Law 23: Concentrate Your Forces: The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
In a nutshell: Conserve your resources and energies by concentrating your forces where you’ll get the most benefit. Concentrate on mining the richest mine rather than a whole string of mines.
Example: Nikola Tesla was a brilliant inventor, but he was also notoriously difficult to work with. He often alienated potential collaborators and investors, and he never really achieved the level of success that he could have. One of the reasons for Tesla’s downfall was that he refused to concentrate his efforts on a single project. He was constantly flitting from one idea to another, and he never really had the time or resources to bring any of his ideas to realization.
To apply the 23rd law of power in your own life, you can:
- Identify your goals. What do you want to achieve in life? Once you know what you want, you can start to focus your energy and resources on achieving those goals.
- Prioritize your tasks. Not all tasks are created equal. Some tasks are more important than others. Make sure that you are spending your time on the tasks that will have the biggest impact on your goals.
- Delegate tasks. If you can, delegate tasks to others. This will free up your time so that you can focus on the most important things.
- Avoid distractions. It’s easy to get sidetracked, especially when you’re working on a difficult task. Make sure that you eliminate distractions so that you can stay focused.
Here are some other examples of how to apply this law:
- In business, a company might focus its resources on a single product or market rather than trying to be everything to everyone.
- In a personal relationship, a person might focus their attention on their spouse or partner rather than trying to maintain multiple friendships at once.
- In a sports team, a coach might focus on developing the skills of the team’s best players rather than trying to give everyone equal playing time.
By following these tips, you can learn to concentrate your forces and achieve your goals more effectively.
