Things I’ve Come to Believe

I have a few philosophies that I’ve either adopted (by learning from others) or that I came to believe due to things I’ve experienced in life. Here are a few.

- I don’t debate with people. If someone wishes to know something, they’ll ask me and I’ll tell them. It doesn’t offend me if they then choose to not accept what I tell them, or if they wish to research it further. However, if someone asks me something because they only wish to argue, they’re small-minded and foolish – and are merely wasting my time. When someone wastes my time in this manner, it does offend me.

- I must enjoy my work. A person’s life is actually quite a short event. That being the case, I intend to live as much of it as possible. Since I must make a living by working, it makes the most sense for me to do something I find challenging as well as enjoyable.

- When I say I will do something, I must follow through on my word. I’ve broken this a few times, and I can’t think of a time when I didn’t regret it. It’s always best to keep one’s word – and I aim to live this way.

- The things I do should help others, not hurt others. I believe our lives are meant to be lived this way. This is not a religious belief, but it should be a part of any good belief (religious or otherwise).

- I should do my best. When I have to work at any task, I simply should put forth my best effort. There are many reasons to do this, and no reason not to do this. Anything less is either lazy, irresponsible, or inconsiderate.

- My happiness is not more important than the happiness of others. While I do wish to be happy, and will make efforts to be as happy as I can be, I am not “more important” than other people and have no right to deny them happiness if my wishes conflict with the state of their lives.

- Humility is better than a proud attitude.

- Be kind to others. People are never won over by negative actions (anger, debate, war, etc), but often are won over with kindness.

- Learning is the most valuable use of spare time and should be done on a normal basis. I like to do mindless things from time to time (watch a movie, or play a video game for instance) but I try to always have an interesting book on hand as well, so I can keep growing mentally.

- I can be the best in my field (and should be). No matter what “the other guy’s” supposed ability, level of intelligence, personality type, or level of education is – it doesn’t stop me from being just as good if not better.

- Nothing is impossible. I mean this for good things as well as bad things. It’s simply a way to remember that anything can happen in life, sometimes when we never imagined it was coming our way.