19 Essential Life Lessons

I have a good friend who passed away a little more than a year ago. Richard Ellis was a successful entrepreneur, father and friend. He touched thousands of people’s lives with his wisdom, understanding and caring. Just before he passed, he shared 19 Life Lessons with some of the people he loved and I wanted to share them with you because I think there is great wisdom in each of these.

1. You won’t always succeed, but never give up believing in yourself.
2. Look for the success lesson of any failure. There is a hint there.
3. Be inspired by your mentors and leaders, but never controlled.
4. Personal growth will always precede relationship and business growth.
5. Believe and trust in other people until they have absolutely proven that they don’t deserve it.
6. Believe anyone you meet can accomplish anything, unless they prove to you they don’t want to.
7. Associate with positive people, and make no exception in allowing negative people into your life. This even includes family and best friends!
8. Listen to actions, not words.
9. Be honest, and gentle, even when it’s hard.
10 Never compromise your honesty, integrity or trust…people are watching and following you.
11. Give yourself unconditionally to deserving people without expecting of something in return.
12 Never do anything that compromises your integrity or long term goals for short term gains. (This is a hard one)
13 Always treat people better than you want to be treated.
14 Remember there is more than one perspective on everything in life. Allow others to see things differently than yourself.
15 Expect to be surprised.
16 Discipline your disappointments. Limit disappointing feelings to seconds, not days.
17 Learn how to take advantage of all the “Natural Laws in Life” as they cannot be changed by you. You don’t get a vote.
18 Practice the principle of the “Slight Edge” as it literally controls the outcome and quality of our life. It also sets into motions all natural laws in the universe.
19 Remember, you have complete control over your own reactions. When something happens, take that one second pause and realize you have complete control. You make the decision of how you will choose to react. You do not have to be governed by the past poorly formed habits anymore. You choose, you decide, you take responsibility. You control the direction the slight edge will take.