Ryan Holiday is a prolific writer, author, thinker and creator. Back in 2022, when Twitter was still a pleasant place to exchange ideas, he tweeted nine short rules for a better life. You can read those here.

A year later, polymath and sage Kevin Kelly published his book Excellent Advice For Living, which offers exactly what the title suggests: the wisdom of a lifetime, in bite-sized pieces.

All of which started me thinking about my own principles for a good life.

I can be a slow learner. Music and books have always been a big part of my life, but some of the guidelines below are things I stumbled on much later. I really wish I’d known them earlier, so I’m sharing them here.

And I’d love to know your own guidelines, if you have them. Feel free to share them in the comments!