In life you need to consider your necessary defensive and
offensive tasks. And you need to consider your defensive and fallback positions.
- Necessary defensive tasks are those tasks you must do to retain your position in life i.e. getting your job done.
- Necessary offensive tasks are those tasks you must do to improve your position in life i.e. going the extra mile, acquiring useful knowledge/skills/experience/qualifications beyond your current work role.
The defensive position is the status quo. If you are happy with your current life, you can take up the defensive line and not make offensive moves. But you need to remember change is the one constant in life. So likely taking up a purely defensive stance will not allow you to maintain your status, and you will fallback. This is why you should consider offensive tasks as necessary.
Fallback positions are positions you can comfortably fallback to if things start to go wrong i.e. if you get made redundant/sacked and struggle to find a similarly well paid role (or business), you can sell assets or take payment holidays from overpayment reserves. You don't want to get into debt because then you have no/limited fallback.
There is no offensive position. If you are making offensive moves you are progressing, you are moving forward, and your defensive line needs to be pulled up behind you.
Necessary defensive tasks are not just vocational/financial tasks. You need to defend your health too. Do fitness and keep yourself healthy, these are necessary defensive tasks (all the while you are getting older, and no one can hold back the flow of time, but by taking care of yourself you can live to a ripe and healthy old age - you can have a good innings.)
Examples of necessary defensive tasks/stances:
- Do not waste time with frivolity!
- Do not spend money needlessly!
- Live (well) within your means!
- Do not get into debt!
- Save for a rainy day!
- Get stuff done!
- Do fitness!
Necessary offensive tasks are tasks of improvement (improving yourself), tasks of progressing (progressing your situation), and tasks of opportunity (making/finding opportunities for personal/financial growth). It is necessary to take the offense, standing still is not an option, standing still is going backwards!
Remember “The Best Defense is a Good Offense!” And the duty of any able-bodied/minded adult is to first and foremost take care of yourself - you are not a child any more!
