Life Lessons I’ve Learned Along the Way: Volume 3

After reading Kevin Kelly’s book Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier, I decided to create my own list. I loved creating this (I think you should create one too). I generated 96 pieces of advice and I’m releasing them in three volumes.

67.  Learn to write clearly, compellingly, and succinctly.

68. We live in a world that catches people doing things wrong. Catch people doing things right.

69.  Read poetry. When you read a poem, read it slowly, read it aloud, and read it twice.

70. The goal of parenting isn’t to raise happy kids, but to raise happy adults.

71.   Feedback is the breakfast of champions.

72.   Use the word “awesome” sparingly. If everything is awesome, then nothing is.

73.   Read the footnotes and endnotes of the books you read. You’ll find some amazing treasures for what to read next.

74.  As much as possible, avoid buying food at the airport. Instead, bring an empty water bottle and fill it up past the security checkpoint. Pack snacks. And ask for tomato juice when the drink cart comes by on your flight. It’s a liquid meal. The exorbitant prices in airports are a tax on those who arrive unprepared.

75.   Tragedy plus time equals humor.*

76.  The 30-minute rule of being a sports fan: after your team suffers a tough loss, you have every right to be upset. But after 30 minutes, walk into the bathroom, look yourself in the mirror and say, “I’m a grown man. It’s time to care about more important things in life now.”

77.   Do the hard work of identifying your core values. It will serve you well in making decisions, big, and small, throughout your life.

78.  What you think is important. But how you arrive at what you think is more important.

79.  Be purposeful about beginnings and endings.

80.  Kids can be some of your greatest teachers – if you let them.

81.   When you are being wrongfully accused, never defend yourself; only offer to explain yourself. Respond, but don’t react.*

82.  The rule of half. If you’re leading a meeting, think about how long you expect the meeting will last. Then divide it by two. That’s how much time to spend preparing for it. Your meetings will be much more productive, focused, and worthwhile.

83.  Occasionally, let the waitress choose your entrée. Identify three options on the menu that sound good and then let her decide. She almost always picks a winner.

84.  The volume level coming from a car or motorcycle is in direct proportion to the level of insecurity of its driver.

85.  As you’re being seated at a restaurant, choose a seat that faces away from the television screens. Your friends and family will appreciate your attention during dinner.

86.  Learn to respect people not for what they say, but how they live.

87. Telling is not the same thing as training.

88. Buy fresh cut flowers, even when it feels impractical. Not all things in life need to be useful in order to be meaningful.

89. Always stop and buy lemonade from a kid’s lemonade stand, even when you’re short on time. It’s not a big deal to you, but it’s a huge deal to them.

90. You can have control or growth, but you can’t have both.*

91. The goal of Christianity isn’t just to learn to love Jesus; it’s also to learn to love Judas.*

92. Never underestimate the power of following up and following through.

93. If you opened it, close it. If you dropped it, pick it up. If you pulled it out, put it away. If you spilled it, clean it up. Common courtesy.

94. Not all hours of the day are created equal.*

95. Hope is not a strategy.

96. Approach everything I’ve written here like when you eat seafood: eat the meat and throw out the bones. You get to decide which is which. My only advice: don’t choke on the bones.

*indicates that the thought, idea, concept, or quote – in whole or in part - originated from someone other than me.