Uncle Tom’s List

Today I’m feeling a bit down.  Not on the outside of course, but there’s just a damper on my heart that’s bringing me down.  It’s just that there was an accident this weekend, which killed a friend of my stepdaughters.  She was in high school.  While we weren’t close to her family, as a mom, you just can’t help but to feel sad.  For her family.  For the situation.  For the loss of potential.  For the loss of a vibrant life.  And I sit here wishing I could help but not knowing how.  There just aren’t words.

This all just happens to fall at a bad time, because in two days it will be the two year anniversary of my Uncle Tom’s passing.  There isn’t a day that goes by that many people continue to miss him.  Eventually, I want to do something similar, but a college friend of his is currently posting his thoughts on what is called “Tom’s List.”  It’s a list of “personal commandments” that my Uncle Tom lived by, and it made him into the wonderful person he was and brightened the world around him.

During this time of loss, let’s remember how to live.  Shouldn’t we live to our fullest?  Our days are numbered.  Why waste them?

Here’s Uncle Tom’s list.  I hope you can apply some (or all!) of these to your life as well:

1. Be the kind of man (or woman) I want my son (or daughter) to be.
2. Life life full throttle.
3. Conquer your bucket list.
4. Try a lot of stuff, keep what works.
5. All life is an experiment.
6. Live life intensely curious.
7. Joy is proportionate to your level of gratitude.
8. When you get inspired leverage it to the hilt.
9. Have a strong bias toward action; be known as a person of action.
10. Focus: 20% of your inputs drive 80% of your outputs.
11. Prioritization: focus on the things that matter most
12. Work only on things that make a great deal of difference if you succeed.
13. The best way to predict the future is to create it.
14. Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.
15. You are the same today as you will be in 5 years except for the people you meet and the books you read.
16. Take advantage of every speaking opportunity & over-prepare for it.
17. Believe that your self-made habits will determine your future success.
18. Don’t believe in words–only believe in behaviors.
19. Courage: resolve to do 1 thing every day that you fear, bust out of your comfort zones.
20. Self-discipline is the #1 delineating factor between high achievers and low achievers.
21. Discipline not desire determines our destiny.
22. What you do everyday matters more than what you do once in a while.
23. Life is a series of daily habits.
24. Generosity: he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
25. Lord, give me the wisdom to know the right things to do and the courage to do them.
26. Character is the will to do what is right even when it is hard.
27. Talent and determination determine your potential, character determines your legacy.
28. Parenting: more is caught than taught.
29. Parenting: who you are matters mosre than what you do.
30. Your child’s character hinges on the traits you exhibit as a parent.
31. No amount of success at work can make up for failure at home.
32. The greatest gift I can give my kids is a healthy marriage.
33. Marriage: find the most generous explanation for each other’s behavior and believe it.
34. Wise people build their lives around what is eternal and squeeze in what is temporary.
35. Leadership: get the right people on the bus.
36. What gets measured and rewarded gets done.
37. Play to your strengths and delegate your weakness.
38. Study top performers and model their habits.
39. Self reliance: I own the problem, I own the solution.
40. Leaders are readers…we are what we read.
41. Leadership=influence
42. Speed of the leader=speed of the team.
43. You become like the five people you associate with the most.
44. The signature of your work and vitality of your network will determine your professional fate.
45. Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I choose to respond to it.
46. Refusal to take risk makes for a life of mediocrity at best.
47. Business owner mentality; always try to make decisions as if you owned the business.
48. 2 Keys to Leadership: leaders cast bold visions and leaders make big asks.
49. Negotiation: there is 1 key principle; the person who has more options has more power.
50. The good things in life are often the enemy of the best things in life.

What are some of the personal commandments you live by?