A Shocking But Invaluable Rule of Life From Samurai Wisdom
Although it’s been over three centuries since the samurai last occupied Japanese battlefields, the wisdom and philosophies that they left behind still impact our world to this day.
The influence of their lessons can be seen in martial arts, sports and personal development, as well as in the important strategic decisions made in war and business.
Arguably the most renowned of all samurai was Miyamoto Musashi, a legendary Japanese swordsman, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived from about 1584 to 1645.
He was a ronin (a masterless samurai) who travelled Japan perfecting his sword skills and challenging other warriors. His most famous duel was in 1612, where he used an oversized wooden sword and psychological tactics to beat his opponent.
Miyamoto turned to philosophy and strategy later in his life, writing his famous book, The Book of Five Rings (五輪書), which is a timeless guide on combat, strategy, and mindset.
Among his many lessons is the rule,
To win any battle, you must fight as if you are already dead.
This mindset is of course a little extreme to be considered useful in this day and age. After all, not many of us are involved in fighting to the death as part of our everyday lives.
But we do all face hardships and tough challenges in our lives.
Many of them with serious consequences.
And when we do, this little nugget of wisdom from Miyamoto can be invaluable.
We just need to start by adapting his expression to something a little more relevant and appropriate to the context of our modern lives:
To overcome any challenge, you must fight as if the worst possible outcome has already happened.
Let’s take a look at the three ways in which this advice can be helpful as a rule of life.
1. Freedom from fear
By considering the worst outcome of a challenging situation as a reality, accepting it deep down, and making peace with it, you essentially eliminate any fear that it causes.
After all, you can’t fear an outcome that has already happened.
You can hate it, and you can be upset about it. But you can’t fear it.
Fear is often the greatest obstacle in overcoming any battle or tough situation in life.
You can be so paralysed with fear and worry that at best, you needlessly suffer as a result, and at worst, they render you incapable of dealing with it effectively.
We suffer more in imagination than in reality.
Fear and worry cloud your judgment, shackle your mind, destroy your intuition, and prevent you from doing what you do to the best of your abilities.
When you fight a battle as if you’ve already experienced the dire consequences of failure, on the other hand, it will allow you to act with complete focus and confidence. The feeling will suck, no doubt, but at the same time all the pressure of having to handle the situation will evaporate.
Let’s consider a simple example.
Imagine that you’re in desperate need of a job. You’ve been searching for months, but now it’s crunch time. Failure to secure a job within the next week will mean that your family is out on the streets.
Homeless.
You have just one final interview coming. Your last chance of avoiding the unthinkable.
No pressure, right?
Chances are, under that kind of stress you’ll be far from your best in the interview.
You’ll be nervous and distracted. Possibly near panicking.
Visions of your kids living out of the car will flash in and out of your mind. You’ll most likely come across as desperate. And people can smell fear and desperation a mile away.
You’ll have difficulty stringing your sentences together, come across as a complete idiot, and there’s a good chance you’ll blow the interview.
You know how it is. Whenever you’re desperate to come across as cool – like you’ve got your shit together – when it really, really matters to you, that’s when you inevitably manage to come across as anything but.
Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.
But now imagine that instead, you go into that interview having visualised and sincerely accepted failing to get the job. In your mind, you will already have dealt with the shock of losing your home.
You’ll have experienced all the fallout: staying with friends or family, or in a shelter. The heartbreak of seeing your kids wrenched from their safe, happy home. Selling possessions for money to buy food and petrol (gas). Redirecting your mail. Using public laundromats.
All that fun stuff.
With nothing more to lose, with nothing at stake, you’ll be able to handle the situation to the best of your ability.
There’s a sense of peace and tranquility at rock bottom.
Because when things can’t possibly get worse, there’s no chance of falling further.
Things can only go up from there.
That’s how this mindset can free you from fear.
2. Fierceness and unpredictability
Another by-product of evading fear by accepting the worst possible outcome of a situation is that it makes you fierce and unpredictable.
