Lessons Learned in Life

I recently turned certain years old, and decided it was a good time to write a note about what I have learned, from some failures and some success, at how to win at life. This is some of the most important life lessons I’ve learned over my past years of life. I believe that a positive attitude and gratitude work magic. And this pretty much wraps it up for now, in no particular order.

1. Live by your beliefs and value (set priorities, follow your passion, feel happy (pursue meaning, not just happiness), and make a difference.
2. Take care of your family. Love your family as much as you know they love you. One of the most painful feelings in the world is to have your time with someone you love cut short unexpectedly, knowing that you could’ve done more but didn’t. 
3. Stop focusing on what you don’t have, and start focusing on what you do have.
4. Focus only on that which is within your control. Let go of everything else… 
5. You are the author of your destiny, so write the story you want to live, regardless of how fictional it may or may not sound to someone else. You don’t want to look back on a long list of unfulfilled dreams, thinking about how I should’ve/would’ve/could’ve — but never did. 
6. It’s better late than never. It’s all about quality over quantity (slow down, take your time, and do something right).
7. “Life is about making an impact, not making an income”. The world would be a much better place if we all stopped judging and focused our energy on how we can serve another person. It doesn’t matter whether you eat meat or don’t eat meat… and it doesn’t matter whether you drive a BMW or catch the train or bus… what matters is that you are you! 
8. Choose your environment carefully, and be mindful of who you spend time with, because they are the secret to your happiness, and success.
9. Sleep a lot, drink a lot of water, meditate, and don’t skip breakfast (most important meal of the day!).
10. Listen more than you talk, and admit when you are wrong.
11. Silence is consent. We are currently in an epidemic of self-centeredness. All generations are guilty of this. If something doesn’t go with our lifestyle, we don’t associate with it.
12. Never say or confess, write or do anything you wouldn’t want to appear on the front-page of the New York Times(or, any social media).
13. Wake up early and invest in your health. Interestingly enough, a recent study showed that, those who considered themselves to be late risers were more likely to become depressed than those who woke up earlier each day.
14. Replace your need to be right, with your desire to be happy. 
15. As a parent, cheer your kids effort not results. Don’t give your teenagers rules, give them guardrails. Show your appreciation for what they do.
16. Know that attention is the first and most powerful step in persuasion or encouragement; use it, and be cautious of it.
17. Beware of goals; they work, and can cause you to fail in non-goal areas of your life.
18. When you find yourself giving too much importance to something, just break it down to what it really is, rather than romanticizing it into something it isn’t. 
19. Express your emotions.
20. Feel the fear and do it anyway. There’s no such thing as being fearless. There is only courage, which is the ability to take action in spite of fear–to feel the fear and do it anyway. Everyone is afraid of something. The stress and anxiety that comes about when we think about doing what we fear is usually more painful and uncomfortable than doing the damn thing and getting it over with.