Excellent Advice for Living

Saving some of my favorite aphorisms from this book here:

Don't measure your life
with someone else's ruler.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 8). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

A great way to understand yourself
is to seriously reflect on everything
you find irritating in others.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 14). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Separate the processes of creating
from improving. You can't write and edit
or sculpt and polish
or make and analyze at the same time. If you do, the editor stops the creator. While you invent, don't select. While you sketch, don't inspect. While you write the first draft, don't reflect. At the start, the creator mind must be
unleashed from judgment.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 32). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

...a playful “yes—and” example
instead of a deflating “no—but...“

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 70). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

You can reduce the annoyance
of someone's stupid belief
by increasing your understanding
of why they believe it.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 83). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

You can eat any dessert you want
if you take only three bites.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 85). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

We are not a body
that carries a soul. We are a soul that is assigned a body
not of our choosing, but in our care.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 88). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

When you feel like quitting
just do five more: 5 more minutes, 5 more pages
5 more steps. Then repeat. Sometimes
you can break through and keep going
but even if you can't, you ended five ahead.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 119). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

You'll get 10 times better results
by elevating good behavior
rather than punishing bad behavior
especially in children and animals.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 123). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Don't wait for the storm to pass;
dance in the rain.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 125). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Denying or deflecting a compliment
is rude. Accept it with thanks
even if you believe it is not deserved.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 126). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

It's thrilling to be extremely polite
to rude strangers.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 138). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Most articles and stories
are improved significantly if you delete the
first page of the manuscript. Start with the action.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 138). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

When introduced to someone
make eye contact and count to four
or say to yourself, “I see you.” You'll both remember each other.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 143). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

You will thrive more
—and so will others— when you promote what you love
rather than bash what you hate. Life is short; focus on the good stuff.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 166). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Unhappiness comes from
wanting what others have. Happiness comes from
wanting what you already have.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 168). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Assume no one remembers names. As a courtesy
reintroduce yourself by name
even to those you have previously met: “Hi, I'm Kevin.”

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 169). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

To meditate, sit
and pay attention to your breathing. Your mind will wander to thoughts. Then you bring your attention back
to your breathing
where it can't think. Wander. Retreat. Keep returning to breath
no thoughts. That is all.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 172). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

You can't change your past
but you can change your story about it. What is important is not
what happened to you but
what you did about what happened to you.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 174). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Let your children
choose their punishments. They'll be tougher than you will.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 174). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Make one to throw away. The only way to write a great book
is to first write an awful book. Ditto for a movie, song, piece of furniture
or anything.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 176). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Anger is not the proper response to anger. When you see someone angry
you are seeing their pain.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 177). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

When you find something you really enjoy
do it slowly.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 178). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

The big dirty secret is that everyone
especially the famous
are just making it up as they go along.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 185). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

The chief prevention against getting old
is to remain astonished.

Kelly, Kevin. Excellent Advice for Living (p. 209). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.