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.
Rob Trujillo · Bassist, Metallica
Find the groove on the wave, then find it on stage.
Rob Trujillo plays bass to arenas of tens of thousands. Between shows he paddles out wherever the tour lands, and says the ocean is what keeps him in tune.
Asked why he works so hard to fit surfing into his life:
Surfing for me is very therapeutic – it’s a way of life. It’s something that I need and I find if I don’t have it I’m not in such a great mood. I like to be active – if I know the waves are good and I’m at home, but I am running around busy and getting caught up in other stuff, I get kind of disappointed in myself because for me it’s all about just doing it. If that means getting up extra early, taking the time and making the effort then that’s what I need to do.
Asked how he gets into the zone, in the surf and on stage:
At the end of the day it’s about your flow and your rhythm and grooving on the wave, and its the same thing on stage with your movement when you are in The Zone – it’s just a really special place. It’s the same with surfing when you’re catching multiple waves and your conditioning is up – I workout with a trainer three times a week now. Playing bass on big stages, yeah your conditioning’s got to be up – the calluses on your fingers, and how your muscles feel, all that stuff plays into a performance, especially with Metallica – the performances are all very intense and physical.
Asked whether he was tempted to surf in Antarctica:
These guys were scared and they ride 50ft waves. The surf was big but they said it was the confusion, and how cold it was – their hands were freezing. I can’t have that, you know! When it gets to that level, that’s where I need to be cautious and fearful – Kirk, maybe he can handle that, but I’m different to I was 10-15 years ago when I was like: “Yeah, bring it!” I value certain things so much that I won’t put myself in that kind of danger anymore. But I do enjoy the rush of an expedition, within reason!