The 48 Laws Of Power

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Nextthereis

fimed

time:theshort—termtimethatwecan

manipulate

asan

offensive

weapon,upsetting

the

timing

ofour

opponents.Finally

thereis

end

lime,

whena

plan

mustbeexecutedwith

speed

andforce.Wehave

waited,

foundthe

moment,

andmustnothesitate.

Long

Time.Thefamous

seventeenth-centuryMingpainter

Chou

Yung

relatesa

story

thatalteredhisbehaviorforever.Lateonewinterafternoon

hesetout tovisitatownthat

lay

acrosstheriverfromhisowntown.He

was

bringing

some

important

books

and

papers

withhimandhadcommis-

sioneda

youngboy

to

help

him

carry

them.As

the

ferry

neared

theother

sideofthe

river,

Chou

Yung

askedtheboatmanif

they

wouldhavetimeto

get

tothetownbeforeits

gates

closed,

sinceitwasamile

away

and

night

was

approaching.

Theboatman

glanced

atthe

boy,

andatthebundleof

loosely

tied

papers

and

books-“Yes,”

he

replied,

“if

you

donotwalktoo

fast.”

As

they

started

out, however,

thesunwas

setting.

Afraidof

being

lockedoutofthetownat

night,prey

tolocal

bandits,

Chouandthe

boy

walkedfasterand

faster,

finallybreaking

intoarun.

Suddenly

the

string

aroundthe

papers

broke

andthe

documents

scatteredonthe

ground.

It

tookthem

many

minutes

to

put

the

packettogetheragain,

and

by

thetime

they

hadreachedthe

citygates,

itwastoolate.

When

you

forcethe

pace

outoffearand

impatience,

you

createanest

of

problems

that

requirefixing,

and

you

end

uptaking

much

longer

thanif

you

had

taken

your

time.Hurriers

mayoccasionallyget

there

quicker,

but

papers

flyeverywhere,

new

dangers

arise,

and

they

find

themselvesincon-

stantcrisis

mode,

fixing

the

problems

that

they

themselveshavecreated.

Sometimes

not

acting

inthefaceof

danger

is

your

best

move»-you

wait,

youdeliberately

slowdown.Astime

passes

itwill

eventuallypresentop

portunitiesyou

hadnot

imagined.

Waiting

involves

controlling

not

onlyyour

ownemotionsbut

thoseof

your

colleagues,

who,

mistaking

acfionfor

power,

maytry

to

push

you

into

making

rashmoves.In

your

rivals,

ontheother

hand,

you

can

encourage

thissamemistake:If

you

let

themrush

headlong

into

trouble

while

you

standback

and

wait,

you

willsoon

find

ripe

moments

to

intervene

and

pick

up

the

pieces.

Thiswise

policy

wasthe

principal

strategy

ofthe

greatearly-

seventeenthcenturyemperor

Tokugawa

Ieyasu

of

japan.

Whenhis

prede~

cessor,

the

headstrongHideyoshi,

whomheservedas3.

general,staged

a

rash

invasionof

Korea,

leyasu

didnotinvolvehimself.Heknewtheinva-

sionwouldbeadisasterandwouldleadto

Hideyoshfs

downfall,Betterto

stand

patiently

onthe

sidelines,

even

finmanyyears,

andthenbein

position

toseize

power

whenthetimeis

rightmexactly

what

Ieyasudid,

with

great

anistry.

Youdonot

deliberately

slowtime

down

tolive

longer,

ortotakemore

pleasure

inthe

moment,

but

thebetterto

play

the

game

of

power.

First,

when

your

mindisuncluttered

by

constant

emergenciesyou

willseefur»

therintothefuture.

Second,

you

willbeabletoresistthebaitsthat

people