The Boron Letters Read online

  They do this often.

  Whatever. I was about to say let's get back to business. Now that I have (hopefully) got you doing your morning road work and eating more or less properly, I want to talk about other exercise in addition to road work.

  Actually, I don't think I have to say a lot right now because you are probably doing just fine at Questar.

  As I keep saying, I'm just warming up right now and I'll cover exercise in more detail later. But anyway, right now, I just want to say that I want you to concentrate on developing your arms.

  All you really have to do are presses and curls. You know, I don't think it is desirable to have a body builder's body. Women, in general, are not attracted to to the exaggerated development of body builders and I personally don't like this type of physique either.

  I think a man looks best (and I think most women would agree with me) when he is lean an hard - not bulging and overdeveloped.

  However, I do think it is a good idea to spend enough time to develop strong muscular arms.

  There are two reasons for this. First, of all, it is useful to be strong. Secondly, I think women are attracted to lean, hard men with strong muscular arms. And, thirdly, from a prison point of view, just having big arms can keep you out of a lot of trouble and I'll discuss this in more detail tomorrow.

  Bye for now,

  I LOVE YOU AND GOOD LUCK!

  Gary 4:37 PM

  UPDATE:

  This third letter appears to cover only health suggestions, but there are also two business lessons to be learned and one is in no way evident.

  The advice on health and working out is again very good and I agree with it so there is very little to add but...

  The part where he tells me not to rely on anyone is a whole lesson all by itself.

  By this point you can see my father had a healthy disdain for the mindset of regular people and that is indeed a positive attribute especially when it comes to making money.

  When most people tell others of any plan to make money, they are met with instant negativity.

  Once you set out to actually do something which may elevate your status many people will tell you it can’t be done, it isn’t worth it or remind you of all the pitfalls they can think of.

  I don’t care what you think of your friends or family, it is in most people’s nature to stop you. Don’t get the idea that this is in everything you attempt, just when you attempt to do things on a scale so grand that if successful, you will be a whole lot richer than they are.

  Again, people don’t do this consciously. It’s simply a self-defense mechanism to make themselves feel better because

  The Idea of You Getting Rich Makes

  Most People Around You Feel Sick!

  Let’s suppose you come up with the idea to open the first biodeisel fuel station in Barstow, the small town almost exactly half way between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. As you begin to explain how you can obtain financing and get equipment, they will immediately tell you how regulation and property prices are obstacles. They will say these problems are insurmountable and are too hard to overcome.

  One logical assumption is that people do this because they obviously are people with a CAN’T do attitude, but that doesn’t explain people who own their own businesses putting ideas down and they often do. I think it is because your peers translate your success into their failure for not becoming rich.

  Let’s face it, most people judge how well they have done in life by comparing themselves to their peers and if one of their peers has become a multi-millionaire and could retire young and rich, then they will have to question their own choices.

  It is ironic that so many people say they want to be rich yet they put down almost everyone who tries and often they put down those that do succeed.

  There is an irrational hatred of the rich and it is born out of spite. Terms like “filthy rich” and “born with a silver spoon in the mouth” are not compliments. You can worry about that when you are rich, but for now you need to worry about all those people who want to stop you from becoming rich.

  Just remember where they are coming from and try to surround yourself with people who have similar goals or who have already become great successes. These people are almost always hungry for people to appreciate what they have accomplished and like to be recognized for more than the size of their bank account.

  For anyone who thinks their friends and family will support them no matter what their goal is, tell them you plan to open a restaurant. They will tell you more than 90% of new restaurants fail within one minute. They will never say, “a lot dumber people than you have opened great restaurants, so go for it.”

  Ever notice that almost everyone knows that stat yet can’t quote current money market returns? Our schools teach people how to work within businesses, but never how to start a business. Is it better to teach your kids how to change oil in the car or how to write an ad to bring in business? It is almost as if we have all been trained to accept capitalism, but only as part of the workforce.

  Anyway, it is vital that you never let the bastards get you down and in this case the bastards are almost everyone you meet.

  The other point which I feel can be made now is that he repeats himself often. This is not absent mindedness and is 100% intentional.

  This lesson is much like the one in the previous letter.

  It is widely accepted and both my dad and I agreed that one of the best business books in the world is “The Godfather.” My dad often remarked on how he loved the book and film. One of his favorite lessons in the book was when the Godfather explains to his youngest son Michael that he must continue to think about and go over their plans for the future.

  In the film Brando says to Pacino, “I hope you don’t mind me going over this Barzini business” and then explains he does it to avoid being careless. Going over and over plans is a good way to make sure everyone is on the same page and to remember small things.

