15 Things I Wish Someone Would Have Taught Me When I Was Graduating From High School

My God Daughter graduated from high school this weekend, and I wrote this list for her. Hopefully, other folks find it useful as well. I am not the originator of most of these thoughts at all. They come from the giants of history and human experience. Your mileage and paranoia may vary, as always. :)

Life is a long road… Enjoy the drive!

1. Be extremely careful, deliberate, and meticulous when making any decision that reduces or removes options from your decisions in the future. While there are likely only going to be less than a dozen major decisions in your entire life, life is made up of millions of micro-decisions that build inertia. Unless you are absolutely sure, or have a way to minimize risks, choose the path of most options.
2. One day you will meet the one. To make sure they are the one, you have to consider love, trust and respect. You need all three and they have to be bi-directional. If any of the three are missing, don’t walk away — RUN!
3. Put your faith in the law of compounding. Everything you do counts. Tiny things done frequently build great outcomes or terrible disasters. What you do every day matters a whole lot more than what you do any single day.
4. You will become the average of the five people you spend your time with. That includes authors…