Lot’s of Water Under the Bridge Since I was 25!

And as I look back on the years I’ve lived since, there are some things I have discovered-most often the hard way-I wish someone had given to me way back then (not that I would have listened much at the time, but at least I would have had the ideas to think about as I grew older).

So for what it’s worth, here are 25 things I wish someone had told me when I was 25.  And feel free to weigh in and suggest ideas of your own as well.

#1. Be as determined to make a difference as you are to make a buck.

#2. Plan for tomorrow but live for today.

#3. Don’t lose sleep over the things in life you have no control over

#4. Be content with striving for perfection-knowing full well you will seldom achieve it.

#5. Always be involved in something bigger than yourself.

#6. Misunderstandings happen when communication doesn’t

#7. Never take money out of your house to invest.

#8. Be less critical, more compassionate.

#9. Under promise, over perform.

#10. You are most who you really are when you are alone.

#11. Live your life with less pride and more humility.

#12. Be motivated in life by appreciation rather than by obligation (or guilt, professional goals, expectations of others, etc).

#13. You won’t live forever.

#14. Be guided in your decisions by what is right, rather than by what will work.

#15. Find more in life to laugh about.

#16. Care less about what others think of you and more about what your god thinks of you.

#17. Be more content with “being” as opposed to “becoming”.

#18. Make life an adventure rather than a chore.

#19. Live in such a way that you accumulate few regrets.

#20. Be more willing to say, “I’m sorry.  Will you forgive me?”.

#21. Get in the habit of checking out your assumptions before reacting.

#22. That my feelings, emotions and attitudes are shaped by my behaviors and actions, rather than the other way around.

#23. Recognize the importance of needing others because you love them, rather than loving them because you need them.

#24. You will seldom have the whole picture, so be careful not to respond as if you do.

#25. Who you are today is shaped not so much by the mistakes others have made with you, but rather, by how you choose daily to respond to those mistakes.