48 Laws of Power – Applying each Law to your life
The 48 Laws of Power is one of the most influential books on power and control, and contains a law for many different scenarios.
While applied to rulers and elites, it can also be applied to your daily life with business, women, and other relationships.
Some of the laws seemingly contradict each other, they all have their place in different situations.
As men, we usually value being direct and dominant.
However, it’s important to balance our masculine energy.
Many of the laws follow feminine principles in ways of acting.
Nonetheless, they’ve been used successfully by men throughout history. So they’re worth taking note of and even using when necessary.
With women and socially aware men using many of these tactics naturally, you at the very least should arm yourself with the knowledge.
Every law may not be appealing for you to use.
But they will give you insight into social interactions that you see with others.
And more importantly, many of the laws are extremely useful to directly implement in your own life.
You can use these laws to leverage your relationships with other people and influence outcomes in your favor.
Law 1. Never outshine the Master
You should always be in charge with women.
But this law applies more to business if you still work a job. If you have a boss, never out shine them.
You want to do your job well and get paid, but outshining your boss may lead to jealously and can be bad for you. Always make sure your boss looks good.
Law 2. Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies
Be careful of friends and your inner group.
If they’re other successful guys, and are happy for your success, then you’re in good hands.
But more often than not, you’ll find that many of your friends will envy you. Especially when you start achieving higher levels of success.
Enemies have more to prove to you, and can be turned into friends or at least partners given the opportunity.
Law 3. Conceal your Intentions
Don’t give away your true intentions to your competitors.
If your competition can’t see your next move, then you have an advantage.
In business, don’t give your competition an edge by making it obvious what you’re going to do.
Develop a strategy, work on it in the dark, and implement it when it’s ready at 100% capacity.
Law 4. Always Say Less than Necessary
This applies to say many areas, but especially with women and people.
The more you say, the more basic and generic you appear.
And the more you say, the more you increase your chance of fucking a situation up.
Always say less.
This will make the words you say very powerful. It will give the more meaning.
Say what you say with conviction. Let the other person talk more. People love to heat themselves talk. Hold back your desire to do so.
Both women and other people will think you’re more charismatic and mysterious.
Law 5. So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life
Your reputation is everything.
In business, a great reputation will get you new clients and money.
It will help you build wealth.
A bad reputation and totally destroy your business and hurt your income.
Guard your reputation with your life.
If anyone attacks your reputation, be ready to defend it.
Law 6. Court Attention at all Cost
Attention is worth more than you think.
Stand out.
With your business, and with your manhood.
Don’t get lost in the crowd and be a another generic brand or individual.
Make yourself and your business seem larger and more powerful than you really are.
Law 7. Get others to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit
Let other people do work for you.
In business, this can be applied to getting clients to refer you new business.
People trust referrals, and happy clients will be willing to refer you to new business.
It’s easy money for you.
This is one of the best ways to apply this law while still maintaining ethics.
Law 8. Make other People come to you – use Bait if Necessary
It’s simple, make other people come to you.
With girls, don’t be so eager to text back right away or go meet them miles away.
Be busy, let them miss you. Create interest and mystery by withholding your attention. And then invite them for a drink at a bar five minutes from your place.
In business, this can be used to get prospective clients.
Find out what your prospect wants (the bait), and then tell them you can do exactly that.
Be calm and outcome independent.
You’ll find a lot of the prospects will begin to chase you down if you convince them you have exactly what they’re looking for.
See them on the benefits of what you do, not the features / specifics.
Law 9. Win through your Actions, Never through Argument
You won’t ever win people over through argument.
Especially with women, with business, and with life in general.
If you win the argument, the other side will just resent you.
It’s better to avoid arguments and use your actions to prove your point.
A man knows that actions speak louder than words.
This website is self development for men, so by reading this you are probably a man who’s working on himself and open to new ideas. However, most people in real life are set in their ways.
A logical win won’t do much for you in a hearted agreement. Avoid trying to be right all the time.
Law 10. Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky
Avoid people who are miserable.
They will spread their misery to you and hold you back.
Emotional states are very powerful.
You need to associate with the happy and successful.
Unhappy and unlucky people will simply drag you down.
Avoid them and their negative beliefs at all costs.
You control how you feel to a large degree, but you’re also influenced by those around you.
Choose to surround yourself with positive people.
Law 11. Learn to Keep People Dependent on You
Give women in your life the best time possible.
Get them addicted your dick with mind blowing sex every time you fuck.
Keep them dependent on your touch, your attention, your energy, and your presence.
With clients, give them the best absolute service or product as possible.
Blow the competition out of the water. Make sure they need what you’re selling and that they can only get it from you.
