100 lessons

As part of my preparation efforts for the next book I intend on writing, I'm writing a list of 100. As the book is meant to be a collection of lessons, told as parables, for my son to one day read, I've chosen to take lessons only from my life for this list.

In no particular order:

1. Never buy pizza at the chicken place - which is the flip side of 'The person who chases two rabbits catches neither"
2. Always accomplish more than one thing with one action (if you can help it)
3. It is the curse of mankind that we almost never recognize the value of a moment until it has passed
4. Listen to your parents. They know stuff.
5. Mistakes breed wisdom
6. Before you assume malice, assume stupidity. Before you assume stupidity, assume that it is the influence of the situation
7. There, but for the grace of god, go I
8. Pleasure is an intoxicant and pain is a teacher
9. Choices compound, whether they are wise or foolish
10. If the computer does something you don't like, you can't blame the computer
11. Invert, always invert
12. if you don't take the bad with the good, you won't be able to recognize the good when it arrives
13. Neither researching nor planning are doing
14. Don't waste energy fighting the way things are. Accept that things are that way and work with them as they are
15. It's not always a misunderstanding. Some people just won't like you, and that's okay
16. Before you can control it, it is a reason. After you can control it, it is an excuse
17. A good night's sleep is the foundation that a good day is built on
18. First, you cannot do it even with the tools, then you can only do it with the tools, then you can create your own tools, and finally, you can do it with no tools
19. You'd be surprised how far you can walk when you're not paying attention to the walking
20. Allowing yourself to feel bad because other people tell you that you should is a waste of time
21. Solutions tend to cause more problems
22. The vast majority of all problems live in people's minds
23. The difference between obsession and love is that love is a choice
24. Sometimes things take a really long time
25. There is no difference between a book you don't have and a book you don't read
26. Someone just like you came up with everything that people have made in this world
27. Humans remember things better in stories and rhymes
28. "Impossible" is a placeholder concept for "I don't know"
29. If people aren't making sense, the problem is probably the receiver and not the sender
30. Our attention can make the difference between something working and not
31. Just because something is hard in the beginning, it doesn't mean it will be hard the entire time
32. The voice in your head is no more you than your clothes or your name
33. Avoid just-so stories like the plague unless they come from someone who has wrestled them from the jaws of deep complexity
34. Come with gifts. People like gifts
35. Most of what you will think, believe and understand about the world has already been written in a book somewhere
36. Life is easier with mentors
37. If you cannot lead, you must follow*
38. Don't worry about how long things will take. The time will pass anyway
39. Almost nothing in life can be understood by reading a book, rather books can only be understood by living life
40. Repetition is a tool that solves more problems than you would think
41. What isn't said is often more important than what is
42. There is a power in naming things properly
43. In order to have good friends, be a good friend
44. Always be mindful of what you're repaying people for their kindness
45. Try not to accrue debt and pay your debt down quickly if you do
46. Humans learn best through play
47. Failure stings only if you believe that it means something about your value as a person. it doesn't
48. The key to asking good questions is to do the easy mental work on your own and ask for help only when you actually need it
49. Separatness is an illusion. You are your whole body, and you're the earth, and you're the universe at the same time
50. The cure to inability is often time. Give things time
51. If something is not physically impossible, it must be possible
52. One day, people in the future will look at us the same way we look at people in the past
53. When you are old and gray, what will you have wished you did now?
54. The heart wants what the heart wants
55. "A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down" applies to every sensory experience
56. Fear feels like you're going to die. You must do things you're afraid to do to prove to yourself that you won't
57. There is a positive way and a negative way to view everything
58. The story of anything starts before that thing exists
59. Incredulity is an insufficient response to possibility
60. Energy moves society
61. Money is a proxy for energy
62. Nothing you're worrying about now will matter in 10 years
63. Having big feet doesn't mean you don't fit in the world. It means the world must stretch to fit you
64. Some of the best stuff is weird
65. The tribe always needed someone to taste new foods and see if they were poisonous
66. Everyone is as deep and complex as you are
67. Every journey is unique but paths cross and overlap
68. The gift of being human is that anything that is automatic can be made manual to great effect
69. Tea is better than coffee and sleep is better than both
70. Don't always do things on autopilot. Feel the wind on your face. Taste the flavor of the food you're eating. Don't guzzle juice
71. A moment is only awkward if you join in that feeling
72. People require your cooperation to make you feel bad
73. You can't do everything, so you must choose what you will do
74. Do not rely on others
75. Lean on people
76. Trust but verify
77. Love is a verb
78. The more time and effort it takes to reverse a decision, the more thought should go into it
79. Things only make sense in hindsight
80. The chain of destiny can only be handled one link at a time
81. Never practice at full intensity
82. If something is important to you, have time set aside for it
83. The part where you want to slow down is where you must speed up
84. It's not about getting ready, it's about staying ready
85. The basics are what most people get wrong, not advanced material
86. Slow is fast. Fast is lethal
87. Plans always fail but plan anyway
88. Do it when you think of it the first time
89. Lies are expensive, the truth is cheaper, but silence is free
90. Every lesson learned may be something to unlearn tomorrow - which is the flip side of 'what got you here won't get you there'
91. Be someone other people can call in an emergency
92. If you know you're starting from a deficit, don't bother measuring the magnitude before you start counteracting it
93. Getting better than most people at most things is easy but becoming the best takes a lifetime of work
94. Lean into what motivates you. Find more of it
95. Technical knowledge is dirt cheap but the vision to use it is too rare to value
96. What we expose ourselves to becomes who we are
97. Always ask yourself if the juice is worth the squeeze
98. You have to suck at something before you can become good at it
99. When you cheat, you're usually cheating yourself
100. Everyone has something to teach you