13 Life Lessons

As you know, I just celebrated a birthday last week.  Another year lived.  Another year of lessons learned.  I’d like to take a moment to share a few (go here to see the ones I shared previously):

1. Before you can be true to anyone else, you have to be true to yourself.
2. The older you get, the harder it is to break bad habits.
3. You’d be surprised by what you can get if you only just ask.
4. The term “Common Sense” is really quite a misnomer. It isn’t all that common, nor is it a sense.
5. Times have changed. If you think you can make it JUST by relying on an employer for financial security, you may be putting yourself and your family at risk.
6. The ones you fight with the hardest tend to be the ones you love the most.
7. Doesn’t matter how well they get along or like each other. If a pair of partners aren’t both working towards the same shared, clearly understood goal, the partnership is headed for big trouble. Be the partnership a marriage, business partnership or project team.
8. Sometimes you have to be the “bad guy” in order to save the day.
9. I am not the exact same person today I was 20 years ago, or 10 years ago, or even a year ago. And I’m happy about that – I’m changing because I’m growing, maturing, evolving.
10. I’m beginning to bet that more relationships fail because one person didn’t change, more-so than because they did.
11. Parents don’t always know what’s best.
12. There’s no point in complaining about it if you’re not going to do anything help make it change.
13. If you insist on trying to take large, rapid steps there, you’ll likely wear yourself out before you even come close. But take it one focused, determined, small step at a time and chances are high you will eventually get there.