Educational system crushes personal power

"He who does not plan and takes the enemy lightly, will certainly be captured by him." - Sun Tzu

Any individual who wants to achieve financial freedom realizes, sooner or later, than society is massively against that wish. Society will do anything to crush the spirit of initiative and any sense of personal power that an individual tries to develop.

Society (mass institutions) therefore is the enemy. Here's a delicious excerpt from the movie The Thomas Crown Affair, where the hero -- a highly intelligent man who seems to have mastered the workings of society -- somehow hints at being able to defeat society:

The Psychiatrist: I want you to talk about women.
[waits for a few moments]

The Psychiatrist: Mr. Crown?

Thomas Crown: I'm sorry?

The Psychiatrist: Women. You get to talk about women.

Thomas Crown: Oh, I enjoy women.

The Psychiatrist: Enjoyment isn't intimacy.

Thomas Crown: And intimacy isn't necesarily enjoyment.

The Psychiatrist: How would you know? Has it occured to you that you have a problem with trust?

Thomas Crown: [smirking] I trust myself implicitly.

The Psychiatrist: But can other people trust you?

Thomas Crown: Oh, you mean society at large?

The Psychiatrist: I mean women, Mr.Crown.

Thomas Crown: Yes, a woman could trust me.

The Psychiatrist: Good. Under what extraordinary circumstances would you allow that to happen?

Thomas Crown: A woman could trust me as long as her interests didn't run too contrary to my own.

The Psychiatrist: And society? If ITS interests should run counter to your own?
[Crown smiles]

===

The bottom line is that any individual who wants to achieve financial freedom, should prepare for the battle of his/her life.

Being smart doesn't guarantee that you will achieve financial freedom. Being ruthless, on the other hand, might increase your odds of success.

I don't mean ruthless in the sense of being merciless and unkind to other people, but being merciless toward one's weaknesses and bad habits.

I mean ruthless in the sense of doing everything in your power -- every day, every hour -- to allow your future to win over your past.

The past has an incredible advantage over the future, in that it exists already not only in the physical world, but also in your memory. The future is so fleeting, so intangible, so unreal.

People who have succeeded greatly, somehow have mastered ways of empowering their future so it can win over their past.

Thomas Watson, the founder of IBM, gave this advice: Imagine the ideal person you will be in five years. Start TODAY to act, eat, walk, talk, think, etc. EXACTLY the way that ideal person would.

I have never come across a more powerful piece of advice.