The Death Ground Strategy: How to Propel Your Self-Development to New Heights

 “You waste your time by dreaming about future. Instead, engage with present, and enter an unknown territory. Place yourself on “death ground”, where your back is against the wall and you have to fight like hell to get out alive.” – Robert Greene, 33 Strategies of War

There’s a lot of myths that are circulating in society. One of the biggest myths is this:

“You’re young. Don’t worry. You have a lot of time. Reelaxxx…“

I’ve been told this too many times to count and if you’re a young man, I’m sure you have too.

Not only is this myth deadly to your success – it’s outright false. Because I’m here to deliver a message. And the message is simple:

You’re on death ground.

What does that mean? It means many things (which I’ll get to in a bit). But this article is going to be an overview of Robert Greene’s death ground strategy from his marvelous book 33 Strategies of War, derived from Sun Tzu’s perennial treatise The Art of War, 

In this article, I’m going to be breaking down:

• What the death ground strategy is and why it matters so much for your life
• Four things which prevent you from using the death ground strategy in your life
• Why you need to engage in self-development and self-improvement as a young man
• How to use the death ground strategy to propel you to new heights and effectiveness as a leader of yourself and others

But first, I want to spill the beans on something:

I used to work in a retirement home.

A very underwhelming confession sure, but stick with me here.

This was my first real job, right after I turned 16 and started driving. I originally worked on the day shift with residents, then I was moved to the dining hall as a server for the lunch and evening shifts.

While it wasn’t my initial dream first job (is anybody’s?), it taught me quite a bit about life.

I met people from different backgrounds who had some very dynamic careers (and lives) while they were working. Some these include:

• Former hackers for the government
• Former corporate executives
• Retired religious leaders
• World War II vets
• Retired stuntmen
• Retired nurses
• Retired artists
• Vietnam vets
• Etc.

The list goes on.

I met some great people who were happy to be there. They loved life. These folks were awesome.

I met others who just bitched and moaned. These folks were not fun to hang around with….whatsoever.

And while these people differed in their chosen profession, familial background, psychological disposition, etc.

They all shared one commonality: the desire for more time.

There were many who were satisfied with a life well lived, the contributions they made in the time they were given.

There were others who expressed to me a feeling of deep regrets in the form of past failures, cursed to relive the past on an endless loop.

Then I asked myself:

“why does anyone have regrets?”

The answer then came with a quickness.

Major regrets come to those who don’t use their time wisely or take opportunities when they’re presented.

In the context of this article – I’m talking about the death ground strategy.

What is the Death Ground Strategy?

A couple of thousand years ago, a smart Chinese military strategist named Sun Tzu contemplated on the nature of psychological warfare in the midst of military combat.

One of these observations was what is now known as the “death ground strategy”. Robert Greene extrapolated more on this in his book 33 Strategies of War. Simply stated:

When you have your back against the wall, you will then fight the hardest to survive.

The death ground strategy refers to the marshaling of inner resources that are usually inaccessible to people in normal circumstances. This creates an “at all costs” mentality where the only two options are fight like hell – or die.

This can also be known as your “fight or flight” response. But in this case, there is no flight.

You either fight or you fall. There are no in-betweens.

A great example of this would be the Spartans at Thermopylae (spoiler!). Even though they “lost”, they still killed a TON of Persians and rallied the entire Grecian Peninsula to fight against Persia.

When you have no option but to survive, you’ll do it by any means necessary.

Three Things That Prevent You From Using the Death Ground Strategy

While this seems to make sense on the surface, there are several things that prevent you from really utilizing the death ground strategy to its fullest.

Here’s some of them:

The Illusion of Time

“The value of time, that is of being a little ahead of your opponent, often provides greater advantage than superior numbers or greater resources.” – Sun Tzu

As I mentioned in the first couple of paragraphs, we all think we have a lot of time to do things but we waste much of it (thanks, Seneca).

This manifests in the “I’ll do it tomorrow” and the “I’ll get to it eventually”s we so frequently dish out as if they were bottomless hors d’oeuvre at a ritzy dinner.

Unfortunately, we only get so many “tomorrows” and “eventuallies”.

But to many of us, death is an abstraction.

Most of us never see death up close unless we go to a funeral. Even then, it’s only for a couple of hours.

Besides…we probably didn’t even see the person ACTUALLY die.

Ok, no one wants to really talk about death. Let’s remove it from the picture.

Tomorrow comes. Then the next week. Then months and years pass by.

Next thing you know, you’re an old man.

Girls that you should have asked out you never did because you were afraid of rejection.

Jobs that you were skilled for, you never applied for because you were scared of success.

Goals you never accomplished because you procrastinated too much.

All of this stuff you’ve put off has now cascaded into a giant snowball of “I should haves” and “holy shits”.

Moves you never made. Goals never achieved. Dreams unfulfilled.

All because you didn’t use the death ground strategy.

