32 Lessons from my 32 Years
Today marks the end of my 32nd journey around the sun and - in the spirit of pithy life advice - I thought I'd share 32 things that I've learned (and am trying to put into practice).
1. The best morning routine is 8 hours of sleep.
2. Sugar is poison. The less you eat, the better life gets.
3. Stop sitting in one spot for extended periods of time. Move your body, change environments, seek novelty. The sedentary life will kill you.
4. Deep, meaningful relationships are the only things that reliably feed the soul. Stop wasting time with shallow, transactional relationships that drain your energy.
5. If you want to be loved, love others first.
6. Write that idea down. You will forget it.
7. Spend some time, money, and effort to improve the visual background, audio quality, and video quality of your Zoom calls. It will shape others' perceptions of you.
8. Life is about loving people, not impressing them.
9. Never waste an experience. Use each disappointment as fuel for a redemption story.
10. If you don't write the script for your own life, someone else will.
11. Always get properly dressed, even if you have no plans. Your clothes dictate your self-esteem and impact your psychology.
12. Communication is about what the other person receives, not what you intended.
13. Consistency beats intensity.
14. Don't put off personal quests because work and life are too busy. They are the elixir of life.
15. The price of success is paid in private. Visible triumphs are built on invisible work.
16. No one knows what they're doing. We are all just making it up as we go along.
17. You can produce your own joy. Right now. If you want to.
18. Never stop learning. Your brain is a muscle that you must train.
19. Don't watch life through a screen. Live it.
20. Gift experiences, not things.
21. Knowledge is not power. Knowledge is potential power that only gets unlocked with execution. Learn through action.
22. Seek discomfort.
23. Forgiveness is not for the other person, it's for you.
24. Your thoughts shape your reality. Protect and curate your information diet.
25. Declutter your space and watch what happens to your mind.
26. Instead of trying to save the world, just do the next right thing.
27. Learn to dance. And then do it regularly.
28. Every time you receive a compliment, save it in a document. On difficult days, read through a treasure trove of goodness.
29. Delete the social media apps from your phone.
30. Read books.
31. Never be the first to let go of a hug.
32. Be kind to yourself.
I'm extremely grateful for the lessons learned on the journey so far and can't wait to see what the next 32 years bring.