100 Truths You Will Learn Too Late

Life is too long to be lived for the short term, and too unique to be lived as others would.

The simple act of taking a pen and writing down the list of problems affecting you and the ways they negatively impact your life will often be all you need.

You do not have to be your past. You can be someone else without anyone having to give you permission. Authorization to change is mostly an illusion. Most changes that last are bottom-up, initiated without someone else’s permission.

ACTION: What are actions that seem wasteful today but are invaluable for your long-term success? Here are some common ideas of “wasteful” activities that are actually great investments: taking breaks, learning, looking for new ideas, trying something that might fail, building personal bonds, and having fun. Should any of these go into your schedule

“If you keep doing what you are currently doing, how will your life be in 10 years?” ACTION: Answer the question above. Honestly.

People don’t want to be happy and successful. Instead, they want to be happy and successful in a particular way, thus ending up unhappy and unsuccessful.

“bad decisions in life arise from having optimized for the wrong variable.” Do not optimize your life for other people. Do not optimize it for comfort. Do not optimize it for status. Do not optimize it for success. Do not optimize it for your current self. Instead, optimize your life for long-term self-respect.

Most frustration and unhappiness in your life will come from disrespecting the rules of whatever “game” you are a participant in – be it love, business, health, or social life.

Make a list of the top 25 actions you should take during the next three months, ordered from the most impactful to the least. Then, select the top 5 items: these become your to-do list. Finally, select the bottom 20 items: these become your not-to-do list. You are not allowed to work on your not-to-do list until the to-do list is completed. Without