What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 – 10th Anniversary Edition

Being fabulous comes in many flavors, but it all starts with removing the cap and being willing to reach for your true potential. This means going beyond minimum expectations and acknowledging that you are ultimately responsible for your actions and the resulting outcomes. Doing just 1 percent better each day leads to enormous positive results. Life isn’t a dress rehearsal, and you won’t always get a second chance to do your best

We live in a complex world and are deeply dependent upon others. Therefore, it is critically important to know how to work well with others, optimize your negotiations, extract the most from your teams, and make yourself easy to help. Each of these skills propels you forward while also helping those around you reach their objectives

The idea is that you should pick the most talented person you can (the arrow) and then craft the job (the target) around what he or she does best. If you allow really talented people to do what they do best, then the results are astonishing. They’re fulfilled and, therefore, much more productive than if they were doing something that didn’t fit their talents or interests. The key is putting together a team with the right complement of skills.

Consider how much time you spend doing things you need and want to do, and prioritize for yourself, so someone else doesn’t do it for you

Do the right thing, as opposed to the smart thing, so you’ll be proud to tell your story later

never forget that the world is very small and you will likely bump into the same people time and time again. Protect and enhance your reputation—it’s your most valuable asset and should be guarded well

never forget that the world is very small and you will likely bump into the same people time and time again

Always show appreciation to those who help you. Keep a stack of thank-you notes on your desk and use them frequently

In these cases I write a note with the following words: Thank you so much for the wonderful opportunity. I wish I had time to participate. Please don’t interpret my lack of time for a lack of interest. This short message captures how much I appreciate the invitation and opens the door to potential future opportunities. It helps me to stay focused on the things that are the most important to me, as opposed to getting distracted by all the lovely, shiny objects in my midst.

most people can track only three things at once