Bias for Laziness

In famed economist Ludwig Von Mises’ Human Action, he states several things about the human being:

• Lazy – Human beings are lazy. We seek the fastest and easiest way to get the things we want. This is called “the expediency factor”.
• Greedy – Humans prefer more to less. Why eat one Oreo when you can eat the whole packet?
• Selfish – Humans think about themselves most of the time. You’re always asking “what’s in it for me?”, in some way.
• Ambitious – Humans ask “will I be better off than I was before?” to determine a course of action.
• Impatient – Humans want things “now” rather than “later”.

These are all present in every human being to varying degrees. All of these if elevated to a fever pitch are bad, especially laziness.

Laziness will prevent you from using the death ground strategy effectively because once again–I’ve got a lot of time maaaan.

But this combined with the next thing will really sink your chances for achieving what you want to achieve in life.

If you want more information on how delayed gratification can help you navigate these tendencies, check out this podcast episode.

The Comfort Zone

Your comfort zone is any area you feel safe, secure, and competent.

It’s good to feel this way in many areas in your life. But your current level of success is a comfort zone.

So if you want more success, it will require stepping out of this comfort zone (because if you had the things you desire, they would be in this comfort zone already).

More importantly, the death ground strategy is a transgression of this comfort zone because it promotes survival–and even expansion at the expense of comfort.

How to Start Using the Death Ground Strategy Today (4 Powerful Tactics)

It’s time for you to decide how you’re going to live your life. Will you live it knowing that you gave it your all and that you truly lived every day as if it was your last? Will you play the long game?

If you’re ready, use these steps to get started.

Imagine the Worst Case Scenario, Then Prevent It From Happening

Before starting on any endeavor, most of us imagine what would happen if everything went right.

While this is good, even great at times, sometimes this won’t provide you with the juice and the fire you need to push out of whatever situation you find yourself in.

The death ground strategy taps on our hardwired negativity bias as human beings to avoid injury, death, or adverse consequences at some level.

You should use this as a source of motivation to propel you to higher heights.

One way to do that is by imagining the worst case scenario of your current situation. Really think about how bad it can truly get if you stay where you are. Then, do everything to prevent that from happening.

Keep it in the forefront of your mind at all times.

This is what I call “negative motivation”. It’s one of the most powerful forms of motivation we have available to us as human beings and it’s something I relied upon quite heavily in my past.

Live In the Now

While the last tactic was to think about the future (or even the past), the death ground strategy really is something rooted in the present moment.

Taking this a step further is the realization that time is ultimately an illusion and that everything takes place in the present. Your “past” did and your “future” will as well.

Therefore, to utilize the death ground strategy, ground yourself in the present moment.

Feel your feelings. Take in your surroundings. You will find that you have a heightened sense of awareness, something critical to using this method to the fullest.

Practice Self-Discipline

In order to extricate yourself from a situation, you must be disciplined. But what is self-discipline?

the ability to control one’s feelings and overcome one’s weaknesses; the ability to pursue what one thinks is right despite temptations to abandon it. – Oxford English Dictionary

Self-discipline requires a flexing of the will in times when it would be easier not to flex it.

But that won’t liberate you from the situation you find yourself in.

An army that finds itself cornered needs to maintain calmness of mind if it wants to survive to see another day. How much more you as an individual?

You do this by remaining self-disciplined.

To learn about how to develop high levels of self-discipline check out How to Develop Rock-Solid Self-Discipline.

Be Stoic

Stoicism is picking up steam as we progress through the 21st century.

Vast numbers of people are realizing the necessity to develop a Stoic disposition to life in the face of an ocean of change and development in our world.

Stoicism is a school of philosophy that focuses intensely on reality rather than on fantasy and/or idealism.

It is seeing life as how it is, not how you want it to be.

This means doing what the present moment requires and of course, practicing self-discipline.

The death ground strategy relates to Stoicism because by focusing on reality and the situation at hand, you are focusing on the present moment, and therefore you are focusing on liberating yourself from your current situation.

It’s simply another tool in the toolbox to help you get out of survival mode and into thriving as a self-actualized human being.

Wrapping Up + Closing Thoughts

You are your own worst enemy. You waste precious time dreaming of the future instead of engaging in the present…The only way to change is through action and outside pressure…Cut your ties to the past.” – 33 Strategies of War, Robert Greene

The death ground strategy is a mindset and a way of thinking rooted in the present moment.

While you don’t literally need to be “on death ground” in order to effectively use the death ground strategy; it is a way of thinking and being that temporarily requires you to call on all your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual resources in order to survive (and eventually thrive).

You ultimately do this by reminding yourself what’s at stake if you come up short, being deeply rooted in the present moment, practicing self-discipline, and developing a Stoic disposition towards life.

If you do all of those things and you give it your best effort, you will inevitably succeed.

Even if you come up short, you can rest easy knowing you gave your best effort and put it all on the table.

That’s more than many people can say at any given point in their lives.

What do you think about the death ground strategy? Have you used it in your life? If so, what was the outcome? Let me know in the comments.