Showing up on time and meeting deadlines on time puts you ahead of about 90% of people. I learned this starting in college – I didn’t particularly like studying, but if I showed up to every class, then the professor started to recognize me, and when I struggled on a test, they were happy to help, and more than once I think a borderline C turned into a B, or a B turned into an A, because the professor saw me as someone who tried hard, even though all I did was show up to class.
Never ever say you are b*red (see, I won’t even type the word), because the universe will hear you and rectify the situation in unexpected, and undesirable, ways.
Keep moving forward.
Always point your face in the direction you are traveling. (Amazing how often someone turns their head while continuing to move in a direction, and then BLAM!)
Having decent manners makes dealing with people much more efficient.
When people say they are sad, it is usually best just to say"I’m sorry you’re sad". Don’t get it in your head that you have some magic answer to their sadness.
As Boss, say ‘you do it’ & mean it
As Boss, say ‘we will do it’ & mean it.
I learn much from what I listen too. Music or hanger flying.
The world is round, not fair, just round.
First to arrive & last to leave makes the middle take care of itself.
Never make my Dad ask 3 times because he never goes over 2 and then takes action.
Proper sleep hygiene can make your whole life better.
If you do happen to be awake at 4:00 am, remember that everything seems much worse in the middle of the night. You’ll have a much easier time facing that thing you’re freaking out about if you wait until morning.
Most people aren’t spending their time thinking about you. You care much more about yourself and your choices than anyone else does.
This is, afterall, part of what it means to share your life with someone. You needn’t let them run your life, but treating your spouse like they are merely an appendage in your life is the opposite extreme and doesn’t exactly foster a sense of intimacy. A few examples: my wife is concerned about the health effects of beef, so I eat less beef than I would if I were single (but I haven’t eliminated it from my diet). She likes my hair a little longer, so I don’t cut it as short as I might like if I were single. She likes to wash the sheets way more than I think necessary, which means I help remake the bed more often than I would prefer. And I often go with my wife’s suggestions for clothing (this one typically works to my benefit, as I have little fashion sense). And it’s all OK; these are little things, but they (and many other things like them) convey the sense that her thoughts and feeling and opinions matter to me.
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Back in 2003 I was on a tour bus in Mexico. The tour guide spent a couple of minutes talking to the group about how a person needs three things to go on a vacation:
[ul][li]health[/li][li]wealth[/li][*]time[/ul] If you’re missing any one of those, you can’t take a vacation. The fact that we were there on his tour bus meant that we had all three, and were therefore blessed with something many people don’t have. So the next time you’re on a vacation, and you’re experiencing frustration because things aren’t going exactly as you planned, take a deep breath and ponder that fact: you are blessed. Maybe your flight got delayed three hours, maybe your luggage arrived a day late, maybe your ipad got stolen - but you are healthy, and wealthy, and you have time. This has taken on new meaning for me in the past couple of years, as my parents have grown too frail to come and visit me ever again. Thankfully I am able to go and visit them in their home on a regular basis - because I have health, wealth, and time.
To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late. Beaten into our heads in high school marching band. If we were scheduled to be on the field at 3, we needed to be there at 250, ready to go BY 3. If we were not, we ran laps around the field. To this day, I am 10 minutes early for everything.
If you see it, pick it up. Don’t leave stuff for another day to pick up / put away. I’m still not the best at it (socks are my downfall), but it helps keep me organized.
At a very early driving age my Mom and Dad taught me the importance of staying OUT of the left lane unless I’m passing someone. It has stuck well and I unconsciously feel “hung-out-there” when I’m in the left lane… even on an empty highway.
Always make sure the tires on your car are the proper inflation and have an acceptable amount of tread, that will save you a lot of pain and frustration later.
As far as school and work, your employers and instructors want to see a motivated individual who puts their time in, so “If you got time to lean, you got time to clean” and “fake it till you make it”, also it can sometimes take a long time to change someone’s first impression of you if it is a bad one, so try to be motivated and make a good impression it can sometimes save you a lot of grief somewhere down the line.
The importance of time. I recall my mother warning me at a young age about an example of a person who lived his life poorly and around age 50 surely wished he could live his life over again.
Unfortunately this has not prevented me from still wasting a good deal of my life anyway, but I have not forgotten the warning.
Yes to this. I learned a long time ago that at three in the morning there’s not a whole lot I can do to solve a problem. Stressing and lying awake thinking about it most of the night seems to magnify it. That was a hard one for me, I’m a worrier, but I’ve gotten better as I’ve gotten older.