Law 12. Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm your Victim
Offer up select information about you.
Enough to make you relatable and personable.
This will help to build rapport and trust with women and with business partners / clients.
But nothing that can actually be used against you.
Like with a girl, if you want to know her dreams / aspirations, or how many guys she’s fucked, offer up some info about yourself.
Tell her that you want to have a big business and your dreams of success, or tell her that you think it’s good for people to get experience before settling down.
This will disarm her, and get her to tell you her dreams, or a closer idea to how many people she’s been with.
You withhold information that really matters, while getting others to give you what information that you want.
Law 13. When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest, Never to their Mercy or Gratitude
If you’re trying to get a deal with a prospect, don’t remind them of what you’ve done for them.
Remind them of what working with you will do for them.
Emphasize what they have to gain from this future interaction.
With girls, do the same thing.
Never put emphasis on what you did for a girl in the past. That will get you nowhere.
Instead, emphasize the present and the future.
Realize that people are selfish. Use this to your advantage.
Law 14. Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy
As a socially aware person, you can see this be used all the time on dumb people.
While probably the most feminine law on the list, it can be useful if you choose to implement it.
Asking indirect questions can get people to reveal information about themselves that can be useful to you in your business or social situations.
A slight twist on this law is to use it in sales when you’re in business.
Ask probing questions to get prospects to reveal information about their business that you can use to get the deal.
Law 15. Crush your Enemy Totally
Either crush your enemies completely or find a way to work with them. Or at the very least keep on eye on them.
If you only have destroy your enemies, they’ll regroup, grow stronger, and look for revenge.
Completely crush your enemies when given the opportunity.
Don’t allow them to come back to haunt you.
If you can’t crush them, be cautious and wait. Turning them into an alley may work if you have a common goal.
But a half crushed enemy is a recipe for your downfall.
This can be applied to business. Unfortunately, some people, like competitors or people in a big company you work for, will try to take what’s yours.
If you can’t befriend them, figure out a way to have them taken out.
Law 16. Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor
This works with women especially well.
Once you’re established in a woman’s life, disappear for a while.
Blow off a sex meet up and keep her guessing.
You can do this with social groups by stepping back for a little bit.
Always being around keeps you boring and predictable.
Becoming absent will get girls to miss you and think about you more. It will get your social group to start talking about you and elevating your status.
Law 17. Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability
Be unpredictable.
In business this means keeping your competitors at edge because you’re always innovating. Whether it’s new products or services, or higher quality, your competitors fear you because you can disrupt them.
We all know women love unpredictability and hate boring beta males.
Keep the women you’re seeing at arms length. Have them come over for sex two Monday’s in a row, then cancel on them the third time.
Wait longer to text them back.
Have them trying to guess your next move. Being genuinely busy will help accomplish this and stay true to this law.
Law 18. Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself – Isolation is Dangerous
Isolation can help you to be productive, but staying isolated for too long is extremely dangerous.
It’s bad if you’re not interacting with your clients and prospects.
It’s bad if you’re not interacting with people in general, let alone just women.
As a man with a purpose, you have to be used to be alone.
But cutting yourself off from society will leave you exposed to having no income and no interaction with other people.
Law 19. Know Who You’re Dealing with – Do Not Offend the Wrong Person
It’s a good practice to treat everyone with respect unless blatantly disrespected.
Disrespecting the wrong person in business can hurt your money.
Offending the wrong person in real life can make for a real threat.
Some people having nothing to lose and will be happy to attack you.
Others might be politically or economically powerful on a level you don’t want to deal with. A man must stand up for himself, but must also be cautious of other predators.
Law 20. Do Not Commit to Anyone
This law is advising you not to commit to any sides during conflict.
The best way to apply this is to the political bullshit most people waste their energy on.
You can have your own beliefs on certain issues.
But don’t commit to sides on any kind of political movement or ideology. It will only limit your potential and possibly hurt your reputation.
You’ll waste time and only the leaders of these movements benefit.
You can apply this to women as well. By not committing to women, you make them pursue you.
Even guys in “committed” relationships with girlfriends needs to learn to not commit all their time to their girl.
Law 21. Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker – Seem Dumber than your Mark
Don’t focus on being right or having to be the smartest person in any given situation.
Let other people think they’re smarter if it suits you.
This will help you to collect valuable information in business, possibly about competition.
With women, you can apply this across the board.
Don’t go out of your way to correct women or argue with them on logical issues. Especially if they’re not disrespectful towards you.
Let them think they’re right.
It’ll make your life easier and you’ll get laid more.
Law 22. Use the Surrender Tactic: Transform Weakness into Power
Don’t fight when you know you’re going to lose.
