The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)

Persistence:
If you observe infants, you will notice how willful and
relentless they are when they want something. Such persistence is
natural to us, but it is a quality that we tend to lose as we get older and
our self-confidence fades. This is often what happens later in life when
we face a problem or some resistance: We summon up the energy to
attack the problem, but in the back of our mind, we have some doubts
—are we up to the task? This ever-so-slight diminishment in self-belief
translates into a reduction in the energy with which we attack the
problem. This leads to a less effective result, which raises the volume of
the background doubts even more, lessening the effect of our next
action or blow. At some point, we admit defeat and give up. But we
inevitably give up too soon. We surrender inwardly long before we
surrender outwardly.
What you must understand is the following: almost nothing in the
world can resist persistent human energy. Things will yield if we strike
enough blows with enough force. Look at how many great people in
history have succeeded in this way. It was painstaking persistence over
several years that allowed Thomas Edison to invent the proper form of
the lightbulb, and Marie Curie to discover radium. They simply
continued where others had given up. Over the course of ten years, it
was through continual thought experiments, day and night, exploring
every possible solution, that Albert Einstein finally came up with the
theory of relativity. In the spiritual realm, the great eighteenth-century
Zen master Hakuin was able to finally reach full enlightenment, and
revive a dying branch of Zen, because he applied himself to the task
with relentless persistence over the course of some twenty years. This
is aggressive energy, undivided from within, aimed with laser focus at
a problem or resistance.
It is because the infant or the scientist or the aspiring practitioner of
Zen wants something so badly that nothing will deter them. They
understand the power of persistence, and so it becomes a self-fulfilling
prophecy—knowing its value, they are able to summon up the energy

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and self-belief to solve the problem. They are adopting Hannibal’s
motto: “I will either find a way, or make a way.” You must do the same.
The trick is to want something badly enough that nothing will stop you
or dull your energy. Fill yourself with the requisite desire to reach a
goal. Train yourself to not give up as easily as you did in the past. Keep
attacking from new angles, in new ways. Drop the background doubts
and continue striking with full force, knowing that you can break
through anything if you don’t let up. Once you sense the power in this
form of attack, you will keep returning to it.