The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)

Understand: The problem has never been that we humans are
assertive and aggressive. That would be to make a problem of our own
nature. The positive and negative aspects of this energy are but two
sides of the same coin. To try to tamp down the negative, to give
ourselves over to the internal saboteur, only dulls the positive. The real
problem is that we do not know how to harness this energy in an adult,
productive, and prosocial manner. This energy needs to be embraced
as totally human and potentially positive. What we must do is tame
and train it for our own purposes. Instead of being chronically
aggressive, passive-aggressive, or repressed, we can make this energy
focused and rational. Like all forms of energy, when it is concentrated
and sustained, it has so much more force behind it. By following such a
path, we can recover some of that pure spirit we had as children,
feeling bolder, more integrated, and more authentic.
The following are four potentially positive elements of this energy
that we can discipline and use, improving what evolution has bestowed
on us.
Ambition:
To say you’re ambitious in the world today is often to
admit to something slightly dirty, perhaps revealing too much self-

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absorption. But think back to your childhood and youth—you
inevitably entertained big dreams and ambitions for yourself. You were
going to make a mark in this world in some way. You played out in
your mind various scenes of future glory. This was a natural impulse
on your part, and you felt no shame. Then, when you got older, you
probably tried to stifle this. Either you kept your ambitions secret and
acted modestly or you actually stopped dreaming altogether, trying to
avoid seeming self-absorbed and being judged for this.
Much of this sneering at ambition and ambitious people in our
culture actually stems from a great deal of envy at the
accomplishments of others. Tamping down your youthful ambitions is
a sign that you don’t like or respect yourself; you no longer believe you
deserve to have the power and recognition you once dreamed about.
That doesn’t make you more adult, simply more likely to fail—by
lowering your ambitions, you limit your possibilities and diminish your
energy. In any event, in trying to appear unambitious, you are just as
self-absorbed as anyone else; being so humble and saintly is your
ambition, and you want to make a display of it.
Some people remain ambitious as they get older, but their
ambitions are too vague. They want success, money, and attention.
Because of such vagueness, it is hard for them to ever feel they have
satisfied their desires. What constitutes enough money or success or
power? Not sure of what exactly they want, they cannot put a limit to
their desires, and although it is not the case in every instance, this can
lead them to aggressive behavior, as they continually want more and
don’t know when to stop.
Instead, what you must do is embrace that childish part of you,
revisit your earliest ambitions, adapt them to your current reality, and
make them as specific as possible. You want to write a particular book,
expressing some deeply held ideas or emotions; you want to start the
kind of business that has always excited you; you want to create a
cultural or political movement to address a particular cause. This
specific ambition might be grand enough, but you can visualize quite
clearly the end point and how to get there. The more clearly you see
what you want, the likelier you are to realize it. Your ambitions may
involve challenges, but they should not be so far above your capacity
that you only set yourself up for failure.

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Once your goal is realized, however long that takes, you now turn to
a new ambition, a new project, feeling tremendous satisfaction that
you reached the last one. You do not stop in this upward process,
building momentum. The key is the level of desire and aggressive
energy you put into each ambitious project. You don’t infect yourself
with doubts and guilt; you are in harmony with your nature, and you
will be amply rewarded for that.