Relationships · 7 days · 7 laws
Know who you are dealing with before you trust them
Seven days on judging people by what they do rather than what they say. How trust is earned in increments, and how to recognise someone collecting it without ever spending any.
Each day gives you one law, a short note on why that law comes at that point in the sequence, one thing to try, and a question to sit with. Ten minutes a day for a week.
The seven days
Day 1 of 7
Loyalty assumed is not loyalty tested. Extend trust in stages, sized to what a person has actually carried for you, not to how long you happen to have known them.
Sit with this
Who did you trust with something today out of long habit rather than recent evidence?
Today’s law — Law 2: Never Put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn How to Use Enemies
Day 2 of 7
Some people cost more than they return, steadily and without meaning to. Noticing that is not cruelty; it is deciding where a limited amount of attention actually goes.
Sit with this
Which conversation today left you with noticeably less than you brought into it?
Today’s law — Law 10: Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky
Day 3 of 7
Before pushing back on anyone, work out what they can actually do about it. Not to avoid every conflict, but to choose which ones are worth the cost of having.
Sit with this
Who did you push against today without first working out what it might cost you?
Today’s law — Law 19: Do Not Offend the Wrong Person
Day 4 of 7
Reading people accurately makes asking straightforward. A request lands when the other person can see what they get from it, and stating that plainly is honesty, not manipulation.
Sit with this
What did you ask for today, and did you make the benefit to them visible or leave it implied?
Today’s law — Law 13: When Asking for Help, Appeal to People's Self-Interest
Day 5 of 7
Some people build closeness in order to collect from it. Warmth arriving faster than the relationship warrants, paired with steady questions, is a pattern worth recognising early.
Sit with this
Who asked you far more than they told you today, and what did they walk away knowing?
Today’s law — Law 14: Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy
Day 6 of 7
Anyone reading you closely is hunting for the thing you cannot leave alone: flattery, being needed, fear of exclusion. Knowing yours makes it considerably harder to pull.
Sit with this
Which appeal worked on you today, and which part of you was it aimed squarely at?
Today’s law — Law 33: Discover Each Man's Weakness
Day 7 of 7
Reading people has to end in something usable. When you genuinely understand what someone wants, pressure becomes unnecessary; you only have to show where their interest meets yours.
Sit with this
Whose position did you actually understand today, rather than simply argue against?
Today’s law — Law 43: Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others
In this path
In the order the path walks them. Each links to the full entry.
Other paths
Confidence · 7 days
Hold your ground without raising your voice
Negotiation · 7 days
The leverage of the person who can walk away
Leadership · 7 days
Authority people do not resent
Workplace Power · 7 days
Getting ahead without becoming a target
Social Influence · 7 days
Persuasion that does not feel like persuasion
FAQ
Seven days on judging people by what they do rather than what they say. How trust is earned in increments, and how to recognise someone collecting it without ever spending any. It runs for seven days, one law a day, and each day carries a short note on why that law comes at that point in the sequence plus a question to sit with.
Seven laws, in this order: Law 2: Never Put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn How to Use Enemies; Law 10: Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky; Law 19: Do Not Offend the Wrong Person; Law 13: When Asking for Help, Appeal to People's Self-Interest; Law 14: Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy; Law 33: Discover Each Man's Weakness; Law 43: Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others. The order is deliberate — each day is chosen because of what the previous day did.
Seven days, one law a day, at roughly ten minutes a day. Read the law, read the note on why it comes where it does, try the practice, then answer the reflection question honestly.
You do not have to, but the sequence is where the value is. Each day's law is chosen to build on the day before, so reading them in order is what makes a path more useful than a list of laws.
The app keeps your place, delivers the next law to your Lock Screen each morning, and tracks which days you have completed.
Laws of Power is independent commentary on principles popularised in The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the authors or their publishers, and it does not reproduce the book.
