The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli (2023)

Introduction

If you are struggling, consider an online therapy session with our partner BetterHelp: tryonlinetherapy.com/fightmediocrity
This video is sponsored by BetterHelp.

Get any FREE audiobook of your choice here: audibletrial.com/fightmediocrity
If you want a suggestion for the free audiobook or for reading a book, here's FightMediocrity beginner's reading list:
1. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki: amzn.to/1VLAklY
2. The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss: amzn.to/1Qn5DA5
3. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie: amzn.to/1VLAoCe
4. The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene: amzn.to/1VLAoSK
5. The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida: amzn.to/1Qn5EDZ
6. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl: amzn.to/1Qn5GM0
7. Mastery by George Leonard: amzn.to/1VLArOu
8. Mindfulness for Beginners by Jon Kabat-Zinn: amzn.to/1VLAs4S
9. The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday: amzn.to/1VLAslw

The links above are affiliate links which helps us provide more great content for free.

Video

Let me just start off by saying that I'm not recommending anything I'm about to say in this video I've, simply taken one of the most influential books ever written and I will try to break down some of the ideas with hopefully relevant examples.

So I'm simply presenting information here.

And it is completely up to the viewer to decide what he wants to do with that information how we live is so different from how we ought to live that.

He who studies what ought to be done, rather than what is done will learn the way to his downfall, rather than to his preservation.

What Machiavelli is saying here is look.

We all have these visions of how society should be and what we should all do.

But the truth is what happens in reality just doesn't correspond to that at all so he's, basically, saying is yet real.

If I asked most people watching this do you want to see Kim Kardashian's ass from 20 different angles, every single day on your computer screen, what are most people going to say, no, no that's, not what we want.

You shouldn't be clicking on that stuff.

You should be educating yourself, you know, you should be reading Voltaire now here's.

What Machiavelli is saying, look that might be how we ought to live, but it's just not what's really going on.

So if you're a marketer don't cater Voltaire to people's Facebook feed, they don't care about Voltaire.

Instead show them Kim Kardashian's ass from 20 different angles and the 10 celebrities.

This week who got drunk, and then threw up you'll get all the clicks you want and you'll make a lot of money.

And this makes people genuinely angry Machiavelli, don't say that how could you say something like that? Well, because that's just how it is, if you don't understand that this is how it is you either don't know anything about marketing or you're.

Some well-intentioned wannabe marketer who hasn't had his dreams completely shattered yet.

And the same thing applies to politics and any other field of power.

You can't be a good honest, politician.

You just can't people say all the time.

Well, why can't we just have honest politicians? Because honest, politicians are like the marketer markets Voltaire to you.

You don't click on Voltaire.

You click on Kim Kardashian's ass.

So just like a marketer who markets Voltaire, we'll, never get any clicks.

The honest politician will never get any votes.

Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number, who are not good.

Hence, a prince who wants to keep his Authority must learn how not to be good and use that knowledge or refrain from using it as necessity requires again, a politician needs to learn how not to be good, I know that might sound crazy, but that's, the only way he'll ever have a chance.

What are you going to do go up there on the stage be honest and say? Well, if you don't want to be broke stop sitting in front of TV all day and pick up a book and in the long run, granted, you also work hard and smart.

You will start to see results is that really what you're going to do you can but you'll never get elected.

No don't.

Do that go up there and tell them how you're going to just change this one thing about the economy and all of a sudden we're all going to have more money.

Money is just going to be magically generated out of nowhere.

And you will then hand out this magic money to everyone and yes as stupid as that sounds, you will actually get all the votes and you're honest competitor will get none I also love people who have absolutely no idea about how business works.

And in their mind, they'd be so good only if they were in power, if I was in charge of that I would pay people three times as much.

Oh really, would you would you really do that? Because that's, probably why you're not in charge of anything if you are in charge? And you did that you would be out of business in two weeks.

The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances.

And the world consists chiefly of the vulgar Machiavelli says now that you know that a lot of times you can't be a good guy, don't make the mistake of not appearing like one.

