10 Skills You’ll Need To Kick Life In The Face
By Jason Lam
1. Forgiveness.
This skill alone will get you through 99% of the shit you’ll come across in your life, and no, I don’t mean just saying the words, “I’m Sorry.” I mean to internalize it, to take on a forgiving spirit – once you learn how to do that, the words “I’m sorry” will feel like nothing. Give others a break, give yourself a break.
2. Find love, but also let yourself be loved.
Love isn’t just flowers and rainbows all the time, it’s sacrificial, it’s painful, but it’s the good kind, the kind you feel when you’re lifting weights. Let’s be honest, nobody loves lifting weights, it sucks, but you know that investing yourself in such a relationship will reap numerous rewards. That’s love. Get that in your head now so you don’t freak out every time you encounter a “problem” or “argument.”
3. Believe in yourself, but really it’s about believing in others.
Our worlds are interlinked whether you like it or not, one’s failure is your failure, another’s success is your success. This is another way of saying don’t be greedy. This is also another way of saying that when you feel like you can’t accomplish anything, trust that you have people all around you just dying to give you a hand.
4. Pay attention, become a good listener.
In fact, become the best listener, because it isn’t just about the physical act of sound waves entering your ear and neurons buzzing back and forth for your brain to process a simple, “Oh really?” It’s about acceptance, and accepting people for who they are is one of the greatest gifts you can give in this world. (It makes people feel awesome! Don’t you like to feel awesome?)
5. Learn the art of not caring.
I have never been bombarded by so much useless information ever in my life. Laptops, iPads, iPhones, Television, Twitter… social media and technology has presented us the most wonderful gift with the ugliest side-effects. The reason I say this is because the more you pay attention to things that don’t really matter, the more you compare, and the shittier you’ll feel. Don’t let it get to you. Keep your life simple. You’re already special. So really it’s about being comfortable with who you are, wherever you are.
6. Stand for something.
I know it’s cool now to be all accepting of every single little thing but that doesn’t mean you have to LIKE everything. That doesn’t mean you can’t express a highly educated, well thought out OPINION. Don’t get lost in the mix.
7. Find your tribe.
I’m not going to say the word network because it’s overused and comes with a million negative connotations but I am going to tell you to build a constructive community. Really. You can only go so far by surrounding yourself with the same people. Reach out, but stay humble.
8. Hard work beats talent any day.
That said, find your passion and have enough discipline to focus yourself. A jack of all trades is a master of none.
9. Know yourself.
Really know yourself, which is really just another way of saying – buy a one way ticket out of the country and get on with that soul search – you’ll be surprised with the things you’ll find – it’s an experiment – home was the control – now let yourself go.