Guidelines to Living

[The Basics

Think, decide, change. Repeat.

This is what you will do countless times a day for the rest of your life.

First and foremost you have to find out who you are. What do you enjoy? What appeals to you as a person? Music? Writing? Manual work? Academia? It doesn't have to be one specific thing. In fact devoting your entire life to one specific cause could be labelled as a waste of epic proportions. More often than not more than one field will appeal to you at any given time. It's up to you to make the decision to follow through and chase what you love. It's another thing to act on your decisions.

Life is spent mainly chasing happiness. Happiness is having a purpose. Ever notice how people are depressed when they think they are worthless? Newsflash - no one is worthless. On any given day you do have the power to change not the world, but something about yourself. Changing the world is a collective and arduous process. Changing yourself can be the opposite or the same depending on what you are willing to change and how you go about doing it.

What is your purpose? It is not predefined but rather determined by your actions. It does not have to be a magnificent purpose, just a purpose. One does not have to excel to the heights of their given field to be happy. Although it is healthy to strive towards the top, just don't become dissatisfied when you don't get there. How does one achieve in gaining this purpose anyways?

Shake off the shackles of what people think you should be. You don't have to go to university and you don't have to be a lawyer, doctor or King of the Universe. Take advice and consider it. Advice is merely a suggestion, it is up to you to decide whether the path is right or not for you. Just because someone has been there and done that and failed does not mean you cannot find a better way and succeed. And on the other hand just because someone took a route in life and succeeded doesn not mean you must take the same one. In case you didn't notice they are not you and therefore have nothing invested in you. People telling you what you should be are usually wanting to live vicariously. But as you live you will learn there are always exceptions.

You don't have to go to a higher learning institution but you must never stop learning. Learn something about your surroundings every day, it just might come in handy. Learn how people think and how they react and use this to your advantage. It's manipulative, but then again life is about manipulation. Play or be played. Learn the rules of the game, adhere to them and break them when necessary. Nothing is set in stone. There is no one formula to be successful and happy. These two things are not one in the same.

Sacrifice. You will have to sacrifices in life. There are no ifs ands or buts about it. You will have to step on toes and burn bridges to get where you want to go, just tread lightly. You may have to chmake oose between any number of things and to cover all possible situations would take a lifetime. For those who are not schooled in economics, life follows the principle of marginal returns very closely. For instance we have 3 companies:

Code:

A B C 100 4000 800 300 60 600

Each cell represents $100 you can invest with each company. You currently possess $200. You can invest all your money with B for a total of $4,060. Alternatively you can invest your first hundred with B and your second hunder with C for a total of $4,800. This is the path for maximum return on investment. You must do the same with your life but instead of dollars you place values of happiness with each choice. Choose whatever makes you the happiest. Life is all about you. Being selfish is the only option here, because 70 years down the line you will be on your deathbed realising that you've spent your life making choices that make others happy. In the end you will look back on your life, don't you want to reflect on how happy you were? I sure do.

Of course you wont have such a simple table and you won't have guaranteed results with your investment in happiness. You may fail and life will kick you in the face then spit on your limp body. You will get up. You will strive on. You will make another choice. The key is to not beat a dead horse. If you've exhausted yourself with one option there is a chance that you can find happiness with another. Always think your options through. Pre-emptive planning is the key to success. Once thoroughly thought through take the risk and see what happens, if you do fail you will always have a safety net.

Safety nets. For the new life, most of the time it is family. As you get older, your safety net will become your friends. Build good relationships on loyalty and respect, just remember that it is a two-way street. If you find someone to be deceptive and willing to stab you in the back sever and move on. Wasting time with such people ends in hours of fixing things that would otherwise not be broken. Your true friends will be there for when you hit rock bottom you will be there when they do the same. Keep your standards high and your friends will do the same. This leads on to your network.

The world revolves around nepotism. Network early and network well. Who you know will get you where you need to go in life. If you are going for a job and are competing with 1,000 other applicants but you know the person who holds the final decision and are on good terms with him; chances are the job will go to you, even if you are not the most qualified/experienced applicant. Use your network to work your way up in your profession and use the power you gain to help others whom have earned your respect. Chances are that they will work themselves into a good position as well. This forms a club around the top of the food chain where you've got support from all around. You can use it to help your friends, or smite your enemies. It's up to you.

Summing up, build a safety net, network at any given time and take risks. Choose whatever path makes you the happiest and pursue it with all your heart. The person that is most capable of stopping you is yourself.]

Discuss, add, ask questions, whatever.