Responsibility and Ethics

• You are responsible for your things. If you need help, ask. If "No" is the answer you hear, you're still responsible for your things.
• Your life is the sum of the choices that you have made and your response to the actions of others on your life. Either way, you decide how it's going to be.
• If it's not yours, don't touch it.
• Sometimes you have to do the things you don't want to do to be the person you want to be.
• Poverty does not lead to crime; lack of character leads to crime.
• Debt is slavery. But once you assume debt, it is your responsibility and yours alone. You have an obligation to your creditors. You can't hate them for your choices. That said, debt to the government is the lone exception to this. You never choose to assume that debt; a bureaucrat makes that decision for you and chooses the amount arbitrarily.
• Compassion is not measured by how much you give to others, but by how much you show and teach others so that they no longer need aid. Nearly everyone would rather have the dignity of self-reliance than be dependent on others.
• The difference between the employer and the employee is the willingness to tolerate the risk of losing everything. For this reason, employees don't have a right to what an employer earns. If employees don't like it, they should start their own company.
• Try to live your life in such a way so that if anyone saw you at any given moment, you would not be embarrassed.
• Be quick to admit your mistakes. Don't dilute your mistake by discussing the behavior of others.

Relationships and Communication

• Treat others as you want to be treated.
• Listening is 90% of communication.
• If you don't like what someone is doing, then ask them to stop. Only if they don't stop should you involve someone else.
• You can tear down in 5 seconds what may have taken you 5 years to build.
• If you give something of material value to you to another person, they'll generally squander it. The exception is time. Time is the most valuable thing that you have to give someone. This is why teaching is so much more valuable than a handout.
• Be very careful of choosing to be responsible for others. You give up freedoms when you do and you obligate yourself to being the person you're expected to be, even if you're not ready to be that person.
• The person who cares the least about a negotiation is always the one in control of the terms. This is the Principle of Least Interest.
• A true apology begins "I'm sorry for..." and not "I'm sorry, but..."
• The veneer of civilization is very thin.
• Try to speak of others as though they were standing next to you at that very moment. You may need that person's help later.
• Never allow yourself to pursue humor at the expense of others.
• Usually when people call others names, they just don't have an argument that they can articulate.
• When you communicate, you are responsible to be clear and engaging to your audience. If they don't listen well or misinterpret what you say, it is you who failed, not them.
• Almost always, the most compassionate act you can do for someone else is to simply walk away and let them figure it out on their own. It depends on if they're coachable and willing to listen.
• Avoid people who complain constantly. They'll never achieve anything and will always be jealous of your success.
• Few people care what you think unless they ask you - and even then, they're skeptical.
• What's important to a person is defined by what they talk about and how they spend their time.
• Never apologize for others. Apologize only for your mistakes. If you don't think that you made a mistake, don't apologize.
• Never sue someone for anything other than an act of malice or a breach of contract. Accidents happen - to and by everyone. The courts should not be the lottery that they've become, and protection against charges of negligence should not require omniscience.
• There is no such thing as an "obligation" to your fellow man. The only obligation you have is to carry your own weight and to provide for those in your care. Once that's done, if you have anything left over, it is your choice to give to others.
• It's not your business to step between two people arguing. You'll only anger both people.
• Never date or be a feminist¹. They don't like men, nor do they consider a man to be their equal. When a feminist asks a man to do something for her, it's reasonable and a "favor." When a man asks a feminist to do something, it's manipulation and servitude.

¹ Feminism has been hijacked. It's no longer about women's rights or equality. She who is vocal, spined, and competent is not a 'feminist' - she is a woman, as a woman ought to be. No special terms need apply.

Success and Money

• Never be afraid of failure. Neither failure nor success defines you. Your effort defines you.
• Crave function over title.
• Desire is 90% of success. The other 10% is who you know and your ability to sell what you've done.
• If there is one skill to obsess about in life, it's your ability to communicate. That alone can take you farther in any occupation than anything else.
• It is no crime to keep what you have earned, yet others will accuse you of greed if you do. Interestingly, they want what they do not have and usually aren't willing to earn it themselves. What's the name for that?
• America is the greatest country on earth. You are free to say and achieve things here that are not possible anywhere else on the planet.
• There is seldom "luck." It's more often preparation, performance, and an eye for opportunity.
• If you need more money, you have only two options: either increase your income or decrease your expenses. The latter is easier and quicker and will normally pave the way for the former.
• Never play the lottery. It's not a means of greater income; it's a means for the government to tax you.
• Sometimes you have to say, "To hell with efficiency!" and squander creatively.
• If you don't know the motive behind an action, follow the money first.
• Cherish competition - it makes you try much harder.
• In society today, you have to be able to learn, unlearn, and relearn. This requires great reading skills, self-education, and the ability to adapt quickly.
• Before going to the table, always know the very minimum that you need from a deal. Then ask for the outrageous, don't go below your minimum, and be prepared to walk away from a deal.
• You're not truly hungry if you don't eat what's given to you.

Life - The "What It Is" Philosophy

• Never live in "What if?" Live in what is.
• The hardest thing in life is the ability to see truly.
• Life is not fair and it's nobody's job to make it that way.
• Achievement is the sole root of esteem.
• When something bad happens to you, "Why?" is the wrong question to ask. Accept your circumstances and make the best of it.
• "I don't know" can be an incredibly brave statement because we hate not knowing. We often fill our blind spots with pure conjecture and most conjecture is negative.
• If someone is going to kick you, make sure that you're pointed in the right direction first.
• Anger is not getting your way.

Layers of BS

• The higher the title of the public servant, the greater the function as self-servant. This is usually true in both politics and religion.
• Government is best when it gets out of the way of its own people.
• Sometimes, taxes help fund public and shared needs. Other times, taxes are simply wealth redistribution.
• Those who commit crimes are guilty and should be punished, regardless of what rules were broken in catching them.
• God is, but very very few people, if any, know God well. Few Christians have really read the bible. The church, as a whole, resembles very little of what Jesus and the apostles taught.
• Government does not have the right to take one person's money and give it to another.
• People in power who want to change society begin by altering the definition of society's words.
• Most "altruism" is either an attempt to look good in front of others or feel good about oneself.