I wouldn’t dare defile Douglas Adam’s memory by not mentioning that you should keep a towel with you at all times, but my second contender is a surprisingly short three-parter:

  1. never lie.
  2. never tell the whole truth.
  3. never pass up a chance to use a real bathroom.
    • witty_username@feddit.nl
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      8 months ago

      Except if you want to do good science. Good scientists will identify false confidence and will aim to steer well clear of it

    • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      Faking confidence means running your life as a con job.

      It’s better to acknowledge when you feel insecure, find the root reason why, and then develop solutions to the unsolved problems giving you that lack of confidence.

      For some people it’s as simple as their pelvis being out of whack. In some cases, all you need is a rolfing session.

  • brygphilomena@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Leave it better than you found it.

    Goes for your home, your neighborhood, or something you’ve borrowed. It can be applied to the planet, the beach, the trail, the car, the job.

    Hell, it even goes for people. Leave them a little happier, a little wiser, a little more prosperous than before.

    Second rule, give people the benefit of the doubt and don’t attribute an action as the person. Did they cut you off on the road? They’re having a bad day and made a mistake. They’re speeding? Maybe they are on the way to see a loved one without much longer to live. Don’t call someone an asshole just because they made an asshole move. People are so much more than that one interaction with them.

    • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Funny enough, these have analogs in programming!

      Leave it better than you found it.

      The Boyscouts rule! Clean up bad code if you can!

      Second rule, give people the benefit of the doubt and don’t attribute an action as the person.

      Sometimes you gotta write janky code to meet a deadline. That is not a personal failure. And give folks a break who do it too.

    • InternetPerson@lemmings.world
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      7 months ago

      Hell, it even goes for people. Leave them a little happier, a little wiser, a little more prosperous than before.

      I like that. Thank you. I’ll try.

  • OttoVonNoob@lemmy.ca
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    8 months ago

    Think before you speak, I speak without thinking and it’s got me in trouble for petty things. Using WE over YOU is extremely valuable… even when you had nothing to do with the problem it is OUR problem.

    • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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      8 months ago

      Simple and to the point, everyone should know and follow this. One of the best pieces of advice from the Dalai Lama

      “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.”

    • Liz@midwest.social
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      7 months ago

      I know of at least one person who might have actually said that, were he not busy working from the hospital when he died. People don’t say that because no one who enjoys working somehow failed to find work to do.

      • mydude@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I’m not sure what you’re saying, but if a person worked with saving other peoples lives, then perhaps I could be wrong.

        • InternetPerson@lemmings.world
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          7 months ago

          I don’t think that this makes it wrong. As I see it, the meaning of your advice is to prioritize self-care over work. It surely helps with mental and physical health. And I think this also applies to people saving lifes of others like medical doctors. They are also still people, they can also suffer from that kind of work. And I always prefer a doctor who thinks about getting enough sleep and quality time in life over someone who drives themselves mad and makes themselves sick by burdening the whole world on their shoulders.

          If they can’t help themselves, how can they help me?
          Or, 101 of car crashes, first save yourself before you attempt to save others.

          There are also others who help. It’s not one single person’s job to save everyone.

        • Liz@midwest.social
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          7 months ago

          What I meant is that there are people who genuinely enjoy their work above all else. Those are the people who might say they wished they spent more time at work. However, there is rarely anything keeping them from work that they don’t also value. If a person enjoys working, there’s very little preventing them from working.

      • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        My wife, who gave two births, was in a car accident and fought through hell to survive, still rate kidney stones as the most painful thing in her life.

        I said would she rather take a bullet to the leg? She said she’d take two over a kidney stone.

        All of this can be resolved just by drinking water.

    • Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml
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      8 months ago

      So is this intended as kind of a metaphor or is this mainly aimed at people who have literally stepped in real shit?

      • Azzu@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        It’s a metaphor for people who smell whipped cream all the time, they should check on top of their head.

      • OhNoMoreLemmy@lemmy.ml
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        8 months ago

        Both. It’s like the saying “Governing a big country is like cooking small fish.” (With the explanation that if you keep poking it, it’ll disintegrate) also taught me how to cook fish as well as realpolitik.

        The fish advice was most useful.

      • Jyek@sh.itjust.works
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        8 months ago

        This is a metaphor for life in general. If you find that all your interactions are negative, check yourself. Are you the problem in your relationships and interactions? How can you fix that? Clean your shoes.

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    8 months ago

    Evaluate how much something matters based on 1 day, 1 month, 1 year.

    I.E. How upset should you be over [Thing]? Will it matter in one day? One month? One year? That helps perspective a bunch. You can use any variation of time really, the point is perspective

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    7 months ago

    Corporations aren’t your friend. Avoid the publicly-traded ones seeking quartely profits the most. If it isn’t a massive burden, find an alternative—avoiding some is better than none.

    • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I’d add “Don’t defend any corp”.

      Not just talking to the Tesla bros either. I mean ANY corp. Including Steam.

      You can show support. But if/when they do something shitty, don’t be a bootlicker.

      Same with working. I’ve worked at a few major tech companies. No matter how many rainforests they saved or houses they built. At some point, a bad decision will infuriate you, or a new directive will aim for profits and people lose their jobs.

      They’re not your friend.

      • MufinMcFlufin@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I think I would change that one to sometime along the lines of “No corporation is above criticism.” Maybe with some addendum like “regardless of how favorably you view them.” The reason being is that I think it’s perfectly fine to try to set a record straight if there’s blatant misinformation going on about a corporation that’s been doing good by people, but no matter how much good they might have done they should never be above critique.

        Case and point being LMG with their recent issues regarding allegations of sexism, harassment, overworking employees, bullying, and adopting the exact same practices that they themselves have criticized major tech corps for, among other issues. Now I don’t mind correcting the record if someone was saying some stupid BS about them, however you can bet that I was also one of the ones calling them out on the things they did.

    • Joshi@aussie.zone
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      7 months ago

      Reminder me of this

      “What to do if you find yourself stuck with no hope of rescue: Consider yourself lucky that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn’t been good to you so far - which, given your present circumstances, seems more likely - consider yourself lucky that it won’t be troubling you much longer.” Douglas Adams

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    8 months ago

    Listen or act like you’re listening. People love the validation that comes with being given undivided attention. The opposite is also true.

    • BertramDitore@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      This is great advice. It’s not difficult once you get good at it; but there’s nothing quite like the feeling of being in a real two-way conversation where you know the other person is actually listening to what you’re saying, not just hearing the sounds. I feel like I can count on both hands the number of real conversations I’ve had where I felt truly respected and heard.

    • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      But also actually listen because if people uncover your acting like listening routine, they’ll hate you for it