40 Rules of Thumb for Life

What you need to know to have a great life

The longer you live, the more you learn about how life works. One of those things you learn is that there really are rules of thumb that will almost always take you in the right direction. These are some of mine. Hopefully, as you read over these, you’ll find some of these that are worth adopting.

1) If you think you should do something, but you're afraid to do it, then you MUST do it. Whatever your limiting factors in life may be, fear should not be one of them.

2) You can't change anyone. If you can't live with the way they are, warts and all, you should move on.

3) Things wear out, get old, and fall out of style, but experiences and skills can stay with you until you die. So, spend more of your money on experiences and skills, not things.

4) If you want to make a friend, get a girl, or maintain a relationship, don't ever feel bad or be hesitant to be the one who moves first.

5) Criticism that's from someone you care about, someone you respect, or criticism that you think may have merit matters. All other criticism is meaningless.

6) Saying and doing things that are wrong or that you don't believe in order to go along with the crowd and be popular isn't going to be worth it even if it works.

7) The more difficulties you have to go through, the more opportunity you have to distinguish yourself from other people.

8) It's better to ignore difficult people or even people who treat you badly than to spend your precious time and emotional energy engaging with them.

9) If you're trying to decide if somewhere is dangerous, look for middle-aged white women. If you see them walking around, it's a strong indication the area is safe.

10) Make yourself happy first before you try to make other people happy because if you're happy, it's much easier to feel good about taking care of other people's needs.

11) If a friend of yours asks you for money, it almost always means they're bad with money and will continue to have money problems. Additionally, when they get some money and need to pay someone back, they will feel a lot of pressure to pay the power company, phone bill, etc. instead of you. That means there's a good chance they will pay you back late, if at all, and ruin the friendship. With that in mind, you should never loan a friend money. You can JUST GIVE THEM the money if you want to, but never loan them money.

12) Ask for a raise. Ask for a discount. Ask for something free to be thrown in. Ask for what you actually want. You might get it, or you might not, but seldom does it hurt to ask.

13) It really is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

14) Anyone who is asking you to lie is asking too much. 

15) Be polite, be kind, and treat everyone well unless they give you a good reason not to do it.

16) Live in your strengths, but never simply accept a weakness.

17) Your whole life ends up being what you habitually do on a daily basis, both good and bad, repeated over decades. Changing one small habit today can change how your whole life turns out.

18) What people do tells you infinitely more about a person than what they say.

19) You will save an awful lot of time in life if you find people who are successful at what you want to do and copy what they’re doing.

20) The person who needs the other the least in any type of relationship ends up being the one calling the shots.

21) You’re going to spend 1/3 of your life asleep, so put a lot of money and effort into making sure that your bedroom is as conducive to sleep as possible. 

22) Happy people tend to stay happy despite their circumstances, while unhappy people tend to stay unhappy despite their circumstances.

23) Find a way to enjoy the journey, because life is mostly a journey punctuated by short pit stops at a few destinations that seldom distract you for long before you set out on another journey.

24) How people do one thing is how they tend to do all things. That’s why a few key moments can tell you almost everything you need to know about what you can expect from a person.

25) If you can't understand an argument well enough to intelligently argue the opposite position, you don't know what you're talking about.

26) Habitually tell the truth. It's a lot easier than trying to keep up with lies and as an added bonus, people will trust you ten times more if you tell them the truth when it isn't easy than if you lie to tell them what they want to hear.

27) Nothing you can buy will feel as good as having enough money in the bank or in investments to feel financially secure no matter what happens.

28) Never miss an opportunity to pet a dog.

29) When trying to decide between two outcomes have a bias towards action. In other words, if you can't decide between staying at home and watching reruns or going to a party, choose the party every time. Out-and-about and in action is where almost all of the good things in your life happen.

30) Over the long haul, people always make time for what they really want to do.

31) If you genuinely think someone deserves to be complimented, do it. Most people aren't complimented enough and a kind word from you may do more for them than you'll ever know.

32) If someone matters to you, treat them like they matter to you because most of your happiness in life will ultimately come from a relatively small number of people.

33) Once you make a decision, stick to it unless you have a good reason to change your mind.

34) Never burn a bridge with a person or business unless you don't need them for anything anymore.

35) You don't have to do anything except die and pay taxes. Whether you realize it or not, with everything else, there are options.

36) Never respond to someone you care about when you're emotional. Give it some space, some time, let your head clear, and go from there.

37) If you're not going to remember it in five years, it's not worth getting upset over.

38) Don't mourn what you lose, be grateful that you had it as long as you did.

39) If you can't afford it, you don't deserve it.

40) You are going to die. It might be 50 years from now or it might be tomorrow. So, whether it's saying, "I love you," traveling, or writing the great American novel… if it's important, do it while you have the chance because nothing in the future is guaranteed.

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