Sim O.N.E.

The Cheat Sheet of Unwisdom

There's a lot of garbage stuffed into your head since you were an infant, and it's hard to scrape it off.

That's why, as an adult, it becomes even more important to focus on what you unlearn rather than what you learn. Call it unwisdom, if you'd like.

This month marks my 37th lap around that giant gas fireball in the sky, so I thought I'd share some of my own unlearnings.

Here's my Cheat Sheet of Unwisdom:

  1. You are shaped more by what you remove than by what you add.
  2. You don't need any authorization or certification to become great at something on your own.
  3. You can’t worry about everything. Get one thing right, then the next one, and so on.
  4. What you do in your spare time reveals who you need to become.
  5. You’re not your job.
  6. Not everything you do needs to be monetized.
  7. The chances you are not taking today become the regrets you will have tomorrow.
  8. Fear is a GPS: it won't keep you safe, but it will reveal what you have to work on.
  9. Seek feedback, not approval.
  10. The price of getting better is admitting you were wrong.
  11. It's useless to seek pain, but it's even more useless to waste it.
  12. Mistakes are good data.
  13. Quick Remedies:
    • Stress → Exercise.
    • Fatigue → Enough sleep.
    • Hunger → Healthy food.
    • Sadness → Play, conviviality, nature.
    • Sickness? All of the above.
  14. There are enough “us” vs. “them” people. Be a “we” person.
  15. To feel respected and listened to, respect and listen to.
  16. Not being able to rejoice in others’ success is a clear indication that you’re still a sucker.
  17. Experiences opposite to yours are still valid and worthy of your respect.
  18. Age is not an accurate meter of wisdom.
  19. Ultimately, disappointment in others is disappointment about your expectations.
  20. Your view of an experience makes the experience.
  21. When you understand a rule's purpose, you gain the wisdom to break it.
  22. Search inside, not outside.
  23. Life is a journey to go back to yourself.
  24. If you move 10'000 miles away from home to seek yourself, you still need to go 20'000 miles deeper inside to find it.
  25. To enjoy a process more, let go of any desired outcomes.
  26. It's okay to stop and change direction. Perseverance is not a virtue when you apply it to the wrong path.
  27. Stand by your thoughts, ideas, and beliefs—but consider them temporary, incomplete, and replaceable.
  28. Relink fun with making instead of consuming.
  29. Make it, you can always make it better later.
  30. Most ideas are in front of you all along, but you're not ready to see them yet.
  31. A laugh born from paradox is a spark of enlightenment.
  32. Consuming high-speed news makes you feel like you know a lot, but it's just reducing your ability to engage in deep, reflective thinking.
  33. Doing nothing once in a while is a productivity hack.
  34. Most structures are just Ego in disguise.

Some stuff you can control, some you can't. Everything is a mess, and it's okay that way. But the sooner you start cleaning it up, the better.

The process is the goal.

Happy cleanup. (ʘ‿ʘ)╯