What Is Your Basic Life Philosophy?

It’s a great question — mostly if you answer it without overthinking. What are a few simple tenets that come to mind? Don’t try to articulate a perfectly thought out theory. Don’t look for something complicated. List the rules that first pop into your head. Chances are, if your subconscious has them locked and loaded, they’re the ones who most affect your behavior from one day to the next.

Here are some of mine:

1. Work hard. Effort is not everything, but without effort, nothing turns into anything.
2. Be nice. Hard work is not an excuse to be a mean person. It may separate you from some people, but it doesn’t elevate you above anyone. Treat everyone with kindness and respect.
3. Be as honest as you can. Nobody makes it through life without lying, but only lie if you must — and when you do, do it for the right reasons.
4. Whatever you are, be a good one. It’s okay to only be a few things. A supportive partner. A generous mom. An available friend. No one can be all of those at once, but everyone can be one of them on any given day.
5. Don’t worry. It might sound impossible, but you used to do it, remember? In fact, you used to be completely unable to worry about the future. Tomorrow is only scary if you think about it too much. Instead, how about you…
6. Enjoy the moment. Presence solves nearly all problems, because right now, most of them don’t exist. Savor whatever you can savor that’s right in front of you, and live one minute, one hour, one day at a time.
7. Have no expectations. To most people, the phrase “low expectations” has a bad connotation. They think it means waiting for failure or a bad experience. To me, “low expectations” sounds wonderful. When you go in without demands, everything becomes a pleasant surprise. But if you can and prefer, have no expectations. Don’t make plans for how things should go at all when approaching any particular situation. Resolve to let life play out as it intends to, and you’ll stay open to new paths while handling outcomes the way they ask to be handled — because you’ll wait until you actually know what they’re about.

What is your basic life philosophy? It’s a great question to answer in writing, revisit, and compare notes every year, but most importantly, just ask it. Even if you answer only in your head, you’ll learn something about yourself — from how you see the world to how far you’ve come and where you’d like to go.

What is your basic life philosophy?

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This post was previously published on Niklas Göke’s blog

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You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:

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The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer

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