“Strive for the world that should be. Plan for the world that will be.”
“Do exactly as I say, and no one will get hurt.”
When my gf helps me with a project, like holding the base of the ladder while I cut branches from a tree, I always look her in the eye and say it.
I maintain a phony smile until an annoying customer, or an annoying co-worker, leaves the room. Then I shrug, say, “F### it. I don’t care”, and go back to my regular work.
One day at a time.
One hour at a time.
One minute at a time.
And – when necessary – one second at a time.
When I start to regret some foolish purchase, I remind myself, “I’ve spent fifty bucks on dumber shit than this.”
When small improvements seem insignificant, I remember, “Better is better. Better IS better.”
You gotta live like you’re on vacation.
This mantra was written just for you. Don’t share it with anyone else
Owa Tajer Khayam
Mystically powerful when repeated quickly
My father, who had questionable tastes in humor, had a similar one:
Owa Tagu Siam
“Perfect” is the enemy of “good enough”.
That is SO true.
Never trust a man who says “trust me.”
Nobody’s as smart as they think they are.
Never do today what can be put off until tomorrow (or later). Leaving things to the last minute ensures they get done faster.
Hassle is always finite.
“Chance favors the prepared mind.” – Louis Pasteur
“Don’t eat the fire truck!” – Advice given to Darby Crash with unexpectedly broad applications.
Yup. If someone says it can’t get worse say ‘yeah it can. just imagine whats happening now, plus a cluster headache’.
My go to mantra when I feel life is too painful, we are all too dumb and deranged, we aren’t competent to solve our problems is ‘in 100 years neuroscience will have figured out how to rewire the brain’ Works for me.
I Am Sofa King We Todd Ed
“If that’s the worst thing that happens this [week], we’re doing pretty well.”
Adjust the time span given in brackets as necessary, according to the size of the problem and/or disaster. I sometimes find myself saying ‘if that’s the worst thing that happens this month’ or ‘this year’. I can only think of a couple of occasions that called for ‘if that’s the worst thing that happens this lifetime.’
Two that I figured out for myself:
- Nothing is ever as good or as bad as it initially seems
- You have to deal with the world as it is, not the world as you wish it would be
And one that I nicked from Bill Parcells:
- You are what your record says you are.
He was talking about football, but I believe it applies generally.
j
I’ve got quite a few, but the one that is used most often:
Oh, shit!
Oh, shit!
Oh, shit!
~VOW
“It’s better than good. It’s good enough!”
Mine is, “It’s not my fault, but it is my responsibility.” I have a laundry list of personal struggles, none of which are my fault, but all of which are my responsibility to deal with effectively.
I have a couple others, anxiety-related. “Don’t suffer twice” and “Discomfort, not danger.”
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. – Hanlon’s Razor
And, you can’t control everything, you can only control yourself. Or something like that. Whatev.
Re “whatev”, hey, another one!