To my future child,
Over the years I have collected a lot of advices and kept the ones that are quite useful. Here are some simple rules so you can navigate the boring stuff of life and enjoy the less boring parts of it.
I hope that they will help you and that you may add some more to them, pass them along so people you care about will enjoy life with you, because a life in solitary and with no one to share what you know with, is a life not well lived.
When you are working try to do only one thing at a time and avoid multitasking. Even listening to something in the background (e.g. podcasts, music with lyrics) may cause you to lose concentration. Focus all your mental energy towards your task at hand and then move on to other things.
There is a concept called survivor bias. It is the same as the winner is writing the history. The book how I lost 15kg in one week will make it to stores so you can read about it. You will not find a book titled how I lost 15kg in 10 years. For every story of success there are a lot of stories of failure.
Let yourself of the hook. Don't try to be perfect. Publish that project you have lying around. You will be the hardest judge on yourself. Don't let it get the best of you. There is always something which you can change or adjust.
Everything we accomplish has a price attached to it. If you are famous you will pay rumors and gossip tax. If you have more than you need or things that others desire, theft is one possible tax you may have to pay. In light of success you pay taxes in stress and problems.
If you are on a caloric deficit in order to loose weight watch out for the small stuff you may do every day that will add up calories. If you put milk in your coffee that could be ok, but if you drink five coffees per day then this can add up.
Skin in the game is when somebody has both traits of an outcome. Positive outcome - reaping the benefits. Negative outcome - paying a price. You can't and shouldn't be able to transfer the risk.
When you talk to someone, be precise in how you articulate yourself. Observe the actions of what you want to say. For instance Peter is sitting in the chair, is an observation. Peter is lazy cause he is sitting in the chair is an evaluation. We are criticizing instead of just observing.
Don't let yourself down, humans have never been healthier, happier, wealthier than any other humans in history.
When there is no need for electronic devices, don't use them. If you can do one thing better with a pen and paper, use that. Don't try to emulate everything with electronics. Use it when it makes sense. It will make you robust and you will not lose touch with things that have been around for a very long time.
Limit the notifications on your computer or phone to the ones you need. Plan chunks of time where do not disturb is enabled.