Lessons Expanded from 2021

God grant me the serenity to accept that which I cannot change. The courage to change the things I can. And the wisdom to know the difference.  

A continuation from my previous post…some advice…skim quick, pick 1 or 2 that stick, and be on your way…

Life Lessons:

1. One of the secrets to a happy life is low expectations 
2. Another secret is learning how to maintain your equanimity through the difficult periods of life (remembering that most of our growth happens during these periods and they usually turn out to be opportunities or seminal events) 
3. If you’re reading a book that you’re not sad when its finished, find a new book 
4. What you’re not changing, you’re choosing 
5. When something is free, people tend to overconsume it 
6. If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a no; you don’t owe anyone an explanation when you say no 
7. Its better to deal with hard truths, even when you’re feeling testy. You are afraid these hard truths will destroy you. Its the opposite. They’ll destroy you if you ignore them.
8. Chase your future self as your own hero
9. Always have something to look forward to, something to look up to, and something to chase
10. Think for yourself; if you don’t, others will do it for you without you in mind 
11. Life – rarely easy, always worth it 
12. Find a community that inspires you, spend most of your time with them, and it will change your life
13. Every mountain you climb is an opportunity in disguise 
14. Your bed should be the most expensive piece of furniture in your home – you spend 20-40% of your life in it; your computer chair, too…
15. A norm of sharing meals without watching tv leads to great conversation
16. Adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it 
17. Sometimes you need life to save you from what you want to give you what you need
18. Our super power often lies right next to our biggest weakness 
19. Those who don’t study history are destined to repeat it 
20. If you put all your problems on the table with other peoples, you’ll probably pick yours up really quickly
21. Hard decisions are only hard when youre in the process of making them; once you make them theyre not hard anymore
22. Pursuit of perfection is driven by fear 
23. Many of the answers to your questions and problems are in your journals about life
24. Change “I would if I could” to “I can and I am”
25. Learn & educate before prescribing & indicting 
26. Travel and humanity are the greatest educator as they help you understand other peoples values
27. Everything in life has a price
28. Our choices matter, it’s not all for nothin, its all for everythin
29. Truth is like a jalapeno.  The closer you get to the root the hotter it get
30. In life, the realizations arrive quickly, the learning takes time and living is the hardest par
31. Look back and enjoy the view 
32. Find a reason to keep chasing your best self 

Relationships:

1. Don’t complain about your partner to your coworkers or others; the benefits are negligible and the cost is destroying a part of your soul
2. Don’t punish people for trying, you teach them not to try with you. Punishing includes whining how long they took, they did it badly or others have done it better
3. Learn how to trust your gut even when your mind is in opposition

Business:

1. Organization is the lube of productivity
2. The busier I am, the more I know I need to delegate more; “busy” is an American obsession and toxic pill for stress & anxiety
3.  The best decisions have little to no immediate payoff. The best choices compound. Most of the benefits come at the end, not the beginning. The more patient you are, the bigger the payoff.
4. A business idea isn’t “one” idea. It’s a 10,000 ideas, 100,000 decisions and 1,000,000 headaches
5. Watch what they do, don’t listen to what they say 
6. A certain number of net worth is not going to change the way you feel about money; you have to work on changing your relationship with money
7. “Scratch your own itch” – create something for yourself and there will likely be others who want the same thing; “I know who my consumer is because I am my consumer”
8. No assholes policy, period.
9. Learn the art of running downhill when life is going smoothly because that mountain you want (or don’t want) to climb is right around the corner
10. Life is about what works for you. Business is secondary. You can have all the money in the world but if you don’t have strong relationships or not doing what makes you happy when youre not at work, whats the point?

Health & Spiritual:

1. Whatever pain or hardship that has happened to you in life, they pale in comparison to the power you have to choose what to do next, in every next moment; we have a choice to take the heavier or lighter path; there’s a lighter way to do life
2. Courage is fear that has said its prayers 
3. Take a walk after you eat and you’ll live to be 99 
4. Trade peace of mind for pursuit of meaning 
5. All the breaks you need in life are within your mind and body 
6. Forgetting is a virtue and memory a vice 
7. If you’re asking a lot from your body, treat it like a Ferrari 
8. Pain is unavoidable but suffering is a choice we make to experience or not 
9. Pay attention to your negative emotions, they tell you where you need to change and mature
10. “The open secret” – this idea that we have to hide our childhood wounds and who we are to appease others in our lives and conform to social norms vs being honest and open with each other
11. Get direct sunlight exposure within a few minutes of waking up – it prompts a number of biological funcitions, turns your brain on, and trains your circadian rhythm 
12. When we acknowledge the reality that every life ends in the same place (death), we are able to have more presence in this life 
13. Time alone simplifies the heart, memory catches up, opinions form. we meet truth again and it teaches us

Time & Energy:

1. Rich people have money. Wealthy people have time
2. Time management should be a downstream decision based on your energy management priorities 
3. Stop reading the news
4. When buying things, time and money trade off. If you’re low on money, spend time to find deals; if you’re low on time, stop looking for deals and move quickly
5. Some people create drama out of habit – avoid them
6. For every new commitment you make, you should be dropping an existing one 
7. Money comes and goes; time only goes 
8. Spend time with kids, find out what they’re interested in and feed their curiosity 
9. Curiosity is the engine that will keep you spirited and alive