“No one gives a fuck about me.”
- Mike Tyson
A sporting event has a limited amount of time. A basketball game has 48 minutes. A football game, 60 minutes. A boxing match, 12 rounds at 3 minutes a piece. Your life? You don’t know. So, you have no sense or urgency — and great athletes have a sense of urgency. The best ones give 100% at all times, a trait we deeply admire. A trait we have access to but normally don’t tap into unless we experience a life or death experience - or given 6 months to live. Because people with limited time spend it very wisely. But the truth is, we all have limited time.
Since our life is not broken down into four quarters, we easily lose track of that reality and literally buy the fantasy that we will live forever. Today’s world teaches us that our time is limitless. We will eventually get to that project that has meaning for us. In the meantime, we’ll watch TV, surf the internet, smoke some weed. Why not? You will be young forever. The people on TV tell you so. Look at the actors. Look at the commercials. That’s you. Endless vistas of time.
So stick with the job you hate, the bad relationship you’re in, your avoidance of any type of confrontation. Because you will probably never die — or will you? Welcome back to another lesson from Robert Greene's "
The 33 Strategies of War".
“I’ll fight any man, any animal, if Jesus were here I’d fight him too.”
Mike Tyson
THE NO RETURN TACTIC
As a child, Michael Gerard Tyson was frequently ridiculed because of his funny, high-pitched voice (he sounded like Yoda with a lisp). His father left his family when he was two. In the crime infested community of Brownsville, New York, Tyson developed a love of pigeons, the only creature he could relate to. One day, a very large kid ripped the head off his favorite pigeon. Tyson fought for the first time — and then fought everyone else in the neighborhood. By the time he was 13, Tyson was arrested 38 times. By the time he was 16, his mother was dead.
This was a world where death awaited you right around the corner. When Tyson was sent to reform school, Tryon School for Boys in Johnstown, New York, it was assumed this boy would be dead by 21 — and for young Tyson, it certainly was his fate, like he was on borrowed time. But the juvenile detention counselor, Bobby Stewart (a former boxer), noticed that the kid with the funny voice could fight. This led to Tyson’s first boxing manager Cus D’Amato, who had trained World Champion Floyd Patterson. D’Amato saw beyond the cartoonish voice and tiny build. Tyson was only 5"10, his reach 71" and he was barely above 200 lbs. But there was something ferocious about this kid. His right hook was like a battering ram. His fists were vengeful like he was fighting death itself. But there was another problem. Tyson had problems breathing. He would get exhausted too quickly. But D’Amato was not getting any younger himself. He was an old man. Finding a fighter with this punching power was unheard of. But could the kid last 8 rounds in a heavyweight fight?
They would find out on March 6, 1985, when Tyson made his professional debut in Albany, New York against Hector Mercedes. No one knew much about Tyson. Hector fought the 18 year old like he would any fighter. Until he absorbed the first hit and hugged the young man almost immediately. The problem was, because Tyson was shorter, his short arms would allow him to continue to beating his opponent even while being hugged. Tyson never stopped punching. And hardly a minute passed when Hector went down. Hector had never been beaten like that before. Like baseball bats were swung at his face and body. He just wanted the match to end.
This only confirmed what D’Amato suspected. With that right hook, Tyson wouldn’t need 8, 12 or 13 rounds. Tyson’s punches were so traumatic, his opponents would go into shock upon first contact. And he was right. Tyson won 26 of his first 28 matches by KO or TKO, dismantling opponents faster than you can take out the trash. But did the man-boy have enough to be a champion?
Cus D’Amato would die before finding out. On November 22, 1986, Tyson faced WBC Heavyweight Champion Trevor Berbick, the man who retired the great Muhammad Ali. Berbick was 6 ft. 2 1/2 and has 78" reach, 7 inches longer than Tyson. This would be the first time Tyson would fight an opponent in a higher league. Berbick was bigger and vowed to keep Tyson in the middle of the ring and push Tyson back (Tyson already had a reputation of pushing his opponents against the ropes, throwing them off balance, then knocking out him out savagely). Berbick was certain his uppercuts would keep Tyson back and when the match began, he kept his word… for about 90 seconds. He was knocked down in the second round. Three times.
D’Amato was right. He had posthumously trained the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history. 20 years and 4 months old. He could not even buy a beer, but he could take down some of the world’s most feared men flat on their face within seconds.
