My Advice for Living a Good Life

After reading my post about my parents’ advice, a dear friend remembered the advice I’d given her as she “learned to be an adult.” She inspired me to write down my additions to living a good life.

1. Live well and die broke.

2. When negotiating, your first response should be “That’s not what I expected,” followed by silence.

3. Always buy art as a souvenir when traveling.

4. When you move somewhere new, join all of the clubs.

5. Believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see.

6. Have a good shoe repair shop.

7. Life is all about collecting good stories. And it’s the bad dates, vacations gone wrong and difficult experiences that make good stories.

8. Make your voice heard.

9. It’s better to be kind than right.

10. No one needs to understand a marriage except the two people in it.

11. Wear beautiful lingerie under your work clothes. It’s like having a little secret that gives you confidence.

12. The goal is to make yourself dispensable at work, not indispensable. Teach and empower your staff, and you won’t be bothered on vacation. (Thanks, Keith Boykin!)

13. Life is too short to use cheap soap.

14. Remember, you never know what someone else is wrestling with in their own life.

15. You don’t need to be open minded about closed-minded people.

16. Boredom is the beginning of creativity.

17. Give people a second chance but think hard about whether they deserve a third chance.

18. With a true friend, it won’t matter if you haven’t talked in years. You’ll pick right up where you left off.

19. Dying doesn’t make someone a good person.

20. Children need the most love when they are the most unlovable. (That’s my Aunt Valerie’s advice, via my mom.)

21. Don’t live with regrets. Learn the lesson and move forward.