Law 3 of 48
Conceal Your Intentions.
Avoid revealing your true intentions too readily, especially in competitive or strategic situations. Concealing your plans can give you a strategic advantage, preventing others from anticipating your moves and countering them effectively. Maintain an air of mystery and discretion, revealing only what is necessary to achieve your objectives. By keeping your intentions hidden, you can manipulate situations to your advantage and maintain control.
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
There is a difference between lying about what you want and simply not announcing it before it is ready. Plans spoken early attract everyone with an interest in stopping them. And when someone keeps asking your position while never stating their own, you are being read, not consulted.
Where you would have seen it
You mention in the kitchen that you are thinking about applying elsewhere. It reaches your manager by Thursday, and every conversation about next year's work now goes around you rather than through you.
Try it today
Pick one plan you have been narrating to people and stop mentioning it until it is decided. Tell only whoever has to act on it.
Where this shows up
Law 3 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 3 landed, these are the entries people usually read next — they cover overlapping ground: law 5, law 9, law 13.
So Much Depends on Reputation — Guard It with Your Life.
Reputation is the summary people carry of you when you are not in the room, and it is assembled from repeated small things rather than from your best moment.
PersuasionAt WorkLaw 9Win Through Your Actions, Never Through Argument.
Winning an argument changes what someone can say, not what they believe; you get agreement in the room and resistance everywhere else.
PersuasionAt WorkLaw 13When Asking for Help, Appeal to People's Self-Interest.
People help you when helping you serves something they already want.
PersuasionNegotiatingAt Work