Now facing quality opponents, Tyson could not knock out opponents with as much ease, but his camp discovered a new weapon. Intimidation. Tyson would use this new tactic to beat James Smith by unanimous decision on March 7, 1987 in Las Vegas and Pinklon Thomas that May with a knockout in the 6th round, becoming the first heavyweight to own all three belts — WBA, WBC, and IBF.
But now, Tyson would suddenly face his greatest challenge on June 27, 1988. Michael Spinks, the man who dueled the legendary Larry Holmes for 15 rounds in 1985, handing him his first defeat (Holmes was one victory away from tying Rocky Marciano’s record of 49-0). Spinks was the first Light Heavyweight ever to win a Heavyweight Title. To prove his toughness, Spinks fought a rematch with Holmes and once again beat defeated him a year later.
Spinks was seasoned, smart, quick and could make Tyson fight 15 Rounds. He could force Tyson into exhausting himself chasing Spinks around the ring, and then attack when Tyson got tired — like Ali did with Foreman in Africa. Spinks was 31-0, 21 by knockout and had never been knocked down in 131 fights (100 as an amateur). He could take Iron Mike Tyson.
There was tremendous hype. Pay-Per-View was charging $49.95 a pop. It was like a holiday. People gathered together with family and friends they had not seen. Tyson would finally meet a challenger who could match his speed and wits, and who had the experience to tune out his intimidation tactics. The entire world was watching. This would be a titanic battle of styles (and the richest fight in boxing history at the time).
The fight lasted 91 seconds. The KO would be the only time Spinks had experienced such humiliation (and would be his last). But it was not Tyson’s punches that took him down — it appeared like Tyson could not even connect against Spinks’ jaw or side of his head. Spinks looked like he shit his shorts before the bell even rang. He was running away from Tyson most of the times. But Tyson ran faster. Although his punches failed to completely connect against Spinks’ head, the grazing was enough for Spinks to realize he was profoundly in over his head — and he went down at his own will. Twice. Intact physically. But broken mentally.
Mike Tyson had beaten Michael Spinks without even really hitting him. He did it with psychology. Now, you had to get by Tyson’s blitzkrieg of terror before even dealing with his devastating right hook. All from an undersized fighter with a funny voice who could not breath correctly — and who was pronounced dead by adulthood.
“Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth”
- Mike Tyson
INTERPRETATION
Spinks and Berbick figured they had 13 Rounds to beat Mike Tyson. After all, they were champions - they had beaten Ali and Holmes. If they lost one round, or even two, they could recover the next one. And if not that one, the next. Eventually, they could wear their opponent down and defeat him — they had 13 rounds to do it. Tyson did not have this luxury. He could not breath correctly and had to figure out a way to take his opponents’ heads off now. He could not see past round 5. Or even round 1.
We frequently see this desperation in sports. A team falls behind and is down 15 points, then fights like hell to even the score at the end. The question is, they always had the ability to fight like hell, why did they wait until they were behind? We usually do this, thinking we have all the time in the world. But then we are too far behind and it is too late to succeed.
Mike Tyson never waited. His plan was to take down his opponent as soon as the bell rang. Period. This was the only way he could become the champion he was. Necessity. The mother of all invention.
Here Tyson teaches us a valuable lesson. We have plenty of safety nets in our lives. A comfortable job we don’t necessarily like. A stale relationship that is good enough for now. A parent that bails us out every time we need it. These safety nets are unhealthy — precisely what’s keeping you from getting what you want. Time can be your friend or your enemy.
As Spinks and Berbick learned, 13 rounds is not a promise to everyone. You are running out of time as you read this sentence. And before you know it, you too will face a devastating knock out. Hopefully, when you get back on your feet, you will live to face another battle and not wait so long to attack. It’s your choice, you can be beaten by Mike Tyson, or you can be Mike Tyson — fight with Tyson’s desperation and you will become someone to be reckoned with, as opposed to someone burns time like it’s garbage. Just like you wouldn’t take all the money you have and throw it in a fire, you should not do the same thing with time. And time, as the saying goes, is money. But in reality, time is more than money. Money can always be made. Time can never be retrieved.
“God lets everything happen for a reason. It’s all a learning process, and you have to go from one level to another.”
