Hal Urban wrote this book with an intention of helping all the people out there to really understand life so that
we can live life to the fullest without any regrets. There are twenty things that really matters in life highlighted in
this book. In each chapter he tells us and give example on how the twenty things is essential in our lives.
1.) Success is More than Making Money
As said by Wynn Davis, success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is in the doing,
not the getting – in the trying, not the triumph. As we always heard, money cannot buy happiness, we
cannot measure our success with how much money we have as true success is more than making money.
There's no point having lots of money if we are not happy as in the end we will die unsatisfied.
Successful people accept life as it is, with all difficulties and challenges. They adapt to it rathen than
complain about it. They see life as a series of opportunites and possibilities and always explore them.
2.) Life is Hard...and Not Always Fair
Life doesn't always work the way we like it to be. If we had our way, it would be easier, consistently fair
and more fun. The reality is that we have to learn, although slowly and painfully it will teach us the most
valuable lessons about life. Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional and those things that hurt, instruct.
We need to understand that some of life's most painful lessons are also the most valuable. The most
important thing we can do when we are hurting, whether it's physical or emotional hurt, is to find some
meaning in it. Life is hard, and it is not always fai. But that doesn't mean it can't be good, rewarding and
enjoyable. There are still a lot of reason to say yes to it.
3.) Life is Also fun...and Incredibly Funny
One of the greatest truths; human beings need to have fun. We need to play and most importantly, we
ned to laugh. Life may be hard and at times unfair, but that doesn't mean it has to be intolerable. And it
certainly doesn't meant that we can't enjoy it. Humor is what helps the most.
4.) We Live by Choice, Not by Chance
Our great freedom and our great soources of strength is our ability to choose. Our God created us with a
free will. He gave us life, and then he gave us the freedom to decide for ourselves what we'll do with it.
He gave us the power to choose our own way. But yet, so many people doesn't know this and they
thought their future is already shape. We must remember that we live by choice and not by chance. It is
what we choose to think and what we choose to do that are most important. Equally important is the
need to understand that we're are the results of our choices. We can't choose what happen in our lives,
but we can choose how to respond. We have the ability to survive hardship and to overcome handicaps.
We have the capacity to rise above negative circumstances because we have a free will, the freedom and
power to choose. Human beings weren't designed to live by chance. We were designed to live by choice.
5.) Attitude is a Choice-The most important One You'll Ever Make
Research shows that attitude is far more important than intelligence, education, special talent or luck.
The people who did this study concluded that up to eighty-five percent of our success in life is due to
attitude, while the other fifteen percent is due to ability. It is perceived that we can alter our lives by
altering our attitude. People who have generally positive attitudes expect the best; people with negative
attituds expect the worst. In both cases; those expectations are usually fulfilled. Our ability to choose,
especially to choose your own attitude is the most important resource you have for suceeding in life. The
best advise for us is to think with an open mind, think for yourself and think constructively.
6.) Habits Are the Key to All Success
We all are creature of habit. Og Mandino words of wisdom – In truth, the only difference between
those who have failed and those who have succeeded lies in the difference of their habits. We first
make our habits then our habits makes us and like attitudes, habits can be changed. Trying to break bad
habit through sheer willpower rarely works. What has proven to be far more effective is by replacing
habit – substituting it with behaviour that's more positive. Good habits make the difference in everything
we do. They're the key to real success. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a
habit.
7.) Being Thankful is a Habit – the Best One You'll Ever Have
Do not complain because you do not have or it is not perfect, but enjoy while you still can. The human
tendency is that we seldom think of what we have but always of what we lack. Being thankful, if
practiced regularly, becomes a habit. It is not just habit but attitude. Being able to appreciate what
we have is one of the keys to fulfillment. Real enjoyment starts with being thankful.
8.) Good People Build Their Lives on Foundaiton of Respect
Respect is the most important quality of human being can have and it is the primary source from which
the good things in life flow. Treat people as adults, treat them as partners; treat them with dignity; treat
them with respect.
9.) Honesty is Still the Best Policy
Whatever we do in life and no matter how successful we are, we can never be truly happy if we are not
honest. Dishonesty, more than anything else, prevents us from being the type of persons we can and
want to be. It is like cancer. It starts small, and if not detected and completely eradicated, it spreads out
of control until it finally destroys us.
