Hello everyone, I'm excited to share with you today ten simple rules that have truly transformed my life and helped me achieve my goals. These aren't just theoretical concepts; they are practical guidelines that have served as a kind of GPS, especially when I was tempted to take shortcuts or choose immediate pleasure over long-term happiness.
Let me walk you through each one:
1. Difficult Choices Now, Easy Life Later; Easy Choices Now, Difficult Life Later This famous phrase from gymnast Jerzy Gregorek has been a constant guide for me. It's the first rule that profoundly changed my life and a simple reminder: if I make a difficult choice now, my life will be easier later. Conversely, if I opt for an easy, comfortable choice now, my life will eventually become more challenging.
2. When in Doubt, the Answer is No I know many people might not agree with this, but the truth is, our intuition often knows best. It's as if our intuition has foresight into what will happen. When there's a conflict or inconsistency between the mind and the heart, it’s usually best to listen to your heart. If I'm not entirely sure about a project, if I'm not truly excited about a proposal, or if something just feels off, the right answer is almost always no. In the past, I used to listen to myself less, tending to be overly analytical and engineering-minded, always calculating pros and cons. However, I've come to realize that the best decisions I've made in life were those taken with intuition, with the heart. What I later learned is the union of these aspects: learning to analyze rational elements, calculations, and analyses of a decision, but then also listening to our emotions. We have 100,000 years of evolution within us that have taught us to make quick, instant, and often correct decisions.
3. Fall in Love with the Process More Than the Final Result This is one of my absolute favorites and truly changed my life. When we set an objective, what we truly want is the outcome – a certain income, passing an exam, a promotion, or a physical transformation. The problem is, if we don't fall in love with the process that leads us to that result, we will hardly achieve it. If, however, we fall in love with the habits, behaviors, and activities that generate that result, and we are willing to pursue these activities indefinitely, the results will be a natural consequence. It's much more important to find activities, passions, hobbies, or interests that we can truly love and pursue even for free. Because if we fall in love with the process, first of all, we are happy in the present moment. We don't have to wait for a specific result to be happy; we are simply happy because we have the opportunity to practice that activity. Furthermore, by falling in love with the process, we become so good that achieving certain results becomes a positive side effect of this love.
4. You Don't Have to Wait for Motivation to Start Acting This rule is crucial: sometimes we simply need to act despite not feeling motivated. In fact, if you learn to act even when you're not motivated, that's when you truly become unstoppable. Motivation, magically, comes through action. It arrives the moment you start doing things.
5. The 3 Ps: Permission, Power, Protection This rule has significantly improved my life. Whenever I found myself in unpleasant situations, feeling anxious, stressed, or frustrated, remembering the 3 Ps was fundamental.
◦ Permission: We remind ourselves that we have the possibility and the need to change situations that are not good for us.
◦ Power: We remind ourselves that we are capable and have the strength to change certain situations.
◦ Protection: We remember to take care of ourselves, disconnecting, relaxing, and taking moments to regenerate. When we apply these three things, we feel much better. It's as if we become those caring parents we might not have had in childhood, parents who take care of us and tell us what's helpful and healthy for us when facing difficult situations.
6. The Real Secret to Productivity is Batching This rule delves into personal productivity and time management. Batching means grouping a series of similar activities within a specific time slot. For example, instead of doing activity A, B, and C fragmented throughout each day, where you might achieve certain productivity, you can group similar activities that share the same context, objective, and require the same skills and concentration. This significantly increases your personal productivity. You can consolidate all 'A' activities on one day, all 'B' activities on another, and all 'C' activities on a third day. A concrete example: instead of answering messages and emails fragmentedly throughout the day, dedicate an hour or an hour and a half, perhaps in the afternoon, to do only that activity. The same applies to meetings or any other activity. You can even cook in batching, preparing several meals during the weekend, or handle administrative tasks in batching. Grouping these activities will save you a lot of time, creating space for activities that truly make you feel good.
7. The Only Company That Truly Cares About You Is Your Own Personal "Spa" This is something I learned when I entered the professional world. The phrase "Andrea Giuliodori Spa" is an imaginary company. But remembering that I was working for this imaginary company—my personal company—was the best way to approach the world of work, even when I was an employee. When we work for any company, even the best in the world, our interests are not always aligned with those of our bosses, owners, or entrepreneurs. We must remember to see ourselves as suppliers or clients of these companies, not as part of a big corporate family. Big corporate families don't exist. We need to focus on our career path, on what is positive for us, striving to be the best professionals possible, but never forgetting that we are working for our imaginary company.
8. If You Want to Change Your Life, You Must Change At Least One Action You Repeat Every Day This rule is fundamental: Habits are the building blocks of personal growth. It's unthinkable to genuinely change your life – and I'm not talking about lottery wins or escaping to a Caribbean island, but true inner changes – without altering at least one habitual behavior you carry out day by day. If you want to change your life, try to imagine which bad habits you need to let go of and which good habits you can establish to accompany you towards the goals you've always desired.
9. Never Skip Two Days in a Row Speaking of habits, this rule is simple yet powerful: Consistency is essential in our personal growth journey. You can allow yourself to skip one day—a workout, a study session, or whatever—perhaps because you're having a bad day, not feeling 100%, or simply demotivated. But try never to skip more than two days in a row. Because if you skip two days in a row, you are effectively establishing a new habit, and that new habit is a bad one: the habit of not carrying out the behavior you promised yourself. So, it's okay to skip one day, but never two days in a row.
10. Every Day, Focus on Giving 100% This is the tenth and last rule that has changed my life, perhaps the most important of all, yet it's often misunderstood. It's misunderstood because people think it means you have to push yourself every day, strive to achieve certain goals, get tired, or force yourself to do things you don't want to do. That's not what giving 100% means. It means that every day, we have different possibilities. There are days when we are more rested, energetic, motivated, and focused, and days when we need to listen more to our emotional side or generally have negative emotions dragging us down. In each of these days, there is a different 100%, and we can achieve that 100% on any given day. What matters most is this predisposition, this decision, this willingness to try to give your best every day, even if that 'best' varies day by day. This predisposition to improvement, this willingness to improve ourselves and express our full potential, is what truly changes our lives, more than the actual results we achieve. In some periods of our lives, that 100% probably won't make a huge difference, but having had this willingness, this desire to improve, will help us fully express our potential when we are finally ready to radically change our lives.
I sincerely hope this has been helpful. These rules have been instrumental in my journey, not just for achieving objectives but for living a calmer, happier life. I encourage you to reflect on how these principles might apply to your own life and perhaps share any rules that have similarly guided you.
