Life Strategies Part Three
Stop Planning Your Life Like a Pinterest Board
You know what doesn’t work? Creating vision boards and hoping the universe delivers. Life change isn’t about manifesting; it’s about making it happen. You’re not placing an order with cosmic customer service—you’re building something with your own two hands.
Let’s get practical. Here’s how to implement each Life Law, as if your life depends on it (because it does).
Law 1 Implementation: Becoming a Human Behaviour Detective
The Strategy: Start studying people like an anthropologist studying a new tribe. Do this this week:
- Watch how successful people enter a room, make requests, and handle disagreements
- Notice the unwritten rules in your workplace, family, and friend group
- Identify who has real influence (hint: it’s rarely who you think)
Consider the colleague who consistently gains approval for their projects. They are not necessarily the most intelligent person in the room. They probably understand timing, know who the actual decision-makers are, and frame their ideas in terms of benefits to others, not themselves.
Law 2 Implementation: The Accountability Audit
The Strategy: Fire yourself from the victim position and hire yourself as the CEO. Your mission is:
- List every area of your life that isn’t working
- For each area, write down how you’ve contributed to the current situation
- Replace “This happened to me” with “I participated in creating this
For example, instead of “My boss doesn’t respect me,” try “I haven’t effectively communicated my boundaries and expectations.” Do you see the difference? One leaves you powerless; the other provides a strategy.
Law 3 Implementation: The Payoff Investigation
The Strategy: Become a detective investigating your own motivations. Your Assignment:
- Identify a behaviour you want to change but keep repeating
- Ask yourself: “What am I getting out of this?”
- List both evident and hidden benefits
- Design alternative behaviours that provide better payoffs
For instance, you delay essential projects. Hidden benefits might include: avoiding potential failure, getting adrenaline rushes from deadline pressure, maintaining an identity as someone who’s “too creative for deadlines,” or gaining sympathy from others about how stressed you are.
Law 4 Implementation: The Denial Breaker
The Strategy: Force yourself to acknowledge what you’ve been avoiding. The truth-telling exercise:
- Write down three things about your life you’ve been pretending aren’t problems
- Ask three trusted people what they think you’re blind to about yourself
- Record your actual behaviour for a week (not what you think you do, what you actually do)
Say family is your priority, but you’ve worked late four nights this week and spent Saturday on work emails. The truth? Work gives you more immediate validation than family time does, which can provide you with anxiety about connection.
Law 5 Implementation: The Action Activation Protocol
The Strategy: Replace intention with implementation. The 24-Hour Rule:
- When you have an idea or goal, take one concrete action within 24 hours
- Make decisions based on actions, not words (yours and others’)
- Measure yourself by what you did yesterday, not what you plan to do tomorrow
Consider that you want to get in shape. Instead of researching gyms for two weeks, put on sneakers today and walk around the block. Action creates momentum; planning creates procrastination.
Law 6 Implementation: Filter Awareness Training
The Strategy: Catch your mental filters in real-time. The Perspective Shift Exercise:
- When something upsets you, ask: “What other ways could I interpret this?”
- Practice describing the same event from three different perspectives
- Challenge negative assumptions by searching for contradicting evidence
For example, you are a teenager who rolls their eyes when you speak. Filter A: “They hate me and have no respect.” Filter B: “They’re embarrassed because they actually care what I think.” Filter C: “They’re testing boundaries, which is normal development.” Same behaviour, three different realities.
Law 7 Implementation: Daily Life Management
The Strategy: Treat life like a business that requires daily operations. Your Daily Management Checklist:
- Start each day asking: “What can I do today to make my life better?”
- Address minor problems before they become significant crises
- Schedule regular “life audits” to evaluate what’s working
- Create systems, not just goals
Instead of promising to “communicate better” with your partner, consider establishing a weekly 30-minute check-in meeting. Manage the relationship as you manage any critical project.
Law 8 Implementation: Relationship Renovation
The Strategy: Change what you’re teaching others about how to treat you. Do the Teaching Assessment:
- Identify someone who treats you poorly
- List what you do that makes this behaviour “work” for them
- Design new responses that don’t reward their negative behaviour
- Prepare for pushback and stick to your new standards
For example, your friend constantly interrupts you. You’ve been “teaching” them that this is acceptable by remaining silent and letting them do it. Start saying, “Hold that thought—let me finish what I was saying,” and observe how quickly they learn new behaviour.
Law 9 Implementation: The Forgiveness Liberation Project
The Strategy: Forgive for your freedom, not their feelings. Implement the Release Process:
- Identify resentments you’re carrying
- Write down how holding onto anger is hurting YOU (not them)
- Choose to forgive as an act of self-care, not as a gift to them
- Focus on your future, not their past mistakes
Say your ex cheated and you’re still angry two years later. They’re probably not losing sleep over your resentment, but you’re damaging every new relationship. Forgiveness doesn’t mean they were right; it means you’re no longer letting them control your emotional state.
Law 10 Implementation: The Specific Success System
The Strategy: Get laser-specific about what you actually want. Implement the Naming Exercise:
- Replace vague wishes with specific outcomes
- Set measurable goals with deadlines
- Create action steps for each goal
- Recognise opportunities when they appear
Instead of “I want a better job,” try “I want a marketing position at a tech company, making at least R75K, with flexible remote work options, within six months.” Now you have something concrete to work toward.
The Implementation Reality Check
Here’s the hard truth: Reading about these laws won’t change your life any more than reading about exercise will make you fit. You actually have to do the work. Start with one law. Pick the one that makes you most uncomfortable—that’s probably where you need the most work. Give it two weeks of consistent implementation before moving to the next one.
Remember: You’re not trying to become a different person. You’re learning to operate the person you already are more effectively.
Next up: We’ll tackle the biggest obstacles to implementing these laws and how to overcome the resistance (from yourself and others) that inevitably comes when you start changing the rules of your life.