This means not bashing your competition in business when they’re doing better than you or if they took a client from you.
Admit when you’re weaker or wrong so you have time to recover.
Being ignorant about your positioning can lead to your downfall.
Following this law means you don’t fight to the last breath to be honorable, your surrender when you’re defeated so you can fight another day.
Law 23. Concentrate your forces
Focus on your strengths and forget your weaknesses.
When you’re going in on a goal or business, give it 100%. Don’t half ass it, give up, and start a new endeavor just to do the same thing.
Once you develop your strategy and do research, concentrate your energy on one thing.
This way you’ll have the best chance at striking gold and finding success.
Law 24. Play the Perfect Courtier
Know your place in the world.
Ideally you want to make yourself a boss. This way you have as much power in your life as possible.
But when you’re not the boss, realize and court accordingly.
You have to play to the best position you’re in at all times.
For example, if you have a boss at work, you must be the bitch and yield to their power. Until you’re ready to quit and be independent, you have a role you must fill to get your money.
Assert power where you can in your life. And work to get more power in the other areas.
Law 25. Re-create yourself
This law states you can make yourself you want to be.
Essentially the essence if personal development.
You can re-create yourself and make yourself as powerful and great as you desire.
Don’t let other people mold you into what they want or think you are.
Make yourself into someone great through your actions and let the world see your power.
Law 26. Keep your hands clean
Don’t get into bad shit.
Deny bad involvement when it comes to business and life in general.
It’s better to avoid doing anything shady in the first place so you’re authentic.
If you are doing shady activities, then you need to distance yourself from the action and always have an excuse to defend your reputation.
Law 27. Play on People’s Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following
People need to believe in something.
This is why we have the religions of the world, whether it’s Christianity, Islam, or hardcore materialism.
Exploit this need in people by giving them something to believe in.
Let them believe in your business. Let the women believe you’re The One for them.
Use powerful words, be vague, and be extremely confident.
Get people to believe in you like a religion, and your power will grow in any area of your life that you choose.
Law 28. Enter Action with Boldness
Be bold and courageous whenever you act.
Never come from a place of weakness. People hate timid-ness and it will cause you to fail.
If you’re bold and you fail then you still have your self respect. You’ll still get new business and you’ll have other girls that will still gravitate towards you.
However, don’t act if you’re feeling weak.
This will kill you chance of success. Be strong and bold, whether you’re approaching a girl or asking for the sale.
Law 29. Plan All the Way to the End
Never half ass anything. Planning is crucial to success.
When you’re starting a business, plan out hwo you’re going to execute and what you’re going to sell.
If you’re trying to sell to a new prospect, have answers to all possible objections memorized in case they arise.
When you’re on a date with a girl, have logistics nailed down so you can get laid on the first date if it goes well.
Planning all the way will make your life much easier.
It encourage success.
Law 30. Make your Accomplishments Seem Effortless
Never try to talk about how hard you work when you do something great.
It’s much better to make your feats seem effortless. It will make what you do seem even that much more incredible. In fact, you want to seem like you’re holding back.
When you slave away to grow that business, don’t brag to your customers or friends that you worked so hard.
Tell your customers it’s because of them you grew.
Tell your friends that it’s just been fun and it’s only the beginning.
Follow this law by holding back the gruesome details of the all-nighters you pulled hours you spent.
You’ll seem much more powerful and bigger than life if you make your accomplishments seem effortless.
Law 31. Control the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards you Deal
When you deal the cards, you’re in control.
Give people options that favor yourself in either outcome.
This could be as simple as offering a time to talk with a prospect at two times that work for you.
Or it could be getting a girl who’s addicted to you to come over to your place and letting her choose what to cook for you.
When you’re able to, make people choose options that benefit you no matter what.
And it’s even better if they believe that they have the control.
If the options benefit them, this makes things even easier.
Law 32. Play to People’s Fantasies
The truth in this world can be brutal and unforgiving.
But those who can play to people’s fantasies will be rewarded.
In business, this means solving a dire problem for a customer. Though I recommend that you actually have a legitimate product / service.
This will make selling them all the more easy because you believe in what you’re selling.
They’ll keep coming back to buy what you have because you’re providing water in a desert.
With women, this means giving them the fantasy of you being the man for them.
Incredible sex and decent conversation are the foundations of what you need. Although there’s deeper levels that you can learn overtime.
In such a harsh world, people simply want to escape. Why else are the Avengers and other super hero movies so big?
It’s because the filmmakers know this law well.
They create this world where people have untold powers and do battle. Regular people with nothing exciting in their lives become enthralled with the fantasy and spend their free time arguing about the plot and who’s the best hero.
