That’s the title of this book I picked up the other day by Craig Crawford. Here’s some of what he has to say:

RULE 3: Love Helps, but fear motivates…

RULE 6: Only the flexible succeed…

RULE 10: The more visible your Power, the more its limits are known…

RULE 20: Victory can sometimes be concealed in compromise…

RULE 22: Distribute rewards slowly to prolong the effects…

“Wherever human beings are found, there is politics,” he says, so regardless of whether or not we want to be a politician or leader in any formal way, there are lessons we need to learn from them in order to survive and thrive in a world where power-games are constantly being played.

What I’ve Learned So Far…

From studying history and politics myself, I’ve learned that people get power and succeed because of who they are, NOT because of how they manipulate other people and situations.

When you think of someone like Dr. King, Marcus Garvey, Harriet Tubman, Noble Drew Ali or anyone else, you’re thinking of someone with high levels of commitment, perseverance, organizational skills, people skills, self-control, leadership and so on. These are all internal qualities, and we admire them not just because they were smart enough to point out problems, but because they were great enough to do something about them…

(A lot of the “power-rules” Crawford shares rely on internal qualities as well…decisiveness, adaptation, etc.)

So, if you want to have influence and power in the world – if you want to be someone other people take seriously and not just another drone who gets USED and MANIPULATED – you have to take yourself (as in, your self-development) seriously too…

The First Thing To Do…

If you don’t want to be controlled, the first thing you have to do is CONTROL YOURSELF, and here’s some quotes to prove it:

“Every form of true education trains the student in self-reliance…” ~ John Henrik Clarke

“The hope of a secure and livable world lies in the hands of DISCIPLINED non-conformists.” ~ MLK

“Without self-confidence you’ve lost in the race of life…with self-confidence you’ve one even before you started.” ~ Marcus Garvey

“To understand how any society functions you must understand the relationship between the men and the women.” ~ Angela Davis

“In all of our deeds, the proper value and respect for time determines our success or failure.” ~ Malcolm X

Peace,
+B