32 bits of unsolicited advice  
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Writer, photographer, conservationist, traveler, futurist, technologist, and all around interesting  
human Kevin Kelly recently turned 68 and wrote a blog post on his birthday titled  
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68 Bits of  
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Unsolicited Advice  
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I loved his list, and since I turned 32 last week, I decided to write my own.  
32 Bits of Unsolicited Advice  
list  with 33 items  
1.  
Be more generous than feels comfortable.  
Your comfort level will eventually adapt, and your  
life, and the lives of many others, will be better for it.  
2.  
Do what you say you’re going to do. This is hard.  
And it is much easier if you don’t  
overpromise.  
3.  
Speaking of overpromising, everything takes twice as long as you think it will (to do well) so  
commit to half as much as you think can do.  
4.  
Anytime you lose yourself in something (i dot e.  
you notice afterward you weren’t thinking about  
when it would end), take note, and do more of that thing.  
5.  
Don’t keep food in your house that makes you feel bad when you eat it, because you will eat it.  
(Same goes for beverages.)  
6.  
Learn to cook well. The best way to learn to cook well is by cooking a lot.  
7.  
Consciously eliminate or reduce the animal products in your diet: your food will be less  
expensive, better for the world, more morally sound, and healthier.  
8.  
Systems beat willpower every time.  
9.  
Take whatever steps necessary to develop a strong sense of self love and self worth.  
Not only is  
this the greatest investment you can make in yourself, but it’s also just true.  
You are worthy of  
love. You are amazing. You are capable. And you should know that better than anyone.  
10.  
If you’re a recent graduate the best way to get off the treadmill slash hamster wheel of bullshit is  
to never climb on to it. This probably means you shouldn’t go work for a big company.  
11.  
The best time to start investing is 10 years ago. The second best time is today.  
12.  
When going out to dinner with a date: if the restaurant serves food at the bar, choose bar  
seats.  
A) the wait time is usually shorter B) It is lower pressure because you don’t have to stare  
into each other's eyes the whole time, C) watching the cooks and bartenders and other patrons gives  
you easy conversation topics when there are lulls and D) it is more intimate than a table, since  
you’re sitting so close to each other, with plenty of opportunities (should you wish) for knee  
grazes and such.  
13.  
Move your body every day.  
14.  
The most important decision you ever make will be who you spend your life with.  
It will affect  
your life in every single way possible.  
15.  
You and your partner will have problems.  
The key is not avoiding problems, but learning how to  
solve them together.  
16.  
Whittle away at your ego every day. You are neither as good or as bad as you think.  
And nobody  
else is spending much time thinking about you.  
17.  
If you want to buy something, write it down. See if you still want it in a week.  
(You’d be  
surprised how often the answer is  No. )  
18.  
When in doubt, take a walk.  
19.  
Dropping your expectations of other people is one of the greatest gifts you can give to  
yourself and to those other people.  
20.  
Don’t believe everything you think. At least half is likely wrong.  
21.  
Get serious about your sleep. Do whatever you need to do to get enough deep sleep.  
This is the  
foundation for everything else.  
22.  
Be nice to everyone. Nicer still to your friends. And nicest to your family. This is hard.  
We  
usually do the reverse.  
23.  
Resumes are becoming quainter by the day. If and when possible, show your work.  
24.  
You don’t owe anybody anything. On the flip side, nobody owes you anything.  
25.  
Increase your ratio of creation:consumption and you will feel more satisfied with life.  
26.  
Eat seasonally.  
Butternut squash is much more exciting when you only get it for 25 percent  of the  
year.  
27.  
People you love will die suddenly. Act accordingly.  
Don’t wait until the end to say the things  
you want to say, otherwise they won’t get said.  
28.  
Speaking of which, if you think something nice about someone, say it to them.  
People don’t get  
enough compliments.  
29.  
Develop a bias toward encouragement! There is not enough encouragement in the world.  
When  
someone tells you an idea for something they want to start, resist the urge toward punditry or  
critique. Simply encourage them to keep going.  
30.  
Start something. Anything. A new habit. Learning a new skill. Building a new company.  
Taking  
ownership and control over something is an amazing feeling.  
31.  
As you get older and more successful and start making more money, don’t let it get to your  
head.  
Your circumstances are 90 percent  luck of the draw of where you were born, how you grew up, who you  
know, etc.  
32.  
Spend time learning about and practicing negotiation.  
It is an essential skill in life and work  
with huge potential upside.  
For example, if you are able to negotiate an extra $5000 slash year at work  
just once, that will be worth hundreds of thousands (even millions) when compounded over the course  
of 30 plus  years.  
33.  
(Bonus!) Life is short, random, hard, crazy, and magical.  
Don’t take things, or yourself, too  
seriously. Enjoy the ride.  
out of list  
Peter  
p dot s.  
In my excessively eager brainstorm session for this post, I wrote down 50 bits of advice  
before I finally stopped to count, and realized I had overshot.  
So I called in my trusted editor  
(Keeley) to cut me down to 32. She happily obliged.  
If you’re curious about which ones didn’t make  
it off the cutting room floor,  
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here they are  
dot  In Keeley’s words, she cut them because they were,  
relative to the keepers, more  cliche, repetitive, unremarkable, or lacking in context.  
The Workout Today  
Monday, May 18th  
LIVE WORKOUTS  
Yoga flow with Jacob today at 3p PDT  slash  6p EDT  
Head over to  
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The Workout dot Today slash Live  
to join and see the full schedule.  
The Warm Up (4   8 minutes)  
100  
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jumping jacks  
  
80  
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mountain climbers  
  
60  
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side shuffles  
  
40  
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basic squats  
  
20  
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walking lunges  
  
10  
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plank shoulder taps  
(hold on each shoulder for 3 )  
5  
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burpees  
(or  
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low impact burpees  
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The Workout (10  minus 15 minutes)  
Complete A, B, A, B  
Circuit A  
10  
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hand release push ups  
(lower over 2   3 seconds)  
60  
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jump squats  
(modification:  
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basic squats  
)  
10 hand release push ups  
60  
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jump lunges  
(modification:  
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reverse lunges  
)  
Circuit B  
10  
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tricep dips  
(lower over 2   3 )  
60  
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squat hold  
(advanced:  
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goblet squat hold  
)  
10 tricep dips  
60  
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runners lunge  
(switch legs halfway)  
Do A, B, A, B  
Then...  
Bonus Finisher!  
2 minute  
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plank  
dot  Do a push up every 10 seconds, and return back to plank.  
Break into 2   4 sets if needed  
The Cool Down (2 plus  minutes)  
1 minute or more each:  
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thread the needle stretch  
  
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supine twist  
NOTES!  
up arrow ️Scale Up: Do 3 rounds (A, B, A, B, A, B)  slash  slash  Do the Warm up twice through  slash  slash  Make your squat hold  
a goblet squat hold.  
down arrow ️Scale Down: Take as much rest as you need and modify as needed.  
The double prime symbol ( ) connotes seconds (i dot e.  
30   equals  30 seconds)  
The single prime symbol ( ) connotes minute (i dot e.  
2'  equals  2 minutes)  
Total reps means the total across both sides. For example, 100 lunges  equals  100 total, or 50 per side.  
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