(Some of) Kevin Kelly’s 99 Additional Bits of Unsolicited Advice
That thing that made you weird as a kid could you make great as an adult — if you don’t lose it.
If you have any doubt at all about being able to carry a load in one trip, do yourself a huge favor and make two trips.
What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. At your funeral people will not recall what you did; they will only remember how you made them feel.
It’s not an apology if it comes with an excuse. It is not a compliment if it comes with a request.
Being wise means having more questions than answers.
You are only as young as the last time you changed your mind.
If you can avoid seeking approval of others, your power is limitless.
When a kid asks an endless string of “why?” questions, the smartest reply is, “I don’t know, what do you think?”
To be wealthy, accumulate all those things that money can’t buy.
Be the change you wish to see.
When brainstorming, improvising, jamming with others, you’ll go much further and deeper if you build upon each contribution with a playful “yes — and” example instead of a deflating “no — but” reply.
On the way to a grand goal, celebrate the smallest victories as if each one were the final goal. No matter where it ends you are victorious.
Calm is contagious.
Always cut away from yourself.
Your passion in life should fit you exactly, but your purpose in life should exceed you. Work for something much larger than yourself.
If you can’t tell what you desperately need, it’s probably sleep.
If you borrow something, try to return it in better shape than you received it. Clean it, sharpen it, fill it up.
Even in the tropics, it gets colder at night than you think. Pack warmly.
To quiet a crowd or a drunk, just whisper.
Writing down one thing you are grateful for each day is the cheapest possible therapy ever.
Money is overrated. Truly new things rarely need an abundance of money. If that were so, billionaires would have a monopoly on inventing new things, and they don’t. Instead, almost all breakthroughs are made by those who lack money, because they are forced to rely on their passion, persistence, and ingenuity to figure out new ways. Being poor is an advantage in innovation.
Avoid hitting the snooze button. That’s just training you to oversleep.
Always say less than necessary.
You are given the gift of life in order to discover what your gift in life is. You will complete your mission when you figure out what your mission is. This is not a paradox. This is the way.
Don’t treat people as bad as they are. Treat them as good as you are.
It is much easier to change how you think by changing your behavior, than it is to change your behavior by changing how you think. Act out the change you seek.
You can eat any dessert you want if you take only 3 bites.
Bad things can happen fast, but almost all good things happen slowly.
When you confront a stuck bolt or screw: righty tighty, lefty loosey.
If you meet a jerk, overlook them. If you meet jerks everywhere every day, look deeper into yourself.
We are not bodies that temporarily have souls. We are souls that temporarily have bodies.
You can reduce the annoyance of someone’s stupid belief by increasing your understanding of why they believe it.
The greatest teacher is called “doing”.
A problem that can be solved with money is not really a problem.
Many backward steps are made by standing still.
No rain, no rainbow.
Always give credit, take blame.
Be frugal in all things, except in your passions splurge.
Something does not need to be perfect to be wonderful. Especially weddings.
Be a good ancestor. Do something a future generation will thank you for. A simple thing is to plant a tree.
To combat an adversary, become their friend.
Take one simple thing — almost anything — but take it extremely seriously, as if it was the only thing in the world, or maybe the entire world is in it — and by taking it seriously you’ll light up the sky.
