86. Start planning your escape
87. Most ideas, no matter how brilliant, are worthless without a concrete implementation. That's because ideas are easy but implementing them is hard. Become a genius at execution - at seeing through an idea to the end - and you'll find others will treat you as extremely valuable. And you'll almost certainly become a great success.
88. All sorts of things about your life, and the environment you live in, will change in unpredictable ways over any period of time. Challenges and opportunities that you never expected will present themselves. To rigidly stick to some kind of life-plan under such circumstances is just asking for trouble. Instead, you should prepare yourself to meet challenges and take advantage of opportunities, however they may present themselves. Success in life is about being adaptable, and having the resources to allow you to do that.
89. The most valuable use of time, in my opinion, is spending it on those moments that make you feel great to be alive. Those simple times when you catch yourself and think: "Isn't it just bloody fantastic to be here?".
90. The easiest way to get rich:
A. Get a well-paid job
B. Get good tax advice
C. Save 20% of everything you earn (and more)
D. Conservatively invest the funds that build up in your savings account
E. Reinvest any income you get from your assets straight back into buying more assets
F. Never touch these funds and do your best to ignore them
G. Wait a decade
91. Rather than eating the same old stuff, reading from the same sources, and consuming the same old cultural products - expand your horizons a bit. Don't just go for variations of stuff you already know you like. Instead, seek out something genuinely new and enrich your life.
92. Most of the big advances are made simply by trying stuff out.
93. Clearly, knowledge of how systems work and how they can be improved is one of the greatest assets any person can possess. A large amount of study toward understanding them is almost certainly a very wise investment.
94. Trying to be all things to all people may seem like a great way to cast a wide-net. But really, it's a way to turn people off. Being everything is equivalent in most people's minds as being nothing. What can't be categorized is likely to be rejected and forgotten. In business, career and relationships, decide who you are and what you stand for in a sharp fashion. Try to summarize it in only a word or two for the area you're focused on. This is a much better strategy than trying to be all things to all people.
95. Focus on total cost, not just price
96. If you don't know, say so.
97. Work around reality, don't fight it.
98. Do a little bit of work towards your goals each day.
99. The secret is to be very stingy with your work. Refuse to hand any of it over unless the payback is likely to be big. Focus on what's important and refuse to waste time and energy on what isn't. Look for where the value is created and pump all your energy into that even if it means neglecting some detail or other.
100. Don't justify bad deeds by comparing yourself to others.
101. When you study people who are really successful - in business, love, friendship and lifestyle - you find it's often those who start out in the disregarded areas who get ahead. Spend time looking where the crowds aren't, and you'll often be surprised at the good things you'll find.
102. How to become more charismatic:
A. Make the conversation about them
B. Try to find people's obsessions and build a conversation around them
C. Look after your appearance
• Keep clean - bathe daily, wash your hair once every few days, clean your teeth twice a day.
• Keep tidy - if you're a man, keep your facial, nasal, and ear hair well-shaved. If you're a woman do the same for visible body hair
• Keep your hair neat, tidy and stylish.
• Dress well - wear fashionable, well-fitting clothes. Make sure they're clean, well-pressed, and new enough not to be faded. Aim to dress a bit better than those around you.
• Lose bad smells - wear deodorant and/or perfume, but don't overdo it, subtle is the key. If you eat something spicy, drink coffee, or smoke, have a packet of mints handy to clear your breath afterwards.
D. Be friendly and polite
E. Develop a gentle wit
F. Make people feel special
G. Have better than average communication skills
103. Sometimes it's better to do nothing.
104. Your best work will always come if you're producing something you'd love to use.
105. Five simple exercises for improving your willpower:
A. Drop a small bad habit
B. Learn something boring but useful
C. Do something you know you should every day for a week.
D. Set yourself an achievable, but difficult goal with a date for reaching it
E. Have a month where you ban yourself from putting anything off
106. Learn how to deal with the unknown
107. Don't rely on the charity of others
108. Understand the basis of your emotions
109. Challenge yourself
110. Don't let your inner demons overwhelm you
111. Focus on the problem, not on the person. Work around the fact that most of us are likely to make the occasional error, and will be more interested than our own needs than yours. Such a strategy is likely to find you more often achieving the results you want.
112. Seven rules for sharpening up your thinking skills:
A. Have a healthy level of skepticism
B. Look for hard data, not assumptions, arguments, and conclusions
C. If there's not enough data then no conclusion can be formed
D. Look for and verify assumptions
E. Look for circumstances where the conclusion may be found false
F. Make strong attempts to overcome your biases
G. Be willing to change your conclusions in the face of new data
113. Use evolutionary theory for success:
• Rather than just trying one thing, try many - including those which seem as if they may be unsuccessful.
• Accept that the world will change, and what worked yesterday probably won't work tomorrow.
• Realize that the unexpected is likely - what you think will succeed may fail, what you think will fail may succeed.
• Be ruthless about killing off the unsuccessful.
• Never stop tweaking your designs.
114. From adversity comes greatness
115. Don't try to change people
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