Title: The 48 Laws of Power
Author: Robert Green
Date started & finished: June 2018 about 1 month
Notes written in: 2018 OCT
Why I choose this book:
It came up a few times on podcasts I listen to. When a book comes up more then 3 times I add it to my list to buy and then buy it.
Book theme/ message:
How to put yourself or stay in a position of power.
Personal connection: How does the book relate to me to me or my experiences?
Including my highlights passages and or quote.
There are a few rules that I use already in my life, more or less strict.
Law 9 “Win through your actions, never through argument” I have recently decided that I will start working on something first and then talk about it. I have a tendency to have many ideas and talk about it. And as there are many ideas I do not follow through all. So I want to shorten the list of ideas I put into action at one time.
Law 10 “Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky” I give a great importance to my mental health. I take care of all my health daily, mental and physically. Spending too much time with people who are unhappy drains my energy and I would rather us it elsewhere.
Law 25 “Re-Create Yourself” To be in control of my own image and keep learning
Law 40 “Despise The Free Lunch” this rule I take part of it. paying for the services you use. I do not want to be paid under what I believe I am worth. Therefore I chose to do the same to others. “It is often wise to pay the full price – there is no cutting corners with excellence.”
This reminds me of a story. Not sure how the detailed story is. Here is the gist of it:
A busy and big factory supplying a large amount of customer broke down. Every minute out cost lots of money to the company. They called in the engineer to come and fix the issue. The engineer arrived, when to one location, removed one screw and replaced it, and voila it was fixed. The engineer gave the cost to the manager: $10,000. The manager shocked by the priced asked for the details for the invoice. The engineer took the piece of paper, wrote on it 2 lines and gave it back. It read: $1 to change the screw and $9,999 to know which screw to change. The manager agreed to pay with no hesitation.
Conclusion, knowing which screw to change is the important thing. Knowledge / experience is what is important.
Law 48 “ Assume Formlessness” “instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain… . Everything changes”
What impact or impression has this book made on me?
The laws are cut throat sometimes and depending how you see things. I took some laws that I use and others that I disagreed a little bit with I do not use as much. Overall I learned a lot from this book and I like that it uses history examples to illustrate the laws.
How can I use this?
I can use the re-create yourself law on my journey. The assume formlessness is good for my constant learning. Also being open minded as things come my way.
Why must I use this?
This will help me to learn more and thus find more diverse solutions for any puzzles that come my way
When will I use this?
When I have a puzzle, issue, to solve and I am contemplating taking the easy way i.e.. not doing anything about it.
My recommendation of this book: [low 1 … 10 high]
Enjoyment: 7 –
Learning: 9 – the history examples of past leaders and public figures are great
Easy to read: 7 – the writing is easy to read. There is a lot of content and information. So I took longer to read it to assimilate as much as I could
Why: I would recommend the book to read to people who want to figure out a way to get ahead. And get more confidence to put things into actions. I would also recommend it to people who have an open mind and see things from a different point of view.
Thank you for reading.
Click here to see the podcast I listen to that motivate me every single day.
