The Greatest Life Lessons, Simplified into Unforgettable One-Liners

One sentence can change your life.

A tiny idea that takes up a single sentence can throw a sledgehammer into your mind and interrupt your thoughts.

This is where the power to change direction lies. Think about your favorite books. Think about your idols. Think about the best advice you ever got. All of it, often, can be boiled down into one lonely, subtle sentence.

Here are the greatest one-liners I’ve collected.

“If you look for negativity, you'll find it” – @hustlenconquer

Negativity is everywhere you look. If you go on social media for 5-seconds you can quickly meet a hater who’s lonely and desperately looking for validation. Our human brain is primed to spot negativity as a survival mechanism. Makes sense.

The superpower you need to survive in the modern world is to consciously switch off all the negativity. It’s why my Medium and Twitter feeds are thoroughly filtered to ensure silly people with petty problems don’t make them mine.

Life is hard up. Inspiration is hard enough to find. I’ve made it my life’s work to do the curation for you. Get inspired, not destroyed by someone else’s negativity.

“Getting rich is just self-improvement in disguise.” – Josh George

Not financially rich. I mean time rich. Rich enough to do whatever you want every day without reporting to some pain in the ass micromanager who wants to squeeze a few more sweat beads out of your forehead to collect a bonus. Screw dat.

Working on yourself is where all the solutions are found. Self-improvement is only a gimmick if you’re naive enough to think you’re perfect. If you’re perfect then nobody can fix your broken life. That’s the harsh truth.

Instead, lean into the fact you’re imperfect and need daily improvement to become the best version of yourself, so you can crush your goals.

“A college degree is basically a certificate to say you’re good at following rules” – Aaron Will

Jamming up your brain full of facts and figures you have to write down again for an exam is a dumb system. We’ll look back on the university model in the future and laugh about how stupid it is.

College taught me very little. Life slapped me around and gave me the best lessons. When you have to fend for yourself, instead of relying on teachers to hold your hand, things get real.

College teaches us about how the world should be, not how it is. Plus spending 6-figures on an education unless you want to be a doctor, lawyer or engineer is financially reckless.

Money-making skills can be taught online for 99 bucks. Read that again.

"Sometimes, the ducks line up in a way you don’t see or comprehend until later" – Linda Caroll

The need to have a plan can really mess up serendipity and chance in life.

I lost everything and ended up in a bank. That bank is the reason I’m obsessed with personal finance. While working in the bank back in 2013 I met one of the first-ever crypto companies. They sold Bitcoin.

I was forced to learn about it. That one chance encounter combined with an open mind made me stupid amounts of money that changed my career forever.

What if falling flat on your ass is the best thing that could ever happen to you?

I’ve learned it is. I crave huge failures and catastrophes. It’s the main way my slow brain learns a valuable lesson and breaks negative patterns in life.

“The real flex is minding your business, staying low-key and working on yourself.” – Pammy DS

Gif Credit: Giphy

Gossip is a social disease that destroys your ability to be happy long-term. Nobody likes a sh*t talker who expects random people to meet their hidden standards.

Low-key is the new cool.

To be low-key is to be underestimated. It’s to work on yourself and not worry about what every other person is up to. It’s the ability to switch off social media that makes us compare ourselves.

I prefer to keep my goals to myself. When I started writing I told a few people and they all wanted to judge me and talk me out of my dreams. So I got used to telling nobody about my writing goal. Half a billion people later, I can safely say that was the right decision.

Successful people often look completely normal. That’s how it’s supposed to be.

“Action creates motivation” – Mark Manson

You don’t get inspired. No. You sit down to do one micro task and the tiny progress leads to the motivation to get you to the next thing.

Before long you’ve strung together a whole group of tasks that lead to a goal. If you do that enough times your results will look superhuman, even if, like me, you’re not that smart or weren’t born brilliant.

Do the first small thing to get to the next thing. Progress helps guide you looking back.

“Sit alone, you will find all your answers” – @limitlessmindon

Peace and quiet are underrated.

When I don’t know what to do next, I sit alone in a room or go for a quiet walk. The solace helps my brain swirl around ideas until different thoughts start to stick to one another.

Half the time you know what to do, you just need time for your brain to come to the correct realization for each situation.

Let your brain breathe in silence.

It’s okay to be alone. The need to be social is your inner caveman craving attention. Reject the desire for attention. Focus inwards. See what comes out, then write it down in your favorite notes app (I use Roam).

Two one-liners from me to finish off

1. Hyperfocus in one area creates neglect with other things. Show me a billionaire and I’ll show you a person who is broke in multiple areas of life. Not a little bit. Nope. A lot. Often their family had to suffer or they only have fake friends because the real ones left a long time ago. Think about what other areas of your life suffer when you go after a big goal. Is it worth it? 
   

2. Mediocrity is easy to find: Just stay in your comfort zone, never face a fear, accept society is screwed, and hope that politicians will fix everything in life. That’s how a lot of people live. Takeaway: nobody is coming to save you, so save yourself. Think for yourself. Dare to face uncomfortable truths society tells you to avoid. Put yourself in situations that bring out enormous fear. In those scary moments your life expands to meet your new level of courage.

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