The 50th Law

by Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson

YOUR OPINION OF YOURSELF BECOMES YOUR REALITY. IF YOU HAVE ALL THESE DOUBTS, THEN NO ONE WILL BELIEVE IN YOU AND EVERYTHING WILL GO WRONG. IF YOU THINK THE OPPOSITE, THE OPPOSITE WILL HAPPEN. IT’S THAT SIMPLE.

Understand: people will constantly attack you in life. One of their main weapons will be to instill in you doubts about yourself—your worth, your abilities, your potential. They will often disguise this as their objective opinion, but invariably it has a political purpose—they want to keep you down. You are continually prone to believe these opinions, particularly if your self-image is fragile. In every moment of life you can defy and deny people this power.

In our day-to-day affairs much of our actions are not free and independent. We tend to conform to society’s norms in behavior and thinking. We generally act out of habit, without much thought as to why we do things.

If you had some terribly painful experience in the past, you could choose to let that pain sit there and you could soak in it. On the other hand, you could decide to convert it into anger, a cause to promote, or some form of action. Or you could choose to simply drop it and move on, relishing the freedom and power that that brings you. No one can take away these options or force your response. It is all up to you.

To be completely free is impossible and undesirable. You are merely exploring a freer range of action in your life and the power it could bring you.

What block us from moving in this direction are the pressures we feel to conform; our rigid, habitual patterns of thinking; and

DEFY ALL CATEGORIES

the day you were born you became engaged in a struggle that continues to this day and will determine your success or failure in life.

You are an individual, with ideas and skills that make you unique. But people are constantly trying to fit you into narrow categories that make you more predictable and easier to manage.

If you succumb to this pressure, then you may gain some social acceptance, but you will lose the unconventional parts of your character that are ...

Your task is to retain or rediscover those aspects of your character that defy categorization, and to give them even greater play. Remaining unique, you will create something unique and inspire the kind of respect you would never receive from tepid conformity.

CONSTANTLY REINVENT YOURSELF

people judge you by appearances, the image you project through your actions, words, and style. If you do not take control of this process, then people will see and define you the way they want to, often to your detriment.

You might think that being consistent with this image will make others respect and trust you, but in fact it is the opposite—over time you seem predictable and weak.

Consistency is an illusion anyway—each passing day brings changes within you. You must not be afraid...

SUBVERT YOUR PATTERNS

We succumb to mental patterns, which makes our actions repetitive as well.

What often prevent us from using the mental fluidity and freedom that we naturally possess are the physical routines in our lives.

By taking an action we have never done before, we place ourselves in unfamiliar territory—our minds naturally awaken to the novel situation.

In a similar vein, we can force ourselves to take different routes, visit strange places, encounter different people, wake up at odd hours, or read books that challenge our minds instead of dull them. We should practice this when we feel particularly blocked and uncreative. In such moments, it is best to be ruthless with ourselves and our patterns.

CREATE A SENSE OF...

She spoke plainly, like any peasant girl, but there was not a shred of doubt in her voice, and her eyes were lit up with conviction.

the higher your self-belief, the more your power to transform reality. Having supreme confidence makes

you fearless and persistent, allowing you to overcome obstacles that stop most people in their tracks.

And the most intense form of self-belief is to feel a sense of destiny ...

You have a sense of purpose that guides you but does not chain you to one way of doing things. And when your willpower is so deeply engaged, it will push you past any limits or dangers.

BET ON YOURSELF

It is always easy to rationalize your own doubts and conservative instincts, particul...

You will convince yourself that it is foolhardy to take any risks, that it is better to wait for when cir...

You must always be prepared to place a bet on yourself, on your future, by heading in a direction that others seem to fear.

This means you believe that if you fail, you have the inner resources to recover. This belief acts as a kind of mental safety net.

People with a weak ego do not have a secure sense of their worth or potential.

They might perceive anything as a personal attack or affront. They need constant attention and validation from others.

To compensate for and disguise this fragility, they will often assume an arro...

This needy, dependent, self-obsessed variety of ego is what we find irrit...

They can be more considerate and thoughtful because they can get outside of themselves. People with a strong ego set up boundaries—their sense of pride will not allow them to accept manipulative or hurtful behavior. We generally like to be around such types.

As an egotist of the strong variety, you trumpet your individuality and take great pride in your accomplishments.

others cannot accept that, or judge you as arrogant, that is their problem, not yours.

In his experience, whenever he felt as if he had too much to lose and he held on to others or to deals out of fear of the alternative, he ended up losing a lot more.

He realized that the key in life is to always be willing to walk away.

He was often surprised that in doing so, or even feeling that way, people would come back to him on his terms, now fearing what they might lose in the process. A...

to free yourself from fear you must work backward. You start with the thought of your mortality. You accept and embrace this reality. You think ahead to the inevitable moment of your death and determine to face it as bravely as possible.

The more you contemplate your mortality, the less you fear it—it becomes a fact you no longer have to repress.

Whenever life feels particularly dull or confining, we can force ourselves to leave familiar ground.

This could mean traveling to some particularly exotic location, attempting something physically challenging (a sea voyage or scaling a mountain),

In each case we are experiencing a moment of powerlessness in the face of something large and overwhelming. This feeling of control slipping out of our hands, however short and slight, is a brush with death. We may not make it; we have to raise our level of effort. In the process, our minds are exposed to new sensations. Wh...

Contemplating sublime time has innumerable positive effects—it makes us feel a sense of urgency to get things done now, gives us a better grasp of what really matters, and instills a heightened appreciation of the passage of time, the poignancy and beauty of all things that fade away.