I wouldn’t dare defile Douglas Adam’s memory by not mentioning that you should keep a towel with you at all times, but my second contender is a surprisingly short three-parter:
- never lie.
- never tell the whole truth.
- never pass up a chance to use a real bathroom.
Corporations aren’t your friend. Avoid the publicly-traded ones seeking quartely profits the most. If it isn’t a massive burden, find an alternative—avoiding some is better than none.
I’d add “Don’t defend any corp”.
Not just talking to the Tesla bros either. I mean ANY corp. Including Steam.
You can show support. But if/when they do something shitty, don’t be a bootlicker.
Same with working. I’ve worked at a few major tech companies. No matter how many rainforests they saved or houses they built. At some point, a bad decision will infuriate you, or a new directive will aim for profits and people lose their jobs.
They’re not your friend.
Everything in moderation; including moderation.
Sometimes you gotta go all out!
(But do so in moderation)
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
“Fast” is the biggest number in a straight line. Life rarely offers straight lines.
Every line is straight in a subset of coordinate systems.
Ride smooth not fast has won me some mountain bike races.
I first heard it in the context of carpentry, but I’ve since heard it in kitchens as well.
Brush your teeth and floss
Sometimes good enough is good enough.
If everywhere you go smells like shit, check your shoes.
So is this intended as kind of a metaphor or is this mainly aimed at people who have literally stepped in real shit?
This is a metaphor for life in general. If you find that all your interactions are negative, check yourself. Are you the problem in your relationships and interactions? How can you fix that? Clean your shoes.
If everyone around you is an asshole, you’re the asshole.
Both. It’s like the saying “Governing a big country is like cooking small fish.” (With the explanation that if you keep poking it, it’ll disintegrate) also taught me how to cook fish as well as realpolitik.
The fish advice was most useful.
Pretty sure its a metaphor for being an asshole
It’s a metaphor for people who smell whipped cream all the time, they should check on top of their head.
It’s both
If you don’t have time to do something right what makes you think you have time to do it twice?
Respect other people’s time. When dealing with a busy person in a professional context;
- Emails should be as short as possible while still conveying the needed information, don’t make a busy person excavate the relevant info from somewhere near the middle of the fifth paragraph.
- Whenever possible phrase a question in a way that can be answered in one word.
It’s okay to ask for help.
You need to sleep.
Never borrow money from a man whose first name is “The” and never gamble with a man whose first name is a city.
But I need $600k to pay Jersey City Steve and “The Raven” has a history of being fair with his loans.
If you find yourself in a hole, first step is to stop digging.
Reminder me of this
“What to do if you find yourself stuck with no hope of rescue: Consider yourself lucky that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn’t been good to you so far - which, given your present circumstances, seems more likely - consider yourself lucky that it won’t be troubling you much longer.” Douglas Adams
If it sounds too good to be true - it probably is.
Be kind
Simple and to the point, everyone should know and follow this. One of the best pieces of advice from the Dalai Lama
“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.”
Nothing lasts. It goes for good days, but also bad days.
Evaluate how much something matters based on 1 day, 1 month, 1 year.
I.E. How upset should you be over [Thing]? Will it matter in one day? One month? One year? That helps perspective a bunch. You can use any variation of time really, the point is perspective
Came here to say this. Always a good piece of solid advice IMO