Law 33. Discover Each Man’s Thumbscrew
Law 33 is about discovering everybody’s weakness.
Everyone has a weakness of some sort.
It’s usually an insecurity or some kind of emotion or need. It can even be a pleasure that’s a weakness.
Realize what your own weakness is and then conquer it.
Mine was chasing women (pleasure) over money.
Realizing the weaknesses of others can be used to your advantage as well.
Especially in business, finding out the weakness of your competition can help to crush them.
Finding the weakness of a direct adversary – someone who’s trying to ruin your reputation – can help to shut them down publically.
Finding the weakness of a woman, usually an insecurity about her looks or self worth, can be used to manipulate. But I don’t recommend that for most guys.
Law 34. Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated like one
The way you carry yourself is vital.
Not only for your own self confidence. It determines how other people treat you.
Acting like a common man will give people permission to treat you like one.
And the common man is disrespected.
If you want respect and power, act powerful.
Walk like you’re a king, you’re a powerful predator in this world.
This doesn’t mean disrespecting others, you never know when you might offend the wrong person.
But it does mean knowing your value and carrying yourself with the swagger of a king.
Law 35. Master the Art of Timing
Timing is key in business, with women, in fighting, dancing, and so many things in life.
Especially learning when to act and when to wait.
Too many people make the mistake of acting desperate and try to rush things.
This can scare away potential business deals, girls who were originally interested in you, and even lose a fight for you.
Instead, you want to be smooth, and act like everything you want will simply come in time.
Because it will.
This law will reward you greatly if followed.
If you still work a wage slave job and want to get out, then don’t quit yet. Build up that revenue and quit when you’re able to.
If you’re texting a hot girl and she can’t meet up this weekend, don’t freak out or get pissed. Find another time and know that it will be her or another attractive girl in your bed.
Timing is everything.
When the moment is right, strike with great intensity and make your vision a reality.
Law 36. Disdain Things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best Revenge
If you can’t get something then just ignore it and move on.
Focusing on a small problem will cause it to grow.
Attention is extremely important. Don’t pay attention to things you can’t get, because this will make them only more powerful in your life.
Instead, act as if you don’t want those things.
It will give them less power over your life.
If there’s a woman you can’t get or are having trouble, act as if you don’t care. Don’t pay her any attention.
Same in business, if there’s a prospect who won’t sign or a small issue, act as if it’s unimportant.
You give problems control by letting small things take up your mind space.
Instead, ignore them.
Law 37. Create Compelling Spectacles
If you do seemingly grand and great things, then people will think you’re powerful.
It’s all about heightening your presence.
A perfect example is making a video that makes your business look booming and growing.
An easy thing is to get a Instagram following of 1000+ and have more followers than you’re following.
This doesn’t mean shit in real life, but will give the spectacle that you’re popular and important.
Law 38. Think as you like but Behave like others
As men we tend to value free thought and being authentic.
Standing out is often a good thing.
But in the real world if you want to gain power and success, then there’s times when you will want to fit in, or at least appear to do so.
For example, the content on this website.
You may agree with me saying that men shouldn’t get married and that you should avoid all types of debt.
However, it’s not always the right move to share those thoughts with the outside world.
Other people will feel inferior and threatened by your beliefs.
Ultimately, this can hurt or kill your business, employment you may have, or even land you in jail in extreme cases.
It’s okay to share how you really feel with likeminded people.
But following this law means keeping the radically different ideas to yourself. It will do you no good sharing it with the masses.
Law 39. Stir up Waters to Catch Fish
Having no control of your emotions is a sign of weakness.
Lack of control over your anger will backfire on you.
But, learning to get your opponents angry at you can give you a big advantage.
Conor McGregor is the perfect example.
He gets his opponents angry and then they fuck up while fighting him.
Jose Aldo went in way too fast and didn’t keep his hands up as he lunged for Conor.
Eddie Alvarez was suppose to go for takedowns and stopped doing that early on.
Conor used mental warfare to stir up his enemies. And although seeming angry or uncontrollable, he remained calm and obtained victory in the fight.
Applying this to business, you’ll do better when you make your competitors mad and yet remain calm. They’ll make mistakes and you can take advantage.
With women, you can get them mad and emotional without being emotional yourself. They’ll end up dropping the panties repeatedly when you can do this.
Law 40. Despise the Free Lunch
Nothing in life is free.
Even if it’s spending your time on a Saturday doing nothing or getting high, that’s time you lost to build your business.
Be wary of free things as they usually have a hidden price or cost.
What has value is worth paying for, and at full price. Spend your money when it makes sense and don’t cut corners on good investments.
