Second in Command
Having been knocked out of commission recently due to an illness, it dawned on me why it is so important not to have a second in command. It would be too easy for that single individual to take over, to take control of your empire, and to knock you off. A second in command is a very bad thing in as much as it threatens your well being. But who is going to run things during those times that you simply can not? Not just during illnesses, but maybe while you are in hiding, or while you are away conducting other types of business.
We will not leave everything to chance. We are working towards being the Supreme Dictator for Life, not some wanna be with dim desires of greatness. We are smarter than all that. What we will do is set up a system of offices which control a specific function necessary for living and maintaining the government. These offices will be structured in such a way that they will always be in strife with the other branches as long as the number one guy (that would be us) is at the helm pushing things along.
Obviously, you can not be with every one all of the time. But you can give them direction, and goals to work towards while you are away. This way, they will continue to function as needed, but be unwilling to band together for any other purpose. Making it exponentially more difficult to band together to overthrow your rule.
These offices will also make things easier for you during the normal course of business, since they can worry about the mundane things, while you can strategically, and artfully, position all of your assets to conquer and overthrow the next government and country in line. With each new conquest, the next becomes easier, and so on. This system of rule can only work in your favor.