Here are 24 things, plus a bonus, I’m telling myself for the new year. Some of them are aspirational. Some of them are reminders. Also, I’d like to tell my 17-year-old self the same things.
- The same old mistakes form the walls of your prison. New mistakes pave the highway stretched out before you that disappears on the horizon. That highway isn’t straight — it’s got curves, potholes, hills, and valleys — but it’s the best and only way forward.
- Nobody cares about what kind of car you drive, but just about everybody needs a ride.
- Guard your attention with your life.
- When looking for the reason, follow the incentives.
- It is rarely someone else’s fault, but even if it is, don’t act like it.
- Never be the “I told you so” guy.
- Color outside the lines. Walk on the curb. Run with scissors. Drive fast and take chances. Not all the time, but sometimes.
- It’s OK to talk to strangers. Older cars are not death traps. Not every white, non-descript van contains a serial killer. Is there a chance that something bad can happen? Of course, but that’s not a reason not to live. Don’t let the dogma of safetyism keep you from living.
- Most people let fear govern their life. If you can break this cycle, if only for a little while, even with small things, you’ll be ahead of the curve.
- You don’t have a time management problem. You have a time priority problem.
- Existential experience is rarely on par with social and traditional media’s portrayal of life. Beware of hyperbole in both directions.
- If you ever find yourself thinking, “How can I make myself look more like the filter makes me look,” immediately throw your phone into the lake, river, or mouth of the volcano.
- Always assume the other person doesn’t mean harm and that you misunderstood. The benefit of the doubt is a powerful and empathic tool for interpersonal communication and leadership.
- Walking around offended by everything leads to a miserable existence.
- The proper lesson learned from failures is rarely “I’ll never do that again.” The proper lesson is usually, “This is what I’ll do different next time.” There are some important exceptions, of course.
- You are a work in progress, and so is everyone you meet. You both are hiding something, and you both are hypocrites.
- Don’t entertain buyer’s remorse. Buy the thing or don’t buy the thing. Once you decide, move forward.
- You don’t deserve anything beyond human dignity and love. Everything else is earned, luck (Providence?), or, more likely, a combination of the two. Don’t let marketers, activists, or politicians convince you otherwise.
- Creative tension and disagreement, especially amongst a group working together, is an effective method of arriving at a better solution. Embrace the tension.
- Consensus does not equal truth.
- You don’t need more storage space. You need less stuff.
- Produce a lot more than you consume.
- A successful relationship is not 50/50. It’s 100/0 in both directions.
- Keep learning new stuff. Make yourself professionally valuable.
- Write the book.
