Life lessons - how I want to live my life

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture is a great lesson about how to live your life. If you haven't seen it (or read the book) I strongly recommend you watch it. The lecture surely impacted my approach to life and how I manage my priorities.

Over the last few years (and especially during my MBA), I have started to write down my own life lessons - the principles I want to apply to my own life. It is a list that gets refined over time and that I put together for myself - but I would be very pleased if it can inspire or influence just another person.

1. Failures are forgotten but regrets stay with you forever...
2. Listen before you speak
3. Be honest - don't try to be someone else and don't bend the truth. There is less to remember that way!
4. Don't be afraid of failure - Edison said "I haven't failed. I've just found 10000 ways that wont work". Embrace your mistakes and learn from them - Failure is what happens on the way to success.
5. See competition as a blessing - Rivalry raises the bar for everyone and forces you to improve.
6. Keep it simple - life is complicated enough. If your grand-mother can't get what you are trying to say, go back because it's too complicated
7. Don’t let perfection get in the way of progress - Thinking and planning should not prevent you from acting and making progress
8. Don't do anything stupid
9. It's easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission – you'll be surprised what you can get away with! (Note - the Don't do anything stupid has priority on this one...) When you are biased towards action, sometimes you just can't wait for permission!
10. Don't give up - just think about how good you'll feel after you have passed through the tough times
11. Have fun! Life doesn't have to be that serious after all...
12. Act as if everyday was your last day on earth. Chasing Daylight by Gene O'Kelly is another great source of inspiration. After being informed of his imminent death, O'Kelly, CEO of one of the Big 4, documents how he managed the few months he had left to spend with friends and family. The strongest message? He kept his loved ones for the end - and ended up not having as much time as he wanted with them. I am not planning to leave this earth anytime soon but I want to be investing my time as if I was today was my last day. When you are on your deathbed, it's too late to fix those things...

I will be refining this list over time - coments welcome!