Thomas Oppong on making your own rules and deciding what you want out of life:

What do you want out of life? Do you know?

A lot of people have trouble answering this question.

Seneca once said, “Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.”

Are you in control of your life?

We all need personal philosophy in life or we risk wandering, and responding to random stimuli and information with little or no impact on our long-term goals.

A philosophy of life is an overall vision or attitude toward life and the purpose of it.

Human activities are limited by time, and death.

But we forget this.

We fill up our time with distractions, never asking whether they are important, whether we really find them of value.

“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think” says Marcus Aurelius.

Without a personal philosophy, we end up living without direction.

A few simple rules that shape and guide my life

• The meaning of life is the meaning you decide to give it.
• Life is about solving problems, and every obstacle is the way forward.
• You are the author of your own life.
• Make improvements, not excuses.
• Life is short. Do what brings out the best in you.
• Question your assumptions at all times.
• Effort matters more than skill or talent.
• It pays to create your own certainty.
• You’ll be happier if you focus on efforts and attention only on the things in your control.

The idea of a life philosophy, comes back to a central question, one that Mary Oliver asks well: “What will you do with your one wild and precious life?

Go read the rest of Thomas’s post, it’s a great read.