Richard CanfieldPodcast Host and IBC Advisor, Ascendant Financial · Authorized Infinite Banking Practitioner | Author of 4 Books

The Survival Skill That Almost Broke Me #realworld #mindset

10 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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First-person reflection (Richard Canfield) on a survival strategy of conforming to group norms—specifically 'hanging with the dudes'—to avoid exclusion. The speaker describes long-term downsides: accepting jokes, lower expectations, and choosing a limited path; he notes he would speak up for others but often remained silent about his own mistreatment, advancing by 'not being the one who complained.'

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You had to hang with the dudes or you would not have survived. Right. That has, as I'm looking back, some downsides, I think, long term, because I learned to get along and to take a lot of things that maybe I shouldn't have. It was, if it was today, had to deal with. Right. But, you know, if I saw someone else, of course, being subjected to that, I always spoke up. But for myself, Right. I succeeded at higher levels by not being the one who complained too much. Right. I took the jokes, I took the, you know, the expectations, which were often lower. You know, I took the limited path because it was all that was open. Right. And I succeeded at doing that by really not being too much of a problem.