Achieving goals breeds new ones.
A terrible situation creates misery, but a good situation doesn’t imply happiness.
Happiness takes inner work, gratitude for what’s had.
The good life’s a journey, not a destination.
It’s popular to read advice from highly successful people.
Their advice may be good for THEIR situation, but does it generalize to other circumstances?
Here’s my attempt to distill repeated advice from MANY highly successful people across many distinct circumstances:
[thread]
Achieving goals breeds new ones.
A terrible situation creates misery, but a good situation doesn’t imply happiness.
Happiness takes inner work, gratitude for what’s had.
The good life’s a journey, not a destination.
“Overnight successes” are rare, and are often misidentified. If you look closely, usually the person was practicing for 5-20 years before they were an “overnight success.”
Always be improving.
When young, people usually don’t know what they’re going to “do with their life.” That’s fine!
Life takes crazy, unexpected twists & turns.
Plans are great but expect to modify them.
Be adaptable and on the lookout for great, unexpected opportunities
Attempting hard things will bring stress, fear, and anxiety. If you avoid what you fear (more than is warranted by the level of danger) your potential will be curtailed.
Learn to push through your fears to do stressful things that are valuable.
Be thoughtful about who you are friends with, whether you spend enough quality time with your loved ones, etc.
Spending time with the wrong people will waste time or even sap potential.
Make enough time for the people that matter most to you
People will ask many things from you. If you always say yes it will drain energy & focus.
Say “yes” to your loved ones.
For others, consider if you realistically have the bandwidth without taking away from valued priorities. If not, give an authentic “no.”
Exercise regularly, reduce sugar, eat healthy foods that make you feel good, avoid excessive alcohol, meditate regularly, and seek treatment for mental health challenges.
Good health has ripple effects, and will help you achieve your goals.
More from Life
"I lied about my basic beliefs in order to keep a prestigious job. Now that it will be zero-cost to me, I have a few things to say."
We know that elite institutions like the one Flier was in (partial) charge of rely on irrelevant status markers like private school education, whiteness, legacy, and ability to charm an old white guy at an interview.
Harvard's discriminatory policies are becoming increasingly well known, across the political spectrum (see, e.g., the recent lawsuit on discrimination against East Asian applications.)
It's refreshing to hear a senior administrator admits to personally opposing policies that attempt to remedy these basic flaws. These are flaws that harm his institution's ability to do cutting-edge research and to serve the public.
Harvard is being eclipsed by institutions that have different ideas about how to run a 21st Century institution. Stanford, for one; the UC system; the "public Ivys".
As a dean of a major academic institution, I could not have said this. But I will now. Requiring such statements in applications for appointments and promotions is an affront to academic freedom, and diminishes the true value of diversity, equity of inclusion by trivializing it. https://t.co/NfcI5VLODi
— Jeffrey Flier (@jflier) November 10, 2018
We know that elite institutions like the one Flier was in (partial) charge of rely on irrelevant status markers like private school education, whiteness, legacy, and ability to charm an old white guy at an interview.
Harvard's discriminatory policies are becoming increasingly well known, across the political spectrum (see, e.g., the recent lawsuit on discrimination against East Asian applications.)
It's refreshing to hear a senior administrator admits to personally opposing policies that attempt to remedy these basic flaws. These are flaws that harm his institution's ability to do cutting-edge research and to serve the public.
Harvard is being eclipsed by institutions that have different ideas about how to run a 21st Century institution. Stanford, for one; the UC system; the "public Ivys".
