My blogging friend and coworker Nick shared this list of 100 Simple Truths in a recent post on his blog. I love reading such lists because you find some ideas you identify yourself with and also:
In quoting others, we cite ourselves.
Julio Cortázar
Following is a selection of the fifteen ideas that I highlighted in my Kindle as I read through those 100 ideas. My thoughts are in brackets.
1. It’s 100% off if you don’t buy it. (I use this trick to postpone or avoid vanity purchases.)
10. Be happy with what you have, while you work for what you want. (Helps me appreciate my current life while I constantly work to imporve it.)
14. Demotivated because of how long it’ll take? Remember the time will pass anyways. (We successfully applied this truth to move to the first world, and for both my wife’s and my careers — all long-term daunting pursuits with longer lead times and no guaranteed outcomes, but have luckily turned out in our favor and significantly improved our standard of living. We are reapplying this to our next project we are currently working on.)
18. Choose consistency over intensity, because consistency compounds. (Why I am keen on my meditation, and exercising habits.)
32. If you lower your expectations, you’ll rarely be disappointed. (Helps upkeep my sanity in situtions that invlove other humans which is almost all the time!)
39. Speak when you have something to say, not when you want to say something. (I would like to think this is what I do on this blog, and in other real-life situations, with mixed success.)
41. Being busy is not a badge of honor—it’s a lack of freedom. (A similar thought came to my mind just last week when someone told me they are busy in back-to-back meetings, and again this week when someone showed me 800+ count of their unread emails and how much it would go up by that evening if they didn’t intervene.)
45. Admit when you’re wrong, show humility when you’re right. (Helps me be gentle and graceful when people are apolegetic, arrogan, or angry.)
49. Life only gives you what you decided you could have. (I can do better here by deciding I can have more.)
52. Avoiding stupidity can often be a better strategy than seeking out brilliance. (I think this is the same thing as the mental model I am learning called Inversion.)
58. Read to find new ideas, write to understand them, implement to learn from them. (Why I read a lot of blogs and books, and share some of my learnings on this blog. But I should implement a few more of the ideas I learn.)
59. Your current habits are a sneak peek of your desired future. (I am both afraid and excited that this is true.)
65. Compare upwards and feel envy, compare downwards and feel grateful. (I don’t discuss this to not offend the less privileged people than I am, but I believe in this idea. I compare with my past self to feel grateful.)
71. Being great is just being consistently good. (I see this all the time with successful people and organizations.)
99. No one owes you anything. (This helps me feel grateful for what I have and deal with disappointments by lowering my expectations.)
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