Read a 2 Minute Take so You Don’t Waste Hours
THE FORGE is about building in public. This week I built back my operational capacity by cutting an energy drain. Here’s the system I executed on so you can add it to your arsenal.
Someone reached out after six months. Emotional opener. “I miss our conversations. If I hurt you, I apologize.”
I responded. Professional breakdown. Clear facts. Specific trust violations.
They came back. “I don’t understand what went wrong. We had good intentions. You weren’t communicating clearly.”
Deflection.
Denial.
Blame shifting.
I responded again. Professional context. American business standards. I ran it through AI to verify my explanation was industry-standard.
Then I stopped.
I recognized the pattern.
I rebuilt my confidence by cutting the drain.
The Pattern I Executed On
Emotional manipulation followed by bad-faith deflection is the tell. When someone asks for clarity, you provide it, and they immediately deny and blame you, they were never asking in good faith.
They want absolution without accountability. They want you to say “it’s okay.” They do not want to understand what they did wrong.
The System I Built
I created a diagnostic test for these situations:
Ask: “Do they want to understand, or do they want me to say it’s okay?”
If it is the second one, stop responding. Delete future messages. Redirect that energy to something you are building.
This week I executed on that system. I cut the energy drain. I reclaimed hours I would have spent explaining professional boundaries to someone who will never respect them.
Why This Is Execution
High-speed building requires ruthless energy management. Every hour spent on bad-faith operators is an hour stolen from The 55/35 Method. From VengaDragon. From anything that matters.
I built back my operational capacity by recognizing the leak and shutting it off. That is execution. That is building your ability to build.
Add This to Your Arsenal
Next time someone violates boundaries, reaches out emotionally, then deflects when you explain what happened:
Recognize the pattern (emotion + deflection = bad faith)
Stop explaining
Delete and redirect
Build something that matters instead
I executed this pattern this week. I rebuilt confidence by cutting the drain. Now you have the system.
ABOUT ME | THE 55/35 METHOD
I am 55. I have decades of experience watching cycles repeat. I recognize patterns younger builders have not lived through yet. That experience is the edge.
But I am also building in real time using the modern tools people my age think they cannot access. AI. Automation. High-speed execution. I share what I am building so people my age have the confidence to use today’s tools with the wisdom they already have.
The 55/35 Method is simple: veteran intuition meets modern velocity. You have the experience. You just need to move at their speed.
THE ARMORY
Free readers watch the build. Paid subscribers get the system.
Upgrade and you unlock the operational layer: workflows, guides, the internal methods that run VengaDragon. Three foundational PDFs now. One new tactical guide every month. Stop watching. Start building.
V➤ Stop explaining your boundaries to people who only benefit from you not having them.