Rich's Rules of Life

Here are a few of the things that I have learned. 


Some of these things I learned the hard way(tm)(t). 

Other things, were told to me by really cool people. My mom and dad, friends, my bosses, podcasts, books, magazines, celebrities....

The odd thing about this, is sometimes I was told one of these things, but I still had to learn it the hard way(tm)(r).

Still others were learned by simple observation.

I'm going to try and trim this list down, and create posts for each item. Where an item has some subtext, that is the start of a new post. I hope you read this list and get something out of it. 





0. If the worst thing that happens to you today is that you've lost your job, you're doing OK.

1. If, at your place of work, you cannot identify "Sideshow Knob", then you are that person.

2. Never trust a person who’s rude to the janitor. (I saw this recently on Linked In)

3. Put on your oxygen mask first, then help others put theirs on. (this is from Stephen Covey)

4. "Fuck You" funds are important to have.

A liquid savings of four months of your current salary is a good start, but an engineer that I once worked with suggested that the "fuck you" fund should ideally be enough to last you the rest of your life, this is not an impossible goal.

5. There’s a time and place for everything.

That time and place is University. (Chef, from South Park)

6. There’s always another bus.

Someone is going to offer you a one time opportunity that you must take right now, or it will go away! The salesman at the car dealership is going to ask you to put a down payment on that Jeep you are looking at RIGHT NOW because someone else was looking at it this morning.   

Just say, "that's fine, there will be another jeep" and walk away. 

7. Don't spend your "fuck you" fund on a shiny new Jeep JK Wrangler Rubicon.

8. If you’re not 15 minutes early, you’re late.(My wife)

9. If you spend 5 minutes preparing for a meeting, that's 5 minutes more than anyone else has. (My boss from my first after-university gig)

10. Always update your software 5 minutes before the IT Staff sends the email telling you not to upgrade your software. (Me)

At one company I worked for the IT manager sent an urgent email out one morning telling everyone to "NOT upgrade their MacOS computers... Except for Rich who probably already did the upgrade"... He was correct.

11. Aikido without etiquette is just a beating. (Aikido Today)

12. Get to know your parents. (Me)

Your parents won't always be there. If possible, have a good relationship with them. They've done this "life" thing and have stories to tell you.

13. If someone asks you what you do, don’t tell them what you do for work, tell them what you love to do. (The Minimalists)

14. Life is like sailing, moving the rudder won’t turn the boat until the boat is moving.

15. If someone says to you "Hey, you want to do this thing you've never done before?", consider it. (Me)

Pretty much every job offer I have accepted has begun with a conversation like this "Hey Rich, do you want to do this thing you've never done before"?

16. That car in front of you may be stopped or moving slowly for a reason, find out why before you start honking like an asshole. (Me)

17.  It's OK to say no, do it politely. (Steven Covey)

18. This is not a hammer, is not a thing. (Ivan Miranda)

19. Use things, love people, the opposite never works. (The Minimalists)

20. Wake up before your neighbours and shovel the snow off their walks. (Dad)

21. Don’t just do bad reviews for vendors that piss you off, do good reviews for those that made you happy. (Me, after wonderful people help me have a great time.)

22. Randomly accept the blame for something that you can fix, apologize and fix the problem.(Extreme Programming)

23. If you’ve identified a problem don’t simply complain, create a solution. (My boss at a gaming company)

24. Own your mistakes, vigorously and proudly. (Me)

Fix them, learn from them. Tell others about them. Don't just admit your mistakes, own them! Brag about them. It's good for a chuckle. And, someone is going to ask you about them at a job interview. This is a way to impress your interviewers.

25. Become good friends with your banker. Take them out for coffee. Good things can come from that relationship.(A boss)

26. Travel.  (Me, My wife)

Visit the other continents. Seriously, do it. Find a job that will send you places.

27. Pay yourself first. (The Wealthy Barber)

Make investing a habit. Start by investing 10% of your paycheque in a retirement fund. You will not miss 10%. Increase this value to >30% as soon as you can.

Learn about investing, convince your bank that you are a "sophisticated investor" and gain a bit of control over your portfolio.

Working for "the man" does not always guarantee that you can handle everything life throws at you, let alone get wealthy.

28. Static savings are nice, investments that pay you are better!

Imagine if your investments earned the same amount as your salary. What would you do with that? Do the math, if you start early enough, it is not an unrealistic goal.

29. If someone asks you if you know how to do something that you don’t know how to do say “Nope, but I will tomorrow” (Me)

30. Go to a job interview with samples of what you can do. Own the interview. (Me)

31. Treat job interviews as employer interviews. (Me)

Did they arrive on time? Were they polite? Did they make you giggle in a good way? Did they attempt to make a good impression on you?

32. “Sin” is an imaginary disease for which con men have an imaginary cure. (Me)

33. In any negotiation the person who can say "no" and walk away, has the upper hand.

34. There are worse things to happen to a person than death. (My family)