Fortress:You
Adopting a Fortress Mentality for success. It’s necessary. And here’s how. September 2016, while with the ‘insanely great’ #StartupBusUK group, we stayed on the property related to the Vianden Castle, Luxembourg, started in the 900’s. We stayed in the four-story building in the lower left of the photo. The term fortress is more of a military term but refers to basically the same type of building and concept as a castle. Large and strong, and fortified to keep bad things out and keep important things in.
By things I refer to people, treasure, food, water, weapons, animals, etc; that which was important to keep safe from outsiders who did not have your best interests in mind, to say the least.
To be inside of the fortress implied that you were well-protected, safe and secure. And, that you were approved and accepted to be inside. Not just anyone was accepted; you had to swear loyalty to be an insider.
The phrase “to be an insider” or “have inside info” comes from the concept of being inside the fortress/castle. Everyone ‘wanted’ to be inside, but only the selected ones were allowed.
And then you had the pesky invaders/enemies who didn’t want to wait for an invitation. To be in charge of and inside the fortress was to take a stance against outside influences that could bring harm to those inside the fortress.
Which brings me to what I call Fortress:You. It’s a great exercise to think of your mind and your life as being like a fortress. A fortress that YOU are in command of. Fortress:You, as I call it.
Do this: Adopt a ‘Fortress Mentality’ to help you succeed, to be happy and protect all that you value “inside”.
A Fortress Mentality way of thinking is to: — know what things, people, etc., you value in your life. This also includes your dreams, hopes, goals and plans. If you don’t take that inventory, you won’t know what’s important to protect and you lose focus. Lose focus and well, you lose.
— Assess the surrounding areas. What’s out there that could invade Fortress:You and bring harm to what you value? If you don’t know what the enemy looks like, you won’t recognize the forces that could invade your fortress. If you allow just anyone or anything to ‘cross the moat’ or ‘enter the gate’, you’re vulnerable to losing everything to the attacker. Can you easily recognize and repel those who want to invade Fortress:You? Can you easily spot those who seek to steal your dreams, and poison your water, waste your time, suck up your energy? Posers and fake friends, and those who would distort your mind with tricks and deceit and stupid actions? You need to guard against such outsiders.
Modern day invaders lurking outside the gate of Fortress:You might include silly TV shows or YouTube videos that steal your time, or, trashy webisodes or trashy books that feed your brain nonsense, critical people who constantly put you down; co-workers who undermine you, a significant other who can’t or won’t build you up and share your dreams.
And how many hours a day spent on fb are really adding value to your life? Be honest. Invaders can look like friends who claim to be your BFF, but gossip about you behind your back.
What do your invaders look like? List them. Guard against them and their influence. Adopting a Fortress Mentality also means you are very careful who you let in to your inner circle.
The Counts, Dukes, Duchesses and Royalty were extremely careful as to who was allowed in to their fortress/castle. Develop a firm criteria for who you let in to Fortress:You. It’s not being mean to curate a list of insiders you will be close with and allow into your life. It’s not mean, it’s wise. It’s necessary.
Don’t confuse being friendly with having good friends. You can be friendly to everyone. But you simply can’t have everyone as a good friend with whom you share your food, water, supplies …… aka, your life.
You simply can’t, so accept that fact and choose your insiders, your close friends, carefully.
Only on facebook can you have hundreds of ‘friends’. But that’s not IRL, is it?
Be careful. Google the words Trojan Horse for a quick reminder how tricky and resourceful invaders can be. Sneaky they were.
For an American western take on this, it’s equivalent to building a fort, or to ‘ circling the wagons’ as a form of protection. Start building Fortress:You, today.
Use note taker on your phone, and make a list of who and what is important, as I mentioned above. Save those notes under the name Fortress:You.
I promise you, that list will grow as you adopt the Fortress Mentality to your thinking of what/who is important to protect and focus upon.
Day-by-day, add your plans, dreams, goals, hopes; add names of your family and trusted close friends. Maybe you’ll even add a pet.
And guard Fortress:You as if your life depends on it.
Because it does. -30- P.S. This is good stuff and could be applied to a Sunday School lesson, a marriage seminar, non-profits or business planning. (This post will be a video on StrategyAcademy.net in October 2016.) Read the fantastic history… https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vianden_Castle
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