Prioritize qualities that will matter at your eulogy (e.g., character, relationships) over those on your resume (e.g., achievements). This helps in releasing identity from work and making deliberate trade-offs that align with long-term values.
Don’t underestimate the power of relationships, as they play a greater role in the quality of your life than its length. A life of infinite length without meaningful relationships would be a form of misery.
Ensure you have at least one trusted person, or ideally more, with whom you can share anything and everything. This helps combat loneliness and the inability to unload difficult emotions, which humans need to do.
Be immediately obsessed with and interested in every detail of what another person knows and how they’ve come to know it. This curiosity is essential for understanding human nature and excelling in fields that require insight into people.
When an opportunity arises, especially if it’s scary, put your hand up and go first. This prevents sitting around being scared and ensures you don’t miss opportunities to try and grow.
Engage in daily journaling to augment mental health and process thoughts. Use it to acknowledge and accept deliberate trade-offs between short-term performance and long-term values, such as prioritizing family over career opportunities.
When encouraging children (or yourself) to achieve, ensure it comes from a place of self-love rather than self-flogging or beating oneself up. This fosters a healthier internal drive for success.
Find value and joy in the myriad petty ways you can sacrifice for other people, such as making small concessions for family. This act of giving contributes significantly to the richness and meaning of life.
Aim to exercise nearly every day, as it is a potent, diffuse, and ‘gyro-protective’ agent that significantly slows down aging. The detrimental effects of being sedentary quickly highlight its importance for physical recovery and health.
When faced with major life decisions, especially those that bring absolute clarity despite conflicting data, trust your gut feeling. Going with these strong intuitions can lead to profound and lasting blessings.
Avoid reading detailed reviews or comments about your work, especially for ongoing projects, as both negative and positive feedback can be detrimental. Instead, get a general ’temperature of the wall’ from a trusted source to stay informed without letting it get into your head.
When sharing content on social media, adopt the ‘post and ghost’ approach by not looking at or responding to comments. This helps avoid vitriol and unproductive engagement, especially when dealing with polarizing topics.
Create personal rituals involving specific sensory triggers, like wearing a particular scent, to mentally prepare for important events. This can help signal to your mind that it’s a ‘special night’ and enhance focus.
Strive to make every performance or interaction unique and special for the audience or participants. Avoid simply ‘churning out’ the same experience, as people appreciate feeling that ‘something happened that night’.
Develop a personal signal or ritual to remind yourself of your most important relationships and values, especially in high-pressure situations. This can provide a sense of calm and reassurance, knowing that ’no matter what happens, everything’s going to be okay’.
To truly understand people or characters, you must ‘fall in love’ with them by getting inside their heads, understanding their ambitions, failings, and desires. This deep empathy allows for a more profound connection and portrayal.
Avoid excessive praise for children performing expected behaviors, such as putting a plate in the dishwasher. Treat these actions as expected, rather than extraordinary, to avoid fostering a constant need to please.
Advise children to ask challenging questions and pursue what they love, rather than just striving for good grades or being a ‘good girl’. Encourage them to know when ’enough is enough’ and practice discipline in doing less, as the world needs people who are authentic and passionate.
Recognize and accept that parenting involves moments of being tired, angry, frustrated, and inconvenienced. It’s okay to experience these feelings, and having someone to call and talk to about them can be incredibly relieving.
Instead of avoiding or aggressively confronting a persistent problem, proactively engage with those causing it to find a mutually beneficial solution. This can lead to unexpected cooperation and a better outcome for all parties.
Begin exercise routines with super light weights and gradually build up, rather than immediately ‘smashing it’. This approach makes the workout feel less like a chore, allows the body to adapt, and builds the desire to lift heavier.
Embrace the natural process of aging, including physical changes, rather than constantly fighting against it with cosmetic interventions. This perspective can lead to a more accepting and less exhausting approach to self-image.
To lose weight, try not eating carbohydrates after 3 PM. This specific protocol was suggested by a professional bodybuilder and reportedly led to a loss of 3 to 5 kilograms in the first month.