1. Much of what we treat as real is a figment of our collective imagination.
2. Beyond scientific and societal laws, rules are as firm as you make them.
3. There is nobody you can’t empathize with once you’ve heard their story.
4. You have to be lucky to be successful, but luck can be engineered.
5. It all starts and ends in the mind. The most crucial skill is how you think.
6. What you say “no” to better predicts a result than what you say “yes” to.
7. Happiness isn’t about a state of constant elation. It’s about being content.
8. Outside of physics, chemistry, and biology, most science is very uncertain.
9. Those who engage in cynicism often do so to show how “smart” they are.
10. Everyone is a hypocrite, and it often doesn’t matter. Life isn’t a formula.
11. People suck. But if you’re kind, you’ll get the best out of even the worst.
12. People are inspiring. The lengths many of us go to for others is baffling.
13. Perfection only exists in the mind. It’s not real. Imagine, create, improve.
14. Reading is telepathy. A book is the most powerful technology invented.
15. Planning is useful, but returns tend to diminish. Start before you’re ready.
16. The less you care about trivial things, the more likable you generally are.
17. Diversity in experience fuels diversity in thought. Live experimentally.
18. The better you adjust your internal expectations, the happier you’ll be.
19. Growth is what keeps life interesting, and it comes from doing hard stuff.
20. Nostalgia is selective. On scale, things are as good as they’ve ever been.
21. Outside rare exceptions, “experts” get far more credit than they deserve.
22. Over time, the greatest risk you can take is to take no risks at all.
23. Who you let into your life is a vital decision. Don’t leave it up to chance.
24. If you worship money, possessions, or prestige, you’ll never have enough.
25. Rationality is one of the most valuable life tools, but it has its limitations.
26. The fact that life is finite should accompany every long-term decision.
27. You don’t need permission to lead, build, create, or to think differently.
28. Everything is approximate. Don’t aim to be right. Aim to be less wrong.
29. It’s better to not have an opinion than to blindly follow someone else’s.
30. For most of us, life is quite long. It only feels short if we start to waste it.

Source: Zat Rana on Medium