Follow These 5 Golden Rules To Live Your Best Life

Apply them today to cultivate a life-changing mindset

“There we were, four 24-year old backpackers, partying on a $200,000,000 luxury yacht all because we dared to take a risk and ask a question.” — This is a true story, but I’ll spill the details at the very end.

If you want to live your best life on your own terms, you should live by your own rules.

Here are five rules I live by that you can draw inspiration from.

They’re quite simple to apply, and their implications are extraordinary. The sooner you apply them, the faster you’ll cultivate a life-changing mindset.

By staying true to these rules, I’ve managed to live in six countries, travel to over 40, graduate with two Master’s degrees, work at Google, and start my own company — all before the age of 30.

Rule #1: If you don’t step forward, you’ll always be stuck in the same place.

Change isn’t hard. It’s the transition that comes after initiating a change that creates friction. And that’s one reason why a lot of people shy away from change, even when they know it’s necessary.

The problem is, the longer you wait to make a change, the more difficult it becomes, and the easier it is to get stuck exactly where you are. This space of stagnation is called your comfort zone, or rather, your “no growth” zone.

You have to keep moving to keep growing, and movement comes in the form of a step. When you consciously step forward and out of your comfort zone to seek new experiences, the friction it creates will challenge you to learn and grow.

A little over a year ago, I had what some would call a dream life — I was in my late twenties, working at Google, living the jet-setter life, traveling frequently on weekends to connect with friends around Europe.

But I wasn’t happy.

I didn’t enjoy my role and I longed for a new mental challenge that would really test me. I felt like I was living someone else’s dream, and I was so afraid that if I don’t make a move now, I’d get too comfortable as I grow older and would settle for what society defines as ‘a great life’.

So I stepped forward — I quit and tried something that I knew would challenge me.

Takeaway:

If you’re unhappy with your current circumstances, don’t run away from your problems. If you fail to face them, you will certainly fail to undo them.

Believe that you have the power to create positive change and transform your life for the better. So make sure to never settle for anything that doesn’t satisfy you, because you deserve better. Be the captain of your life: step forward when you know you should, or you’ll always be stuck in the same place.

Rule #2: If you don’t find the courage to go after what you want, you’ll never get it.

And if you don’t go after what you want, you risk living your life in regret.

I spent the vast majority of my 20’s talking about starting my own business. But instead of doing anything about it, I would just talk about all the brilliant ideas I could start. I only talked — never executed. And I’d always find an excuse why not to: ‘I don’t have enough money for this idea’; ‘it’s a great idea but I don’t know how to start’; ‘I just don’t think I will have enough time with my full-time job to work on it’…

Excuses are fabricated illusions we give ourselves to rationalize our behaviors when we’re too afraid to go after what we really want.

There will always be obstacles between where you are and where you want to be. You can either tackle those obstructions by finding solutions for them, or you can transform them into excuses.

If you want something, go after it and play your own game. Give it your all — that’s the secret to living a life of truth with no regrets.

Takeaway:

There is no ‘perfect time’ for anything in life, there is only now — this moment. Decide where you want to be in two years, start working towards it and don’t let anyone stop you. You have to make the choice and you have to work for it.

In your pursuit, you will fall, fail and get rejected. That’s just how the journey goes. But no one ever succeeded from their first attempt… which brings us to rule #3.

Rule #3: You get good at anything by being bad at it first — and you only get good, if you’re consistent.

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” — Bruce Lee

At one point in time, guitarist Kurt Cobain had no clue how to strum the guitar and Michael Jordan had to learn the game of basketball from scratch before he became the greatest. Picasso amassed over 13,000 paintings in his lifetime, but only a very small fraction of them was praised and acclaimed.

Takeaway:

Your first, second or third attempt at anything will be bad — but that doesn’t mean you can’t become good at it. It just takes time, practice, a whole lot of trial and error, and above all, consistency. Consistency is the best form of persistence; it beats strategy, intentions, and talent. Learn to be consistent and you can get good at anything.

Rule #4: No matter how difficult it gets, you can always find a reason to laugh, learn or give.

There are always three things you can turn to when you’re facing an uphill battle. You can take a moment to (1) pause and see the humor in your situation, (2) reflect and see what lessons you can learn from it, or (3) seek a way to give value to someone else. This kind of thinking will save you from dwindling into a negative mindset.

Laughter lightens up the mood. Seeing the humor in a situation helps you become more grateful and appreciative of it — and humbles you and reminds you not to take yourself or life too seriously because your struggles today will become the stories of tomorrow.

Reflection empowers you to step out of the moment’s chaos to look at the situation from an educational point of view. Ask yourself — what life lessons can I draw from this difficult time?

Finally, the very act of giving invites the feeling of fulfillment into the moment.

Here’s a little example. As someone who’s trying to build a daily habit of writing, it’s proven to be a challenge and I’ve struggled with writer’s block for the last week. Until I said to myself — exactly one hour ago — at this very moment, what can I give more of?

So, I decided to write this very article and give honest advice.

Fulfillment happens when you give more in life. Give more to the world than you take from it and you will feel more fulfilled.

When you volunteer, you give your time to help someone in need. When you write an article, you give your words to help and inspire someone out there who needs to hear them.

Takeaway:

You can always find a reason to laugh, learn, or give.

Rule #5: If you don’t ask, the answer will always be no.

For this last rule, I want to share a truly euphoric, adventurous story with you to demonstrate the power of this rule.

It was September 2014, and I was with four friends in Monaco. At the time, I was living in Toulouse for a few months, learning French. I decided to take a spontaneous weekend trip to Côte D’Azur for a few days to meet some friends who had been backpacking through Europe.

Earlier that morning, we found out that The Monaco Yacht Show was happening (yes, it’s as great as it sounds). Curious and excited to see if we could get in, I walked up to the ticket booth and inquired about ticket prices — they were over 400 euros each!

Yeah, no thank you — I’m on a backpacking budget.

Later that night, at around 8.00 pm, we had just finished dinner and were making our way back to the train station, when we passed two overlapping fences with a small gap in between.

This gap had been attended by a security guard during the day, but for some reason, at this very moment, he wasn’t standing there.

I stopped, turned and faced the gap. My heart told me to go for it.

This was our chance. This was our entry into The Yacht Show.

Impulsively, I walked in. My friends followed.

We were in.

No ticket, no bracelet, nothing — only a few souvenir magnets and keychains stuffed into our pockets.

It was late, so the conferences had ended and the parties had just started.

Talk about perfect timing.

We walked across to the dock, staring in awe at the yachts. Each yacht had two bodyguards and a hostess holding onto a VIP list. We kept walking, circling back and forth, trying to ‘fit in’. We had no idea how we were going to get into one of those yacht parties.

Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes passed by…

And then, almost instinctively, I walked up to a hostess on the deck of the four-story luxury yacht named “Red-Squared” and with all the confidence I could muster, I asked:

“Hey, is this an invite-only party? Or can my friends and I come in?”

She looked at me, gave me a stare from top to bottom, smirked and said:

“It’s invite-only…. but sure, you can come in.”

She knew we had sneaked in. After all, we did look like four poor students without a penny in our pockets.

But we had dared to ask — and she was kind, generous and daring enough to say yes. We played our little game and she raised us another.

There we were, four 24-year old backpackers, partying on a $200,000,000 luxury yacht all because we dared to take a risk and ask a question.

That night would’ve cost us 1,600 euros, instead, it cost us nothing, but gave us a memory we could never forget… all thanks to a bold question.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Takeaway:

If you never ask — or try — you’ll never know.

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