Everything Is Negotiable

The world is a chaotic place and humans aren't that fond of chaos. We create structures, systems, norms and rules to make the world more predictable and more orderly. This is one of humanity's greatest gifts. We're extremely good at it.

We build walls and fences to keep natural forces at bay. We hide our vulnerable bodies in clothing. We're polite to strangers. Everything just to hide the fact that humanity, and the world itself, is messy and chaotic.

When we're born into this structured world, it's easy to forget the truth. We're raised to believe that society's norms are natural and inherent in life itself.

I'll let you in on a secret though.

It's all made up.

Money, mortgages, forty-hour work weeks, fashion trends, social norms. All of it.

This is what's often referred to as The Matrix. It's a web of artificial structures made to create safety and predictability in a chaotic reality.

And that's great! Safety and predictability has allowed humanity to do amazing things. However, these values are not the underlying truth of the world.

Chaos is.

But chaos doesn't only mean danger and unpredictability - it means opportunity, flexibility, creativity and innovation.

I'm telling you this because once you see the truth, you realize that you have far more freedom and influence than you ever could imagine.

The challenge is - you have to imagine it first.

Creative problem-solving

Great entrepreneurs realize how flexible the world really is. They know a fundamental truth - everything is negotiable.

Richard Branson famously negotiated a golden deal with Boeing when he started Virgin Atlantic. He not only asked to borrow a plane to start his airline, he also asked if he could return the plane after a year if the business didn't work out.

They don't teach you that in business school.

By cutting this deal, he managed to align incentives and create an asymmetrical risk-reward ratio. Boeing agreed because they wanted more competition in the airline market (more companies buying planes). He solved big problems for both organizations at the same time.

But you don't have to buy planes or be Richard Branson to be a better problem-solver. You can create more opportunity in your everyday life.

What do you want?

Do you want to buy a business or a property, but don't have the cash?
Negotiate seller financing, where you pay the seller with future profits.

Do you want a specific job, but there are no listings at the moment?
Get a meeting and sell them on how you can solve their problems.

Want a discount on your morning coffee?
Ask.

There are no laws in the universe that are stopping you from doing any of this.
And these examples are kind of vanilla, to be fair.

It's not necessarily about negotiating with people, it's about negotiating with life itself. The only thing you need is imagination and guts.

Once again, I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes.