Growing up poor but with access to a high-quality education is actually a good starting point for a meaningful life. You quickly learn the value of money in a non-materialistic way. You are incentivized to learn about the world and develop your own skills. You know you are alone and won't be given anything unless you prove your worth. You plan, you execute, you enjoy an unpredictably great journey.

All the "success stories" that started with "I had no money" somehow omit the education part, maybe because it became too obvious in most parts of the world, but knowing people who grew up with parents who couldn't read and write (and therefore, not think with clarity either), there are many cases where you will never be able to truly "catch up" if your starting point in life is too unlucky.

#orangebook

It's becoming clear that the people most capable of appreciating the best things in life, are actually the people who went through the worst and overcame it.

An ordinary day feels like a blessing when you've overcome disease and death.

An ordinary job feels like a life-changing opportunity when the whole world looked at you as if you were not needed.

A bit of time and freedom to follow your true interests feels like the ultimate luxury when you were always too busy, forced to play games that everyone else were mechanically playing too.

A bit of financial security feels like the highest wealth when you've been worried about money every single day.

A thoughtful friend feels like a miracle when you grew up being rejected by everyone because of your differences.

A loving family with who you can communicate effortlessly feels like yet another miracle when all you knew was manipulative relatives and pointless drama.

#orangebook

Life not happening according to plan is actually a great test for your relationships, you will see whether you have the immaturity to start blaming each other, or whether you have the intelligence to overcome the challenges together.

#orangebook #Relationships #Challenges #Maturity

We need fewer "successful people" who got there out of spite and manipulative tactics, and more successful people who got there because they genuinely enjoyed what they were doing; the latter are actually inspiring and many would benefit from their insights, the former are very misleading because they are usually rewriting their own story in order to feel good about themselves.

#orangebook #Success #Authenticity #Inspiration

A wealthy life has so much more to do with the way you spend your time than the way you spend your money.

#orangebook #Wealth #TimeManagement #FinancialFreedom

You are living in a civilized society if women and children can walk around in the evening without worrying about their safety.

#orangebook

A great financial investment actually makes you forget about money altogether, and it opens the doors to the kind of exploration you can only begin once you are no longer constantly worried about your basic needs.

It also makes every aspect of your life more enjoyable (if you don’t fall in the trap of playing the status game):

you can afford to follow your intellectual curiosity instead of learning what you think will land you a better job,

you can afford genuine relationships based on common values instead of transactional ones based on future prospects,

you can afford to have deeper conversations instead of constantly being in a rush because you had another meeting scheduled,

you can afford to play the long-term games and lead a healthy lifestyle instead of trying to save pennies on what will actually shorten your lifespan,

you can afford to easily get rid of all your unhealthy addictions that were actually a way to cope with your lack of freedom and the fact that you were not leading the life you wanted,

you can afford to be calm, relaxed, emotionally present for your family and friends instead of worrying about your opportunity cost,

and you can finally afford to become who you truly want to be instead of who society wants you to be.

#orangebook #FinancialFreedom #PersonalGrowth #LifeEnjoyment

Life never happens exactly according to plan, but for the bigger part, you don’t get married to the right person and build a loving family just by luck, you don’t get wealthy and live in a great neighborhood just by luck, you don’t become a great version of yourself just by luck.

#orangebook #Plan #Effort #Achievement

In a physically healthy society, people love to train their body and push their limits.

In a mentally healthy society, people love to read books and solve difficult problems.

In a spiritually healthy society, people love to spend time with their family and support each other.

#orangebook #HealthSociety #PhysicalMental #PersonalGrowth

If nurturing good judgment was easy, everyone would be healthy, wealthy, talented, in loving relationships, and happy; but most people don’t know the habits they need, or where to invest their time, their energy, their money, or which people are worth keeping in their lives.

When you are not satisfied with your current life, there is no one or nothing to blame, only your own judgment to improve, and that won’t happen with more overthinking, only with more courage to put yourself out there in scary situations, get ready to be painfully wrong many times, and relearn how to think better: with less entitlement, less arrogance, less ego.

#orangebook #GoodJudgment #SelfImprovement #LifeHabits

Making fun and laughing at what you don’t understand is one of the most common forms of self-protection.

#orangebook #SelfProtection #Understanding #Humor

Most people just don’t want to believe that what they don’t have exist:

- happily married couples who enjoy growing old together without falling out of love

- people with kids and enough free time to stay the healthiest version of themselves

- cities where people have common sense, and hence, where the streets are safe and clean, and the public infrastructure works

- people who made a lot of money doing what they loved without thinking much about the money

- people with great relationships with their parents, siblings, family

- smarter people who are also more athletic, good-looking, loved, sociable

- lifelong friendships with loyal people who genuinely care to stay in touch throughout the decades

- people who grew up with much worse circumstances, who were not initially more talented, and who succeeded beyond expectations mostly thanks to strict self-discipline, long-term planning, and unwavering self-belief

#orangebook #AspirationalGoals #LifeSuccess #PositiveOutlook

Most people need more faith than intelligence, that’s why you see so many “smart” people ending up alone, achieving far less than everyone else around them thought they would: they were always too afraid to commit to anyone, and they never truly believed in anything either.

#orangebook #Faith #Intelligence #Relationships

People waste so much time chasing the wrong people. When you meet someone who is meant to stay in your life, you know it. You neither judge them nor feel judged by them. There is no taboo but you respect each other’s boundaries. The conversations feel effortlessly stimulating.

#orangebook #Relationships #Connection #Respect

It’s not anxiety, it’s opportunities that you have yet to convert into actions.

#orangebook #Anxiety #Opportunities #Action

People move to big cities for financial opportunities and serendipitous encounters, but it’s clear when you finally get to spend a lot of time in nature that your mind was overstimulated by unnecessary noise and disconnected from what you actually needed to feel mentally clear.

#orangebook #BigCities #Nature #MentalClarity

Stay mindful, don’t play games that transform you into someone you don’t want to be, so many people wake up one day realizing that they got the money, the status, the connections, but never got the freedom, the confidence, the meaningful relationships.

#orangebook #Mindfulness #Self_awareness #Values

It’s easy to test your mental strength and ability to unlearn and relearn who you are: as an adult, go live abroad in a country where you initially don’t speak the language, don’t understand the culture, don’t know anybody, don’t have any resource; give yourself five years, and see the life you’ve built for yourself.

#orangebook

No one has stronger opinions than someone who knows a little bit about something, that’s why tourists always have ideas to “fix” the countries they visit, that’s why amateurs love to criticize professionals, that’s why young people love to judge older people: the more you know, the more humble and nuanced you actually become.

#orangebook

There are a lot of relatively smart people who are doing very well professionally because they are planning and executing their vision with discipline and diligence; but somehow, the same people struggle to make genuine friends, feel deeply connected to their family, or be a good parent to their kids, precisely because they think that other people are something they should have under their control.

#orangebook