Be prepared that when you are 90% done with any large project (like a house, film, or event), the remaining details will take a second 90% of the time to complete.

If you lose or forget to bring a cable, adapter, or charger while traveling, check with your hotel; most hotels maintain a drawer of cables and chargers left behind by previous guests, and you'll likely find what you need.

Everyone is shy; other people are waiting for you to introduce yourself, send them an email, or ask them on a date—take the initiative.

There is no limit on better, but there is no limit on how much you can do with what you start with—resourcefulness and creativity compound without bound.

A grudge is a curse that affects only the hater, not the hated; release a grudge as if it were poison.

To make something good, just do it; to make something great, redo it repeatedly—the secret to fine things is in remaking them.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence; this is a principle for assessing the credibility of assertions and filtering out false or misleading information.

Don't take it personally when someone turns you down; assume they are just like you—occupied, distracted—and try again later; a second attempt often works.

Friends are better than money; almost anything money can do, friends can do better in many ways—friendship provides social, emotional, and practical returns that exceed financial value.

When an object is lost, 90% of the time it is hiding within arm's reach of where it was last seen; search thoroughly in all possible locations in that radius before assuming it is truly lost.

When someone is nasty, rude, hateful, or mean to you, pretend they have a disease that makes them behave that way; this creates empathy and softens conflict.

Deadlines prevent perfectionism by forcing prioritization; they cause you to focus on making something different rather than making it perfect.

A worthy goal over years is to learn enough about a subject so that you can't believe how ignorant you were a year earlier—this demonstrates the depth of knowledge acquisition.

Gratitude unlocks all other virtues and is a skill you can get better at through practice.

Never use a credit card for credit; only acceptable debt is debt taken to acquire something whose value will increase over time, such as a house.

It is hard to cheat an honest man—honesty and integrity serve as protection against deception.

When you die, you take absolutely nothing with you except your reputation; before you're old, attend as many funerals as you can bear and listen—people never talk about achievements, only about what kind of person you were.

If you're not falling down occasionally, you're just coasting—growth requires risk, and risk entails occasional failure.

Professionals are simply amateurs who know how to gracefully recover from their mistakes; mastery is not about flawlessness but about error recovery.

To make mistakes is human; to own your mistakes, take personal responsibility, and fix them fairly is divine—ownership is the most elevating response to failure.