Making Successful Choices

I write essays often to lay out a way of thinking.  I often sense that people are wandering around in life with a nickel-compass in their pocket, no map, no sense of direction, and just accidentally arrive upon some destination.  So this is simply advice:

1. There's a great quote by Will Rogers:  “Live in such a way that you wouldn’t be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.”  I like the quote because you can lay out a very positive path in life....if you just tend to avoid negative situations, or bad associations.  Course, this means recognizing things as they are, and keeping sluts and dimwits at an arm's length. 

2.  When faced with an enormous and impossible decision....just use the simple logic of picking the solution that is less complicated. 

3.  Never hesitate to pick up and move.  Maybe it's for a better job....a better landscape....fewer idiots around you....less drama, but don't anchor yourself to never leaving a place.

4.  Things that get described as 'too-good-to-be-true'.....probably (90-percent chance) not that true.  It's like a blind date occuring and you have some crazy idea that this was the one in a million blind date scheme that actually worked. 

5.  Being skeptical is a wise skill to develop.  It's ok to be skeptical of politics, romance, banks, religion, news folks, and CEOs.  Imagine if Bill Clinton had just been skeptical of a second date with Hillary. 

6.  Mark Twain wrote 'Tom Sawyer' and was pursued to write his next great novel....which he seemed to be lacking in the next great story idea.  So he went off to Germany for a fair amount of time.  After coming back....something clicked, and he never seemed to run out of ideas after that trip.  Sometimes....a simple trip is all you need reshape your thoughts and lay out a fresh new path. 

7.  The key to a path in life is education, a job, and refusing to anchor yourself to bad decisions being repeated.  If you quit high school, and your present job for eight years has been burger-flipper for Burger King....well....you appear to be a boat anchor guy. 

8.  Either fix your problems, or be willing to just accept them.  If you go to the third stage of allowing the problems to exist forever but never able to reach a stage of acceptance, then your frustrations will dissolve a clear path ahead.

9.  Anyone who says that your purpose in life....is to 'save the world'....is likely a cult guy. 

10.  Lot of folks walk around with 'demons' in their pocket, and occasionally....they'd like to have some confession moment to dump forty tons of pain, suffering and woes.  Give them five minutes of your time and hear the confession, and offer some wit or wisdom.  But don't attach yourself to their sorrow, and be their continual 'save the world' guy.