Advice from Niccolo Machiavelli for People Who Want to Be Succesdful

In the first part of this article, five pieces of advice from Machiavelli were stated and applied to people who want to succeed. The things that were discussed were:

 (1) You can’t avoid challenges if you want to start on your own. 

(2) You can’t avoid danger; you can fight through it. 

(3) The difficulties you are passing through can make you tough if you don’t give up because tough times do not last but tough people do.

(4) Be desperate and nothing can stop you. 

(5) Study the past to know the future and make the right decision.Below are more pieces of advice from the author of The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli, that can help you to succeed.

1 Nature creates few men brave, industry and training make many.

Many people thought Michael Jackson was just talented and that he didn’t practice. But that is not true. Michael Jackson practiced his music and dance for 8 hours every day. Christiano Ronaldo and Leonel Messi spent long hours honing their talents. That is why they are called Greatest Of All Times (G.O.A.T.)

Look, if you are not willing to sacrifice thousands of hours in trying, practicing, and sharpening your skills, you don’t even have the right to dream of success, no matter how gifted you are. Regular practice is all it takes to attain mastery.

2 All courses of action are risky. So prudence is not in avoiding danger (it’s impossible), but calculating risks and acting decisively.

We all take risks: If you stake a bet on a game or sports events (which is not even encouraged), you risk losing your money. If you dream of starting a business of your own, you are taking the risk of losing your money, wasting your time, making mistakes, and failing. If you are a coward and you don’t follow your dreams, you risk ending your life as a broke, ordinary, and unfulfilled mediocre. So which is it going to be? I’ll take the first option.In the first part, it is stated that not all risks are worth taking. However, you need to avoid taking unnecessary risks. Sensibleness and reasonableness are advised each time you want to decide to do or not to do.

3 Men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, for everyone can see and few can feel.

This should be helpful for you if you are an entrepreneur or even as an individual.

Your packaging is sometimes more important than any other thing.

Do this experiment. Put a wine with low quality into an exotic bottle, or a bottle that is used for expensive wine, and put a high-quality wine in a bottle used for low-quality wine. Put the same price for the two wine. People will go for the wine in the exotic bottle. Why? The ‘packaging’ is what sells. 

Your appearance is what people use to judge you. You are addressed the way you dress. The police will arrest an innocent person that is ugly instead of a handsome man that is a thief. 

So package yourself well.

4 The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.

This does not only apply to men who are in the company of a ruler. You are who you associate with. If you associate with a wise person, you will become wise. But if you hang around fools, you will think and behave like them. If you don’t like someone, you hardly go close to the person; but if you like someone, you will want to always spend time with him. It is called the law of attraction. They say birds of a feather flock together. You can’t be better or smarter than people you hang around with. If you want to be a better person, then have a better companion.

5 I’m not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.

Steve Jobs said, “everything around us was programmed or made by people who were just like us.”

If you know and live by this truth, you won’t think twice before you challenge the status quo. Everything around you was made by people who were probably not smarter than you. Some of them were not smart at all. So feel free to question the status quo.

This does not apply in all cases. However, there are some status quos that are unassailable or unquestionable. Challenge those and regret. You can only challenge and seek to overthrow what does not work anymore. Many things are not in touch with modernity or advancement, those are the types that you should challenge.

In summary, mastery requires that you should sacrifice thousands of hours for your dream to be achieved. Make this sacrifice joyfully.

Everything in life is risky. Avoiding risk is a risk in itself. Acting prudently is advised.

Take care of the appearance of your product and yourself because you will be judged by it.

Hang around, quality people. Stay away from foolish people.

Don’t be afraid to overthrow the status quo because of their lies your greatness.

Which of the advice did you find helpful? Let’s know in the comment section below. Also, don’t forget to share.

Thanks for reading.