# 30 Life Lessons I Learned Before Turning 30 - Anne-Laure Le Cunff Synced: [[2023_11_30]] 6:03 AM Last Highlighted: [[2023_08_21]] Tags: [[advice]] [[personal growth]] ![rw-book-cover](https://nesslabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/30-life-lessons-banner.png) I’d love to compile my own version of this someday ## Highlights [[2023_08_21]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h8bb44x7n0q7n4rvmsy3xw9g) [[personal growth]] > **You don’t only live once.** [This comic strip](https://twitter.com/anthilemoon/status/1205503578091216896) had a huge impact on my thinking. Yes, one day you will be dead. But it takes about seven years to master something. If you live to be 88, after age 11, you have 11 opportunities to be great at something. Most people never let themselves die and cling onto that one life. But you can spend a life writing poems, another life building things, and another life looking for facts. You have many lives. Live them. [[Reinvent yourself every 10 years]] [[2023_08_21]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h8bb8s74s6ce6qe4y5zcngkq) > **Create more than you consume.** A big part of putting yourself out there is to create. Write, Tweet, take photos, draw, launch a podcast, a newsletter, a local event, an online community. A corollary of this one is: “Give more than you take.” If you give your time, share your ideas, people will find you. And even if they don’t, thanks to the [generation effect](https://nesslabs.com/generation-effect), you will learn much more in the process than if you limited yourself to passive consumption. [[2023_08_21]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h8bbd9mnggp1vp4jv5mf5c3h) > **Your habits define you.** Related to the previous point, I learned that we’re only the sum of our [habits, routines, and rituals](https://nesslabs.com/habits-routines-rituals). When I was younger, I used to try to define my identity through projecting a certain persona, which sometimes was at odds with my true beliefs and values—perhaps because I didn’t know what my beliefs and values were in the first place. Today, instead of trying to define these through words, I just count on the sum of my actions to create a picture of who I am. And if that picture keeps on changing, that’s fine. But only your current habits define who you are. Are you reading everyday? You’re a reader. Running everyday? You’re a runner. It’s as simple as that. ([Atomic Habits](https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits) by James Clear is a great primer on the topic) [[2023_08_21]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h8bbnqrm4ryrd4age70hqtbj) [[advice]] [[personal growth]] > **Fall in love with the process.** In the same vein, don’t focus too much on the end goal. Your goals may change, you may fail, you may have to take a different direction. Leverage your passion to stay focused and motivated, and the results will come. [[Love the work, not the end goal]] [[2023_08_21]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h8bbqb4870bzkqmwas7nfjx0) > **Writing is a superpower.** Out of every skill I have acquired in the past thirty years, writing is the highest leverage one. It doesn’t cost anything, it’s shareable, repurposable, searchable. It can be the basis for an online community, products, events, and more. Anyone can start writing with just a laptop and an Internet connection. And I think everyone should [[2023_08_21]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h8bbr3apwwf1y43498d34bnp) > **Do things differently to think differently.** You can’t expect to come up with innovative ideas if you consume the same stuff everyone does. Read different books, watch different shows, go to different events. Because your input will be different, your output will be different. [[2023_08_21]] [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h8bbt8dbv4m7xkzsfhq13z4k) [[model]] > **Do not assume malice.** Also called *Hanlon’s Razor*, do not attribute to malice and cruelty what may be explained by other motives. Assume good faith in people. Honest mistakes happen. Again, it all boils down to asking questions. If you do so, you’ll very often realise people didn’t mean you harm. [[Hanlon’s Razor]]