PART ONE
Valedictorians
rarely become millionaires.
Glenn Gould was such
a hypochondriac that if you sneezed while on a phone call with him, he'd
immediately hang up.
Most of life isn't
zero-sum. Just because someone else
wins, that doesn't mean you lose.
Sometimes that person needs the fruit and you need the peel. And sometimes the strategy that makes you
lose small on this round makes you win big on the next.
Life is noisy and
complex, and you don't have perfect information about others and their
motives. Writing people off can be due
just to a lack of clarity.
Psychologist Shelley
Taylor says that "a healthy mind tells itself flattering lies".
Instead of merely
focusing on intentions, make sure that in your day-to-day actions you are being
the main character in your perfect story.
Meaning keeps us
going when stark reality says "quit".
Very often our stories are stronger than we are, and if they're
meaningful ones, they can carry us through the tough times.
Luck isn't just
serendipity or due to different results in life. A lot of it is about the choice people make.
Lucky people don't
dwell on failure; they see the good side of the bad and often learn from it.
People who expect a
fairy-tale relationship experience a lot more disappointment than those who
don't.
Dreaming ends up
increasing depression later on.
Fantasizing gives us the reward before we've accomplished the task and
saps the energy we need to realize it.
More dreams now mean less achievement later.
Don't see bad things
as permanent, pervasive, or personal.
Happy friends make
you 15 percent more likely to be happy too.
People who live the
longest aren't the ones who get the most help; they're the ones who give the
most help.
