The 50th Law: Nihil Timendum Est by 50 Cent

I received The 50th Law by Robert Greene as a gift over the holidays.  The book has the look of a medieval journal with a stiff black cover, gold edging with a prominent dagger and latin inscription on the back cover which reads: ‘nihil timendum est‘ ~ ‘fear nothing’ or perhaps more precisely ‘there is nothing to be afraid of.’  Judging the book by the cover, I assumed that it must be some Knight Templar-like historical fiction.

Intrigued, I flipped to the first page of the forward and chuckled as I read: “I first met 50 Cent in the winter of 2006.  He had been a fan of my book The 48 Laws of Power, and he was interested in collaborating on a book project.”  After seeing the 48 Laws of Power appear on the shelves of clients, partners and co-workers a few years ago, I bought a copy and made it part way through before choking on what I considered to be too much Machiavelli.  Disappointed, I decided to give The 50th Law a chance, however, based on the stated thesis of the book at the end of the forward:

“…this is a book about a particular philosophy of life that can be summed up as follows – your fears are a kind of prison that confines you within a limited range of action.  The less you fear, the more power you will have and the more fully you will live.”

The beginning of The 50th Law is a naked, unapologetic expose on fearlessness and self awareness.  Interspersed with snapshots of the street life extreme’s of Curtis Jackson (aka 50 Cent), Mr. Greene’s Introduction, Chapters 1, 2, 3 and  4 offer any reader a valuable perspective on fear and self reliance.  First, Mr Greene frames the animal origin and now pervasive nature of fear:

“As for any animal, this emotion had a protective function …  For us humans, it served an additional, positive purpose – we could remember the source of the threat and protect ourselves better the next time …  Fear is the oldest and strongest emotions known to man, something deeply inscribed in our nervous system and subconscious … Over time, however, something strange began to happen … Instead of a simple, intense fear of something powerful and real, we developed a king of generalized anxiety.  It was as if the thousands of years of feeling fear in the face of nature could not go away – we had to find something at which to direct our anxiety, no matter how small or improbable.”

Mr. Greene aptly observes, “we are all to afraid.”  Sharing historical examples from FDR, Napoleon, Frederick Douglas and yes 50 Cent, Mr Greene builds up to ‘The 50th Law’: “The greatest fear people have is that of being themselves …” Observing the 50th Law, writes Mr Greene, “opens possibilities, brings freedom of action, and helps create a forward momentum in life.”  Continuing, Mr Greene says the key to possessing this power is to “assume the active mode in dealing with your fears.”  Mr Greene introduces what he calls “reversal” writing, “overcoming the negative of a particular fear leads to a positive quality – self reliance, patience, supreme confidence and on and on.”

Paradoxically, Mr Greene writes that the reader needs intense realism more than Fifty because “Your world seems cozier and less violent, less immediately dangerous.”  Further, he observes “the greatest danger you face is your mind growing soft and your eye getting dull.”  To counteract this numbing to reality, Mr Greene recommends fearlessly: (1) rediscovering curiosity; (2) knowing the complete terrain; (3) digging to the roots; (4) seeing further ahead; (5) looking at people’s deeds not words and (6) reassessing yourself.

Shifting to self reliance, Mr Greene paraphrases the sages: “True ownership can come only from within.”  Only a ruthless realism, coupled with a spirit of self reliance, provide any sense of true security.  His book not starting yet to fray, Mr Greene points out the alluring alternative, “Think of it this way: dependency is a habit that is so easy to acquire.  We live in a culture that offers you all kinds of crutches…”  Mr Greene provides a 4 step blueprint to establish self reliance: Step One – Reclaim Dead Time; Step Two – Create Little Empires; Step Three – Move Higher Up The Food Chain and Step 4 – Make Your Enterprise A Reflection Of Your Individuality.  Mr Greene writes inspirationally at the end of Chapter 2:

“Understand: you are one of a kind.  Your character traits are a kind of chemical mix that will never be repeated in history.  There are ideas unique to you, a specific rhythm and perspective that are your strengths, not your weaknesses.  You must not be afraid of your uniqueness and you must care less and less what people think of you.”

Mr Greene delves into Opportunism aka “Turn Shit into Sugar” in Chapter 3 and Calculated Momentum in Chapter 4 “Let go and move with the chaos that presents itself to you.”  Putting an interesting spin on flow, Mr Greene recommends turning fear into fluidity by mastering 4 types of flow:  (1) Mental Flow; (2) Emotional Flow; (3) Social Flow and (4) Cultural Flow.

From there, Mr Greene lumbers rather ungracefully into the clouds of ends justifying the means with Chapter 5 “Know When To Be Bad”.  Yet he mostly comes back from the dark side in the remainder of the book which I leave to the reader to sort out.

I cannot say that I recommend this book in total, but I would have to admit that the first half make the book clearly worth buying.  An understanding of fear is crucial for any sale.  Those trying to sell are afraid to not make the sale and those being sold are just that, afraid of being sold!  Given this inherent sales transaction tension in human nature, ‘intense realism’ is needed to qualify, self reliance is needed to explain, opportunism is needed to recover and flow is just needed.   While Mr. Greene is correct that “the less you fear, the more power you will have.”  Yet in sales, business and ultimately life, the more you do for others, the more you get for yourself.

Copyright King Mediary, Inc. 2010