How To Live A Happy & Productive Life, From The CEO Of Down, Inc.

My good friend Megan recently turned 31 and collected some bits of wisdom from her friends. Here’s my homework — it’s only a month late!

On life:

1. Life is about stories. As kids, we learn through stories. As adults, our stories define our best memories, our friendships, and our careers. Write the best stories that you can.
2. Your default state, 99% of the time, should be honesty. Honesty is the easiest and most liberating policy. Like-minded people will eventually gravitate toward you, making your life less dramatic and easier.
3. Always be learning. Self improvement makes life rewarding.
4. Embrace the best parts of other cultures and learn from the worst. Appreciate what’s great about your own culture, country, and family.

On productivity:

1. Many people will say you can’t. It’s those who refused to cave to pressure from family, friends, community, and society who changed the world. Live inside your own bounds, not those defined by others.
2. Record your ideas, especially the ones that keep you from sleeping at night.
3. When in doubt, make pro/con lists.
4. Procrastination is natural and ok in doses, as long as you prioritize. Pick 3 things per day to tackle and 3 things for the next year. Focus.
5. Better now than never! Use the guilt of being late on your goals to motivate yourself in starting it, even if you’re way past your original target date.

On relationships:

1. Be brave enough to cut when needed. This includes cutting out acquaintances and friends who are simply toxic. You’ll likely have at least 1 friend in your 20s who you need to cut out of your life.
2. We only have a brief amount of time to be alive & healthy. Nothing is really permanent. Love accordingly. Free yourself from the storybook romance fantasies and embrace love in short-term, long-term, and unknown terms.
3. Show affection and show anger. Yes, bro-hugs and ILUs are welcome and appropriate for guy friends. Express your frustrations before they become toxic.
4. Take time for self-reflection. Figure out what you want and what you need from relationships (especially when healing from the end of one), then communicate it to future partners.
5. Dating, like anything in life, takes practice to do it really well. Experience, evaluate, and try again with your lessons learned.
6. Study to be an expert lover. Blow your partner’s mind (among other things).

If you liked what you read, be sure to ❤ this post — it means a lot to me!

-Colin