1. You have to suck at many things to be exceptionally good at a few. Most successful people are those who fail more than anybody else. If you can just find something that you can passionately fail at, you leapfrog a good % of the population.
2. If you conform to 100% of expectations from older generations, you actively miss out on 100% of life. Nobody knows what they're doing; we're all trying our best. If you don't break any rules, you'll regret it.
3. Only 2 topics that matter between age 20 & 30 are money & health. If you already figured out a way to stay fit, it's on you to figure out a way to earn passively. Few talk about it, but think big events. Compute your probabilities & take bigger risks.
4. Your network is your networth. Not only your professional network, but your circle of close friends & acquaintances. As your circles get bigger you'd reap benefits you won't ever have access to on your own.
5. Try your best to be articulate with your texts & your talk. Pay attention to your punctuation while typing & your vocab while talking. People with rich vocabs who know how to say the right thing at the right time seem automatically attractive to everyone around.
6. FOMO is real, but nobody has everything figured out. Only way to eligibly envy how someone is living is to trade 100% of your life with theirs.
7. Automate how you backup your photos periodically. Your memories are you; losing them is losing a part of yourself.
8. Say no to friends that consume your energy. Limit your time with them, be upfront with yourself.
9. Figure out your spiritual orientation, be thorough & be aligned with it. You'll suffer if you don't.
10. Talk to yourself in your notes, make it a free space with zero judgement, address yourself as "we", say everything & be honest; your thoughts, your vision & your mistakes. Your life can change because of it.
11. Initiate clear conversations with your partners, romance or business, communicate what you think in clear wording. Get rid of any unneeded weight.
12. Only thing that matters during an interview is to present your honest self. A company that needs you to change anything in your background or behavior is not a good fit. I've done 40+ interviews and the single biggest lesson is: don't lie.
13. The quicker you want something, the easier you are to manipulate.
14. No friends remember what you post on social media, nor that they should. We think about people thinking about us way more than they actually care.
15. News & sports are wasted time & headspace. I barely know any high performing individuals who watch soccer games or talk about politics.
16. Don't save the £EGP40-50 of your morning cappuccino.
17. Don't get involved in any professional agreement without a legal contract, it can even be a hand-written piece of paper.
18. Plan Bs & safety nets are important because you resort to them more than you think you do. It's intuitive that you may not never need a plan B. In my experiences, plans A & B had an equal chance of happening. For example, rarely do you finish a project within the intended budget and/or time; things happen.
19. It's healthy to assess if a woman/man is a potential romantic partner based on crazy metrics from the get-go. This can be an instant way to know if you're a fit. For me, these are things like: what's the first thing you think about when you look at the stars? would you travel to remote islands once every year or 2 years? what do you think of the vegan diet? what's your definition of "living"?
20. All successes in the world boil down to: good home, good food & good people. So you might as well prioritize these from the beginning.
21. Your life's mission doesn't have to be a set target. Okay to change it every few years; actually most people do.
22. You don't have to learn marketing, but you definitely have to learn how to sell. Whatever your background is, learning how to sell is going to upgrade your psyche. Generally speaking most outcomes you get out of life boil down to your communication & negotiation skills.
For males:
23. For a male in their 20s you have to be aggressive. Being smart is not enough; look around there are lots of people that are smart but soft. Only way it's going to work is to be aggressive towards your goals, ruthless, exploiting your edge over & over.
24. Majority of girls don't care about your ambition. So your safest bet is to be fun around. They just need to know if you can provide security, but without you sweating it. Don't talk too much about your endeavors; it's weak signal.
25. As a man you have to provide some value. Regardless of the situation, a friendship, a partnership or a relationship of any type. Don't ever unconditionally expect anything from anyone.
26. Generally, people -especially girls- sense when you're inconfident. You can control your composure but it's really a mix of [voice tone + energy + eye contact + body gestures] that is louder than words, you can't mask it unless you're naturally confident.
Bonus:
Consistency in the gym will build you most of the above: resilience, strength, confidence & aggression. Its mental benefits outweigh the physical benefits. You have to embrace the rage. Building real strength is a decade-long process, but it's transformational, no one can fully understand it unless they have been through it.
No amount of satisfaction can replace building body strength, not even money or status. Being consistent in the gym is not an option for high performers. Navy seals, football players, basketball stars, they all build their stage in the gym, then show true colors in the field; there's massive depth to this concept.