metal the smith is working on steady. A hammer then hits the metal. In war, this is a single envelopment. The anvil keeps the enemy occupied tearing it from its front, leaving the enemy rear exposed to the penetrating hammer. The harmer, attacking from the rear, is highly mobile and ruthless, wedging itself deeper into the enemy’s positioning.”

Having highly mobile horsemen sneak attack from the enemy’s rear decongests your main attacking force. During the times of Alexander the Great troops would wait for minutes if not hours for those ahead of them to be taken down by the enemy or scatter to face the opponent troops and fight. Alexander’s persistence in this tactic made every soldier useful in the very early minutes of the battle, boosting their morale. Thus he managed to beat his main opponent, Darius III, whose troops outnumbered his significantly.

You can get everything you want if you help enough others get what they want.
~ Zig Ziglar

Render this to when your help is needed. The last thing you need to do is to have an individual you must help carried behind your back. Find the ideas in the one you want to help and have them put into use in the hammer side of the battle scene. Simplified: You can’t just finance someone’s needs. You need to find the gold hidden in that person, finance it and focus on empowering him to become self-reliant. If that gold is a business idea, find means to tactically finance it and be one of the shareholders in case it is a success or just get back the part you put in while helping. And if the business fails, you can still use the experience as a valuable learning opportunity. This approach also provides a graceful exit strategy, whether you’re preparing to pass on your estate or empire to others, or structures you couldn’t finish yourself. By empowering others to succeed, you’re creating a lasting legacy that will continue to thrive long after you’re gone.

For this system to work. You need to find potential. Some people deserve to be given their chance on the hammer side. There are those you must keep behind, spoon-feeding until exhaustion. Identify people with an attitude towards growth from the rest and give them growth—playing well along the guiding quote from Thomas Jefferson, “nothing on earth can help the man with the wring attitude.” An attitude is a mentality of the day. You also need to understand the general mentality the one you intend to help has and see if there is any need to manipulate and motivate him so that he can be a vital warrior who qualifies to be fighting in the hammer unit.

Some people provided the capital and manipulation can never wish to be in business, and they do not qualify to be fighting in the hammer—keep them behind your back and fight for them. Supply the needs of this group, pay the rent, hire them and so forth, knowing well that you have distanced the cream for your hammer side from them. You can’t take away the cultural harm done to one while growing up. You may try to make one believe that she can stand up and become a different woman distinct from the one she grew up being familiarized with while they lectured to her on the discourses of a housewife. You may try to make one believe that starting a business is better than crossing oceans to find a job. When you fail you must quickly realize that you have an anvil burden to care behind you.

More gold has been mined from the thoughts of man than has ever been taken from the earth ~ Napoleon Hills

There are massive deposits of gold in the minds of individuals from all walks of life. For one coming for help to you does not mean that s/he is lacking that gold. Be willing to listen than to be heard. Listening is the cheapest tool for exploration and discovery. Understand the issues of one you intend to help. Investigate and get to know his weaknesses. Be aware that a pre-success individual is a person whose flaws can be easily seen. When you interact with one, don’t overjudge his/her weaknesses.

Let them take a lead at any cost: My uncle would let his juniors do the quotations, and compensate the clients when they over-quotee. You can apply the anvil and hammer tactic where you intend to teach. It makes your students wean off early.