A few days ago I gave you my first 25 lessons of life, today I’m back with the next 25…
But before I jump right in I thought I might want to share how I came up with them.
Most of us go through our lives never giving them a second thought.
We just accept that our lot in life and leave it at that.
For most of my life I thought I was meant to be an English teacher…and it will always be something I love to do but a few years ago I questioned whether teaching English was really my calling.
My life had been spared two times, the second in the form of a tsunami which I often mention.
The thing is, if you ever face something so unbelievable, no matter what form (bankruptcy, natural disaster, danger), your life will forever change.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t always change us for the good.
Some people become callous, fearful and angry at the world. That’s not me.
I love my life; the hardships and the successes.
The successes make me feel proud, the hardships test me.
But I know that in either case, nothing lasts forever.
We must guard against letdown in the first case, and never forget that even the toughest times will end, in the latter.
With a second chance, I made drastic changes in practically everything I did.
I changed my diet. I change my language. I changed my clothes. But the two biggest changes were my study habits and my vision.
And one thing I discovered is that most of us leaving this world without ever really sharing our greatest lessons, which is why I wrote my book, iSucceed, and started this site, as well as my financial seminar.
As for my life lessons, the abbreviated version, I didn’t just sit down and write these hundred out. I started with 20 or so and then added to them over time as they occurred to me.
It’s something I recommend you do, because in doing so you remind yourself what’s important, what not to forget and how we should conduct ourselves on a daily basis.
So here’s numbers 26-50 of my 100 life lessons:
- Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
- Believe in yourself
- Drink enough water
- Talk is cheap
- Results are everything
- TV is both the greatest and most destructive tool we have for learning
- Be willing to say NO
- Confirm everything
- Pay attention to the little things
- Be a team player
- Choose your words carefully
- TOO is always bad
- Good products ≠ guaranteed success
- In school cheating is bad, in life it’s called something else – teamwork
- Excuses = Failure
- Choose your friends wisely
- Filter out the insignificant and pointless
- Trust your instincts / Go with your gut
- Learn from history
- Evaluate the source
- Get the facts straight first
- Don’t confuse being busy with achievement
- There ain’t no free ride
- The Golden Rule
- There are times when you will have to make sacrifice
Of these, numbers 11, 12, 19, 24 stick out for me.
I suppose as I made a living for most of my life as an educator it only makes sense that I value language so highly, and more specifically, people’s choice of words.
Words are a reflection of who we are. We all have word-habits. We choose certain words to use and others to save for certain occasions. When people drink it’s a well known fact that people’s language gets worse because the situation can call for it. That same language is not appropriate when talking to your wife or a customer. The cute words you might use at home would be a poor choice to bring to work. There is a time and place for every word, we just need to learn which ones work for which situation.
We all go a little crazy sometimes…but we must remember you can overdose on anything. Eat too much and you’ll either end up with indigestion or gain weight. Study too much and you run the risk of not being able to communicate with others. Diet too much and you could end up in the hospital from malnutrition.
If you remember my first rule of life – everything in balance. Never forget that TOO results in imbalance.
As for history, whatever will happen has happened, although not in exactly the same form or way (thanks to technology). But that doesn’t change the fact that human beings repeat the same mistakes. Why? Because we believe that we’re different, better, than generations past. That this time it will be different because we know better. And yet each generation there are recessions, depressions, diseases, pain, broken promises…
History can be boring, I get it.
But never underestimate its power.
And finally, The Golden Rule.
Many years ago my philosophy teacher asked my class one question, “If you were to describe the 10 Testaments in one sentence what would it be?” One thing popped into my head at that time and it turned out to be right – Do unto others as you would have others do unto you otherwise known as the Golden Rule.
No matter your opinions of religion this one sentence encapsulated all the good in the world. We would never want to be hurt, hence we shouldn’t hurt others.
I’m amazed at how many people forget this rule.
And in every case, karma is a bitch.
25 more lessons for you to chew one.
Look for the next 25 sometime next week.
Adrian