I just finished Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter by Curtis (50 Cent) Jackson over a beautiful weekend driving through the mountains.
Narrated by the man himself, this book is a great addition to any aspiring businessman’s list.
In it, Jackson shows how much intelligence and street smarts he’s used to get to the top and stay there.
It’s a great history of hip hop culture and his life and shows how anyone can make themselves anything they want to be.
50 cent started out selling drugs since age 12. By the time he was in his late teens he started to pursue music and in his 20’s signed over to several record labels to produce his rap music. Around this time, he was shot 9 times, allegedly by a rival dealer. Amazingly, within months he was back at it, running and working out and getting his music career back on track. As you probably know, 50’s music soon took the country by storm selling more than 25 million albums.
From here, Jackson saw the album business was slowing down as well as his time in Rap was ending. Brilliantly he used his fame to secure a minority stake in Vitamin Water and when the company sold in 2007 he walked away with an estimated 60-100 million for his part.
My Favorite tips:
Prioritize health. Surprisingly, Jackson doesn’t drink or smoke. Hardly ever. Preferring a clear mind and body will take you farther than you can dream possible. Waking up hungover doesn’t just feel shitty but it can prevent you from getting a good workout for up to 3 days!
Since reading this I’ve taken steps to greatly reduce my alcohol consumption and it’s been awesome. A couple of tips if you are out, you can always re-fill your glass with ginger ale or if its a beer bottle, water. No one has to know you’re not drinking. In fact, you pretending to drink is usually safer as once people learn you’re not drinking they will see it as a challenge to make you drink.
Master Body Language
Speak quieter. Anything to do with body language, tonality, and positioning yourself to better win or handle a negotiation always excites me. A great example in the book is how when you most want to be heard such as at a meeting or a dinner, you should lower your voice to just above a whisper. This causes people to lean in and subconsciously they are giving you control over the interaction. Jackson noticed this when he met Bruce Willis how quiet he talked. When he pointed it out to him when they were alone, Willis laughed saying he picked that up to be better listened to and it works every time.
Don’t give them any confirmation. When a person is speaking at a meeting or somewhere, don’t nod yes or no. What I mean is, when someone makes a point they usually wait for you to nod. Especially if someone is in a better position of power over you, you are usually expected to contribute something in the form of positive body language. When you don’t, it subconsciously makes them stop and want to get you to confirm their thoughts.
Much of human interactions as we know, are subconscious in the form of body language. Any way you can interrupt these patterns it’s more likely you can throw someone off their game. This can be to your advantage if you can position yourself correctly.
Make friends. Jackson has also become good friends with people outside his normal circle such as Robert Greene. The two became friends while they co authored the book The 50th Law. I still have yet to read it but I’ll get around to it.
What Next
This is great book for business, mindset and getting into healthy habits. This inspired me to read Atomic Habits even though it was never directly mentioned. Additionally as a white dude its good to get different perspectives of how other people achieved success.
If you did enjoy this definitely check out Pimpology: The 48 Laws of the Game by Pimpin Ken. Another classic business book based around mastering others around you and your situation.