Following your bliss is a recipe for paralysis if you don’t know what you are passionate about. A better motto for most youth is “master something， anything”. Through mastery of one thing， you can drift towards extensions of that mastery that bring you more joy， and eventually discover where your bliss is.
Learn how to take a 20-minute power nap without embarrassment.
Buying tools: Start by buying the absolute cheapest tools you can find. Upgrade the ones you use a lot. If you wind up using some tool for a job， buy the very best you can afford.
A vacation + a disaster = an adventure.
Experience is overrated. When hiring， hire for aptitude， train for skills. Most really amazing or great things are done by people doing them for the first time.
You really don’t want to be famous. Read the biography of any famous person.
Eliminating clutter makes room for your true treasures.
When someone is nasty， rude， hateful， or mean with you， pretend they have a disease. That makes it easier to have empathy toward them which can soften the conflict.
Don’t ever respond to a solicitation or a proposal on the phone. The urgency is a disguise.
Rule of 7 in research. You can find out anything if you are willing to go seven levels. If the first source you ask doesn’t know， ask them who you should ask next， and so on down the line. If you are willing to go to the 7th source， you’ll almost always get your answer.
Acquiring things will rarely bring you deep satisfaction. But acquiring experiences will.
Art is in what you leave out.
If you desperately need a job， you are just another problem for a boss； if you can solve many of the problems the boss has right now， you are hired. To be hired， think like your boss.
Don’t say anything about someone in email you would not be comfortable saying to them directly， because eventually they will read it.
When you get an invitation to do something in the future， ask yourself: would you accept this if it was scheduled for tomorrow？ Not too many promises will pass that immediacy filter.
On vacation go to the most remote place on your itinerary first， bypassing the cities. You‘ll maximize the shock of otherness in the remote， and then later you’ll welcome the familiar comforts of a city on the way back.
Anything real begins with the fiction of what could be. Imagination is therefore the most potent force in the universe， and a skill you can get better at. It’s the one skill in life that benefits from ignoring what everyone else knows.
For every dollar you spend purchasing something substantial， expect to pay a dollar in repairs， maintenance， or disposal by the end of its life.
Before you are old， attend as many funerals as you can bear， and listen. Nobody talks about the departed’s achievements. The only thing people will remember is what kind of person you were while you were achieving.
When you die you take absolutely nothing with you except your reputation.