An influential book, a person with integrity, and a solid piece of advice

Hey Everyone,

Here are my answers to Dan's questions:

"Which non-fiction book has had the most powerful positive impact on you in your life?"

This is a tough question, so I am going to go with a book I read quite recently, for the first time, and which deserves at least another read: "How to Win Friends and Influence People," by Dale Carnegie.

Much of the advice seems like common sense, but at the same time, so much of it is forgotten by so many of us in our daily interactions with others. If you can apply even half of Carnegie's timeless advice to your daily interactions, your life will certainly improve in every domain: work, family, social, and otherwise. Highly recommended!

"Which person (real or fictional) do you believe is the best role model for living with integrity?"

Another tough one, and I am really not sure, so I will go with someone who always spoke his mind, would openly debate anyone, would put himself out there unprotected, would go against the dominant society norms when he considered them incorrect, and who day after day fought for what he believed in and tried to make the world a better place: Charlie Kirk. May he RIP.

Regardless of one's political views, I think it would be very difficult to argue that he didn't embody integrity, in every sense of the word.

"What's the best advice you've ever received?"

Again, such a tough question... I'll go with some advice I received during a tough time of my life...

Back in the fall of 2012, I had a terrible semester at university, largely connected to living on campus and not having much of a life outside of my school work (I was very grade driven and obsessed). This led to insomnia, depression and anxiety, and I had to take a semester off to recover.

Thus, I was back in my hometown in early 2013, still suffering, and decided one day that I was well enough to go to the chess club and see my old friends there. They were all much older than I (most of them 60+), and I sort of let them know my situation, or at least they could sense something was wrong.

I was sort of going on about how I was useless, and not even good at chess (which compared to them, was definitely not true), etc... Negative self-talk was creeping out of me, and I didn't even care to hide it.

Then one of them, who had a rather straightforward no BS approach to life, looked at me sternly and said, "Do you talk badly about others behind their backs? Well, don't. Especially about yourself. It does you absolutely no good. You are a good player, and you have a good life ahead of you," or something along those lines.

I started to tear up a bit, and he continued "you're far too young to know anything about life yet, even though you think you do. Work on your attitude, because that's ALL life is."

I'll never forget those words...

So I suppose that's one of the best pieces of advice I've heard.

Thanks for reading my lengthly answer! 🤣

Cheers! 😁

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