Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
1. Don’t get yourself too serious. It may ruin your night.
Having a light personality is like a breeze in the summer.
Don’t let your zealous sense of grandiose existence get the best of you. Life has a funny way of reminding you how unimportant you are in the grand scheme of things.
You’re wonderful, just not that important.
2. Authenticity is overrated, and “be yourself” is lazy advice.
What does it even mean to be yourself?
Nobody wants an authentic mailman. People want their package delivered.
3. Develop your gut feeling because rationality is not the ultimate skill.
Intuition is not the ultimate solution, but it’s the other side of the coin, equally crucial to your reasoning.
I changed travel plans last minute over strong intuition. I pursued writing on over a hunch that didn’t go away. I escaped the wrong places and the wrong people on the back of a gut feeling.
Learning to listen to yourself is a skill.
If you want to develop your intuition, you need to practice it, and you need to practice it repeatedly. Practice makes perfect. Today, I always search for another voice before significant decisions. When both my mind and gut are on the same page, I’m usually lucky in my endeavors.
Starting 2 Minute Madness was a hunch that didn't go away. Today, it’s a wonderful publication. Replying to Perry Steward on his invitation to join Good Annotations was more of a gut feeling I’m glad I listened to. I’m beyond thrilled to build both companies today.
If you’re not confident in your intuition, you’re in trouble.
4. You're driven by your emotions
Whatever you do, count that it comes from your emotions.
Your rational mind usually finds a way to justify how you feel. Every fight has two sides fighting for the “right” thing. Make friends with your emotional sides, and learn to build emotional capital.
“If I could wish anyone anything, besides health, it would be emotional intelligence. It is the skill of life.” — Gary V.
5. Travel is cool, but so is building a home.
I’ve spent most of my 20s traveling the world and working on ad-hoc jobs.
I’m more confident and more passionate about things now. However, I never built a home, bought a property, or learned how to drive. I was on an eight-year-long pursuit of experience and excitement.
After a few years of constant travel, you realize that you can’t keep on just traveling. Settling is in our nature just a running.
Building a physical home is equally important.
6. You can’t win every battle, and sometimes you have to survive to fight another day.
I started trading in my early twenties.
My first few trades were absolute home runs, and I started with bigger bets. I never thought about the role of luck and random events in my business. Hell, I was on the winning streak.
You know how this story ends. I lost all of my money to learn an obvious lesson. Don’t leverage everything you have on one battle. You’re in a war, and wars are long games.
Survive to win another day.
7. You’re going to fail more times than you’re going to win.
Make your wins big, and your fails short.
Survive the failure, and ride the win. One opportunity is all it takes to turn the tables, but tables can turn either way.
8. Comfort is the death of personal development.
Change happens at the end of your comfort zone.
Travel is uncomfortable. Meeting new people is strange. Starting companies is scary. But your true self-realization comes out in stressful times when you have to opportunity to bring the best out of yourself to the world.
9. Sadness, hunger, and excitement are feelings, and like everything else, they pass.
Everything goes away.
If you’re hungry, just wait an hour, and you may forget to eat. Time heals all wounds.
10. You’re the biggest miracle and the biggest waste of breath at the same time.
Learn how to embrace the duality of your actions.
My actions are contradictory, and I can be the biggest winner and the sorest loser at the same time.
11. Cherish relationships, but understand that most come from a mutual interest.
Your friends are around because you make them feel good, or you raise their social status. Maybe you can even do business together. Once no tangible interest is there, friendships get hard.
Nobody loves you as your mom does.
12. Don’t discuss online keyboard warriors.
You’re not changing anybody’s opinion.
Do it only for entertainment and if you have extra time. Prepare to feel frustrated and drawn into pointless arguments.
13. Earning a million dollars is the fastest way to bankruptcy.
People love to spend money.
New millionaires rush to buy cars and houses from personal wealth, only to default on their lifestyle after the first visit from the taxman.
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