Things You Should Be Doing

Let me preface this post. Although I wish I could take credit for this list, the 10 points were actually organized by Paul Brockbank. Brooke took some notes in his class and was kind enough to share them with me.

I copied the notes into my Moleskine and folded down the corner of the page. For some reason, I find that I re-read them fairly often. Here they are, in typed format. I've taken the liberty of adding some of the a's, b's, and c's.

The title of this post is Things You Should Be Doing. The "You" refers to you.

1. Be relevant. Have substance. Matter.
1. Have an opinion
2. Know what's happening in the world
3. Learn new things
4. Discuss ideas, not just people, events, and things
5. Be involved in important causes
6. Be educated
7. Be well-read
8. Connectedness
9. Three kinds of people
1. Make things happen
2. Watch things happen
3. Ask "What happened"?
10. Be loyal
11. Talk about positive things
12. Matter to someone
13. Contribute

2. Adventurous - thirst to learn, change, and explore
1. Be obsessed with growth
2. How do you know if you're growing? Things no longer fit.
3. Be passionate about something. It can be anything. Just let that fire burn within you.
4. Leave your comfort zone
5. Do exciting things

3. Love now - do what you love, love what you do. Love the moment you are in.
1. Story about the two men who travel to the new towns. How was the town you just left? You'll find it is the same here.
2. No amount of money can compensate for unhappiness
3. Sometimes we do something we don't love for a short period of time because it will open doors in the future. Make the most of it.
4. Make the thing you're doing something you love
5. You are the one who chooses to be happy or unhappy

4. How do you define losing/failing? Winning/succeeding? - humility, pride, growth
1. Be authentically happy when others succeed
2. Success is not a zero sum game. You do not lose because someone else wins.
3. Which destroys more people? Losing or winning?
4. Do both with grace
5. Sometimes when you're born on 3rd, you think you hit a triple
6. Learn how to celebrate

5. Re-creation, Reinvent yourself - change before you're compelled to change, while still loving the person you are today
1. "There is no career path." - Bill Gates
2. Whenever you feel comfortable, reinvent yourself
3. Appreciate what you have when you have it

6. Bias for action - sometimes you need to start moving in one direction and adjust to where you want to go
1. Newton's laws of physics
2. I will go and do, not I will sit and stew
3. Indecision is a decision
4. Don't graduate from college and move in with your parents again. Don't waste your time in a dead-end job. Find a career. Experience life on your own.
5. Hamlet thought too much - just kill your uncle already!
6. A strategy with a D execution v B strategy with an A execution

7. 90% of the experience is the journey. Make time for dating. Smile at the guy in the toll booth. Do your calling. You're never too busy. Make the person in front of you happy.
1. How you treat everyone
2. Get caught up in things

8. Charity - true love that motivates how you live your life
1. Don't get caught up in the thick of thin things
2. Be selfless and transcend yourself
3. Model v. critic
4. Bless v. impress
5. Light v judge
6. We're all functionally blind to our own defects. We suffer from the cancer of selfishness.
7. People we love being around. We seek these people out.
8. Life is hard. You choose how you deal with it

9. Be a Renaissance man/woman. Be a beautiful human
10. It takes 10,000 hours to master something. (Malcolm Gladwell - Outliers)