Thread by @startupdaemon

LAW 1: Never outshine the master.

In your eagerness to please your superiors, your talents may inspire fear and insecurity, so @RobertGreene says you should make them look grander instead.

But there's good reason why you should look in the mirror too.

Standing out with your talents is admirable and desirable. But you should always be aware what that costs to people around you. Don't be lo-awarenes like the mass.

Standing out purposely can bring you power, stroking your ego and looking for validation is weke and toxic.

In modern life, you may be tempted to shine too brightly in 3 types of situations:

- when dealing with public authorities
- with an employer or supervisor
- with a teacher or mentor

Here's why your eagerness to show off may be a very real red flag and what to do about it.

1. When dealing with public authorities, especially security forces, no-one has anything to gain from your escalating a situation - you least of all.

- By acting out or playing too smart, you flag yourself as a liability for your sheer lo-awarenes and stupidity.

- In a setting with a lot of people, your public defiance of the authorities makes you a real threat because it sets a bad precedent for the rest of the crowd.

- When you show lack of emotional control, you flag yourself as someone who is more likely to have broken the law.

If you can do so and have nothing to gain from the situation, just leave.

If you're not allowed to leave or need to get something from the authority, you can move towards getting what you want by asking questions.

Questions are a powerful technique to gain control of emotions.

When you ask an authority questions:

- You reaffirm their authority (reverse high-ground maneuver)
- You pace them down and de-escalate
- You waste their time, imposing a cost without flagging yourself as a threat
- You're not giving information that can be used against you

2. With a boss or business partner, your outshining the master can create toxicity that has nothing to do with personal insecurities.

- You present a dilemma. If the boss rewards you accordingly, others may resent it as favoritism - if not, it would be seen as and feel unfair.

- You're implicitly putting your own skill and objectives before those of the team or company.

In a way, you show you don't understand what the group's priorities are - or that you don't care. Stupid or reckless, you've flagged yourself as a liability.

- If you make your boss look incompetent relative to you, you can throw the operation in turmoil. Others may begin to doubt his leadership, which can have very real consequences for performance.

- If you're this skilled, you'll probably leave anyway, so why not get rid of you?

Instead of showing off, quietly make sure everybody in the group is doing well. Help people perform better - when they can receive that help (don't be a know-it-all busybody). Your boss will love it because you're doing the least rewarding part of the boss's job without credit.

To get promoted, promote the accomplishments of the group and your boss to the upper levels.

That will help you build contacts and prime people to identify you as a "team player" and high performer.

3. Consider yourself extremely lucky if you find a great mentor to learn from. Never jeopardize the relationship by indulging your ego, even if you have merit.

Mentoring experience has taught me to ditch anyone without humility, for good reason.

- Understand that if you're mentored by someone of real value, thousands more are lining up in front of the Master's door. And they have skills.

You were chosen for your potential. When you've outshone, the Master can do little else to develop you. So you get the boot.

- Usually, your outshining the Master is just an ego trip or temporary success. You just don't know how much more there is to learn.

And your lack of humility flags you as unworthy. Because humility is essential to climbing a steep learning curve.

"If I'm mentoring you, I'm already investing a lot of time and energy to help you develop. That takes consideration and patience. So I have zero interest in wasting even more time and energy dealing with temper tantrums and ego trips. Get it together or get lost."

Great if you've outdone the Master in some way. You can take on more to the Master's work, so you get more mentoring time in other areas.

Humbly ask for more work or to take over projects. Ask the Master to connect you with others who can help you grow the area you excel in.

Mastery of Mind takes many years of hard work. But there's plenty of low-hanging fruit.

Consider my newsletter your first Apprenticeship.

It's FREE.

startupdaemon.net/signp/

If you haven't read @RobertGreene's 48 Laws of Power, you definitely should get it now. 20 years on, the book is as fresh and relevant as ever.

When applied with care and humility, it can help you avoid many mistakes.

amazon.com/48-Laws-Power-…