I talk about ways to spend less money, not like buying a sports car and other things you can’t afford.
But don’t try to be cheap to people or not pay for something when it had clear value to you.
Paying in full for what is valuable is worth it and avoiding “free lunches” will keep you from getting scammed.
Law 41. Avoid Stepping into a Great Man’s Shoes
Don’t try to replace the original.
People will always see the first as better, more real, and more authentic than the sequel.
Whether you’re living in someone’s shadow or building your own business, grow in your own way.
You can still model other successful people and businesses.
But take what you learn and make it unique to you.
Then you’ll learn from others and yet have your own style. You’ll create your own purpose and your own path.
Law 42. Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep will Scatter
Your problems often come from one person or one thing.
It’s better to strike the problem head on, and the followers will disappear.
If it’s an enemy speaking bad then ignore their followers or minions. Go after them directly when you’re sure you can conquer them and the rest of their followers will die off.
You can apply this to yourself as well. You’re oftentimes the cause of your own problems.
If you’re overweight, and that’s affecting your success with women and self esteem, don’t try to fix the symptoms of learning pick up lines or trying to make yourself feel better.
Lose the weight, and you’ll improve in those other areas.
Then you can work on other areas once you know you’ve eliminated the main issue.
Law 43. Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others
You cant try to force people to follow you through threats or intimidation.
This will backfire if you’re a powerful leader, and it will certainly backfire in business and relationships.
Instead, win over people’s hearts and minds. Figure out what makes them tick, and what gets to their emotions.
If you know what people care about and what they fear, you can manipulate them by planting seeds that play to these things.
Then they’ll become a loyal follower without the need of intimidation tactics.
Law 44. Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect
Mirror what your enemies to do throw them off.
This is very applicable to men in long term relationships.
If your girl is going out and staying out late, don’t complain. Instead, do the same and go out with your friends or even alone and say you went with your friends.
This will shock her and likely cause her to reconsider her actions.
You can apply this law to business or social interactions as well when needed.
Law 45. Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform too much at Once
Everybody can fall in love with the idea of change.
In fact, most people love the idea of massive change, especially if they believe in the cause.
But people are creatures of habit and tend to avoid change in their daily lives when they can.
When you’re in a position of power, you want to show respect for the old ways of doings things. If you need to implement change, do it in baby steps.
The way you start is the way you finish.
People try to turn relationships or businesses around, but it’s difficult to get the other person or people in the comoany to make dramatic changes.
Start with little changes over time to make real progress.
This law holds truth in your own life. I didn’t become a work machine over night.
I slowly began to do more work on my side business after work. Until I was finally doing an extra 3-5 hours a day on it after my work day.
Law 46. Never appear too Perfect
People will get jealous of you if you appear to be too perfect.
From time to time, show off little faults that won’t harm your reputation.
This will make you appear more human and relatable, thus creating less enemies.
Law 47. Do not go Past the Mark you Aimed for; In Victory, Learn when to Stop
It’s important to set goals and crush them.
That’s what being a man is all about.
But you can take it too far. And if you do, this could be your downfall.
You can create more enemies with arrogance and over-confidence that you gain from success.
With business and women, you’re going to feel good when you reach your goals; whether it’s hitting six figures for your business or building a team of women.
However, it’s important to remain humble.
Going too far, especially when you achieve early success, can set you up for failure due to burnout or real enemies.
Law 48. Assume Formlessness
If you don’t publicize your plans, then you appear formless.
Being formless is about adaptability. The more adaptable you are, the higher chance survival you have.
With business, make sure you’re keeping up with what clients and customers want. Just because you’re succeeding now, it doesn’t mean it will always remain this way.
Be formless and adjust your business as needed throughout its life.
With women, always be adaptable. As a player, keep your options open and don’t get locked down to one girl. If you’re in a relationship, be ready to adjust how you manage your relationship and always be ready for anything your girlfriend throws at you.
Summary
The 48 Laws of Power is one of the best things you can read, and more importantly study.
It’s important to be masculine men. But it’s also important to learn indirect, feminine tactics that can be used to our advantage in the battle of life.
It’s not a fair game, and long gone are the days where brute force triumphs.
While seemingly contradictory, each law has its place and can add value to your life.
If you dedicate one week a year to studying and respecting each law, you’ll have more ability to get what you want out of people than 95% of the population.
Study the laws, re-read my summary/application of each if needed, and become powerful in your own life.
Become a Rebel!
Subscribe to the news letter and stay up to date with all of the latest articles. I only send 1 email a week, recapping the new content and sharing my thoughts. No spam or endless bullshit.