My Favorite Takeaways From Kevin Kelly's "Excellent Advice For Living"

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Among numerous informative and motivational books, Kevin Kelly’s “Excellent Advice for Living” stands out for its valuable insights and straightforward logic.

A thorough read of the book provides thoughtful reflections on life’s many facets. This work’s unique combination of philosophical and pragmatic elements has helped guide me through periods of ambiguity and hard decisions.

In this post, I aim to share some of Kelly’s advice that has deeply influenced me and, in certain instances, changed my stance.

Let’s explore Kevin Kelly’s wisdom together, and you might discover a fresh perspective for your own path.

Who is Kevin Kelly

Kevin Kelly is a renowned writer, editor, photographer, and futurist, celebrated for his profound insights into the interplay between technology, culture, and society.

He is best known as a co-founder and executive editor of Wired magazine. Apart from his editorial work, he has penned several best-selling books such as “Out of Control” and “The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future.”

Kelly’s wide-ranging expertise and unique perspectives on modernity and the future have earned him an influential status in various fields, including digital culture, innovation, and futurism.

Best pieces of Advice from Kevin Kelly’s Excellent Advice for Living

Listening well is a superpower. While listening to someone you love, keep asking them, “Is there more?” until there is no more.
Don’t measure your life with someone else’s ruler.
A worthy goal for a year is to learn enough about a subject so that you can’t believe how ignorant you were a year earlier.
You can’t reason someone out of a notion that they didn’t reason themselves into.
If you are looking for something in your house and you finally find it, when you’re done with it, don’t put it back where you found it. Put it back where you first looked for it.
A great way to understand yourself is to seriously reflect on everything you find irritating in others.
Recipe for greatness: Become just a teeny bit better than you were last year. Repeat every year.
Whenever you can’t decide which path to take, pick the one that produces change.
Pros make as many mistakes as amateurs: they’ve just learned how to gracefully recover from their mistakes.
Don’t be the best. Be the only
The purpose of a habit is to remove that action from self-negotiation. You no longer expend energy deciding whether to do it. You just do it. Good habits can range from telling the truth to flossing.
Trust me, there is no “them.”
Shorten your to-do list by asking yourself, “what is the worst that will happen if this does not get done?” Eliminate all but the disasters.
There is no limit on how much we can improve what we start with. There is no limit on better.
You are what you do. Not what you say, not what you believe, not how you vote, but what you spend your time on.
Over the long term, the future is decided by optimists. To be an optimist you don’t have to ignore the multitude of problems we create; you just have to imagine how much our ability to solve problems improves.
The hard part in predicting the future is to forget everything you expect it to be.
You don’t need more time because you already have all the time that you will ever get; you need more focus.
The foolish person winds up doing at the end what the smart person does at the beginning.
Work to become, not to acquire.
You can reduce the annoyance of someone’s stupid belief by increasing your understanding of why they believe it.
People can’t remember more than three points from a speech.
Cultivate an allergy to average.
About 99% of the time, the right time is right now.
Be frugal in all things, except in your passions. Select a few interests that you gleefully splurge on. In fact, be all-around thrifty so that you can splurge on your passions.
Don’t ever work for someone you don’t want to become.
What you do on your bad days matters more than what you do on your good days.
Your best job will be one that you were unqualified for, because it stretches you. In fact, only apply to jobs you are unqualified for.
A wise man said: Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates. At the first gate, ask yourself, “Is it true?” At the second ask, “Is it necessary?” At the third gate ask, “is it kind?”
Your time and space are limited. Remove, give away, throw out anything that no longer gives you joy in order to make room for those that do.
The trick to making wise decisions is to evaluate your choices as if you were looking back 25 years from today. What would your future self think?
Pay attention to who you are around when you feel your best. Be with them more often.
It is usually much easier to make big audacious changes than small incremental ones.
Trust the 3-star product review because they tell both the good and the bad, which is the real state for most things.
First, always ask for what you want. Works in relationships, business, life.
Very few regrets in life are about what you did. Almost all are about what you didn’t do.

Where you can find Kevin Kelly’s Work

His Website: kk.org
Interviews with Tim Ferriss
His other books: The Inevitable
1000 True Fans Article

Other books full of great life advice.

Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferriss
The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason: Book Summary
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Conclusion:

In conclusion, “Excellent Advice for Living” by Kevin Kevin is a book full of practical and inspiring life advice.

Whether you’re looking for tips on how to be happier, more successful, or more fulfilled in life, this book has something for everyone. My favorite life advice from this book is to remember “Very few regrets in life are about what you did. Almost all are about what you didn’t do.”

By incorporating these principles into your life, you can hopefully remove some of your uncertainty and instead better achieve your goals, find happiness, and make a positive impact on others.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to live their best life.