Workplace Power · 7 days · 7 laws
Getting ahead without becoming a target
Seven days on advancing without collecting resentment: where credit goes, which fights to skip, what to commit to, and how to be good at the job without becoming a target.
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
Getting ahead starts with whoever is above you. Competence read as a threat gets managed carefully; the same competence read as support gets handed more room.
Sit with this
Whose work did you improve today without needing to be seen improving it?
Today’s law — Law 1: Never Outshine the Master
Day 2 of 7
The quickest way to make an enemy is to accept a share of work you did not do. Attribute precisely and in public, and people will let you lead the next thing.
Sit with this
Who did you name today, and whose contribution did you allow to go unmentioned?
Today’s law — Law 7: Get Others to Do the Work, but Always Take the Credit
Day 3 of 7
Every organisation runs on rules nobody has written down: who gets consulted first, what is said in the room and what is said after. Learning them is competence, not flattery.
Sit with this
Which unwritten rule did you break today without noticing until afterwards?
Today’s law — Law 24: Play the Perfect Courtier
Day 4 of 7
Knowing the rules means knowing where objections actually get heard. The same disagreement is useful in a one-to-one and expensive in front of twelve people.
Sit with this
What did you say in front of a group today that belonged in a private conversation?
Today’s law — Law 38: Think as You Like But Behave Like Others
Day 5 of 7
Some tasks arrive with a mess already attached. Notice when you are the one being asked to hold the knife, and decline before the job has your name on it.
Sit with this
What were you asked to carry today that was really somebody else's to carry?
Today’s law — Law 26: Keep Your Hands Clean
Day 6 of 7
Offices form factions and every faction wants a visible loyalist. Being useful to everyone and owned by nobody keeps you employable when the balance eventually shifts.
Sit with this
Which side were you assumed to be on today, and had you actually chosen it?
Today’s law — Law 20: Do Not Commit to Anyone
Day 7 of 7
Someone who never struggles, never asks and never gets anything wrong is difficult to work beside. One visible limit makes the rest of your record easier to accept.
Sit with this
What did you admit not knowing today, and what actually happened once you had?
Today’s law — Law 46: Never Appear Too Perfect
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
Relationships · 7 days
Know who you are dealing with before you trust them
Leadership · 7 days
Authority people do not resent
Social Influence · 7 days
Persuasion that does not feel like persuasion
FAQ
Seven days on advancing without collecting resentment: where credit goes, which fights to skip, what to commit to, and how to be good at the job without becoming a target. 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 1: Never Outshine the Master; Law 7: Get Others to Do the Work, but Always Take the Credit; Law 24: Play the Perfect Courtier; Law 38: Think as You Like But Behave Like Others; Law 26: Keep Your Hands Clean; Law 20: Do Not Commit to Anyone; Law 46: Never Appear Too Perfect. 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.
