so the other day I came across a post on Reddit titled 16 life lessons from an 80-year-old, and I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts on each of these points with you.
1. Don’t expect life to be fair.
It was biased and it will be. I absolutely agree with this. If you think about it - life is sort of like a video game. Normally, when you start a new game you usually get to pick the difficulty mode. Easy, normal, medium, hard. You get the point. Unfortunately for the game of life - you can't pick what difficulty mode you start out with, you're kind of just thrown into it, but this doesn't mean that you can't play better than the other guys. In fact you have the advantage of gaining significantly more respect from others, and also more appreciation from yourself - if you manage to play the game of life on hard or extreme difficulty and still do well. Nobody respects the person who just cruised by on easy mode. Not even themselves.
2. Remember 80% of the success in any job is based on your ability to deal with people.
Yep - Most of the time people don't promote or hire based on who can do the best job. They promote and hire the people that can do a very good job but are also likable. Because these are people that they will potentially be spending time with every single day. I don't want to hire or promote you even if you would do a better job if it meant that my life would become 25% more stressful. I just don't want to deal with that. Learn how to become likable – it's one of the most important skills out there.
3. Wave at the children on the school bus.
I think a more modern version for this one would be to say hello to people wherever you go. We live in a time where more and more people feel lonely, but that's because we've gotten into the bad habit of closing ourselves up from those around us. Say hello, be the first to step outside and greet your neighbor because we're all human and we're all in this game called life together. The more interactions you have with the people around you the more you'll feel connected with the world. This can be the source of a lot fulfilling relationships, a lot of memorable experiences, and ultimately a lot of joy.
4. Compliment the meal when you’re a guest in someone’s home.
If you think about it a cooked meal is one of the most unique gifts that someone can give you. When I cook something for you. I'm feeding you. I'm helping you live another day. I've paid for all the ingredients. I've taken time out of my day to make this thing for you. And it's not like other forms of creation such as songs which can be given to a lot of people. If I cooked a meal for you – it is only for you. Complimenting my cooking is a great way to show your appreciation for this thing that I created for you. For the kindness I'm sending your way.
5. Count your blessings.
Yeah, it's pretty darn important to have some sort of gratitude habit. Life can seem tough and pretty dark if you focus on the negatives. So every once in a while – even better – every once a day you should allow yourself to focus on the good. Because there is good out there. Good things have happened to each and every single one of you. And they will continue to happen. It doesn't matter how big or small these things are, heck one of the things I've been writing down is my love for the amazing soup my hotel serves for breakfast. Spend some time focusing on the good everyday because if you choose to only focus on the bad you will lose hope. And without hope you will have no motivation to do anything.
6. Marry only for love.
I recently watched a video about divorce lawyers and one of them said that getting married is like playing the lottery. You're probably going to lose but if you win that's great. Of course this varies from country to country – but in the US where we have a divorce rate of over 50% - I don't think getting married is the smartest move. If you really love each other just live together.
7. Become someone’s hero. More importantly you need to collect heroic moments.
Which is a concept that I definitely need to cover in a future video. It's incredibly important to have heroic moments that you can add to your memory bank. These are moments that will serve as reminders that you can look back on for the rest of your life. By having heroic moments you can say to yourself. Yeah! I am a good person – because I helped that old lady carry her groceries up those stairs that one time. I am courageous – because I spoke up to that bully the last time he was trying to pick on that kid. I don't give up – because of a b and c. You get the point. Gathering heroic moments like these will allow you to choose and mold your identity into one that you can be proud of.
8. Make someone’s day by paying the toll for the person in the car behind you.
This is pretty specific. I think a better phrasing for this would be to do random acts of kindness every once in a while. Studies have found that by doing good deeds such as community service can boost your levels of happiness by about 10-15% which is quite a lot. Give food to the homeless. Open doors for people. Give out compliments to cashiers and bus drivers. Little things like these will bring a lot of joy into your life and also to those that you interact with.
9. Send your loved ones flowers.
Think of a reason later. Things that people don't expect have 10 times more impact than things they do expect. For example if you buy your girlfriend or wife flowers on valentines day it's nowhere nearly as impact-full as compared to if you bought it for them randomly. Showing someone that you love them on a day where everyone else does that doesn't do it good justice. If you really want to show someone you love them – do it on the days where they least expect it. People tend to treasure and remember moments like that for the rest of their life.
10. Show respect for everyone who works for their living, regardless how trivial their job.
I think there was a story about a famous executive who would invite potential employees – to eat at a local diner with him. And he would pay close attention to how they treated the staff there. If they treated the staff poorly it gives you insight on what type of person he or she is. This is a person who thinks he or she is genuinely better – more entitled than another human being. And that's someone that will only look out for themselves if they were to join your company. People working retail and service have it pretty tough. They probably don't enjoy their job – so don't make it worse for them.
11. Keep a notepad and pencil on your bed side table.
Million dollar ideas sometimes strike at 3 A.M. Yes – some of the best ideas that I've ever had came to me when I was out of the office. Randomly on the train, in bed, in the shower, I've literally had moments where I was deep in thought in the shower – and a light-bulb goes off in my head – and where I've literally had to run out – dripping all over the floor to get to a whiteboard so I could quickly jot the idea down. The best ideas come when you aren't trying to think of a good idea. That's kind of how it works. Your brain is always cooking up new concepts in the background and you never know when a good one is going to appear.
12. Answer the phone with energy and enthusiasm in your voice.
The voice is a very very powerful tool. If you think about it – it is in fact an instrument. And instruments can convey feelings. A sad sounding melody played on the piano will make you think sad thoughts. While a happy upbeat piano song will make you want to stand up and dance. Play happy/excited songs with your voice so that the people you interact with feel happy/and excited too. Use your voice to double the impact you want to make. To set the tone of the interaction the way you want it. You also need to practice learning how to play this instrument in general. Learn how to lower your voice when you need to. Learn how to change the pacing of your words. Learn how to pause. The better you get at playing the instrument the better all of your future interactions will be.
13. Send a lot of valentine cards.
Sign them. ‘Someone who thinks you are terrific’. This is basically the same thing as point #9 so I'm just going to skip it.
14. Once in a while, take a scenic route.
Yep – go take a new route the next time you need to go somewhere. When you take the same route over and over again – you're brain starts to go into autopilot, you get lost in your thought, and you don't even remember commuting to the place you're supposed to be going to. You've been driving for an hour and you literally don't remember any of it. Because you weren't present at all. When you go about life like this - you're not really living. You're like a walking zombie. But on the other hand whenever you take a new route your brain is forced to be more present because everything around you is slightly different. The more time you spend being present – the longer your life feels. Time slows down. It allows you to appreciate the stuff around you. And this can be a great source of joy.
15. Begin each day with some of your favorite music.
I don't know about doing this first thing in the morning EVERY single day because there are a bunch of other habits that I think fit better first thing in the morning. Such as drinking a glass of water or meditating. And I would personally change this to “dance to your favorite music every day”. Which is one of the best ways to enter the flow state. Because it's one of the few forms of creation that forces you to move with your entire body. It's pretty hard to move your whole body to a song while day dreaming about something else. Plus it's always a good thing to have some dance moves in your arsenal that you can whip out when you're in the right situation.
16. Visit friends and relatives when they are in hospital.
You need only stay a few minutes. If you really want to show someone that you care about them – being there for them when they need it the most is one of the best way to do this. This relates to keeping in touch with your friends too. You don't need to hang out with people every week to be their friends. You just got to show up to the important events. I have plenty of very good friends that I talk to maybe once or twice a year.
Comments
Post a Comment