All you have to do is appear to be the good guy, you're dealing with people who constantly click on the top 10 celebrities, who puke this week, they're not going to know the difference.

Don't worry, I love when people look at all these philanthropists and think, oh what a nice guy he's just the paragon of goodness, oh, is he really are they really is that how they built multi-billion dollar businesses by being a nice guy to their competition and sharing their revenues, equally and generously with their employees.

No, they built it by following another.

One of Machiavelli's principles, men ought either to be well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries of more serious ones.

They cannot therefore the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge, almost every successful organization you might like and think of as good has engaged in the nastiest lawsuits and acquisitions to completely crush its enemy and I could give endless examples of this game of appearances.

My favorite one has to be politicians who clearly don't care about religion, but act like without Jesus.

They just wouldn't know what to do.

And it works if they didn't lie, they just wouldn't have a chance.

I mean, if Jesus wasn't personally guiding the senator, we all know that the state would immediately collapse.

And as a punishment, it would probably be hit with tornadoes too Princes, must delegate difficult tasks to others and keep popular ones for themselves.

Machiavelli talks about cesare borgia, who has this region that he needs to bring under control long story short.

He appoints, this guy and sends him down there to do it.

The guy makes sure the troublemakers heads are chopped off and they're castrated and all of that really brutal stuff.

And finally, the place is under control.

The problem now is people have seen a lot of cruelty and they're pretty pissed off.

So what's, Bor just solution.

He has the guy who did all his dirty work cut in half and thrown onto the city square.

Then he makes sure to provide the citizens with food and entertainment and what's.

The result.

The dirty effective work was carried out just like Borgia wanted but he's, not the one people are angry at now.

That is probably one of the weirdest most repulsive stories I've ever heard.

But people in power today, constantly do basically some variation of that I was watching one of the biggest channels on YouTube.

And this guy just has the scariest marketing in the world, it's just so bad.

And of course, some people kept calling him out for it.

But then one day he puts out this video, where he's just really honest, you know, he's really gonna be honest with you guys and here's what he said, I know, my marketing is scammy and I would basically be a piece of [ __ ] for doing it.

But it's, not me guys, it's just the marketers who work for me.

Man, it's, just how they do stuff.

If it was up to me, I wouldn't, do it like that and I scroll down.

And the video has all these likes and people are just like, yeah, we know, we know, you're a really good, dude, it's, it's, just the marketers and I.

Remember sitting there and utter disbelief so let me get this straight it's, your business, but yeah, I get it.

You obviously have no say and how it's run? Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

You don't want to make more money.

Either, yeah, I totally get that too.

And of course, you couldn't tell a person who works for you to not be a piece of [ __ ].

If that's what you wanted, otherwise you're, right? You'd probably get fired from the business that you own I mean, it's just so ridiculous.

But guess what it works.

It works just like an article about celebrities who puke this weekend and just like dishonest politicians, who will always get elected.

So there you go some of the biggest ideas from the prints.

And remember, this is just information knowledge, isn't inherently right or wrong.

It depends on what you do with.

It do I think that these ideas are powerful.

Absolutely do I want to live a fully Machiavellian life.

No absolutely not.

It would be the most dreadful life in the world.

Machiavelli says, it is safer to be feared than to be loved what I want to apply that to my relationship, no and I'll admit, yes, you would probably lower your chances of being cheated on.

If you threatened the woman you're with that, if you caught her cheating, you would chop her head off, yes, that will probably make her less likely to cheat on you than giving her freedom and a relationship based on love.

But at the same time, I would rather get cheated on a hundred times than never cheated on because she's scared of losing her life.

If she cheats, so no I'm, not going to be some fully Machiavellian psychopath.

But at the same time, I don't want to walk into a business, setting and just get absolutely crushed by a bunch of [ __ ].

Neither do I want to be played by some little [, __, ], scam artist who tells me that it's, not his fault that he's scamming me and I'm supposed to just believe that and sit there like a little sheep, getting ready to be slaughtered.

You.