Law 13 · Build Before You Are Ready
The man who paid for his own risk.
Tom Hardy put $2.5 million into Taboo knowing half the room would hate it. On why permission never arrives, and why he stopped waiting for it.
Tom Hardy · Actor
Law 18 · Become Dangerous, Then Govern It
The challenges on the mat are bigger than on set.
The director has a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He says the mat is harder than any film set, because nobody can help you there.
Guy Ritchie · Director, jiu-jitsu black belt
Law 13 · Build Before You Are Ready
Doing things rather than dreaming about them.
DJ, actor, kickboxer, and now director. Elba on a father who died at seventy-two and the urgency that followed.
Idris Elba · Actor
The first cup is the quiet one.
A washed Colombian for the hour before the day gets its hands on you.
Red apple, panela, a long clean finish. Roasted in the UK to order and posted through the letterbox, so it is on the counter when you come down. Grind it while the kettle runs. Drink it before the phone.
Inside every bag there is a card. One of the twenty-two laws, printed on thick stock, yours to keep or pass on. The coffee is the point. The card is the gift.
250 g · Huila, Colombia · Washed · Whole bean or ground
More stories
All stories →One story a week.
Someone who earned their ground, read slowly, in your inbox on a Sunday. The coffee ships to the list first.
About the author
Shane Quigley
The people I interviewed
Actors, athletes, adventurers and founders. Tap a face to read their story.
A code · not motivation
The 22 Laws
of Growth & Freedom
Twenty-two patterns, found in the lives of people who had to earn their ground. Read them slowly. Come back to one.
A man does not rise in one heroic moment. He rises by returning to the work after comfort, failure, resentment, fear, and distraction have all invited him to stop.
One slow, painful brick at a time.
In life, everything meaningful is earned.
Rise Strong. Nothing’s Given.
A new story every week.
RSNG Coffee · No. 01
The Foundation
Washed Colombian. Red apple, panela, a long clean finish.
The first coffee in the range. A clean washed lot from Huila, roasted light to medium for clarity rather than weight, so it is as good black at six in the morning as it is with milk at ten. Roasted in the UK the week it ships, posted flat through the letterbox.
- Origin
- Huila, Colombia
- Process
- Washed
- Roast
- Light-medium
- Weight
- 250g
- Roasted
- UK · to order
- Inside
- One law card
The first roast is on its way.
Inside every bag
A card in every bag
Thick uncoated card, one colour, one of the twenty-two laws on the front and the whole of it on the back. It comes stapled to the back of the bag and tears off clean. Keep it on the fridge. Give it to someone who needs it.
Stop wishing it was. Start building.
rsng.com/laws/1
Later · the tool
Pocket will hold you
to the code.
It reaches you only when it needs you.
An agent on your phone that carries the 22 Laws as its operating code and runs one practice a day in the law's voice. It is not ready. The coffee, the laws and the proof are. Leave your email and you will hear when it is.
No blue. No streaks you did not earn. The accent appears only when something needs you.
Today
Become Hard To Threaten
You named your salary yesterday. If it stopped on Friday, what is the first thing you would do on Monday?
Practice
Do the work.
Short, plain exercises. Each one serves a law. Most take minutes a day. Pick one and start tonight.
Dave Bautista · Strongman, actor
From the ring to Hollywood: the value of context.
WWE villain, Marvel muscle, Dune’s Beast. Bautista on not reading the ending, not asking for the part, and knowing where home is.
Asked whether it is true that he does not read the whole script:
It has certainly been that way for a few movies that I’ve done, yes. Some people find that weird, but I don’t always want to know what the ending is going to be like. I am a fan just like many other people are and just because I’m in the movie, I don’t want to ruin it for myself by knowing what is coming up. I hope that means that my reaction to certain situations seems more real and emotional, when that type of acting is required. I didn’t want to read it for Dune and nor did I for Blade Runner 2049 [both directed by Denis Villeneuve]. However, Denis was insistent that I did so for that because I needed to make sure I knew how I fitted into the film. The movie had to be consistent and if I was only to act out my small parts in the film the way I saw them, and not even comprehend how they turned out around everything else in the film, it would look too weird. Context is very important in any conversation and sometimes you can’t just go out on your own – sometimes you need to be a part of the bigger process; and that’s something I’ve had to take on board since WWE, which is much more about you, yourself, and few others.
Asked what kept him going back to the ring:
Well, it’s good to keep having new things to do, but you sometimes know where your home is and what you’re good at. That’s not to say I don’t think I am a good actor, haha! But a new piece of scenery is ideal and keeps things fresh. I loved my time in WWE and I didn’t want to leave, if I am being honest. But it gave me the opportunity to do a few more movies and then go back to pro wrestling on my own terms. I had a few goals that I wanted to fulfill and entering into the role of Drax the Destroyer in the first Guardians of the Galaxy film was certainly one of those aims. Playing a character in an MCU movie was a privilege and obviously since then, I have been able to get roles in a few.
Asked whether he wants to write or direct:
I actually do, to be honest and as I said earlier, I have no plans to try to compete with James or Denis or any other brilliant director and visionary, haha! I aspire to write and direct a small drama, I have a few ideas that I may come back to and I think I’ve got a lot of great experience, advice and knowledge working with some great people and I feel like I could be ready in the near future to try it out. It’s another one of my goals and has been for quite some time. I’ve picked up some little tips and hints from working on sets and I know it’s a really big still. Not for one second do I think I will pick it up easily, but I’m busy and want to move myself in any way I can. I do think that, eventually, I have what it takes to become a really good addition behind the camera. Until I get that chance to do so, I will keep on working on my knowledge of the technical side of things, but watch this space!