As the new year approaches, I find it is helpful to write down one’s rules for living. I have done this for the last few years and find it is help. Published below are some of my (non-personal) rules.   I would also be very interested in hearing your rules — feel free to email them to me.

– don’t waste your talents. If you are blessed, help others.

– if you are reading this, chances are that your life is better than at least 90% of the people on earth. Always remember that. Use your talents and wealth to make the world better for the other 90%.

– always be adamant about learning. Time is not on your side. Listen to books on tape. Read the paper every day. Incorporate learning into your daily routine

– force yourself to read at least 10 pages of a book every day. A real book (with at least 150 pages) — not a periodical.

– go out of your way to help people. Always be the first to proactively volunteer to drive a friend to the airport or help her move. Always try to connect people to one another if they can mutually benefit.

– don’t complain … ever. Don’t sweat the little things …

– don’t hang out with people that complain

– fire people that complain

– never, ever be unethical. Follow the ten commandments to a tee. In the rare case that you tell a lie, make sure you force yourself to feel bad about it.

– always be on time and respect other people’s time

– always have something to read

– fix little problems right away

– always carry a pen

– "the perfect is the enemy of the good". There are things that need to be done right and there are things you need to do right now.

– "one does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time" – Andre Gide

– "the worst thing you can do for those you love is the things they could do and should do for themselves." – Abraham Lincoln

– "you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take" – Wayne Gretzky

There are many ambitious people in the world — I am going to attempt to categorize them here.

Popularity
90% of ambitious people are just striving to be popular. They are trying to accumulate better toys then their peers to enhance their popularity — just like 5th grade. You have the fast car, the cool beach house, the hottest pair of jeans — then you are more likely to be popular.

This sounds crude but my guess is that the 90% figure is not far off. Most ambitious people unfortunately are only ambitious because they strive to be in the "in crowd"

Plan verses chaos
Most ambitious people are planners. They have goal (like Bill Clinton: "I want to be President by age 50") and they work backward from that goal. Not all ambitious people reach their goal (as America has only had 43 presidents) but they use the goal as a guideline for advancement and promotion (and often they change their goal with more information).

A small minority of ambitious people live life without a goal. They generally never look more then 6-9 months ahead and only have some broad life objectives (like to make the world a better place). They have a much more chaotic path but are often just as successful as those people with a goal.

Means verses ends
There are ethically ambitious people and people who feel the ends justify the means. Some people who live by an ethical code are ambitious precisely because they want to prove that one can be successful and still follow strict ethical guidelines. Some people see more ethical grey.