"When circumstances scare us, our imagination tends to take over, filling our minds with endless anxieties."
This gem is from Robert Greene’s book The 33 Strategies of War. Knee deep in this massive volume of stories and lessons, I was delightfully surprised when Kindle recommended another book by Greene, The 50th Law.
Robert Greene’s books are big, deep, and well-researched. You may know his others - The 48 Laws of Power, Mastery, and The Laws of Human Nature. He is also a mentor of another best-selling author, Ryan Holiday.
The 50th Law comes from a surprising relationship Greene formed with someone you may know if you grew up in the late ’90s and early 00s or are a hip-hop fan.
50 Cent. Yep, the rapper.
A fan of Greene’s work, 50 and Greene met to discuss possibly doing a book together. Greene would get full access to 50’s life and opens the book with this,
“What excites me about America is its social mobility, people continually rising from the bottom to the top and altering the culture in the process. On another level, however, we remain a nation that lives in social ghettos. Celebrities generally congregate around other celebrities; academics and intellectuals are cloistered in their worlds; people like to associate with those of their kind. If we leave these narrow worlds, it is usually as an observer or tourist of another way of life. What seemed an interesting possibility here was to ignore our surface differences as much as possible and collaborate on the level of ideas—illuminating some truths about human nature that go beyond class or ethnicity.”
An hour after Kindle’s recommendation, I had sucked a good chunk of the book. I’m not done yet, but some points are worth sharing.
Regardless of your opinion of 50, Greene gets you thinking about fear. He cites the “50th law” of power as being fearless. He is not expanding on his 48 laws of power, but instead making the point that 50’s success is his fearlessness.
50 Cent, or Curtis James Jackson III, was born in Queens - South Jamaica. 50’s mother, Sabrina, was killed when he was eight. His grandparents raised him.
At 12, and under the guise of being in after-school programs, 50 started his first business - selling narcotics. A stereotype rapper of the late ’90s, 50, also did time in prison and lived in a violent world. He saw a way out, music.
Not unlike his drug-selling days, he hustled. Mixtapes in the streets, recording in basements, and whatever he had to do to bring his hope to life. Despite his growing popularity, he wasn’t out yet. Someone wanted him dead.
On a spring day in 2000, 50 would take nine rounds from a semi-automatic pistol in front of his grandmother’s house. Incredibly, he survived. He would later describe this as a turning point in his life. No surprise to those that have looked death in the eye and come out the other side. It changes you. From 50,
“When you’ve been in life-threatening situations, you become aware that life is not forever.” -50
He recovered, and in 2002, he signed with Eminem and Dr. Dre. This is from his 2003 track “Many Men (wish me death)”
“Sunny days wouldn't be special if it wasn't for rain
Joy wouldn't feel so good if it wasn't for pain.”
50 would have a fascinating career spanning TV, mining (yes, mining), and inspiring the next generation of artists like Pop Smoke. A prolific bankruptcy is also part of his story, which says something.
50 is adamant that he is fearless, and it’s the reason for his success - I’m not convinced. It’s likely the opposite. He is terrified. From 50,
“Fear dominates most people’s lives. Fear of loss. Fear of failure. Fear of the unknown. Fear of loneliness.”
He is scared of something, and with good reason. His Father abandoned him, his mother died at eight, his freedom was taken away in prison, he watches friends waste away in jail or die, and he is attacked in broad daylight while his grandmother plants petunias. Damn right, he has fears. He just doesn’t let them own him. They motivate him.
He gives some insight into his thoughts with this,
“When you work for others, you are at their mercy. They own your work; they own you. Your creative spirit is squashed. What keeps you in such positions is a fear of having to sink or swim on your own. Instead, you should have a greater fear of what will happen to you if you remain dependent on others for power. Your goal in every maneuver in life must be ownership, working the corner for yourself. When it is yours to lose - you are more motivated, more creative, and more alive. The ultimate power in life is to be completely self-reliant, completely yourself.”
Rely on no one. That’s his mantra. Given his childhood, no surprise he feels this way.
From Greene,
"Your attitude has the power of shaping reality in two opposite directions—one that constricts and corners you in with fear, the other that opens up possibilities and freedom of action…Fear creates its own self-fulfilling dynamic—as people give in to it, they lose energy and momentum. Their lack of confidence translates into inaction that lowers confidence levels even further, on and on.”
Fear has two roles in our life. First, it works to keep you alive. It starts with breathing and eating, but to our detriment, we have allowed it to own parts of our life beyond what we need for survival. David Cain says it better than me,
"As a human being, you come with a natural inclination to overvalue feelings of safety from two great fears: The loss of your resources, and the judgment of others."
The second role fear may be where 50 gets it right. It is the motivator. You take action to protect yourself, and it pushes you. Fear points you in the direction of where you should go.
Your monkey mind plays tricks on you, so be careful. It will create resistance that tries to keep you from your calling. It will tell you stories about how you will lose your resources, or people will judge you. 50 says F$%#K that and does the work. Steven Pressfield describes resistance well in The War of Art,
“Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard, or smelled. But it can be felt. We experience it as an energy field radiating from a work-in-potential. It’s a repelling force. It’s negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, and prevent us from doing our work.”
What you believe will likely come true. Be careful. There is a voice deep inside you that will work to ‘protect’ you. Its job is to get you to stay alive long enough to procreate. It’s interested in you surviving, not thriving. Sometimes we should listen to that voice and do the opposite of what it is telling us. Go head first into what you fear - the you on the other side will be the real you.
What do we do about it?
First, we get honest with ourselves.
What is scaring you, and what are you really afraid of?
It’s likely some combination of:
- Fearing a loss of resources
- Fearing the judgment of others
Second, take action
Though I started writing this ten years ago, I didn’t publish regularly until last January. We are now 71 weeks in. My fears, which still linger, stopped me. Despite my fears, my family didn’t stop loving me, and I didn’t lose my resources.
Have people unsubscribed because they don’t like what I put out? For sure. But guess what? This community is 3x what it was a year ago. I’m not bragging. I’m sharing that fear is real for everyone (except psychopaths). You aren’t alone. I’m right there with you.
From The 50th Law,
"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."
Don’t forget most of what you are afraid of is not real.
Take care,
You aren't alone. Fear is real for me too.