The 20 rules to live your life by

Keeping with my past posts around holiday periods today’s memo doesn’t related exactly to residential property but looks through a wider lens.

Below are “20 rules of the road”, so to speak.  I like to collect such stuff and stick them in a folder for future use.  Most of the time, my two daughters have been the only ones to suffer my summations, but now I have a wider audience.

So here goes, 20 rules for a metamodern world.

1. Drink plenty of water, eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
2. Live the three Es – Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.
3. Sleep for seven hours; walk every day for 30 minutes – smile when you walk – and sit in silence for 10 minutes twice a day.  Plus, read more books this year than you did last year.
4. Never let the weeds get higher than the garden.
5. But find some time to dream more while you are awake.
6. Only you are in charge of your happiness.
7. Don’t compare yourself to others; don’t take yourself too seriously – no one else does – and forget your past (or at least make peace with it).
8. Everything cycles – however good or bad a situation is, it will change.
9. What people think of you is none of your business and people who don’t want to be in it (whatever “it” is to you) are not important.
10. Call your family often and spend more time with people over 70 and under 15.
11. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
12. Live smart – you only have so many hours in your day, your week, your year and in your life.
13. Work and love are both verbs.  A verb is an “action” or “doing” word.  Love isn’t a feeling.
14. Build your own portfolio – personal brand, network and experiences.
15. Find time for a hobby.
16. Life really is a “hard contact” sport.  You have to get out there and mix it up.  Staying indoors just doesn’t cut it.
17. Determine why you are here – what is your purpose.  It doesn’t matter what it is, but it needs to be defined in under 10 words or counted off on three fingers.
18. No matter how you feel, get up, get dressed and show up. “Get behind the mule, every day, and plough” to quote Tom Waits.
19. Being alive must be much better than being dead.  Waking up every morning is a blessing.
20. Never give up – rest occasionally, reset if needed – but keep swinging.  To quote Waits again – “always keep a diamond in your mind”.

Michael Matusik is the director of independent property advisory Matusik Property Insights. Michael is a 25-year veteran in the industry and his firm has helped over 550 new residential developments come to fruition.  Michael has launched a new initiative, called Think Matusik.  Think Matusik brings together expert opinion and select property opportunities.