  Write down your goals and go over them every day and not just once a year.

  more free letters at halbertising.com

  The Boron Letters

  Chapter 4

  Friday, 11:05 AM

  June 15, 1984

  Dear Bond,

  It was very nice for all of you to come up yesterday and bring me a birthday cake. It is good to know that you are all on my side and that I have a strong outside "support system."

  I hope everybody understood why I wanted to leave before 7:30. If I hadn't left when I did I would have missed commissary and I wouldn't have gotten my supply of fruit for the whole week. Also, Doc, my best friend in Boron so far, was leaving the next morning (that's this morning; he's gone now) and I needed to spend more time with him.

  But I do appreciate all of you and I just wanted to let you know.

  Onward. Let's get back to the subject of physique. As I said yesterday, I believe the best physique for a man is lean and hard with strong muscular arms but not a bulging, exaggerated weight-lifter's body.

  But why do I stress arm development so much? There are several reasons. As I said yesterday, one benefit is that it is just plain handy to have a long of strength in your arms. I also said the kind of body I have been touting is attractive to women and wins you respect from men.

  Let's talk about that respect a little bit. The first thing I want to say is that a fat, sloppy or skinny and weak body tends to broadcast to the world that the owner of that body is lacking self-respect. The second thing is that tough animals have a tendency to prey on weak or helpless animals.

  Here is something to remember: DEFENSIVE BEHAVIOR INVITES AGGRESSIVE ACTI

  What that means is that in life in general (and in prison in particular) there is very little sympathy for a weakling.

  There's a guy here that I used to like but now he is starting to irritate me. In many ways he's nice old guy (I'll write more about him later) but he is serving a miserable 100 day sentence (maybe it's even less) and he shuffles around like a plantation n
igger trying to please "Ol Massah." What's going on is plain and simple: He's scared.

  Now, that's no sin. God knows I've been scared many times. But this guy stays scared when there is no need to be and it is very unattractive to watch.

  Now, don't get the wrong idea and start worrying about this guy. I am very nice to him and so is everybody else. Everybody cuts him a lot of slack. This is a very "soft" place to do your time and all I want to do by describing this man's mode of behavior to you is to make a point.

  The point is this: Bond, as you know, I am a very non-violent person and if this guy, by acting like such a pussy, can irritate me, just think how some hard vicious hard-nosed jerk in a real prison would be affected by him!

  You see, this guy is sending out signals and those signals are say-ing, "I'm scared. I'm a pussy. I'm easy. I'm vulnerable." And so on.

  And, unfortunately, not everybody in the world is kind or sympathetic. Some men just look for guys like this guy to prey on.

  God, I'm long-winded aren't I? Anyway, finally to get to the point, what I'm trying to say is that it is far better to:

  rely on your own strength

  instead of somebody Else's

  compassion!

  And, to make the obvious point, you've obviously first got to have some strength in order to be able to rely on it.

  You can't fake it. At least it's not a good idea. Especially in a prison or anywhere else where there are "mean streets". You don't need to "act tough"; you need to be tough.

  Don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about being mean or macho or even pushy. I'm also not talking about pumping iron for hours a day or getting a black belt in Karate either.

  You don't have to do all that. Plain simple toughness will do. You see most predators, when it comes to their victims, are very practical. Let's face it. If a couple of guys decide to go to the park and mug somebody, they aren't going to pick on some big gnarly looking guy. No, they will go after the victim who looks like easy pickup.

  STOP 11:43

  START AGAIN 7:17 PM

  You know what? I believe that if you have two guys of the same height and same weight and you dress them both in a full suit of clothes that most of the time you will still be able to tell who is the toughest. You see, when you "get tough" not only does your appearance change; your "signals" change also. The way you move, the way you hold yourself, your reactions to outside stimuli - all of that changes.

  So I want you to start getting tough and self reliant. By the way, I read a quote by John D. Rockefeller in "The Enquirer" today to the effect that nothing is as satisfying as self reliance and I totally agree.

  But don't get confused. I don't want you to become a fighter in the physical sense as much as I want you to become a "Fight Avoider". And I want you to be able to avoid fights without losing your dignity.

  And one of the best ways to avoid fights (I know this sounds kind of silly!) is to have big arms. Have you ever heard this comment? "Damn! Look at the arms on that guy! How'd you like to meet him in a dark alley?!"

  Big strong arms. Start developing them right now. There are no drawbacks and many benefits.

  Well, hopefully, by now now I've got you doing your road work, developing your arms and eating more or less properly. On that assumption I am going to temporarily drop this area and start writing about how to make money. We'll come back to health and fitness later though.

