78 Lessons I've Learned

78 Lessons I’ve Learned
(Unsourced and from rote memory)
1. There is no substitute for hard work.
2. The sooner you stop complaining and start doing, the sooner the job gets done.
3. It is the squeaky wheel that gets oiled.
4. It is through small and simple things that the wise are confounded.
5. Wisdom and Humility are paths, not destinations. The instant you declare you either, you cease to be such.
6. The sum of one’s life upon death is formed in the relationships they have had over the course of their lives. All of the gold, toys or worldly achievements are nothing compared to family, friends and people who matter to each other.
7. Knowledge is power and with great power comes great responsibility.
8. Stop and smell the roses, for you will never receive another day that is today.
9. Make peace with your temporal self; forgive your past self and learn from it, and help your future self as long as it doesn’t harm your present self too much.
10. A combination of instinct, reason and patience can solve almost any problem.
11. It is foolish to discount the possibility that the supernatural might exist, because even if it doesn’t, a closed mind is an empty mind.
12. It is foolish to attribute to the supernatural, what can logically and reasonably be attributed to the natural.
13. You can learn a lot from the type of people someone surrounds themselves with.
14. The more convoluted the story, the more likely they are lying.
15. Almost nothing worth having is something that doesn’t require some form of sacrifice.
16. Sometimes you just need to let things go.
17. A journey is a powerful ritual, and can help you transform yourself. Whether metaphoric or actual.
18. Objective and Subjective reality are both important. Objective because the bullet will kill you no matter what your opinion of it, and subjective because in most ways you are the sole sure arbiter as to the worth of your life.
19. The degree to which you should have faith in something is directly proportional to the consistency of its behavior.
20. Humans are amazing creatures capable of astonishing glory, art, inspiration and kindness.
21. Humanity seems to have no limit to its greed, corruption, depravity and ruthlessness.
22. A person who tells you “No” is worth their weight in gold.
23. Know when to turn the damn phone off. Do it before asked.
24. Always follow up.
25. Make goals and complete them, make them realistic and yet make them high.
26. Forgiveness is vital for a healthy spiritual and emotional wellbeing. The more you forgive, the better off you are.
27. Don’t be a door mat, because people will happily wipe their feet all over you if you let them.
28. Pride cometh before the fall.
29. Gloating is stupid. Even if you can get away with it, when something happens later, you’ll blame it on the gloating.
30. Sometimes you need to know when to walk away. Not every battle needs to be won.
31. Never give up .
32. Always try to see the best that you can in someone. It helps you because it lifts your spirit, and it helps them because they can see what they can become in your eyes.
33. Always be prepared for the worst reasonable case scenario.
34. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
35. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
36. What you believe about the strength of Evil and its ability to affect you, says a lot about what you believe about God.
37. Those who use religion as an excuse for kindness are manifestly different in their entire state of being than those who use religion as an excuse to control or intimidate. Learning to spot the difference helps reveal a lot about people.
38. Watching how someone plays a game, especially multiple games over time, tells you a lot about a person.
39. Watching a person’s body language says a lot about a person.
40. Learning a wide range of subjects creates a synergy of knowledge which can be applied in multiple fields.
41. Treat every parting as if it were your last and you will seldom regret it, especially with those you care for most.
42. The more doors you knock, the more offers you take, the more new things you try, the less you have to ask yourself, ‘What could have been.’
43. Appreciate what you have when you have it, for it can always be taken away.
44. You are only able to control your circumstances so much. There will always be something bigger out there.
45. You can control more of your circumstances than you think you can. There is almost always a way if you want it enough.
46. One of the most valuable skills one can acquire in life is knowing how to gauge the price they are truly willing to pay for something.
47. You can learn a lot about a person based on how they treat waiters, bartenders, valets and such.
48. You can learn a lot about someone based on how they act around someone famous.
49. Famous people are really generally just people too.
50. Fame is a drug more powerful than any other, and once tasted, people will often do almost anything to retain it.
51. Sometimes, no matter how much you try to salvage a relationship, it cannot be salvaged.
52. The amount of pain in a betrayal is directly proportional to the amount you love them.
53. The quicker you can get over yourself, the quicker you can get up and move on.
54. There is no substitute for experience. Most times you have to do a thing to learn a thing.
55. You are not immortal.
56. How you feel and react when faced with death is a very good indicator of how you are living your life.
57. If you are lucky enough to have a miracle occur in your life, appreciate it for what it is, and let it change you, otherwise what was the point?
58. Remember.
59. A society is best judged by how it treats its artists, its elderly and its children.
60. A culture is best judged by how it treats people who are not members of that culture.
61. The more irrational and tyrannical a government acts, the weaker it truly is.
62. Never bet or invest what you cannot afford to lose.
63. Save, for there will always be an emergency.
64. Failure to enjoy at least some of what you earn makes work an absolute drudgery.
65. Children will remember what you say for a very long time.
66. Weddings are a crucible in a relationship. Grudges and happy memories done in those moments can last for literally decades to come. Be on your best behavior.
67. There is no harm in asking for directions.
68. There is no satisfaction quite like doing it yourself.
69. Having at least some knowledge of popular television shows as well as sports greatly helps with small talk.
70. Respect what people do. Almost no job is worthless.
71. You can learn wisdom from anyone or anything or any place.
72. Listening is a skill to be cultivated and practiced.
73. Expect the unexpected.
74. Anyone who says that there are no new things under the sun is lying and will be proved wrong. There will always be boundaries of the unknown.
75. Those who fail to learn history are doomed to be repeat it.
76. A habit can be acquired by repeating something for about a month, which is how long your body takes to put it in auto pilot.
77. There is no substitute for physical exercise for your health.
78. Sometimes it is truly worth it NOT to eat something even if you waste the money.