




I like to be shot.



2. Give your power over to no one.
3. Going into the unknown is how you expand what is known.
4. Get a library card.
5. Spend more time around people that both challenge and respect you.
7. Fight for what matters.
8. There is a method that works. Find it.
10. Drink your coffee black.
11. Never let anyone photoshop a picture of you. It creates a false sense of self-confidence.
12. Read more. Especially things you disagree with.
13. Get used to feeling stupid. It’s a sign of growth.
14. It’s easy for people to talk a good game, so watch how they behave instead.
16. Find things that inspire you and pursue them, even if there’s no money in it.
17. Starve if you have to, for as long as you need to.
18. Survive on a little just to prove you can do it.
19. Get one big success at an early age. It’ll help build your confidence for bigger things.
21. Be comfortable with abandonment, even of parts of your identity.
24. Keep people around you that will tell you the truth.
25. Genius gets you nowhere. Execution is everything.
27. Meet new people as often as possible. Offer to help them.
28. Don’t discriminate. Connect anyone in your network to anyone else.
31. Get a passport. Fill it up with stamps no one has ever seen.
33. Read biographies. It’s like having access to the best mentors in history.
34. Go to bed, and wake up, early. No one will bother you, letting your best work emerge.
35. Scare yourself a little bit every day. It will expand your inner map.
37. Don’t buy a lot of stuff, and only buy the stuff you really love.
39. Twitter followers don’t keep you warm at night.
40. Be as useful as you can in as many circumstances as possible.
42. Repeat people’s names when you meet them.
43. Turn internet access off your phone. Wifi is fine.
44. Get a deck of Oblique Strategies cards. Use them.
45. Make your home a place where you feel safe.
46. Take people up on bets. Make more bets yourself.
47. Take cold showers. They’re better than coffee.
49. Make everything either shorter, or longer, than it needs to be.
50. Always remember those who helped you. Deliver two or three times as much value back.
51. But also, help people who have never helped you, and can’t.
52. When you know that pain is temporary, it affects all of your decisions.
54. Commit to things, regularly, that are far beyond your ability.
55. Meet with friends more often than you think you have to.
57. Your stories are both more and less interesting than you think.
59. Walk more.
63. Consider avoiding school. Go to lots of conferences instead.
65. Apologize more than you need to.
66. Find out if there will be food there.
67. A good haircut changes everything.
69. Say no to projects you don’t care about.
70. Do things that are uncool. Later on, they usually end up becoming cool anyway.
71. Find your voice.
73. Learn to play chess, go, and bridge. They’ll keep you from going senile.
74. Learn about the Tetrapharmakos.
75. Find ways to cheat the system– just don’t cheat people.
76. Be like Jesus, not like his followers. (This applies to all of them.)
78. Examine your jealousy. You’ll learn a lot about yourself.
80. Address small problems. They will become big problems.
82. Yes, there is such a thing as bad press.
84. If the internet is the best thing in your life, you have a serious problem.
85. Give away your best work for free.
87. Actually write on your blog. Nobody cares if it’s hard.
88. Download Freedom. Use it for an hour every day.
89. Join a gym. Lift the heaviest you can. (This applies to girls too.)
90. Do some freewriting. It helps you think things through.
91. When you’re having supper with rich people, pick up the cheque.
93. If you see someone who needs help, stop asking yourself if they need help. Instead, just help.
95. The best conversations are had side by side, not one in front of the other.
97. Do what’s most important first thing in the morning, before you check email.
98. Everyone feels like they’re not good enough. It’s not just you.
99. Courage is a learned skill.
