48 Laws of Power — Titles Only

48 Laws of Power

1. Never outshine the master

2. Never put too much trust in friends

3. Conceal your intentions

4. Always say less than necessary

5. So much depends on reputation

6. Court attention at all costs

7. Get others to do the work for you

8. Make other people come to you

9. Win through your actions, never through argument

10. Infection avoid the unhappy and unlucky

11. Learn to keep people dependent on you

12. Use selective honesty to disarm your victim

13. When asking for help, appeal to self-interest

14. Pose as a friend, work as a spy

15. Crush your enemy totally

16. Use absence to increase respect and honor

17. Keep others in suspended terror

18. Do not build fortresses to protect yourself

19. Know who you are dealing with

20. Do not commit to anyone

21. Play a sucker to catch a sucker

22. Use the surrender tactic

23. Concentrate your forces

24. Play the perfect courtier

25. Re-create yourself

26. Keep your hands clean

27. Play on people’s need to believe

28. Enter action with boldness

29. Plan all the way to the end

30. Make your accomplishments seem effortless

31. Control the options

32. Play to people’s fantasies

33. Discover each man’s thumbscrew

34. Be royal in your own fashion

35. Master the art of timing

36. Disdain things you cannot have

37. Create compelling spectacles

38. Think as you like but behave like others

39. Stir up waters to catch fish

40. Despise the free lunch

41. Avoid stepping into a great man’s shoes

42. Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter

43. Work on the hearts and minds of others

44. Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect

45. Preach the need for change but never reform too much at once

46. Never appear too perfect

47. Do not go past the mark you aimed for

48. Assume formlessness

You start dying slowly - By Pablo Neruda (A Spanish poet won Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971)

You start dying slowly

if you do not travel,

if you do not read,

If you do not listen to the sounds of life,

If you do not appreciate yourself.

You start dying slowly

When you kill your self-esteem;

When you do not let others help you.

You start dying slowly

If you become a slave of your habits,

Walking everyday on the same paths…

If you do not change your routine,

If you do not wear different colours

Or you do not speak to those you don’t know.

You start dying slowly

If you avoid to feel passion

And their turbulent emotions;

Those which make your eyes glisten

And your heart beat fast.

You start dying slowly

If you do not change your life when you are not satisfied with your job, or with your love,

If you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain,

If you do not go after a dream,

If you do not allow yourself,

At least once in your lifetime,

To run away from sensible advice…

UPSC Journey - Courage & Determination

Rohan, a UPSC aspirant, who like many, would go to bed each night with grand promises to himself.

“Tomorrow will be different,” he’d whisper.

“10 hours of study, 1 mock, 2 hours of revision”

But when the sun rose, so did his old bad habits.

He’d reach for his phone, saying, “Just 10 minutes, I will see if there’s something important on telegram”, and end up scrolling through YouTube shorts, 10 minutes turned into an hour. Then two.

The library got delayed. The study plan collapsed.

Books went untouched. The guilt piled up.

And so did the belief that maybe… he just wasn’t good enough.

But despite the self-doubt, he’d never give up entirely. Even in his worst phases, he’d still read a page or two—a tiny act of something productive against the laziness that had chained him.

Then one morning changed everything.

Rohan stood frozen outside his parents’ room and heard his father say,

“We should stop hoping… he won’t crack it.”

His mother, silently broken, still replied,

“Maybe… but one more chance? I still see something in him.”

That fragile hope of his mother cut deep.

He realized his inaction wasn’t just burying his dream but it was breaking theirs too.

With teary eyes and trembling hands, he grabbed a marker and scribbled on his wall:

“No More Excuses.”

And from that day on, rohan changed his habits- 

1) No phone after 12 noon. Not even for 5 minutes.

2) 2 hours of revision every day—no matter what. If skipped, he had to write the reason and stare at it the next day. That guilt became discipline.

3) He made a realistic schedule & not a fancy one.

4) Started waking up at the same time daily.

5) Every study session was timed. No aimless reading.

That year, he gave his second attempt.

The results came.

His name wasn’t there.

It broke his heart yet didn’t break his spirit. Because deep down, he knew:

“He’s close so damn close.”

When he saw the disappointment in his parents eyes again, he didn’t cry.

He looked them in the eye and said,

“One more year. Just one more. I’ll make it. I swear.”

And this time, he gave it everything .

He didn’t need motivation videos anymore—his why was strong enough.

There were still bad days, but never a wasted one. He’d not just count the number of hours he studied but would ask himself what new he learned. 

And then came the third list.

‘AIR 29’

Rohan ran to his parents, breathless.

Tears in his eyes.

Voice cracking.

“I made it.”

His father broke down. His mother held him like he was five again.

That boy who once couldn’t get off his phone…

That boy who once believed he wasn’t good enough…

Had just become an officer 👮‍♀️ .

Moral:

You don’t need a perfect start.

You just need one honest promise to yourself and the courage to keep showing up ✨💫

💟Hero, You’re Running Out of Time.

☘️How long have you been telling yourself “one day”? How many times have you said, “I’ll start tomorrow”? How many years have you wasted living the same day over and over again, making the same excuses, sinking deeper into a life you don’t even want?

☘️You know exactly what you need to do. You know what’s holding you back. And yet, you sit there, watching your life rot away, numbing yourself with distractions, drowning in comfort, wasting time like you have an unlimited supply.

☘️But here’s the truth that should tear you apart:

You don’t.

☘️One day, you’re going to wake up, and it will be your last day. No warning. No second chances. Just silence.

☘️And when that moment comes, you’ll look back at your life—the dreams you abandoned, the goals you never chased, the person you could have been—and you’ll feel it: regret so deep it will burn through your soul.

☘️But by then, it will be too late.

☘️No one is coming to push you. No one is coming to save you. No one cares about your excuses. You either get up and fight for your life, or you sit back and let it rot.

☘️Look around you. This is it. This is your life. The same habits, the same failures, the same stagnant, pathetic routine. You tell yourself you’ll change, but you never do. You want success without sacrifice, results without struggle. You pray that someday, things will magically be different—yet you do nothing to make it happen.

☘️And the worst part? No one will remember you.

☘️In a few generations, your name will be erased, just another forgotten soul who lived, existed, and died without making a dent in the world. You will be another gravestone in a cemetery full of wasted potential. And when that moment comes—when you’re gasping for your last breath, looking back at the years you squandered—the weight of regret will crush you. You will beg for more time. You will beg for another chance. But life doesn’t care. It never did.

☘️So stop lying to yourself. Stop waiting for motivation, stop hiding behind fear, stop pretending you have forever. You don’t.

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