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.
Leave it better than you found it.
Goes for your home, your neighborhood, or something you’ve borrowed. It can be applied to the planet, the beach, the trail, the car, the job.
Hell, it even goes for people. Leave them a little happier, a little wiser, a little more prosperous than before.
Second rule, give people the benefit of the doubt and don’t attribute an action as the person. Did they cut you off on the road? They’re having a bad day and made a mistake. They’re speeding? Maybe they are on the way to see a loved one without much longer to live. Don’t call someone an asshole just because they made an asshole move. People are so much more than that one interaction with them.
Funny enough, these have analogs in programming!
Leave it better than you found it.
The Boyscouts rule! Clean up bad code if you can!
Second rule, give people the benefit of the doubt and don’t attribute an action as the person.
Sometimes you gotta write janky code to meet a deadline. That is not a personal failure. And give folks a break who do it too.
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.
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?
It’s both
Pretty sure its a metaphor for being an asshole
If everyone around you is an asshole, you’re the asshole.
It’s a metaphor for people who smell whipped cream all the time, they should check on top of their head.
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.
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.
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.”
I prefer the words of the Dalton Lama: “Be nice. Until it’s time … to not be nice.”
Rewind
Hydrate. Stick to water.
kidney stones are NOT nice.
drink water removed, your body needs that shit
My wife, who gave two births, was in a car accident and fought through hell to survive, still rate kidney stones as the most painful thing in her life.
I said would she rather take a bullet to the leg? She said she’d take two over a kidney stone.
All of this can be resolved just by drinking water.
Confidence isn’t about being confident but acting confident. Act confident and life will be a lot easier.
Except if you want to do good science. Good scientists will identify false confidence and will aim to steer well clear of it
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
If it sounds too good to be true - it probably is.
You need to sleep.
Brush your teeth and floss
And your belly button. Often forgotten, but an unwashed innie stinks!
I did the grave mistake of shoving my nose in one without proper cleaning.
I had to pretend I was choking on my own spit not to offend the girl.
Thank you for this reminder. I always had a nice open easy to clean one, but recently had a hernia surgery where my bellybutton got rearranged. Now it’s a tight little crevasse, and I’ll need to start paying special attention to cleaning it out.
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
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
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.
“Fast” is the biggest number in a straight line. Life rarely offers straight lines.
Every line is straight in a subset of coordinate systems.
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.
Everything in moderation; including moderation.
Sometimes you gotta go all out!
(But do so in moderation)
Never tie your finances to that of a crazy person.
