The Rules of Life

I have a friend. Not a good friend particularly, more of an acquaintance. He’s a regular sort of a guy. Runs a computer business ...

Ye s , w e m a y w e a r d i f f e r e n t c l o t h e s a n d s p e a k d i f f e r e n t l a n- guages and have different cust ...

It Doesn’t Hurt to Forgive It’s easy to be angry. It’s easy to get riled up and mutter or to make rude gestures and swear. It is ...

Being forgiving doesn’t mean we have to be pushed around or to put up with nonsense. We can stand our ground and say, “Sorry I d ...

It Doesn’t Hurt to Be Helpful We said in the previous Rule that the angry person you encounter may have had a bad day before get ...

need a hand instead of bustling on past. It’s about trying to see a situation from others’ viewpoint, being sympathetic if they ...

What’s in It for Them? We all want to win. At work and in most aspects of life, win- ning is good, and we don’t like to lose. No ...

about that vacation that will make them happy? Highlight those aspects, and they’re more likely to agree. If you’re strug- gling ...

Hang Out with Positive People If you want to be successful in your life, at work, socializing, you need to be aware that there a ...

And which ones make you: Feel depressed after you’ve seen them? Feel angry, dejected, or criticized? Squash your ideas and pour ...

Be Generous with Your Time and Information As you get older—and probably not any wiser (see Rule 2)— you will learn a lot of stu ...

you have the upper hand–to believe that knowledge is power and you should hang on to every little bit of it. Actually, the most ...

Get Involved Get involved in what? Anything really (or at least almost any- thing). I guess what I mean by this is to take an in ...

I have noticed that successful people—and that is what this book is all about, and by successful I do mean content and happy rat ...

Keep the Moral High Ground Boy, is this a simple one to say and a really difficult one to live up to. I do appreciate that it’s ...

are being horrid to you, it’s natural to want to get your own back and lash out. Don’t. Once this rough time has passed, you wil ...

Just Because You Have, Doesn’t Mean They Have, Too I was at school with a guy whose family had relatively little money when he w ...

or redundancy or a dog hair allergy on your friends? I cer- tainly hope not. If you’re living your life the best you can, you’ll ...

Do Compare Yourself with Other People This isn’t the original version of this book, you know.* In the first edition (as in this ...

you can see how much work you have to do, and you can see that it’s achievable. You don’t have to tell them you’re using them as ...