Life advice from 2009

I write a lot about the 48 Laws of Power, because I believe it to be a very powerful book (pun intended). But I don’t only write about them, and this article covers some rules from a simpler time. Thirteen years ago I wrote some basic rules that I thought were essential at the time. Let’s see how they hold up now. I described them then as “just some simplistic rules that everyone can relate to”. Here we go:

1. Don’t be evil. It doesn’t do much for you in the long run.

This is still applicable. It’s a pretty timeless rule.

2. Be happy. It’s really easy.

This one seems a little too simple for me in my 30s. I still think it’s possible to maintain a generally positive disposition, but one must acknowledge the various undercurrents that flow just beneath the surface in life, and how to manage them. I would amend this one to: Be happy. By finding your tribe. It’s moderately hard.

3. History makes a good past but stinks at being the present. Don’t live in the past.

This is still applicable and the very definition of timeless. Humans adapt and embrace change. Stagnation is never a good thing.

4. Find out your skills and maximize on them. Expend all your energy on living your talents. Make a career out of them. Bring God in on them and just explode your potential.

This is just…wow. Reading this 13 years later…I think I followed my own advice fairly well. I’d just add that it requires a lot of patience.

5. Find at least one person to love unconditionally and with all the intensity you can muster.

This definitely sounds like what an early 20s person would write. It is pretty good advice. The poem Desiderata has a rider to this:

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.

6. Never be ashamed of being yourself.

This is timeless advice. Being yourself is always a unique selling point. Do more of that. Desiderata says it above.

7. When defeat comes, accept it, take time to heal and get up. Don’t crawl for the rest of your life.

I’ve written about various defeats here and this is sound advice. I’ve had significant defeats that sometimes seemed insurmountable. I can’t add anything to this…it’s complete.

Well, that’s the lot. Take what makes sense and leave the rest for another reader. Also…subscribe!