Simple Lessons For A Complex World
Why 55? You might ask, after scrolling down to the bottom of the numbered list. Well, that’s the number I got to before I got back into the car after a long hike. I typed this on my mobile while doing my weekend hike. And I must warn everyone that hiking and typing is not a good idea — maybe slightly better than texting and driving, though!
These were just random thoughts that popped into my mind. They are in no specific sequence; a few are famous people’s quotes that I remember, so they may sound familiar to you. I have not made much of an effort to edit or correct them. These are lessons that I have learnt during my life on Earth School for 46 years. They flow through me, since I have tried to internalize them, and I hope they are insightful. Let me know which ones resonate with you:
1. Your network grows by giving
2. Ageing is the best medicine for arrogance
3. Your children will teach you more than any business school
4. Being wise is more important than being smart
5. We overestimate our pain and underestimate others’
6. Money is just one form of currency
7. Grit matters more than education and intelligence put together
8. Value is more important than Valuation
9. Getting married should not be a goal; remaining married should be
10. Success is overrated, significance is underrated
11. Contribution is more important than consumption
12. Giving is not about how much you give, it’s more about how much you are willing to give up
13. Donation is masked as giving; sometimes it is discarding
14. Money is a bad proxy for giving; giving time is more important
15. Becoming a life-long learner is the only way to remain employed
16. Good leaders are secure, incompetent ones are not
17. It is easier to reach the top, harder to stay there
18. There is only feedback, no failure
19. Making your failure-resumé is more important than making one that only has your success
20. When the ego dies, the soul awakens
21. Spend your time and money on experience, not on things
22. You are the average of the people you surround yourself with
23. Your relationships will define you
24. Happiness is a state of mind that money cannot buy
25. The most important things in life are priceless
26. Pain, purpose and progress are correlated
27. Be impatient with results, patient with people
28. Be in the company of good people and good books
29. Optimize for health, minimize for things, maximize for relationships
30. The more you give the more you get
31. The only metric to measure scale is — time
32. Impact is measured by what you do for others, divided by ego (Impact = What you’ve done for others / Ego)
33. Diversity is being invited to a party, inclusion is being called to dance
34. Some people are poor, though with a lot of money
35. Leadership is decisions that we make at our defining moments
36. Life is a delicate balance between what you make happen and what you let happen
37. The worst things you thought about never happened, and the best things were not planned
38. Serendipity is magic
39. The most valuable things are intangible
40. Trust produces speed
41. Intention has infinite organizing power
42. Nobody ever mentioned parenting was hard before the kids arrived
43. You can only do a few things incredibly well
44. Lies are truth that everyone knows except the person who lied
45. We overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year
46. You will never forget your favorite teacher, first crush and first paycheck
47. Never lie to your doctor, lawyer or wife
48. You build trust in drops and lose it in buckets
49. A salaried job makes you a coward
50. A man who can, does; others talk
51. To serve is to co-create, and it is more important than helping or fixing
52. Most fights are never between right and wrong, but between two rights
53. Nothing well done is insignificant
54. Give people light and they will find a way
55. Pain dilutes ego and awakens compassion
