It’s not enough to know what you want. You have to know why you want it. You have to want it for reasons that are undeniably your own. Many people think of acting as becoming a different character, but it’s really not. The best acting is not acting. The best actors are intimately attuned to their experience of the world. What it means to “have character” it’s not just about having a moral backbone, it’s about aligning your actions with your intentions. If your goal is to be healthier, allowing yourself to have chocolate fudge cake because it’s been a stressful day means you’re allowing yourself to have chocolate fudge cake every time you feel stressed. That would defeat your purpose of becoming healthier. You go through life doing what’s expected of you; first in school, then in your first job, your first serious relationship; until one day you wake up and ask, “Do I really have to do this?”. Why do we spend so much of our limited time doing things we don’t actually want to do? I think the problem isn’t that we don’t know what we want.
Elaine WangModern philosophy has lost its soul by seeking abstraction instead of grounding itself in real life. Acquire skills over time to change your brain structure and become valuable, otherwise life will be constant confusion. Innocence helps discovering the world as-is and wondering, thus leading to happiness, while cynicism sucks the beauty out of everything. Certainty makes people stupid and, coupled with power, it makes people dangerous. Reputation is the cornerstone of power, its pure psychology allowing you to win without entering any battle, which can be ruined by one bad step. Your weirdness is your strength, be irreplaceable at core and don't let external voices drown your own. Stop wasting your time by setting ambitious goals and a fixed deadline publicly to create pressure to act. Being right on your first attempt is a curse because you are not ready for it and you will think that you are right about everything. Being attacked means you are a target, use adversity to grow further than you excepted. Dance between absence and presence to be an event in people life instead of being taken for granted, aloofness is alluring. Don't have only one form of power, be able to shift with fortune and adapt to circumstances without changing yourself. Embrace your true masculinity, assert yourself and seek challenge while still respecting women and lifting others up.
Robert GreeneMundane success is not having a negative impact, not multiplying by zero. Driving without a seat belt once can cancel years of eating healthy. Keep a balanced life, have both structure and freedom, work hard but also relax. Men aren't born to make money but to serve others: encourage, protect, provide, teach, train. The planet isn't better with you in it if you play alone, leave it better than you found it. You don't have to talk everything out, deal with it without adding burden to others, we don't need more weak mean. Would you buy yourself a drink? Where will your actions take you? Give yourself the same grace you give your friends and don't loose yourself. People care if you make them feel good, not if you're impressive. Make others feel smart, good, and charismatic instead of keeping the spotlight to yourself. You have no clue what is going on in their lives. Women should not aim to be equal to men but to be better, different, special. Don't lie, your words are your good name and the respect you'll be given. You can have kids on a budget by doing simple math and saying no to most of the things, you don't need that much money when you have love.
Dewayne Noel