Kevin Kelly seems like a wise and wonderful man. I don’t know him personally, but I have enjoyed his work and heard him on several interviews. On his 70th birthday he kindly shared 103 Bits of Advice I Wish I Had Known.
I recommend you check out the full list, but here are some of my highlights:
• Don’t ever work for someone you don’t want to become.
• Cultivate 12 people who love you, because they are worth more than 12 million people who like you.
• Efficiency is highly overrated; Goofing off is highly underrated. Regularly scheduled sabbaths, sabbaticals, vacations, breaks, aimless walks and time off are essential for top performance of any kind. The best work ethic requires a good rest ethic.
• Life lessons will be presented to you in the order they are needed. Everything you need to master the lesson is within you. Once you have truly learned a lesson, you will be presented with the next one. If you are alive, that means you still have lessons to learn.
• Productivity is often a distraction. Don’t aim for better ways to get through your tasks as quickly as possible, rather aim for better tasks that you never want to stop doing.
• The biggest lie we tell ourselves is “I don’t need to write this down because I will remember it.”
• Your growth as a conscious being is measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations you are willing to have.
• The consistency of your endeavors (exercise, companionship, work) is more important than the quantity. Nothing beats small things done every day, which is way more important than what you do occasionally.
• Making art is not selfish; it’s for the rest of us. If you don’t do your thing, you are cheating us.
• Ask anyone you admire: Their lucky breaks happened on a detour from their main goal. So embrace detours. Life is not a straight line for anyone.
• You’ll get 10x better results by elevating good behavior rather than punishing bad behavior, especially in children and animals.
• The advantage of a ridiculously ambitious goal is that it sets the bar very high so even in failure it may be a success measured by the ordinary.
• When you have some success, the feeling of being an imposter can be real. Who am I fooling? But when you create things that only you — with your unique talents and experience — can do, then you are absolutely not an imposter. You are the ordained. It is your duty to work on things that only you can do.
• We tend to overestimate what we can do in a day, and underestimate what we can achieve in a decade. Miraculous things can be accomplished if you give it ten years. A long game will compound small gains to overcome even big mistakes.
• Your best job will be one that you were unqualified for because it stretches you. In fact only apply to jobs you are unqualified for.
• The only productive way to answer “what should I do now?” is to first tackle the question of “who should I become?”
• Habit is far more dependable than inspiration. Make progress by making habits. Don’t focus on getting into shape. Focus on becoming the kind of person who never misses a workout.
• If you repeated what you did today 365 more times will you be where you want to be next year?
• Your time and space are limited. Remove, give away, throw out things in your life that don’t spark joy any longer in order to make room for those that do.
Kevin Kelly
Wow, that was hard for me to cut the list down to my highlights. There are so many good points! I noticed how the ones surrounding habits, productivity and purpose seemed to ring out at me. It’s interesting how different pieces of advice can capture us at different times depending on where we are at in the season of our life.
Check out the complete list and ponder those insights. It’s a treasure trove of wisdom. Kevin also links to other advice lists he has previously provided in his post.
What piece stands out to you the most? What difference could it make to your life?
