LAW 10: Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky

Law 10 of The 48 Laws of Pow­er warns against the dan­gers of asso­ci­at­ing with indi­vid­u­als who are chron­i­cal­ly unlucky or con­sumed by neg­a­tiv­i­ty. Mis­for­tune and unhap­pi­ness often spread like a con­ta­gion, affect­ing those who remain in close prox­im­i­ty to such indi­vid­u­als. Rather than try­ing to res­cue or reform them, it is wis­er to dis­tance one­self and instead align with those who bring val­ue, opti­mism, and sta­bil­i­ty.

A strik­ing exam­ple of this law in action is the sto­ry of Lola Mon­tez, a 19th-cen­tu­ry cour­te­san whose chaot­ic per­son­al life wreaked hav­oc on the pow­er­ful men she became involved with. Her rela­tion­ship with King Lud­wig of Bavaria led to pub­lic scan­dal, polit­i­cal unrest, and ulti­mate­ly the king’s abdi­ca­tion, demon­strat­ing how one indi­vid­u­al’s tur­bu­lence can rip­ple out­ward and destroy those who become too close­ly entan­gled. Sim­i­lar­ly, Alexan­dre Dujari­er, a wealthy news­pa­per own­er, suf­fered a trag­ic down­fall after becom­ing involved with Mon­tez, rein­forc­ing the idea that some indi­vid­u­als car­ry an aura of mis­for­tune that infects those around them.

This law is not about cru­el­ty or cal­lous­ness but rather an under­stand­ing of how neg­a­tive ener­gy can be just as influ­en­tial as pos­i­tive ener­gy. Those who are habit­u­al­ly sur­round­ed by tur­moil, fail­ure, or emo­tion­al insta­bil­i­ty tend to bring those same con­di­tions into the lives of oth­ers. While empa­thy is a valu­able trait, allow­ing anoth­er per­son­’s per­pet­u­al mis­for­tune to infil­trate your life can lead to finan­cial, emo­tion­al, and even rep­u­ta­tion­al dam­age.

Greene advis­es that one of the best ways to safe­guard suc­cess is to be high­ly selec­tive about whom one asso­ciates with. Peo­ple who fre­quent­ly expe­ri­ence insta­bil­i­ty in their careers, rela­tion­ships, or finan­cial sit­u­a­tions often cre­ate an envi­ron­ment where those around them suf­fer sim­i­lar con­se­quences. Even when their mis­for­tunes seem unin­ten­tion­al, their pat­terns of behav­ior make it like­ly that they will con­tin­ue to spi­ral down­ward, bring­ing oth­ers with them.

Psy­chol­o­gists refer to this as emo­tion­al contagion—the phe­nom­e­non where peo­ple adopt the moods, atti­tudes, and even thought pat­terns of those they spend the most time with. Just as neg­a­tiv­i­ty can spread and dimin­ish a person’s abil­i­ty to thrive, sur­round­ing one­self with pos­i­tive, suc­cess­ful, and emo­tion­al­ly sta­ble indi­vid­u­als can have the oppo­site effect. By choos­ing to asso­ciate with those who exude con­fi­dence, suc­cess, and sta­bil­i­ty, one can ele­vate their own poten­tial and avoid unnec­es­sary obsta­cles.

The law does not sug­gest that one should aban­don those who expe­ri­ence tem­po­rary mis­for­tune, as set­backs are a nat­ur­al part of life. Instead, it warns against align­ing too close­ly with those who are per­pet­u­al­ly mired in cri­sis, unable to take con­trol of their cir­cum­stances. Rec­og­niz­ing the dif­fer­ence between some­one fac­ing a tem­po­rary set­back and some­one who repeat­ed­ly invites chaos into their life is cru­cial in mak­ing wise deci­sions about whom to keep in your inner cir­cle.

In pro­fes­sion­al set­tings, this law holds par­tic­u­lar sig­nif­i­cance. Busi­ness­es that con­sis­tent­ly fail, col­leagues who always seem to be in the mid­dle of work­place dra­ma, or part­ners who bring more prob­lems than solu­tions can drag even the most com­pe­tent indi­vid­u­als down with them. By care­ful­ly eval­u­at­ing asso­ci­a­tions and main­tain­ing dis­tance from those who cre­ate unnec­es­sary tur­moil, one can pre­serve their own rep­u­ta­tion, focus, and suc­cess.

His­to­ry repeat­ed­ly shows that those who attach them­selves to fail­ing ven­tures, unsta­ble lead­ers, or reck­less indi­vid­u­als often share their fate. Polit­i­cal fig­ures who align with con­tro­ver­sial or self-destruc­tive allies fre­quent­ly find them­selves taint­ed by asso­ci­a­tion. In con­trast, those who form rela­tion­ships with men­tors, col­lab­o­ra­tors, and part­ners who are dis­ci­plined, for­ward-think­ing, and suc­cess­ful often find that these con­nec­tions pro­pel them to greater heights.

Ulti­mate­ly, Law 10 under­scores that pow­er is not just about strength or strat­e­gy but also about envi­ron­ment and influ­ence. By sur­round­ing one­self with peo­ple who uplift, chal­lenge, and inspire, an indi­vid­ual can ensure con­tin­u­ous per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al growth. The key take­away is clear: be mind­ful of the com­pa­ny you keep, because the ener­gy, habits, and atti­tudes of those around you will shape your future.