- Mike Tyson
KEYS TO ENGAGEMENT
Think about this. Every time you made for a drastic change in your life, it was because an event that forced your hand. The change was mental. And you always have this power to enlarge yourself. You don’t have to wait until it’s necessary. Athletes, the ones we admire anyway, can trigger this emotion any time they need to.
Mike Tyson was small, had a short reach, but fought with a desperate edge no one wanted to face. He had to succeed as a boxer or face life in the streets. Every punch was thrown like his last. Every hit had a sense of finality, like a hammer that drives a nail into the wall with one strike. All over history, there is an example of a genius with a shortcoming — Beethoven was deaf. Bruce Lee had a leg that was shorter than other. Stephen Hawking is in a wheelchair and can’t move a muscle in his body. He was told he would be dead 30 years ago.
These guys understood that death is right around the corner. You can go at any time for millions of reasons. And when you do, are you going to regret what you never even tried or did half-assed?
Sun Tzu, the author of “The Art of War” spoke of a death-ground, positioning armies against a trapped area and forcing them to get out alive. Sun Tzu understood that people didn’t change unless they had to. These armies would fight with a desperate edge and will themselves to victory, thereby proving that human beings had that “edge” inside them, waiting to be unlocked.
You tossed your “desperate edge” in a safe years ago, saving it in case you may one day need it. But suddenly, you forgot the combination. The following five tactics may be one of the combinations you’re looking for. If you can unlock that “edge”, you will gain the psychological power that Mike Tyson once had and conquer the festering projects in your life.
1) Stake everything on a single throw. You have too many projects in your life. Your mind is pulled eight different directions. As Mike Tyson demonstrated, you don’t really have 13 rounds. Place all your energy on one project and go for that knock out punch out now. And watch your project flourish.
2) Act before you are ready. Mike Tyson was frequently seen advancing towards his opponent before the bell rang. Without a deadline or outside pressure, you become lazy and shiftless in your project. You over think everything and take way too much time before you even begin. If you move before being totally prepared, you will live on your instincts and use your resources more wisely — and breathe life into your project.
3) Enter uncharted waters. Tyson lost his pigeon, his mom and his manager. The loss of these relationships forced him to become “the baddest man alive”. Abandon the relationships that hold you back, a stale relationship, a comfortable job, etc. You want strength and evolution, not weakness. Drop what does not contribute to your evolution.
4) Make it you against the world. Even at the decline of his career, Tyson continued to insult his opponents before he even got into the ring. He famously promised to eat Lennox Lewis’ heart and feed it to his children. His tactic was simple. He wanted to infuriate his enemy. This would guarantee he would give everything in the ring. You have done everything half-assed for too long. If you insult those who stand in your way, you will be against a wall — and you will fight like hell to get out.
5) Keep yourself restless and unsatisfied. Most people are like the walking dead, avoiding personal challenges and confrontations, living a comfortable life that seems eternal. They do not challenge themselves. They grow bored with life and refuse risk at all cost. Millions of these people lived through Iron Mike Tyson. Mike’s punches waited for no one. They didn’t waste time. They confronted their opponents mentally before the fight and physically when the bell rang. The most feared fighters were petrified of facing the man with the funny voice. Tyson brought death-ground psychologically and physically into millions of homes. His fan based grew into millions because they secretly wished they could apply this power into their own lives — living through Tyson. Adrenaline comes with risk. Malaise comes with safety. Risk is what makes life exciting. You cannot appreciate your life unless you risk it on some level. If you dodge death, even better, you will appreciate the time you have even more.
REVERSAL
Robert Greene says: “if the feeling of having nothing to lose can propel you forward, you must avoid others in this position”. When Mike Tyson became wealthy and powerful, he faced an opponent named James Buster Douglas, a 42-1 underdog journeyman. Douglas’ mother died 23 days before the fight, likely the biggest of Douglas’ career. Douglas was supposed to be lion food for Tyson. But Douglas had nothing to lose and put everything into the ring. He fought an inspired and desperate match, knocking out Tyson in the 10th round. Avoid facing a desperate person with nothing to lose at all cost.
“Fear is your best friend or your worst enemy. It’s like fire. If you can control it, it can cook for you; it can heat your house. If you can’t control it, it will burn everything around you and destroy you. If you can control your fear, it makes you more alert, like a deer coming across the lawn.”
– Mike Tyson
