The Internet is full of life advice and tips for every occasion. I dedicate this entry first of all to myself. It is a form of putting on paper thoughts that have been forming in my head for several years, sometimes as a result of conscious searching, other times completely unconsciously. This article describes the foundations that I tried to develop between the ages of 20 and 30. Writing them down is a form of standardization that will allow me to more consciously nurture their further development in the future. Of course, everyone must develop their own principles, but perhaps the following list will help someone in their own quest.

Physical and mental health:

Sport
Take care of your daily exercise – walk, run, gym, a few push-ups, stretching, pool, bike – pick whatever you feel like doing. The more you neglect your body now, the more it will cost you in the future to get back on a healthy path. Remember that right now your body is at its strongest and most vital, it regenerates instantly, and it can best withstand potential injuries and overexertion. It will never be so easy again. All you need is a small daily effort.

Sleep
One of the most stupid things is comparing engagement to the number of sleepless nights. Sleep is one of the primary guarantors of the quality of our work and creativity. Work hard, but don’t neglect rest.

Know yourself
Spend a lot of time understanding yourself – what makes you happy, how and why you react in certain situations. Learn how to relax your mind and body – you’ll need this for the harder and more challenging times. Find a hobby that will help you release tension after a hard day and recharge your batteries.

Balancing the new with the familiar
Everyone has a different tolerance for stress and strong emotions. Examine your limits and then mark them at a level that allows you to sail into the unknown with a safe harbor usually in sight. This will give you the fun of exploring new lands with the right safety boat at hand. This strategy will allow you to take confident steps into the unknown, accepting difficulties and setbacks along the way.

Build habits
So that they work to your advantage. Each of us has many of them, especially from childhood, which either help us in everyday life or unusual situations, or interfere. Analyze them – strengthen the ones that are helpful to you, while the bad ones try to change to more desirable.

^{Atomic Habits book}

Let dopamine work for good causes
Program it. Our brain is motivated by dopamine. It is released when we feel happiness. Program your brain to link feelings of happiness to activities that are good for you – let them be travel, sports, learning new things, caring for loved ones, instead of meaningless shopping or gambling.

Understand how your brain and emotions work
What is slow and fast thinking. What the reptilian brain is. When you make decisions based on emotion versus logical thinking. Consider the circumstances under which you choose the best solutions. Personally, I often need time and quiet thought on a topic to respond best. Look at things from a further perspective.

The Surrounding
You are the sum of the people around you, so try to surround yourself with people with high standards, and then it will be easier for you to raise your own. Feed your body and your mind with good quality content and nutrients.

Finances:

Financial cushion, financial management
Build a comfortable financial cushion. Set aside a portion determined by you from each paycheck.If you want to take even better care of your finances, learn how to invest for the long term, learn about low-cost ETFs, learn what value investing and dividend companies are.

^{The Richest Man in Babylon}

Wealth, not money
Wealth is much more than money alone, wealth is all about experience, knowledge, life energy, skills, natural resources, real estate. It’s the ability to be supportive during unforeseen and difficult times. To have the comfort to get up every morning and decide for yourself what you will devote your precious time to – this is a real luxury. To be able to live life on your own terms, supporting the people around you – that is freedom.

Build independence
It is good to be able to rely on yourself. In addition to financial security, try to ensure that your competencies are those that are in demand on the job market. In the event that your current company or business no longer meets your expectations, have the freedom to leave so that you don’t become hostage to it, but can start down a new path without worrying about whether that path even exists.

Competences:

Soft skills
No matter what you do in life, it is a team game. The more freely you can cooperate with others, the more fun it brings you, the better.

Learning from better
It took me a long time to realize that today’s world is so complex that in order to become an expert in a particular field, you need to dedicate a large part of your life to studying it. That’s why choosing experts properly and then learning from them gives you an incredible kick. Don’t waste too much time proudly thinking that you can figure everything out on your own, that you are so smart that you can do everything best on your own. Look for competent people in every field.

Compare yourself only to yourself
Everyone has a different start, everyone has different experiences, everyone jumps over different hurdles of adversity. Therefore, the only person you can compare yourself to is yourself from the day, month, year before. Any other comparison is unfair, it is pointless. You know other people’s lives only superficially, most often you see only the top. You have a full picture only of yourself.

Question
Always ask the question ‘why?’ We grew up with many truths and principles that we entered adult life with. Many of these in the collision of adulthood turned out not to be quite what we were instilled with, or what we thought they should be. Build your own map of truths by often asking honest questions and challenging the established order of things. But do so with respect, understanding, curiosity, and thoroughness.

It’s good to fail
I really missed the realization that we learn by trying, and first attempts are usually not very successful. Learning is doing the same thing over and over again, each time a little better, each time learning from the previous attempt. My professional work and the agile approach made me realize how quality is created, competence is built.

Relations:

Relationship
Old fashioned but 100% true – if you want to spend your whole life with one person, the foundation is friendship. Emotional stability, a strong family, a person who will support you along the way will allow you to get through any difficulties that arise.

Empathy
Everyone sees the world through their own eyes, their own perspective, and through the lens of their own experiences. Everyone has their own perspective on the world. Look at the world through someone else’s eyes sometimes.

Goals:

Aim high
Life is too short not to dream. Dream, plan, come up with goals that will make you grow wings, and wake up every morning (well, almost) ready to take action. Even if you don’t reach those cosmically exorbitant goals, you’ll land so high that you’ll be proud of yourself.

Be a creator
We are creatures made for creativity. All we need is to discover it in ourselves and then use it for good purposes.

Better every day
The compounding percentage is magic that deserves a separate post. Think about it – what a consistent little thing can do every day added up to one year. It’s called almost effortless magic.

Sooner or later everyone will confront the question of what is the meaning of their life. As the years go by, you will increasingly need an answer to the question of why I am actually doing this, and the expectations of the answer will become more demanding.

Follow what you are passionate about
If you do, you’ll get motivation and energy for free. If you’re passionate about something, you’ll spend a ton of time on it without even noticing. Enjoy the magic.

^{Man’s Search for Meaning}

Great things are not created in one day
Discipline, constancy, patience – this is their foundation. Many times you will doubt, many times you will want to let go, only these qualities will help you push forward. Take joy in the process, enjoy the small steps and small achievements.

Life is a marathon, not a sprint
Sacrifice small pleasures for bigger things in the future. Think in the long term.

What is most important on any given day
We usually don’t have enough time to do everything that is waiting for us. The trick is to pick the most important thing to do at any given time, and look back at the end of the day with the satisfaction that you did what was really important.

Ending

The rest of our lives will depend on the foundation we develop for ourselves, so it’s worth doing it independently and consciously.

Finally, I would like to mention two more books that have had a big impact on me in recent years. They are: