What I’m about to tell you isn’t going to be easy, but some of you need to hear this:

The world doesn’t care about you or your problems.

You are playing a single player game and you alone are responsible for your own success. Lucky for you, Robert Greene has the cheat codes. Here are three critical takeaways from his work:

Recognize that power is a fundamental human desire.

Everyone wants power. The world is a competitive and dangerous place, and power is knowing how to navigate through it. Like it or not, you’re stuck playing multiple power games. Magical thinking will not make the game go away, and ignoring the game is a losing strategy. Harness this power and the world is yours. Deny this power, and become a pawn in someone else’s game. If this all sounds a little harsh, keep reading.

Greene’s first book, The 48 Laws of Power, was written to help defend you against this harsh reality. While often criticized as too manipulative and Machiavellian (even banned in some prisons), Greene contests that he wrote the book for the powerless:

“The snakes of the world don't need The 48 Laws. They're naturally good at being assholes. The 48 Laws are for those of us who are somewhat naive.”

While it is a mistake to assume all people are fundamentally rotten, it is a much graver mistake to assume all people are virtuous. Arm yourself with the knowledge of power so the next time you come across a snake, you can crush it. You may even learn how to climb your way to the top of the rap world:

"Only book I ever read I could have wrote 48 Laws Of Power" - Kanye West

"At 42, be better than 24s. I carry the 4-5, mastered 48 Laws" - Jay Z

"So read 48 Laws if you never read it. Because that is one of the main reasons I’m level-headed" - Drake

What makes you unique is your greatest source of power.

As a child, you were drawn to certain subjects and activities. As we grow up, we lose track of these primal inclinations. Parents, teachers, and friends influence our behavior by telling us what to do and think. Eventually, you become a stranger to yourself.

Your life’s task is to return to the primal inclinations that make you unique. Reflect back on your life, what is it that created emotional resonance? What did you love to spend time doing? Follow these inclinations. This will send you down a path that excites you, allowing you to dive deep into the learning process and go beyond where others give up.

This process, he argues, is the only way to achieve self-transformation. There is no guru, no self-help book, and no psychedelic medicine that will do it for you. Only through your ambition and abilities can you connect with who you are and discover your life’s purpose. Greene explains this process in his book, Mastery:

“Masters are not people who choose fields because their parents say so, or because they can make a lot of money. They feel drawn to particular problems to solve, to some art form, to some puzzle, whatever it is. And because they are deeply personally engaged, they work harder and more intensely. That is the difference between a master and a workaholic—the degree of actual love and desire that goes into the work as opposed to avoiding personal problems through work.”

Harness the power of your emotions.

In his most recent book, The Laws of Human Nature, Greene argues,

“we’re not aware of how deeply our emotions are affecting our decisions in our day to day life.”

In other words, you’re not as rational as you think you are. Your life is governed by an ancient lizard brain that evolved hundreds of thousands of years ago. Awareness of this emotional and irrational side of you will allow you to become a better decision maker.

Train yourself to step back from your emotions. With a little bit of distance, you will be able to think more rationally about your decisions. You will also begin to recognize these forces at play within others and learn how to respond to them. Practice: the next time an emotion arises, label it, analyze where it’s coming from, then make your decision. If there’s an email or text message you’re angry about, wait 24 hours to send it. The process of labeling and acknowledging the lizard brain will have a profound impact on your life. (I named mine the monkey brain, but you can come up with your own).

The goal is not to suppress your emotions, but to gain an understanding of them and use them to your advantage. Our society is hungry to feel raw emotion. Discover your passions and create something beautiful. Channel your anger and start a movement. Your emotions, used correctly, will become your superpower.

The media we consume is designed to remove you of your power. Entertainment, news, and social media all target your lizard brain and trigger your deepest emotions. They hook you in and take away your precious time on this earth. Don’t fall victim to these powers. Don’t get sucked into the toxic arena. Rise above it.

In summary:

  • Acknowledge that you are in a competitive world and adopt a strategy to navigate through it.

  • Discover your unique source of power by following your primal inclinations.

  • Rise above your lizard brain and harness the power of your emotions.

Good luck out there.