How to Live: 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion

by Derek Sivers

You can’t see your own culture while you’re inside of it. Once you get out and look back, you can see which parts of your personality actually come from your environment.

From Brazil, learn to live in the present, and embrace every stranger as a friend. Leave before you forget about the future. From Germany, learn rationality and directly honest communication. Leave before you start scolding strangers. From Japan, learn deep consideration for others, social harmony, and intrinsic perfection. Leave before you get so considerate that you can’t express yourself or take action. From China, learn pragmatism and the multi-generational mindset. Leave before you get superstitious or prioritize social status. From France, learn idealism and resistance. Leave before you oppose everything in theory. From America, learn expressive rebellious individualism. Leave before thinking you’re the center of the world. From India, learn to improvise and thrive in complexity. Leave before feeling a divide between what’s inside versus outside your circle. In all cultures, avoid the madness of the crowd.

If you eventually need a permanent home, choose the place you’d want to be if everything goes wrong. Choose a culture that values what you value.

When you die, you leave behind your genes and ideas.

If you can’t remember something, it’s like it never happened. You could have a long healthy life, but if you can’t remember it, it’s like you had a short life.

When you’re young, time goes slowly because everything is new. When you get older, time flies by, forgotten, because you’re not having as many new experiences. You need to prevent this. Monotony is the enemy. Novelty is the solution.

Go make memories. Do memorable things. Experience the unusual. Pursue novelty. Replace your routines. Live in different places. Change your career every few years. These uniq...

Document everything, or you’ll eventually forget it. Nobody can erase your memories, but don’...

Turn your experiences into stories. A story is the remains of an experience. Make your stories entertaining, so people like to hear them. By telling good stories, your memories can last longer, because people will echo them back to you occasionally, or ask you to tell them again.

The more something means to you, the more you’ll remember it. Give moments meaning to remember them. Take away meaning to forget.

You remember what’s important. The first time you were burned, you didn’t try to remember that fire is hot. It hurt, so your brain remembered it effortlessly. When you make a big mistake and want to learn its lesson, deliberately amplify the pain, the deep regret, and the consequences. Keep the bad feelings vivid and visceral. Make the lesson memorable, so you won’t do it again.

Making memories is the most important thing you can do with your life. The more memories you create, the longer and richer your life feels. Making memories is how to live.

Mastery is the best goal because the rich can’t buy it, the impatient can’t rush it, the privileged can’t inherit it, and nobody can steal it. You can only earn it through hard work. Mastery is the ultimate status.

The more you learn about something, the more there is to learn. You see what normal people don’t see. The path gets more and more interesting as you go.

The most rewarding things in life take years. Only bad things happen quickly.

Make your choice, then make a lifetime commitment to constant improvement. The passion comes after you start getting good.

When you first start learning, you improve massively every week. Beginning is fun. But real expertise comes only after years of hard work. The challenge is staying on the path.

You need ritual, not inspiration. Every day, no matter what, you must practice. Your practice ritual is your highest priority — an unbreakable commitment. Stubbornly protect this time against the demands of the world.

Once you get momentum, never stop. It’s easy to continue, but if you stop, it’s hard to sta...

When you’re not practicing, remember: someone somewhere is practicing. When you m...

During your work time, do nothing but work. Keep your hands on your work, and your mind will follow. If you get stuck, just stop and close your eyes. T...

How many push-ups could you do right now? But how many could you do if you took a ten-minute break between each set? Many more. That’s the secret. Take tiny ...

Focus means head down. Big picture means head up. The more you’re doing of one, the less you’re doing of the other. If you’ve been head-down on a task for too long, lift your head up to make sure you’re going t...

Pursuing mastery is ambitious, which helps your chance of success. Most people fail in life not by aiming too high, but by aiming too low. If you ai...