I think often about the person I am, and the person I want to become.

My biggest hope is that as an old man I’ll look back on my life and find not an absence of mistakes and regrets, but rather a life filled with passion, discovery, failures, love, beautiful people, and that I’ll laugh heartily at the whole thing before kicking the bucket. Recently, I’ve watched, satisfied, as my ideals and actions shift into greater alignment. I’m just exploring the beginning of this harmony. I strive to be better, so that I may live as fully as possible at the peak of my capability, and so that I may have a better chance of realizing my dreams. Here are a few of the things I’m working on, that you also might consider:

TGS Manifesto

• Look people in the eyes as you listen and speak. Never interrupt.
• Say what you mean, do what you say. Don’t give people your word lightly.
• If your friends can’t trust you, no one can. Take care of them.
• Be physically fit. Physical fitness correlates with mental acuity.
• Don’t let fear of embarrassment stop you from doing anything that’s true to you. Embarrassment simply isn’t a worthy barrier. If people scoff at your ambitions, ignore them. Only you know what you’re really capable of.
• Place others before yourself. People will recognize this prioritization.
• Train yourself to stay calm and rational in disagreements.
• Be persistent, be stubborn, be a fighter.
• Stay in the moment. Have the patience and receptiveness to appreciate the beauty hiding in the instants all around you.
• Do things that make you lose track of time.
• Do the right thing. The world has a mysterious way of rewarding you.
• By challenging yourself, even on a small level, you start to expand the boundaries of your capability.
• Never be afraid to ask questions, but don’t ask questions you could find the answer to yourself.
• Try each day to develop yourself. Learn a new skill, facts on a new subject, talk to someone who expands your perspective, become fitter, face something that’s uncomfortable.
• The food you put in your body has a profound effect on your mental sharpness and stamina. Eat healthily for a week to understand the difference.
• Find people that inspire you and model them. One person cannot be your mentor in all areas. Gather many mentors and learn from all of them. If you have the opportunity, thank them for what they’ve shown you. Mentors need recognition, too.
• Realize that your parents made you. From nothing. For that you owe them everything.
• Write and read often.
• Patience is one of the greatest acquired skills you can carry.
• Stop procrastinating. Do the consequential things first.
• The most important thing you can do is explore your mind.  It’s at the core of everything you experience in the world. Take care of it, exercise it.
• Being alone is one of the most effective ways to grow.
• Extend to everyone the openness you’d show if you were meeting them for the first time.  Eventually,  if you keep giving them chances, everyone will show you their good side.
• No good ever comes from talking badly about someone behind their back.
• Be genuine, be kind.  If you’ve wronged someone, apologize.  It will lift a great–even unrecognized–weight from both of you.
• Write a manifesto of things you truly believe in.  (this is an abridged version of my own)  It will help you to understand who you are now, and what you’re striving towards. Update it. Write a new one annually.