Today’s read (IM 841)

Kevin Kelly, the founding executive editor of Wired magazine gave away his 68 advices in his 68th birthday as 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice which  find very helpful. Some of my favorites are:

•  Learn how to learn from those you disagree with, or even offend you. See if you can find the truth in what they believe.
• Don’t be afraid to ask a question that may sound stupid because 99% of the time everyone else is thinking of the same question and is too embarrassed to ask it.
•  Being able to listen well is a superpower. While listening to someone you love keep asking them “Is there more?”, until there is no more.
•  Gratitude will unlock all other virtues and is something you can get better at.
•  Pros are just amateurs who know how to gracefully recover from their mistakes.
• Don’t take it personally when someone turns you down. Assume they are like you: busy, occupied, distracted. Try again later. It’s amazing how often a second try works
• Promptness is a sign of respect.
•  Saving money and investing money are both good habits. Small amounts of money invested regularly for many decades without deliberation is one path to wealth.
• To make mistakes is human. To own your mistakes is divine. Nothing elevates a person higher than quickly admitting and taking personal responsibility for the mistakes you make and then fixing them fairly. If you mess up, fess up. It’s astounding how powerful this ownership is.
• Show up. Keep showing up. Somebody successful said: 99% of success is just showing up.
• This is true: It’s hard to cheat an honest man.
• Before you are old, attend as many funerals as you can bear, and listen. Nobody talks about the departed’s achievements. The only thing people will remember is what kind of person you were while you were achieving.
• Anything real begins with the fiction of what could be. Imagination is therefore the most potent force in the universe, and a skill you can get better at. It’s the one skill in life that benefits from ignoring what everyone else knows.
• Art is in what you leave out.
• I’m positive that in 100 years much of what I take to be true today will be proved to be wrong, maybe even embarrassingly wrong, and I try really hard to identify what it is that I am wrong about today.
• Over the long term, the future is decided by optimists. To be an optimist you don’t have to ignore all the many problems we create; you just have to imagine improving our capacity to solve problems.
•  The universe is conspiring behind your back to make you a success. This will be much easier to do if you embrace this pronoia.