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.
Felix Economakis · Psychologist
Before you chase the goal, check it is the one you want.
A psychologist who coaches executives through a year of body and wellbeing goals, on desperation, patience and the honest question most people skip.
Asked about the biggest myth in goal setting:
That wanting it desperately is enough. Books like ‘The Secret’ tell people something like: If you visualise something you want hard enough, the universe acts like a cosmic version of Amazon, and consumer goods will magically fall on your lap. I think a lot of poor people desperately dream of cars and goods but we don’t see them materialising all over the place for them. Seeing yourself rolling in money or shiny goods is not enough. There has to be a bigger creative drive behind that.
Asked how to prepare for success:
Success comes from taking a little action regularly. Every day you move a little closer to the goal. Practice patience – just because you want it doesn’t mean it will materialise immediately. We’re are used to getting our whims met immediately (we can download music and films, and get goods either immediately or via next day delivery, and even find a date with a few simple clicks). But you’re not going to get a body like the ones you see on the cover of magazines in a couple of gym sessions. Also, appreciate the journey to get there. Sometimes the more important issue is what did we learn in the pursuit of the goal versus just getting the goal itself. The goal is not so much to get a blackbelt in karate, for example, but learning discipline, perseverance, body strength and mental toughness. This is more impressive than just proudly proclaiming, “I am a black belt.” Be flexible about how you will achieve your goals. Sometimes life throws a detour. Adapt. Don’t get hung up on one way to pursue a goal.
Asked what to do after falling short:
Do you really want that goal? Or do you actually want something else? For example, are you only going to the gym because you feel you should go to the gym, but really you’d much rather go dancing. It may not burn as many calories, but you are far better off dancing because you are much more likely to stick at it.