I’ve bled on the battlefield of business and life. I’ve made decisions that felt like suicide. I’ve walked away from deals I thought would make me, only to realize later they were the ones that would’ve broken me. I’ve been screwed over, I’ve screwed myself over, and I’ve seen greatness come out of ashes I couldn’t even sort through.

Here’s what I’ve learned, deep in that pain: There are no mistakes in life. Nothing is random. That betrayal? It happened exactly when it was supposed to. That failed launch you thought was the end of your career? It was a setup for a comeback. Life doesn’t screw you. It funnels you.

That’s the foundation of mentorship as I see it: showing someone what the universe has been secretly doing while they thought everything was falling apart.

No Mistakes, Only Lessons
I don’t believe in “mistakes.” I believe in lessons. Every time you’ve killed what you thought was a dream—gone down that path that ended in regret—you actually dodged something bigger. You just didn’t know it yet.

If someone asks me, “How’d you go from zero to where you are?”—I tell them straight: “I didn’t get there despite the mistakes—I got there because of them.” Each so-called ‘mistake’ was like a landmine I stepped on—painful, but I saw it before it killed me next time. I learned where the traps were buried.

Everything Happens as It’s Supposed To
You think things “just happen.” But that’s not how the world works. There’s a plan in the pain. The mentors, the roads, the partners who left, the ones who stuck around—it’s all part of the script.

I didn’t always understand that, though. I lost money chasing deals that turned toxic. But without those losses, I never would’ve tightened up my judgment. Without those sleepless nights, I never would’ve learned how to wrestle my own fear at 3am and still make disciplined decisions.

So now, when I mentor, I don’t sugarcoat. I tell the truth: “You will lose. You will burn. And that’s good—because if you don’t burn, you don’t refine.”

Life Is Rigged in Your Favor
There’s a quote floating around:

“Live life as if everything is rigged in your favor.” — Rumi Mastin Kipp+1

That wasn’t poetic fluff when I first heard it in the dark. That was a directive. Everything that’s happened to me—every betrayal, every flop—has been rigged in my favor.

When you start to see your past that way, everything changes. You stop slowing down at obstacles and start asking, “What’s this designed to teach me?”

It’s the attitude that separates the ones who keep bleeding from the ones who keep building.

What It Means as a Mentor
When I mentor someone, I say: “There are no mistakes in your story. Every setback, stumble, and ‘failure’ wasn’t a screw-up—it was a signpost, pointing you toward growth. And the whole thing is rigged in your favor. That pain? It’s preparation for something bigger.”

It’s brutal honesty wrapped in deeper confidence—not just in yourself, but in life itself.

Because here’s the raw truth: when you see mistakes as lessons and life as rigged in your favor, every failure becomes fuel.

That’s why signing up to be a mentor isn’t just about helping someone else—it’s about showing them the rigged map no one handed you. It’s about giving them the eyes to see how the universe really works.

Every word of Truth in the Trenches™ was forged from my life. Not theory. Not stories borrowed. Mine. Help bring it forward—visit www.michaelsweitzer.com and contribute today.

Till tomorrow

-Michael