There’s more to life than tv and music, and I don’t think that, years ago, I don’t think I would have said that. But I’m saying it now: there is more to life than tv and music. And when I look back on those hundreds and hundreds of hours that I spent watching movies, cartoons, serials and listening to music—many of which were not that memorable, and many of which did not tell a whole lot that I didn’t already know—when I realized that they were hours that are gone now and I’m not getting them back… It makes me mad. It makes me mad, honestly, that I’m not gonna get those hours back. You know those are hours I could have been spending doing something useful.

What’s the point in writing your whole life down when no body gives a shit.
Everyone’s too busy trying to be somebody else.
You know what, FUCK it!
Life’s a piece of shit anyway.

Sometimes the smartest thing to do is to know who to ask.

Free advice is worth the price.
– Robert Half

This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882)

It hurts to find out that what you wanted doesn’t match what you dreamed it would be.
– Randy K. Milholland, Something Positive Comic, 09-07-04

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
– Carl Jung (1875 – 1961)

I had my fair share of heartaches and misery, actually everyone does. So quit whining and get back to work.
– Ganz

Sometimes days fly by without anything standing out in your mind, without any tangible improvement. Every day make sure, no matter how small the effort, that you do something to make your dreams come true.

We’ve all heard the proverb “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” But that same journey is vastly easier to make if the scenery changes.

If you keep moving and see different surroundings, you know you are making progress. If you can’t see the progress you are making, if every step seems to leave you in the same place, then you will have trouble believing that you are moving forward.

Every day in your life you have to see the progress. Ask yourself, What did I accomplish today? If you have an answer, if you can see the progress you have made in your journey, then you have had a valuable day, a good day.

Step 1: Find a vision for the future
If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else. It’s important to have a dream and a vision of where you’d like to be, even if it only involves a future without the problem or problems you are currently facing.

Step 2: Deal with and dissolve barriers to the preferred future
Get clear on what imaginary and real barriers you are facing that could stop you from reaching a better future or even trying to achieve such a future. Challenge the barriers by changing your actions or changing your thoughts.

Step 3: Make an action plan to reach the preferred future
Even if you aren’t sure you can achieve your goal, you can begin to take actions as if the future you envision will come true. Obviously, envisioning a future you want and starting to take actions toward it won’t always lead to results; but if you decide the future you hope for is unattainable and don’t take actions toward achieving that future, it is almost guaranteed that the better future won’t arrive.

I believe that one of life’s greatest risks is never daring to risk.
- Oprah Winfrey (1954 – )

One person with a belief is equal to a force of 99 who have only interests.
- John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873)

The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.
- Ursula K. LeGuin

You are going to let the fear of poverty govern your life and your reward will be that you will eat, but you will not live.
- George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950)

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
- Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948)

Running away is often the best way of avoiding death in combat. If everyone on your side runs away, then you will probably all get killed. And thus is a cowards’ dilemma born. Imagine that you and many others have been drafted. You are now in combat facing enemy troops.

Let’s assume that none of you are very patriotic, and your paramount objective is personal survival. The best way to avoid danger would be if you ran away, but all your fellow soldiers stayed and fought. Of course, if everyone else on your side ran away, then it would be even a better idea for you to abandon your combat position, for you certainly don’t want to be the only one facing the enemy when they cross your lines. Running away is therefore the safest strategy you could follow regardless of what your fellow soldiers do.

A dilemma arises because if everyone on your side runs away, it will be easy for the enemy to hunt you all down and kill you. Thus, you all might be better off if everyone stayed than if everyone ran away. Individually you are all better off being cowards. Collectively you’re all better off being brave. Armies solve this cowards’ dilemma by the court-marshaling the soldiers who run away. The potential for being killed for cowardice thus actually helps soldiers as it saves them from the dilemma.