Hey everyone,
Today is my birthday!
Last year I shared a list of birthday advice. Now it's time for this years! Two in a row makes it a tradition, I think. For the list just scroll down!
Btw some background if you're still reading the top part: I've been wisdom-collecting for years. In my 20s I took hundreds of flights and always made it my goal to ask the person I was sitting beside for a piece of life advice before getting off the plane. (It helps that my 20s were before airplane internet and giant headphone cocoons.) I'm sure a lot of these come from those chats. And then, after last year's list, I made a little file on my phone called "44" and have been planting, snipping, and pruning it all year -- treating this list like some kind of little plant I'm ready to finally put on my porch.
And remember: Lists like these are preachy by nature! Take what you like and chuck the rest in the bin.
Here we go:
1. The best sunblock is the one you use.
2. If you don't know if it goes in the dryer, it doesn't.
3. Let your kids catch you reading books. Don't let them watch you scrolling social media.
4. 3 E's of a great speech: Entertain, Educate, Empower.
5. Dating tip: You meet interesting people in interesting places.
6. Add a silent mental "...yet" to any sentence you catch yourself starting with "I can't", "I'm not", or "I don't." "I can't speak Hindi ...yet", "I'm not a runner ...yet", "I don't eat oysters ...yet."
7. Mood follows action.
8. Time you spend with your kids when they're young correlates with time they spend with you when you're old.
9. Stock tip: Buy the haystack, not the needle.
10. Never buy a couch before taking a nap on it.
11. Remember the 'End Of History Illusion': We all know our pasts were bumpy -- yet never expect our futures to be.
12. Ideas are the easy part. Doing it is the hard part.
13. No cell phones in the bedroom. If you need waking up, buy an alarm clock. If you get emergency calls, get a landline.
14. There's nothing wrong with ending a sentence with of.
15. Easy way to entertain toddlers: Lie face down in the middle of the floor.
16. Grapefruits that look best often taste worst and grapefruits that look worst often taste best.
17. Wrap floss around middle fingers not pointer fingers.
18. Most people read zero books last year. 2 pages of fiction a day helps build back the habit. 'Foster', 'Animal Farm', 'A Christmas Carol', 'The Little Prince', and 'The Old Man and The Sea' are all <100 pages.
19. You can't make new old friends.
20. Addiction is when something that takes you from normal to good starts taking you from bad to normal.
21. Beware the 5 greatest regrets of the dying: i) I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself ii) I wish I hadn't worked so hard iii) I wish I had the courage to express my feelings, iv) I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends, and v) I wish I had let myself be happier
22. Don't post your kids faces online. They might sue you.
23. Divorce is not a death sentence.
24. Strapping things to your body to measure things in your body makes you less connected to your body.
25. Between jobs remember: The longer you hold your breath underwater the more interesting place you come up.
26. On making decisions: Low time, low importance? Automate. High time, low importance? Regulate. Low time, high importance? Effectuate. (Just do it!) High time, high importance? Debate.
27. If you don't deal with your shit, your shit deals with you.
28. When sending meeting options in multiple time zones put their time zone first.
29. Stitches vs Bandaids Test: Aim to say yes to kids trying things that cause bandaids and no to things that cause stitches.
30. You don't have to finish the book.
31. Ikigai: A reason to get out of bed in the morning. Write one down on a folded index card and leave it on your bedside table.
32. To pay more attention in video meetings: Hide Self View.
33. Blender breakfast I've used for 15 years: water, cinnamon, turmeric, protein, frozen banana, frozen greens, powdered greens, nut milk, nut butter, yogurt, avocado.
34. Guaranteed way to get good: Do it for free for ten years.
35. You don't rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
36. Funeral Rule: If you're not sure if you should go, go.
37. The Lindy Effect: Longer something's been popular, longer it'll stay popular. Helpful for finding books, restaurants, ideas.
38. Cut the cord between guilt and pleasure.
39. Social Media Paradox: More you're posting about it less you're doing it.
40. There is a relationship between how much you buy local and how nice the flowers are in your park.
41. Changing your mind is a sign of strength not weakness.
42. There is a tiny arrow on your gas gauge that tells you which way to park your car at the pumps.
43. Quickest happiness hack? Lower expectations.
44. You only earned what you spent and enjoyed.
-
I'm sure I stole all of these but some specific credits: Rich Roll (7), Daniel Gilbert, Jordi Quoidbach, and Timothy Wilson (11), Paul Graham (20), Bronnie Ware (21), Sarah Silverman (27), Joey Coleman (29), James Clear (35), and my dad (44). Bad paraphrases all mine, of course. Click here to read last year's list.