- Expect nothing from no one (secure your own future).
- A trusted friend will let you down from time to time. They have other things to worry about than you. Don’t think less of them, simply stop expecting them to always be there for you.
- A well-intentioned company will let you go when the economy crashes. Don’t except a good thing to last forever. Always be learning skills and seeking opportunities.
- Expect everything to go away one day.
- Realizing everything could vanish in an instant (your favorite people, your health, your freedom) makes you grateful for everything you have. It’s hard to be worried or anxious when you’re grateful.
- Do imperfect work, but strive to make it better.
- Seeking perfection may seem noble, but it’s generating unnecessary anxiety in your life.
- Instead, make early prototypes, write terrible first drafts, and start with a mediocre performance. Once you’ve done something, aim to improve upon it as many times as you can. Great work requires many iterations.
- Focus on skill development, not goal achievement
- Achieving goals will not guarantee success. Having a set of valuable skills will. (Watch my summary of ‘How to Fail and Still Win Big’ by Scott Adams for an in-depth look at skills vs. goals).
- Never follow a plan, but always be rehearsing plans.
- “Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Developing and rehearsing a plan allows you to see the potential pitfalls of what you are about to do and makes the unknown less terrifying.
- When it comes time to act, following a plan is a recipe for disaster because it doesn’t allow you to rapidly improvise when things change. As Mike Tyson once said, “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
- Prepare for the worst: financially and emotionally.
- Each year, buy insurance and top up your savings to protect you and your family from ANY disaster that could occur in the upcoming year. Then stop thinking about it for 365 days.
- Before doing anything ‘risky,’ consider your recovery plan. If you can’t recover then don’t do it. When you look hard enough you’ll find you can recover from most setbacks. For example, leaving your job on good terms and trying to start a business is OK when you know that you could always go back to your job.
- Make the decision with the most options and make big decisions through a series of smaller decisions (short trials).
- Make the decision that allows you to change direction should circumstances change.
- Break down your big decisions into a series of smaller decisions to test assumptions and gain valuable information before jumping in head first.
- Trying to decide which city you want to move to? Rent a condo in the neighborhood where you plan to live for 2 weeks. Act as though you are living there for 2 weeks. Is it what you expected?
- Trying to decide whether you should quit your job or not? Take a 3-week stay-cation and work on your side business to see if takes off and if doing that work is really something you want to do full time.
- Own less and save your money for experiences.
- When you own something you need to maintain it. When you own something you fear losing it.
- When you save your money for experiences you get to enjoy planning, doing and talking about it after.
- Maintaining the memory of a meaningful experience requires zero ongoing maintenance and there is no need to fear losing it.
- Experiences can become more valuable over a lifetime because they often lead to new skills that serve you for a lifetime.
Inspired by Derek Sivers