The Big Idea: Prioritize and focus on what brings happiness, instead of caring about things that don’t matter. Inspired by Stoicism and Buddhism.
There is no such thing as permanent happiness. Happiness is the process of solving problems and challenges.
Make decisions based on values and reason, not emotions.
When you believe you’re special, you feel entitled to feeling good about yourself, which limits your personal development.
Don’t strive to have a life free of pain and suffering. Instead, choose what kind of pain and suffering is meaningful to you.
Avoid destructive values such as: pleasure, material success, always being right, always being positive.
Choose values that are about yourself, because you can’t control what other people think or do.
Adopt these five constructive values instead:
- Take responsibility for everything that happens in your life, whether it’s your fault or not. Something may not be your fault, but you are responsible for how you respond.
- Admit that you could be wrong.
- Embrace failure, because failure is an opportunity to learn.
- Practice rejection. Get good at rejecting things that are counter to your values.
- Reflect on your mortality to keep things in perspective.