Sovereign

Sovereign is the handbook for outliers ready to bend reality in their favour – a practical guide to rewriting the limits of work, wealth, and life.

'A must read for any ambitious outlier' JASON SHEN

'A book bursting with energy and ideas' STU PATIENCE

There exists a dangerous myth that destiny falls into the lap of the patient and deserving.

We are told that if we just follow the rules, keep our heads down, and work hard, the dice of life will eventually roll in our favour. But for the ambitious outsider, waiting is not a strategy.

Modern life straps you to the jump-seat of a flight outside of your control. Algorithms choose the view, adverts choose the meal, and deadlines choose the speed. You can accept this reality—choking down microwave gruel and being grateful for the ride—or you can grab the yoke and pilot the craft yourself.

Sovereign is the handbook for outsiders ready to bend reality in their favour.

If you are looking for tidy clichés, you won’t find them here. This is a book about Ambition without apology, Agency without limits, and Adversity without surrender.

Drawing on a mix of hard history, lived experiments, and tactical frameworks, David Elikwu deconstructs the "default path" that keeps high-performers stuck in mediocrity. From the 19-year-old who wrote Frankenstein to the pilot who broke the colour barrier in the skies, you will learn that the boundary of what is possible is largely defined by your willingness to push against it.

Inside, you will discover the mental models to rewrite the limits of your work, wealth, and life, including:

• The Three-Body Test: A razor to audit your life choices against your Present Self, your 3-Year Future Self, and your 80-Year-Old Self.
• Floor vs. Ceiling Rules: How to distinguish between the external standards you must meet and the internal beliefs that limit how high you can fly.
• The "Big Voice" Technique: How to bridge the gap between Manifest Will and the Mandate of Heaven to turn enemies into allies.
• The "Cringe" Crucible: Why greatness is inherently deviant, and why you must be willing to look foolish to achieve the extraordinary.
• The "Bishop Takes Pawn" Strategy: Why the most interesting careers move diagonally, and how to stack "multiplier skills" to bypass the corporate ladder entirely.
• Resilience Engineering: How to "keep your shoulder off the mat" when life tries to pin you down, transforming failure from a dead-end into a data point.

Read this book if you would rather make your own luck than wait for someone to grant it.