{"id":10889,"date":"2026-01-07T09:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T09:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/utpal.net\/blog\/?p=2230"},"modified":"2026-02-23T12:06:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T12:06:18","slug":"zero-based-protocol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/61.notredamme.com\/utpalmv-v2\/zero-based-protocol\/","title":{"rendered":"The Zero-Based Protocol: Why You Must Re-Hire Your Life Every Morning."},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"7\">Most people live their lives on &#8220;Auto-Renew.&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"8\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8,0,0\">They stay in a relationship because they have been in it for 5 years.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8,1,0\">They keep a product line because they launched it 3 years ago.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8,2,0\">They keep an employee because &#8220;he&#8217;s been here a while.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"9\">This is the <b data-path-to-node=\"9\" data-index-in-node=\"12\">Sunk Cost Prison<\/b>. You are letting the Past dictate the Future. You are driving by looking in the rear-view mirror.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10\"><b data-path-to-node=\"10\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">The Drucker Question<\/b><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10\">Peter Drucker gave us the most dangerous question in business: <i data-path-to-node=\"10\" data-index-in-node=\"84\">&#8220;Knowing what you know today, would you start this?&#8221;<\/i><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"11\">If the answer is <b data-path-to-node=\"11\" data-index-in-node=\"17\">No<\/b>, and you are still doing it, you are not &#8220;persevering.&#8221; You are <b data-path-to-node=\"11\" data-index-in-node=\"84\">failing<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"12\"><b data-path-to-node=\"12\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">The Protocol: Re-Purchase Your Reality<\/b><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"12\">Every 90 days, you must perform a <b data-path-to-node=\"12\" data-index-in-node=\"73\">Zero-Based Audit<\/b>. Assume you have been fired, stripped of all assets, and kicked out of your house. You have to buy everything back with your current knowledge.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"13\"><b data-path-to-node=\"13\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">The 3 Tests<\/b><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"14\"><b data-path-to-node=\"14\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">1. The Employee Test<\/b><\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"15\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"15,0,0\"><i data-path-to-node=\"15,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">The Question:<\/i> &#8220;Would I hire this person today at their current salary?&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"15,1,0\"><i data-path-to-node=\"15,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">If No:<\/i> You must fire them. Keeping them is an act of cowardice, not loyalty.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"16\"><b data-path-to-node=\"16\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">2. The Project Test<\/b><\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"17\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"17,0,0\"><i data-path-to-node=\"17,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">The Question:<\/i> &#8220;If we weren&#8217;t already doing this project, would we launch it today?&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"17,1,0\"><i data-path-to-node=\"17,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">If No:<\/i> Kill it immediately. The money you spent is gone. Do not throw fresh money after dead money.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"18\"><b data-path-to-node=\"18\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">3. The Relationship Test<\/b><\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"19\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"19,0,0\"><i data-path-to-node=\"19,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">The Question:<\/i> &#8220;If I met this person today, would I try to date\/befriend them?&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"19,1,0\"><i data-path-to-node=\"19,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">If No:<\/i> Why are you still spending your limited time with them? History is not a valid reason for misery.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"20\"><b data-path-to-node=\"20\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">The Action<\/b><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"20\">Inertia is the most powerful force in the universe. It takes massive energy to stop a moving train. But if the train is heading off a cliff, pulling the brake is not &#8220;risky.&#8221; It is the only safety.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"21\"><b data-path-to-node=\"21\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">#DhandheKaFunda:<\/b> <i data-path-to-node=\"21\" data-index-in-node=\"17\">Don&#8217;t let your past mistakes take your future hostage. Fire the past.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most people live their lives on &#8220;Auto-Renew.&#8221; They stay in a relationship because they have been in it for 5 years. They keep a product line because they launched it 3 years ago. They keep an employee because &#8220;he&#8217;s been here a while.&#8221; This is the Sunk Cost Prison. You are letting the Past dictate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[131,105],"class_list":["post-10889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-codex","tag-mental-models","tag-strategy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/61.notredamme.com\/utpalmv-v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/61.notredamme.com\/utpalmv-v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/61.notredamme.com\/utpalmv-v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/61.notredamme.com\/utpalmv-v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/61.notredamme.com\/utpalmv-v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/61.notredamme.com\/utpalmv-v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/61.notredamme.com\/utpalmv-v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/61.notredamme.com\/utpalmv-v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/61.notredamme.com\/utpalmv-v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}