Original link: https://www.camelliayang.com/blog/david-perell-28
In honor of his 28th birthday this week, David Perell summed up 28 life advice, simply compiled:
2. If you feel the need to use an exclamation mark when writing, then you subconsciously know that the text is not vivid enough. Don’t use an exclamation mark to compensate, please rewrite the sentence.
3. If you want to develop a new skill, don’t just consume information, but combine theory with practice. If you want to learn music, don’t just listen to a lot of music, play it too. Every skill has something that cannot be described in words and can only be experienced in action.
4. When assembling IKEA furniture, do not tighten all the screws to 100% right away. Start by tightening each screw to 75%, and when all the screws are in place, tighten them back to 100%. This principle also applies beyond assembling furniture.
5. Make it easier for busy people to make decisions. When asking a question to a busy person, put it in a way they can answer yes/no. If there are multiple options for this question, please list them so that busy people can choose one. Try to avoid asking broad, open-ended questions.
6. Don’t be offended by what other people say. When you feel offended all the time, you’re subconsciously telling other people not to tell you the truth, which will lead to bigger problems in the long run.
7. Don’t read only recently published stuff. Throughout history, people have been writing. Why should you prioritize reading content produced in the last 24 hours unless you need it for work?
8. A top-quality sunscreen on your face is a worthwhile investment.
9. You should know enough about the environment where you live to be able to play with others for at least two hours without getting bored. Learn more about your environment and bring it to life.
10. If you work remotely a lot, make sure you have a good Zoom setup, just as well-dressed can make a good first impression on others, investing in a good camera equipment can also make an impression in meetings. Set the camera below eye level, face the light source, and create an interesting background.
11. Make a “last resort” playlist to listen to only when you need to get work done that you don’t want to do.
12. Remember the “hotel bathroom principle”: Whenever I am in the city and suddenly want to go to the toilet, I will definitely walk into those luxury hotels. This drives me to focus on my appearance every time I go out. First of all, I can’t wear sloppy clothes, and secondly, I have to be confident when walking and talking. This rule prepares me for others to have a good first impression of me when karma comes along.
13. Religion is at the heart of the human experience, and contemporary elites and academia have major blind spots in its denial. Don’t just read about religion, even if you’re not religious, you should experience all kinds of religious rituals.
14. Reading leaked email messages can help you understand how business operations are actually being done. These emails are generally open to the public during legal proceedings, read them.
15. Nothing good happens between 1am and 4am, so hurry home.
16. Be sure to bring a pair of long socks and a zip-up jacket on the plane in case it gets cold on the plane. You can change your socks when you arrive at the airport, and a jacket with pockets can help you pack more.
17. When choosing whether to read a book, you can open a random page in the middle to see how much you like it. I recommend page 87, the middle page that both captures the author’s intent and gradually begins to dive into the subject, is more helpful than reading a basic introduction.
18. Don’t look for people who don’t have bad habits. Instead, look for people who can be honest with you. Everyone has a dark side, and people are more trustworthy when you know their weaknesses.
19. When you’re traveling, if you spend most of your time outside, there’s no need to spend money on a good hotel reservation. If you really just want to relax, spend a little more and book a beach hotel, as you can spend the whole day in a hotel with luxurious facilities and a view.
20. The industry you work in often determines your success, not how good you are in the field. For example, if you want to make money playing tennis, choose tennis instead of badminton or pique. A top 10 tennis player earns 10-20 times as much as other top racquet players.
21. Most of the joy of dessert comes from the first three bites. After that, just stop. In this way, you don’t have to deliberately quit sweets, after all, you won’t be a binge eater.
22. Spend at least 20% of your social time with people who are at least 10 years older than you (excluding family members). Don’t aim at establishing a mentoring relationship, aim at a two-way value exchange. You bring them vision and energy, and they return wisdom and opportunities to you.
23. Music is the closest thing to social programming. Choose what you listen to wisely, or most concerts will push you into a Faustian one-night stand or make you spend your money on nonsense.
24. When you see someone taking pictures of Ta’s friends, please take the initiative to take a picture of them so that all of them can appear in the photo.
25. Most rich people make friends with ideas, but they don’t have interesting friends, so if you have interesting ideas, you can get a place in the rich circle of friends.
26. Set aside 5% of your after-tax income, set up a “fun account” and spend the money recklessly on what you want to do without justifying your spending behavior.
27. When shopping for clothes, think of them as a ten-year investment, so you’ll spend a fortune on high-quality clothing, but you can also use them as a means of motivating you to stay fit and stay in shape and weight.
28. If you want to write well, delete it boldly. This post started out with 107 life advice, but now I’ve only kept 28.
PS Last year, I was fortunate enough to participate in David Perell’s valuable writing course Write of Passage ( CY CIRCLE group friends can see the courseware and study notes about the course in the Notion document), and became a graduate of Cohort 7, and got acquainted with it. I have gathered many like-minded writers and invited them to be a guest on the Chiwi Journal podcast to share their writing experiences and life insights. Let me tell you quietly, this month my Chinese podcast [Ideal Tun] invited Will Mannon (Ma Xiaowei), the director of this course, to listen to this American boy’s Chinese, haha!
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