The 11 Most Relevant Rules from ‘The 48 Laws of Power’

The 48 Laws of Power is a best-selling, yet somewhat controversial book. Critics have outed Robert Greene for offering shallow and outdated advice – To some extent, they would be right.

Issues originate from the fact that The 48 Laws of Power is based on historical era’s where power was necessary for survival. Today, many of the laws are outdated, and frankly dysfunctional at times. It is of no real value to live in our heads during every social encounter, trying to outsmart/out-status the next person. Avoid status-games to live a truly fufilling life.

However, some of the rules are both morally sound and incredibly relevant and useful for living with purpose in the 21st Century. They are as follows:

The 11 Key Rules:

1. ‘Say less than necessary.’ (Essentially: only speak when you have something meaningful to say)
2. ‘Win through actions, not through argument.’ (Find agreement with people, then suggest an alternative and demonstrate it)
3. ‘When asking for help, appeal to people’s self interest.’ (Use pragmatic arguments and create win-win scenarios)
4. ‘Use absence to increase respect and honour.’ (Give people enough time to miss you and realise your value)
5. ‘Isolation is dangerous.’ (Cutting off from others for too long can cause significant psychological harm)
6. ‘Concentrate your forces.’ (Prioritise! Dedicate your focus to one front and eliminate distractions)
7. ‘Recreate yourself.’ (Be who you want to be, and feel free to change when you like + dismiss the opinions of others)
8. ‘Plan all the way to the end.’ (Before taking action, calculate outcomes and risk. Also, take potential change into account when executing the plan)
9. ‘Be Royal in your own fashion.’ (Act like a king — which really means, think highly of yourself and others will treat you of higher value)
10. ‘Assume formlessness.’ (Don’t fight change - accept the past and adapt. Be anti-fragile, be shapeless/formless like how water is)
11. ** ‘Remain unflustered/unreactive.’ ** (Don’t waste vital energy on needless anger/frustration/worry. Do not mentally repeat past mistakes or continiously worry about the future. Just ask yourself what action needs to be taken, if there’s nothing to be done, let it go as fast as possible.)

We hope this was resourceful. This is a new channel which is going to be regularly uploading articles to teach a variety of key human skills purposed to help you maintain a meaningful life in times of unprecedented change. It is in sync with a bigger venture, The Keeping Up Project.

As part of this, we see it as pivotal to teach a greater understanding of the directions in which society is rapidly moving, so that we better understand how to keep up.

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