The 50th Law: Summary & Review

the 50th law book cover

The 50th Law, which some people misspell as “The 50th Law of Power”, is a book on power dynamics, life philosophy, and the mindsets of success and social dominance.

Bullet Summary

  • Power requires fearlessness
  • To acquire power you must have a thirst for self-reliance (and hate depending on others)
  • Look at reality and love reality

The 50th Law – Summary

About The Authors: Robert Greene has a background in classical studies and is a best-selling author of books on power and life strategy.
He also wrote The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, Mastery, and The Laws of Human Nature.

How to Correctly Deal With Fear

Greene says there are two ways of dealing with fear:

  1. Avoiding what we’re afraid of
  2. Confronting what we’re afraid of

Greene says that when we’re forced to face our fears we often find out we’re stronger than we thought we were.
These moments are therapeutic. But if we have the chance, we go back to our safe shells.

The author says there are people though who have been forced to continuously face their fears. And they have grown fearless. He says the many examples of celebrities and successes coming from the ghettos have been schooled in fearlessness.

Love Reality

I really loved the chapter on realism.

I found somewhat what Ray Dalio embraces in his seminal book Principles: Life and Work.
Contrary to many self-help myths of “constructing your own reality”, Greene says you must learn to look at reality as it is, and stay as close as possible to it.

Sharpen your curiosity and openness, and never turn your back to reality. Dreamers waste time and do the biggest mistakes.
The real inventors and innovators are realists.

Reality is my drug, the more I get, the higher I go

To Live Fully: Embrace Your Mortality

Greene says that to learn to live well and fearlessly you need to appreciate your mortality.

People who had a brush up with death get a sense of urgency that leads them to work hard, accomplish more and enjoy life.
When their turn of dying will come, they’ll have no regrets and will have lived a happy life.

The author says you don’t need to risk your life to become fearless, but you can reflect and meditate on it. And then structure your life going backward.

My note:
I couldn’t agree more, and it’s funny a few weeks before reading The 50th Law I had actually written my own post exactly on this topic. Read: leveraging death to live.

Learn to Be Self-Reliant

We come into this world with the only real possessions that matter:

  • Your body
  • The time you have to live
  • Your energy
  • Thoughts and ideas

And yet you give it all away.

You spend years working for others, you listen to experts, and lose your unique ideas to embrace the majority.

And I really loved this part: don’t think your boss cares about you. He will drop you off as soon as he doesn’t need you anymore or someone cheaper comes along.

For more life truths, read:

True ownership can only come from within yourself.
It comes from rejecting anyone who limits your mobility, it comes from confidence in your own decisions, and by using your time in constant pursuit of growth and education.

Own yourself first. Or you’ll be at the mercy of someone else.

Understand and Be OK With This: You Are Alone

You’re alone in this world.

Everyone is pushing and pursuing their own agendas.
It’s not a thought you should fear, you should use it to push yourself towards full self-reliance and freedom.

It’s liberating.

Master Aggression: Know When to Be Bad

This chapter reminded me of both the 12 Rules of Life and the spirit of The Power Moves, on this website.

Greene says we are often naive, believing people are peaceful and desiring good for us.
We are too good and avoid conflict, and sell our real selves away in the process.
The author says that we need inner strength to deal with conflict. And that has nothing to do with bad or good but with strength and fear.

If people feel like they can take from you, they will take from you, says Greene.

See how I leverage my dark side:

Be a Feared Leader

Greene says that many leaders take the wrong route when they decide to be benevolent leaders.

A leader will oftentimes be in a position to ask people to do things they don’t wanna do.
And when he’s too nice, people will rebel -or execute those tasks too high-power for the leader’s liking-.
Much better, he says, being a ruthless leader. No issues in getting your orders executed, and when you make a compliment, people will really cherish it.

I don’t fully agree here.
Also, read:

Believe in Your Leadership

Appear is if you always know where you’re going.

Pretend you’re driven by a God, a destiny, or a vision nobody else can see.
Like Joan D’Arc and Moses were.

Also, read:

Master The Process: Stick With Things

Greene says that fearless people learn to master processes also through boredom.

Don’t fall for the quick and easy solution: it doesn’t exist. Mastery takes time, grit, and hard work.

Focus On What You Can Control

Greene talks a bit about the freedom of choosing our own reaction to any event we encounter.

Similar to The 7 Habits of Effective People, the more we focus on what we can control, the more our control zone expands.

He also goes a bit into weak ego and a strong ego. Check the book for more or read my post building an antifragile ego“.

In general, be less respectful of rules others have established for you

the 50th law book cover

Real-Life Applications

Don’t work for others
Your time is one of the most precious things in your life, don’t squander it on someone else’s dream.

Despise anybody limiting your freedom
To become successful, I indeed believe it’s a great asset when you despise anything and anybody limiting your freedom.

That’s indeed one of the greatest motivators which has led to this website.
Also, see:

CONS

  • Reality VS Stories: doesn’t add up to me

50 Cent says he was trying to go provoke Ja Rule but Ja Rule didn’t take the bait.

So he started dissing Supreme, a former druglord friend of Ja Rule, who in turn put pressure on Ja Rule to “destroy” 50th.

This doesn’t add up to me.
Why would a drug lord ask a rapper to “destroy” a rapper with nothing less than a… Diss track? A diss track that would only bring him more attention?
Also, the fact that Ja Rule had to “prove his toughness” with a song… Doesn’t add up.

  • Inductive Reasoning

Social sciences are a bit of an art and not pure sciences.
Yet there’s quite a bit of inductive reasoning fallacy in The 50th Law.

For example, Robert Greene has a theory that ghetto life makes people fearless, which in turn drives them to success.

Yet just because you see a few successes coming from the ghetto doesn’t necessarily mean ghetto life makes you fearless or more likely to succeed.

Indeed, probably the opposite is true.

Review

I’m not a big fan of 50 Cent and probably I let that taint my expectations.

Indeed, I approached “The 50th Law” thinking it was mostly a fluff book done for marketing.

Boy, I was wrong. I loved “The 50th Law.” Absolutely recommended.

Read the best books on power and get the book on Amazon

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