About a year ago, How to Live by @sivers arrived at my doorstep.
I couldn't put it down and read it that day til completion. I've never done that before with a book.
I've read it countless times since. I've lost track.
Here are my favorite 13 ways to live and some takeaways:
- Create
"Die empty. Get every idea out of your head and into reality. Calling yourself creative doesn't make it true. All that matters is what you've launched. Make finishing your top priority."
✔️Shipping something is better than waiting for perfection.
2. Make memories
"How you feel about anything is based on how you look back at it. Your memory is influenced by how you feel now. The more something means to you, the more you'll remember it. Give moments meaning to remember them. Take away meaning to forget."
✔️Journal daily
3. Balance everything
"creative work needs scheduling. The greatest writers didn't wait for inspiration. They kept a strict daily schedule for creating their art. A routine triggers inspiration because your mind and body learn that ideas emerge at that time."
✔️Set deadlines.
4. Love
"Love is a combination of attention, appreciation, and empathy. Learning is loving. The more you learn about something, the more you can love it. Learn about a place to appreciate it. Learn about people to empathize with them."
✔️ Show gratitude daily
5. Learn
"Never consider yourself an expert. It's the strong swimmers who drown. Don't believe what you think. Have questions, not answers. Doubt everything. The easiest person to fool is yourself."
✔️ Be a student for life
6. Laugh at life
"No matter what you need to do, there's a playful, creative way to do it. Playing gives you personal autonomy and power. When kids play make-believe, anything goes. To play is to be free from constraints."
✔️Laugh daily to take life less seriously
7. Commit
"When people say you're a person of good character, they mean you're not just good, but consistently so. You're defined by what you do repeatedly. Your habits create your character."
✔️ Choose wisely with intention on the routines you set and what actions you take.
8. Fill your senses
"How amazing that everything you're doing is both the first and the last time. The thrill of the first. The sentimentality of the last.
✔️ Live today to its fullest and notice experiences so that you don't take them for granted.
9. Do nothing
"The unintelligent jump to conclusions. the wise just observe. Wisdom comes from removing junk, lies, and obstacles to clear thinking. Instead of learning more, get wise by learning less. Keep an empty head so you can observe clearly.
✔️ Create spaciousness
10. Think super-long-term
"Use a time machine in your mind, constantly picturing your future self and your great-grandchildren's world. Act now to influence that time."
✔️ Use the aging booth app and dream up what your 90yo version of you would want you to do you today.
11. Intertwine with the world
"Ask questions until you understand why things are the way they are. Culture is often historical. Like a person's outlook on life is shaped by what they've been. through, a culture's values are shaped by its recent history. Learn the local mindset."
12. Be independent
"Never agree with anything the same day you hear it, because ideas some ideas are persuasively hypnotic. Wait a few days to decide what you really think. Don't let ideas into your head or heart without your permission."
✔️ Channel patience. Sleep on decisions
13. Reinvent yourself regularly
"Putting a label on a person is like putting a label on the water in a river. It's ignoring the flow of time. Your identity. Your meanings. Your trauma. They're all based on the core idea that you're in a continuum, living a story...
But there is no line between moments in time. There is no story. There is no plot."
✔️ Test out detaching from labels that feel too permanent.
In summary, here are my fave 13 ways on How to Live by Derek Sivers:
1. Create
2. Make memories
3. Balance everything
4. Love
5. Learn
6. Laugh
7. Commit
8. Fill your senses
9. Do nothing
10. Think super-long-term
11. Intertwine with the world
12. Be independent
13. Reinvent yourself
