Law 29 of 48
Plan All the Way to the End.
Develop comprehensive plans that anticipate and address potential obstacles and outcomes. Planning all the way to the end ensures thorough preparation and minimizes surprises. Consider various scenarios and contingencies to maintain flexibility and adaptability.
Independent commentary on a principle popularised in The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the authors or their publishers.
What it actually means
Most plans stop at the moment of success and leave everything after it unimagined, which is exactly where things come apart. Thinking to the end means describing the day after you get what you asked for. It is less about control than about refusing to be surprised by your own win.
Where you would have seen it
You push for months to land a big account and you get it. Nobody worked out who would service it, so you deliver it yourself in the evenings for a term while the rest of your work quietly slips.
Try it today
Take one thing you are chasing and write the three things that must happen the week after you succeed. Put the biggest one in your calendar now.
Where this shows up
Law 29 tends to come up in these parts of life. Follow a path to read the other laws that belong with it:
Laws that go with it
If law 29 landed, these are the entries people usually read next — they cover overlapping ground: law 1, law 7, law 11.
Never Outshine the Master.
Competence is rarely the problem; displaying it in front of someone whose position rests on being the capable one is.
At WorkLeading PeopleLaw 7Get Others to Do the Work, but Always Take the Credit.
Read plainly this is theft, and it is worth understanding mainly because it will be done to you.
At WorkLeading PeopleLaw 11Learn to Keep People Dependent on You.
Being needed is not the same as being valued, and a deliberate bottleneck is the weakest security there is: the moment you are indispensable in one narrow place, you are also unpromotable.
At WorkLeading People