By cultivating a mindset that you have nothing left to lose, you’ll be more willing to take calculated risks in facing a challenge that a cautious person would most likely avoid. It will allow you to focus entirely on the task at hand without second-guessing yourself, without holding back, and without obsessing over “what-ifs”.
These obstacles only serve to sabotage your ability to deal with a tough situation like a warrior.
They weaken your resolve and your focus. They allow your mind to start entertaining ways of avoiding the challenge.
Of giving up.
Of finding the easy way out. Or of tackling it in a half-hearted manner.
By making yourself OK with the worst case scenario, on the other hand, you allow yourself to go for broke.
When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose.
If you’re facing a challenge that involves being opposed to someone, for example, a messy divorce, a cheating partner, or an unfair boss, this attitude can intimidate them and give you a strong psychological advantage in your battle.
An adversary with nothing to lose is a dangerous one, because she’s bold and unpredictable.
3. Detachment from outcome
Miyamoto, influenced by Zen and Bushido philosophy, believed in detachment from worldly concerns, including one’s own survival. He taught that in battle, if you accept death and focus only on the fight, you detach yourself from the outcome and therefore become far more effective.
Being detached enables you to have clarity of mind, and to take decisive action in any tough predicament.
As a modern-day example, think about a situation where you’re in a troubled relationship. Because you’re so emotionally involved it can often be very difficult to see what the real underlying issues are, who’s right and who’s wrong, and what you can do to remedy the problems.
Sometimes your mind just won’t allow you to face the truth that’s plain to see.
This is why they say that love is blind.
Attachment kills clarity.
This is precisely why, in this kind of situation, you’d most likely turn to a trusted friend for advice. Not necessarily because she’s wiser than you, but because she’s detached.
This allows her to see things clearly, to judge your situation objectively, and to give you sound, rational advice.
Unclouded by emotion.
Her advice may be difficult for you to swallow. And you may find it tough to act upon. But it will almost certainly reflect the truth.
Now of course, it’s literally impossible to be detached in a relationship. That’s why it’s important to have people close to you to help you through troubled times such as these.
During any battle or tough situation, when you become fixated on surviving or not getting hurt, you’re unavoidably attached to the outcome.
And you’ll undoubtedly hesitate, or make mistakes.
If you’re able to stay detached and focus only on the fight however, you become more effective.
Attachment is the root of all suffering.
If you’ve ever watched professional tennis either live or on TV, you’ll see the power of detachment in action.
Notice how there are some players who seem to be unaffected by the pressure of more important points such as set-point or match-point, whereas others seem to regularly choke on these occasions.
The former are the ones who are successfully able to detach themselves from the outcome of the point. As a result, they’re able to play the points with no pressure.
So they can perform to the best of their abilities, without mentally getting in their own way, so to speak.
This is so in all areas of life.
Accepting the worst outcome in life’s tough situations will help you detach from them and navigate the ups and downs of life much more successfully.
In many respects, this powerful piece of wisdom from Miyamoto comes across as being contrary to modern thinking. Nowadays we’re generally taught to think positive, to visualise the outcome we’re striving for, and to think and act as though we’ve already won a battle.
Rehearsing success does make a lot of sense.
And it most likely works very well in sports or other everyday challenges. Delivering a sales presentation, sitting for a (non-critical) job interview, organising a wedding, and so on.
The problem is, this approach has its limits in very high-stakes situations.
When you find yourself being truly tested in such cases; when you find yourself in a challenge that’s tougher than you envisioned, all the confidence and poise you’ve carefully manicured can quickly abandon you.
Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face.
At that time, the gravity of facing your worst-case outcome can cripple you.
Unless you’ve already accepted it in advance.
This is a lesson that was learned in a time and place where life and death situations were commonplace. It’s therefore one that has been put to the test under the toughest of conditions.
Keep this life rule in mind. Carry it with you, and use it confidently whenever life is testing you.
With the help of this mindset, you too will be endowed with the courage and resolve of a warrior.
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