Recently I've been thinking about the classic Heroes of Might and Magic games once again. For some reason, even though I liked the HOMM games from 3-5, I reinstalled the 4th one more often. I've only played the single-player campaigns for fun (I can only imagine how much longer the games would take player versus player). Might be a controversial statement to most HOMM fans, but what I liked about the 4th instalment that made it unique was the fact that you get to have your heroes actually fighting in the fray, whereas in the other HOMM games they mostly just cast spells from the back line. Players can also level them up and have them scale ridiculously into the later stages of the scenarios. It was memorable witnessing the progression of each unique hero during their quests. It was nice to see a legendary lone hero able to take on seemingly overwhelming opposing armies and prevail, or to have a small elite group of heroes working together to overcome insurmountable odds. Kind of reminds me of what I intend to do with this new opportunity that I've been working hard on lately. I want to feel like a Might and Magic(k) Hero who can rally an army to work together towards a great cause and to form a small elite team of go-now partners dedicated to helping others and achieving success. It would be truly epic and magic made into reality.

One of the things I've learned during my time playing Heroes of Might and Magic that resonates with me right now is the concept of the pyrrhic victory. In the game, players must raise armies, recruit new heroes, collect and manage resources, capture camps, garrisons or other strategic points on the map, and achieve victory by defeating all opposing heroes and armies and conquering their towns. The challenge is in making the most of every turn (day) and making the best decisions that carry forward with ripple effects that culminate into the mid and late-game. Do you build more creature habitats to increase growth for your armies first, or build a Tavern so that you can recruit more heroes sooner? Would you focus on amassing a legion under the command of a single hero, which could allow you to steamroll most hostile creature camps, gain lots of experience for your primary character and collect lots of powerful artifacts, making your hero stronger against your rivals' heroes? Or balance your armies under multiple heroes which could allow you to increase productivity, handle logistics better and scout further on the map, but risk losing battles if engaged with a mightier opponent? I usually like to build one hero and army up until they are doing well before I work on building new heroes to expand and hold my territories. Going back to the idea of pyrrhic victory is that in this game, if you do not achieve an overwhelming victory with each battle, you will end up losing chunks of your army until you no longer have an advantage, which means that your army loses momentum and is more vulnerable to defeat in the next battle. Especially if you build that character up and invest all your time and resources on them. There are numerous opponents to battle in each map and it is crucial to always have the strength to fight during the most pivotal times. So like in real life, don't overexert yourself each day because you still have all the future days in your life to live and you'll need to be strong enough to keep up the momentum in a sustainable way.

Another key concept is leverage. As mentioned above, you can get more done on the map with more heroes under your command. Each hero is fundamentally the same in terms of gameplay, except for some unique traits. Each new hero when starting out, should move to the training camps that increase their stats, rally a small army to help them win easy battles and gain experience to level up. You repeat the same successful processes with every hero, in every map, in every game, while learning the rules better and adapting as times change. In business, you want to teach, manage and support your team so that they can do what you do, if not better. Eventually you can retire and still reap the rewards from your efforts in helping to empower people to help other people. Learning and finding what works and what doesn't and just keep going and never give up. Your efforts will compound exponentially just like the heroes in many popular RPGs as they scale into the late game.

There are a lot of parallels to be drawn from video games that relates to real life. I could go on and on but I should sleep. If anyone still reads my blogs just know that I only have time to dump my ideas here and not really enough time to edit anything. I'm no English major and I don't get paid for this so please understand. I hope I'm at least able to get the point across and invoke some inspiration in a few readers. I've always been inspired by video games and want to refine how I express myself so that people can better grasp what I want to communicate. One day though I'll write a book and have every word, sentence and paragraph properly edited to make it easier for the reader.

You've probably heard something like this before. Seems pretty obvious right?

We're transitioning from the era of the pyramids to the era of the trees. Take a look at the way traditional businesses and corporations are designed. They are the real "pyramid schemes". They are built with needing to have most of the grunt employees at the bottom, with fewer managers on the rank above them, and then senior managers, then executives, then finally the owners themselves. The only way the top brass can keep their position is by maintaining the foundation of workers at the bottom. Without the bottom ranks, the top will topple. It could be why they put "no soliciting" signs in almost every commercial building, not that I condone something like that. The top elite need the bottom masses controlled in order to stay in power. As the mass consciousness wakes up, people will not play their game and leave the system. This yields new opportunities and sparks new organization types to develop. The sign of the times. Movement. Going with the flow.

It's good to keep in mind that it is the organizational structures of the status quo that keep producing certain types of people. Unless we can improve and change the system, things will get worse. No need to blame this generation or that generation when we are all products of our environment. The choices are: change yourself, change your environment or move to a new one.

Younger generations of people are already feeling unhappy with being stuck at the same job in the same organization (if they are still "lucky" to have a job). Many young people are working multiple part-time jobs for a variety of reasons, such as being unable to find permanent full-time work, being laid off from one company or another, needing to work more jobs in order to make enough to make ends meet, etc. But trading your time for money is one of the worst things you can do. It's time more people, especially in their youth, go out and start their own business. It's one of the most important decisions to make that's worth the risk when you are young, have energy and time.

Recently I've learned that in the western world, the type of industry that we should be pursuing (for the average person at least) is in sales. It's got to be in the service industry. Serve others if you would like yourself to be served. Everything in life is sales anyways, something I've had to come to terms with as an artist who just wanted to make art and live simply. Living simply is definitely something I've been doing and will continue to do, but if you can transition your mindset into one of abundance, success and positivity, you can have anything you want and there is no need to limit yourself.

Unless you really have the resources, the talent, the genius, the innovation, connections, experience, and you've done market research and know that your product is truly one-of-a-kind that fulfills a need, does something significantly better or eliminates the reliance on other existing products, it is not recommended to start a product-based business. There are already millions of different products, video games, clothes, electronics, etc. out there. It's simply overwhelming to the consumer. Most businesses who live and die on a single product will not last long.

Good thing I'm doing a product-brokerage business where we don't have to make any products ourselves, find whichever ones are the best out there and simply market them instead. What's brilliant is that the organization in this business works like a tree with branches. The culture is way more sustainable and friendly that ever seen before in any other business. Mimic nature, for it is the best designer. Nature has gone through millions of years of evolution, amidst numerous failures before it can finally decide on the best products (of life). There is no need to re-invent the wheel. Right now, trees and trending. Even when it comes to personal growth, be like a tree. Build the strong foundation, root to rise, grow tall, absorb light energy, grow fruit, etc.

Personally, I don't consume much but when I do, I want top quality. The best of the best and forget the rest. I know that I am worth it. I prefer not to spend my own time trolling the internet and painstakingly doing a crappy job at research just to find a single product to decide to try, amidst all the online circle-jerking and drama, without even knowing if the product is good anyways. Now I'm glad to have solved my own problems, move on, and now get help others solve the same problems that I once faced.

I foresee the future while we transition in a resource-based economy, that society will pool their resources together and decide on which products and services are really the best and simplify them for everyone. The singularity of products and services if you will. Things like this may be taught in schools, or if we are futuristic enough by then, we can have the latest most up-to-date data being transmitted into a cranial implant, or telepathically downloaded from a collective consciousness so that literally everyone is on the same page. Everyone will already know what they need and can have full confidence they have the best without needing to be sold anything. When that time comes, then there may be no more need for sales, and we can transition from needing to have or make money at all. But until that glorious future, sales is the way to go as far as I can tell to enjoy your life while we make that transition.