Thread by @startupdaemon

108 principles for Authentic Life

– What is Authenticity?
– How do we cultivate Authenticity?
– How do we lead life in alignment with Authenticity?

Here’s what I’ve learnt.

/THREAD/

1. Focus your attention on Yourself: be Aware of your actions and deliberate in your choices.

2. Give everything purpose. If you can’t give it your purpose, don’t give it your energy.

3. Everything you do, do as well as possible; walk the Noble path of Excellence.

4. Always do what you promised.

5. Do not apologize, except to lead with compassion.

Make amends instead of apologies.

Make it at least twice better than your trespass made it worse.

6. Humble yourself every day.

Accept that you are not a perfect special snowflake and you are not perfect in any aspect of your Character.

Make time to act and be humbled. Humble yourself to learn and Become better.

7. Cultivate emotional equanimity. Do not worship your emotions and do not serve them. Realize that they are not you.

8. Develop your generosity. No matter how poor you are, you have something to give.

9. Abandon all attachments within yourself and without yourself.

If you do not allow yourself to evolve, you will become stunted and smol. If you do not allow others to evolve, they will become toxic and resent you for it.

10. When you help people, do not allow compassion to become dependency.

11. Do not be impressed by archetypal personalities and exaggerated traits. They are a symptom of a broken way of Being.

12. Have values and feed them daily. Actions are not values, but you don’t have values if you don’t act upon them.

13. Learn to give thanks every chance you get, and to receive thanks graciously.

14. Do not court the attention of worthless people unless you profit from it.

15. Do not encourage others to worship you.

16. Do not complain; make things better.

17. Stop defining yourself.

No label can save you from your own lack of substance. Realize that the only way to define Yourself is by cultivating your Character.

18. Do not seek the spotlight for its own sake, but lead boldly when you must lead.

19. Be intolerant.

20. Do not speak publicly of your plans and ambitions, nor of your personal issues.

21. Do not assume the identity of a victim.

22. Do not enable victimhood in others.

23. Let people manipulate you, but not to your detriment.

24. Believe nothing, but have infinite trust in yourself.

25. Always give people more than they have earned, but never before they have earned it.

26. Take what people say at face value.

27. Do not engage with covert contracts and do not enable them in others. Lead people to face their sense of entitlement or lead them out of your life.

28. Do not judge unless absolutely necessary.

29. Do not put trust in authority but put authority in your service.

30. Encourage frauds to expose themselves.

31. Cultivate discipline in everything you do. How you handle the small things is how you handle everything.

32. Learn to discard things that have no value and serve no purpose. Do not hoard trinkets and sentiments.

33. Eat whole foods and never more than necessary.

34. Do not talk about people behind their back except to praise their actions.

35. Accept that life has no meaning and you must create any meaning yourself.

36. Fast regularly.

37. Look for tough questions, not for easy answers.

38. Do not worship sleep. Do not look at sleep as a reward; it is the price. Sleep only as much as necessary, but not less.

39. Don’t maintain useless relationships.

40. Be on time.

41. Do not follow fashions.

42. Don’t forget to build up the people who build you up.

43. Do not lie. Do not steal. Do not covet what you have not earned.

44. Plan your work according to your Vision.

45. Do not doubt yourself or others.

46. Never say more than necessary.

47. Respect time as the most valuable asset. Don’t waste time – neither yours, nor others’.

48. Be dignified in your manners, and always treat people with more respect than they treat you.

49. Practice independence of the outcome. Don’t engage in wishful thinking about the future profits of your ventures.

50. Don’t make threats but always deliver consequences.

51. Have style in your appearance.

52. Keep your house in order. If you won’t organize your belongings, they have no business around you.

53. Never envy people for their success, but learn from it instead.

54. Never brag about your romantic adventures.

55. Don’t waste money, but always give money generously.

56. Don’t fight with people and don’t struggle with yourself. Transmute any energy to your advantage.

57. Love your enemies; they are making you stronger.

58. Help others help themselves.

59. Do not hoard books. If you don’t need a book, pass it on. If you won’t pass it on, burn it.

60. Do not engage in daydreaming and wishful thinking.

61. Don’t give orders for the satisfaction of being obeyed.

62. Don’t give third chances.

63. Don’t worship thinking and science; don’t let the tools become the ends.

64. Don’t seek validation and agreement; look for blind spots and improvements.

65. Do not criticize; be silent instead.

66. Neither praise, nor insult yourself.

67. Learn to see the good in others first.

68. Try Yourself.

69. Never borrow to consume.

70. Learn to see rejection as an opportunity to do better.

71. Learn to receive praise and criticism graciously and unemotionally.

72. Don’t explain yourself.

73. Listen before you speak.

74. Learn to meet pain without aversion and to welcome it as a teacher.

75. When you speak, speak as if the entire world can hear you.

76. Cultivate fearlessness. Accept that courage is only a tool on the path and do not worship it.

77. Surround yourself with people who inspire you to Excel.

78. Lead yourself with your values, improve yourself with your circumstances – not the other way around.

79. Look people in the eyes.

80. Never value people on their intentions alone; never value people on their actions alone.

81. Don’t try to be original.

82. Work out daily and treat your body as a temple.

83. Don’t be possessive of things and people in your life.

84. Allow yourself to be vulnerable.

85. Admit your weaknesses, but don’t identify with them.

86. Don’t indulge in pride; it is for the weak. Transmute pride into aspiration to improve your Character.

87. Do not seek empathy and do not vent.

88. Do not judge what you don’t understand.

89. Do not expect gratitude.

90. Don’t try to be liked.

91. Don’t be needy. Take responsibility for everything in your life.

92. Don’t indulge in hate; it is for the weak. Transmute hate into appreciation for Beauty.

93. Don’t distract yourself with celebrity.

94. Have a bias for action and a bias against opinion.

95. Do not argue.

96. Honor accomplishment, not status. Prize one’s direction in life, not one’s position in life.

97. Don’t try to be everything for anyone. Don’t try to be anything for everyone.

98. Don’t indulge in anger; it is for the weak. Transmute anger into generosity and creativity.

99. Ask for help, but make your own decisions.

100. When people speak, listen intently or leave.

101. If you inherit money, multiply it and give away what you inherited.

102. Invest yourself in actions, not in assumptions.

103. Do not seek comfort and happiness.

104. Do not live vicariously, especially through your spouse and children.

105. If you accept to do something for others, do it with pleasure.

106. Take time to be quiet and alone.

107. Take risks and accept the consequences.

108. Allow your values to evolve.

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