This podcast and video (below) was in response to the email I sent out earlier on Tuesday.
Show notes follow and then the text of the original email.
Straight to the email list + our FREE Time Management checklist : BrianDOLeary.com/letter
The Vintage Mencken (gathered by Alistair Cooke)
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“It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.
”
Warren Buffet CEO, Berkshire Hathaway
Buffet's politics are loathsome, but for the most part he has proved either wise or clever throughout his life. For who can quarrel with the notion that it is generally good to be around better people than yourself?
However, what Buffet misses tends to be what is wrong with his politics.
You shouldn't want to "drift" anywhere. Move instead with intention.
Consider. We are in a highly politicized environment. The once and likely future president was shot in the ear over the weekend. That was an escalation.
Though, also perhaps contra Buffet's lesson, you shouldn't want to "hang out" with people who justify the events in Butler, PA ... in any way.
In the first place, hanging out with anyone is a passive activity. Seek, on the other hand, active engagement with the skills, intellects, and good company of others.
Furthermore, such people who are trying to put a "nice" spin on the fallout from the attempted assassination are not better than you. In fact, they are beneath you.
O'Leary's First Law states: "Nice is not a virtue."
Sticking with politics, if you were to hang out and passively consume the coverage of last evening's Republican Convention, you were not improved. If there was any "drifting," it was probably in the wrong direction.
To wit, there still appear to be many reasons to restrain from pulling the lever for Donald J. Trump come November. The "nice" pagan ceremony to end the RNC's show was the cherry on top of that sundae.
However, earlier in the day, the GOP accomplished its two most important tasks — officially nominating Trump and picking the vice presidential running mate.
J.D. Vance was the best choice they could have made for VP. If a charlatan like Vivek or a swamp monster like Little Marco was given the nod, many sane folks would have stayed away from yet another election.
Alas, Trump is not perfect and Vance has some concerns, but they move us in the right direction. A positive "drift."
Again, we shouldn't drift through life, but incremental gains in politics are certainly better than the massive retreats brought on by the political left.
Keep in mind that in the entirety of Western Civilization, the political left has been the most violent and destructive force in its history. And it's not even close.
Some questions remain: Who do you vote for or throw your support to?
This correspondent remains perpetually on the fence about Trump, yet the former president — who is by no means a man of the right — is not the issue.
What is at hand, however, is that those on the left or offering excuses for the political left are your enemies.
Feckless calls around social media for some sort of "middle ground" and the self-righteous virtue-signaling — caring not about whatever "side" a "friend" is on — reveals itself as pathetic groveling toward the people that hate you and want you dead.
They are your enemies.
It is personal.
It is also political.
It has nothing to do with elections.
As always,
Brian
P.S. — We've built something in the online world where you can indeed engage with people who are better than you. We grow and get better, not by "drifting," but by attacking our problems with intention, relentlessly focused on solutions.
O'Leary's Inner Sphere is that place.
While I operate the Sphere, I am not "nice." My members can vouch for that.
Within the weekly meetings for our "juntas," a principle exists: there are to be "no compliments."
"Hard core…" people have told me. Perhaps.
But it is also explicit that what we are doing is not therapy. Nor is it a social gathering of friends. We also don't make the time to complain about politics, the “government,” or life in general.
But I am on your side. I am your friend and I am your teammate in all of this.
Plus, I am not out there blowing smoke where the sun don't shine.
Folks are making great progress — and nobody is either hanging out or drifting anywhere.
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