10.) Kind Words Cost Little but Accomplish Much
Few things in the world are more powerful than a positive push, a smile perhaps. A word of optimism
and hope. A 'you can do it attitude' when things are tough. Learn the affirming skills, the skills of looking
for and finding good in people. It means building other up and encouraging them. It means finding
reasons for praise and applause. It means nurturing and being supportive of others. It is always easy to
criticize but it is never easy to praise others. Learn the affirming skill, as the whole creation responds to
praise, and is glad. It is easy, it is fun and it gets fantastic result and the more we do it the better we get at
it.
11.) Real Motivation Comes from Within
No matter who you are or what your age may be, if you want to achieve permanent, sustaining success,
the motivation that will drive toward that goal must come from within. In whatever we do if we are not
motivated and do not have the desire within us we can never be successful. If other people ask you to do
something but we do not like it, we will not be motivated and will not do it successfully. We might do it
halfheartedly and the end results will not be satisfying but if we want to achieve something for our own
good we will be motivated and no matter what the barriers are we will accomplish it. If we have a
burning desire, a solid belief, and a clear picture, we will have all the motivation we need.
12.) Goals are Dreams with Deadlines
People with goals succeed because they know where they are going. When we combine motivation with
our goals, there's hardly anything that can stop us. All achievements, no matter how great or small, are
ignited as goals and fueled through motivation. Living without goals is like going on a trip without a
destination. If you don't know where you are going, you'll probably end of nowhere and any road will get
you there.
13.) There's No Substitute for Hard Work
Hard work helps us realize our potential and we can know what we are capable of doing if we truly
use the talent that God has given us. Being hardworking helps us to face up to life and once we finished
doing something it will makes us feels good because of the sense of accomplishment. There is no
shortcuts in life, success is something that you have to earn. You have to be patient as success does not
comes easy.
14.) You have to Give Up Something to Get Something
Key word here is delayed gratification, when you were young you have to give up your time for fooling
around with studying. Study hard for your better future. Another example is that save money or
entertainment? Leisure time or working time? If we have the right choices, with good habits we can
accomplish a lot of things in life towards a successful life. In the end we will live a happy and fulfilled life
with a right choice during our early life.
15.) Successful People Don't Find Time – They Make Time
Time is life, it is irreversible and irreplaceable. To waste your time is to waste your life, but to master
your time is to master your life and make the most of it. Time is opportunity. Always concentrate on the
most valuable use of your time. This is what separates the winners from the losers. The main point here
is that the people who succeed in life understand that time is their most valuable resources. It is a
resource that is distributed evenly. Everyone gets twenty-four hours a day. It is what we do with it that
defines ourselves.
16.) No One Else Can Raise Your Self-Esteem
Self-esteem is that deep-down inside the skin feeling you have your own self-worth. It is how we
genuinely feel about ourselves, regardless off what others say. Other people can say bad things about you
but you can never tell yourself that you are what other people say. Love yourself, accept who you are and
show the world how unique you are and how you are special in your own way.
17.) The Body Needs Nutrition and Exercise – so do the Mind and Spirit
Those who have grown the most spiritually are those who are experts in living and there is yet another
joy, even greater. It is the joy of communion with God. Feed your mind with good things, read books that
can motivate you and lifts your spirit. No matter what your belief are be in sync with your creator, have
faith and pray.
18.) It's OK to fail – Everyone Else Has
We must be willing to accept failure and learn from it. If you are willing to consider failure as a blessing
in disguise and bounce back, you have got the potential of harnessing one of the most powerful forces
of success. Failing is a fact of life, a necessary part of the process that no one escapes. It is not whether
we fail that matters but how we fail and improve from it. The difference between the people who succeed
in life and the ones who don't is not found in the number of times they fail but it is found in what they do
after they fail.
19.) Life is Simpler When We Know What's Essential
Thousand of years ago a wise man named Confucius said life is actually quite simple and that it
becomes complicated only because we insist of making so. What's essential in life? Choose a good
attitude, respect others, be honest in yourself and work hard. Learn daily if you fall, stand up and
start again. Last but not least, laugh – enjoy life.
20.)Essential #1 is being a Good Person
Above all the twenty things the most important thing is being a good person. Love one another, avoid
hatred; do all the good you can, by all the means you can. Being good is the most essential
ingredient of emotional and spiritual health.
Conclusion
As a conclusion the book tells us to keep track in what we do, to be good and to live our life to the fullest. Have no
regret and enjoy.
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