My Life Rules
Between my 20s to 30s, my life was all about succeeding in my career. Back in 2019 or so, after getting rejected in a big interview, I realised that knowledge is a long term pursuit. I realised that its only small things done over the long term yeild the biggest results. That realisation became my first life rule. I then sent to my brother as a lesson life taught me. Over time, with other life events and realisations, I started collecting more. And today, these have become the guiding principles and rules that shape my decisions and actions. Not all of these were created by me. They come from various sources - religion, movies, quotes etc, but each one has a story of self reflection.
A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.
Aim at the stars to get to the moon.
All it takes is 20 seconds of insane courage.
Apologize as loud as the disrespect.
Bad reputation sticks.
Bad workers blame their tools.
Be a brand.
Be ahead of the curve.
Be humble in victory and gracious in defeat.
Be objective in your arguments.
Be proactive. Take charge.
Be ready to lose the small battles to win the big ones.
Be straight to the point, don’t beat around the bush.
Be the best if you want to beat the best.
Be the one.
Be world class.
Beauty is in the details.
Bitter for the better.
Break shackles.
Call a spade a spade.
Comparison is a thief of joy.
Compounding is the eighth wonder of the world.
Cowards never stop, the weak quit along the way.
Curb laziness right at the onset.
Difficulty strengthens the mind just as labour does to the body.
Dont be a bandwagonist. Dont jump into hype trains.
Don’t blow your own trumpet.
Don’t do unto others what you don’t want done unto you.
Don't hold back your punches.
Don’t raise your voice, improve the argument.
Don’t try to be the best, just be unique.
Empty vessels make the most noise.
End what you begin.
Equate your passion to the challenge.
Everything is relative. Everything.
Exude confidence.
Fail fast, do it better.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
Follow the crowd at your peril.
Give before expecting.
Go all out.
Hindsight is a great teacher.
Honor commitments.
Hope is not a strategy.
If not right, dont do. If not true, dont say.
If only one gets inspired, it’s a victory.
If you are going to fight in the rain, train in the storm.
If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re misinformed.
If you have six hours to chop down a tree, spend the first four sharpening the axe.
If you want to rise, do the difficult.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
Instil confidence.
It's easy to look sharp when you haven't done anything.
It’s not enough you have talent, you need character too.
Just do it.
Knowledge pays the best interest.
Lead by example.
Learn to let go.
Life is a project.
Life is an A/B test.
Look at yourself from the future.
Make money make more.
Most problems in life are essentially due to 2 constraints — Time and Space.
Nothing beats experience.
Onwards and upwards, always.
Once you hit rock bottom, there is only one way to go - up.
Pick your battles.
Play the long game.
Praise in public, criticise in private.
Practice what you preach.
Presence strengthens love, absence sharpens it.
Promise less, deliver more.
Proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Pull the right strings.
Reserve your trump card for the last.
Resist temptation.
Rome was not built in a day.
Say no to excuses.
Say what you mean and always mean business.
Second place is not good enough.
Shortcuts lead to dead ends.
Small things done over long periods yield big.
Speak for yourself.
Speak truth to power.
Surround yourself with your aspirations.
Take things to completion.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
The crowd is mostly wrong.
The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit.
The heart never lies.
The reward is in the risk.
The richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.
There’s a whole new world outside your comfort zone.
There’s always free cheese in a mousetrap.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
There's no such thing as a bad student, only a bad teacher.
Think differently than different.
Think out of the box, break the box.
Think long term.
Think on your feet.