  But tomorrow we'll start on money. However, right now, I want to comment briefly on one of my friends here. He is black and he was formerly in San Quentin for shooting two Santa Monica cops because he thought they were trying to get his supply of dope.

  He's a heroin dealer from Hollywood and he is 55 years old and he is indeed a "career criminal". He thought she was going to OD from the heroin he had sold her. He's a fascinating guy and maybe we'll talk about him at another time.

  Some guy was taken out of his hand cuffs yesterday. They found a bunch of money and pot in his hobby shop locker. Last night my friend Doc told me a story about this guy. It seems that some guy snitched on him and his wife and caused his wife to go to jail.

  Well, anyway, for some reason this guy was in another institution and he was part of a line of guys who were hand cuffed and in chains when he spots the snitch.

  What does he do? Simple. He grabs a nearby pencil (or pen, I forget) and tries to ram it into the snitch's brain by stabbing him in the eye. As it turned out, he didn't kill the snitch, but he did manage to blind him.

  What the hell. It was just "his way".

  'm going to sign off now. Are you following my suggestions?

  I love you and Good Luck!

  Love Dad

  7:42 PM

  UPDATE:

  The beginning seems like a simple "sorry for cutting everything so short last time" sentence to his family and it was, but it really says a whole lot more.

  You can see how nothing stood in the way of what Gary felt was important to his life and to sticking to his routine. He really did prioritize well and had insane focus.

  This remark really does show his appreciation for a good support system. Everyone knows a good group of folks behind you can be REALLY helpful. Look at men of average skills who attain lofty positions for no better reason than the other people who help them out.

  That being said….my dad had a rare and enviable ability to eradicate people from his life if they were not a positive influence.

  We all have people in our lives we feel like we are stuck dealing with for a variety of reasons such as loyalty based on past friendship, family or some other sense of duty. Well not my pop. He said SCREW THAT and if someone didn’t add to his enjoyment he would cut them right out of his life for good.

  He wasn't mean, but he just wouldn't put up with nonsense from ANYONE! My brother Kevin is like that and I try to learn from them both because it makes a lot of difference to one's success.

  Imagine if everyone you deal with is really on your side and not only believes in you, but they all also want to seriously help you accomplish your goals.

  Most people think the hard part is finding positive people, but that isn't true. Go to any learning Annex workshop with Trump speaking and you will find positive people with hope. No, the real trick is to cut out those that hold you back.

  The first person to try and hold my dad back was his own father. On several occasions my dad told me of how my grandfather told him he wouldn't be able to breakout of the average working Joe's existence.

  Grandpa had such a lack of faith in upward mobility that when my dad actually did strike it rich, his dad simply wouldn't believe it until my dad showed him mailbags full of checks from people wanting to buy his reports. This was all AFTER my dad bought a new custom home in the nicest part of town and built a huge business.

  Once my dad stopped seeking his father's approval, he realized he was in control of his own destiny and without being malicious…. he started to marginalize the people that held him back.

  He sent some money to his mom whenever she needed anything, but for the most part we moved to California and my grandparents became a much smaller part of our lives.

  He even wrote about this in "The Dark Side Of Success"

  He would never want me to tarnish the name of anyone in the family by citing examples, but suffice it to say, he had the ability and more importantly the WILL to eliminate or marginalize anyone in his life he felt was too negative.

  Most of us like to think we would do the same, but we always have an excuse. So and so is my in-law so I can't tell him to piss up a rope or we have been friends since high school. Screw that.

  Never ever encourage people who drag you down to hang around.

  A support system is like a garden and you always need to be on the lookout for weeds to pull.

  The other lesson in this chapter is don't be or appear to be a weak target. He discusses having large arms as a deterrent and he is 100% right.

  Right before my dad went in to prison, a friend of mine comm
ented that he wouldn't mess with my dad. The comment struck me as odd because I saw my dad as one big loveable guy of average height and my friend had just kicked his mom's boyfriend's ass about a week earlier.

  I asked him why he thought so and his answer was "his arms". His arms weren't huge like a body builder, but you could tell they were strong. Proving the point my dad would later be making in this fourth letter.

  In business my father tried to never appear weak and it is easier to not appear weak when you are strong. If he found out someone was charging more for an ad he raised his price. He was the best and he was putting it out there. Carry yourself with confidence (not arrogance) in everything you do and people will respond in a good way.

  He ends the letter with a quote by Rockefeller that self-reliance is the most satisfying thing in the world and it is important to know that often self-reliance is the real motive of great business men and not money.