Mark Twain’s 9 Tips for Living a Kick-Ass Life
I really love these philosophical “tip lists” from great minds and author Mark Twain’s stands out as bold, strident, and unabashed. That’s why I think this list is very worthy of it’s title. It’s popped up a couple times on other blogs I’ve been reading, so I decided it would be a great one to share here…
American author and satirist Mark Twain (1835 – 1910) is best known for his stories “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Finn is widely referred to as “The Great American Novel.”
1. Approve of yourself.
“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.”
2. Your limitations may just be in your mind.
“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
3. Lighten up and have some fun.
“Humor is mankind’s greatest blessing.”
“Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.”
4. Let go of anger.
“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”
5. Release yourself from entitlement.
“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”
6. If you’re taking a different path, prepare for reactions.
“A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.”
7. Keep your focus steadily on what you want.
“Drag your thoughts away from your troubles… by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it.”
8. Don’t focus so much on making yourself feel good.
“The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.”
9. Do what you want to do.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did so. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
For me — these tips seem to reinforce a lot of the key messages and themes I try to share, celebrate, and analyze on this blog – a great crystallization of living a life rich in fulfillment, following one’s own path (and bliss), and leading the hero’s journey by finding ways to make the world around you better while simultaneously bettering yourself.
In what ways are you living a “Kick-Ass Life?” You can start at any time…
FADE IN: 
[…] fabrizio writes, ‘Much like a lot of the posts on this blog, just writing this brings me a sense of peace and oneness. They’re lessons I’m still striving and struggling to learn in my day-to-day / moment-to-moment life, but helpful ones for sure. Hopefully it’s been helpful for you too.’ writing is therapeutic. to help with the therapy, he offers ‘Mark Twain’s 9 Tips for Living a Kick-Ass Life.’ […]