Life Lessons

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Life Lessons from the First Half-Century of My Career - Sharing 16 life lessons, and nine magic words. https://cacm.acm.org/opinion/life-lessons-from-the-first-half-century-of-my-career/ People-Focused # Family first! Don’t sacrifice your family’s happiness on the altar of success. # Choose happiness. # It’s the people, not the projects, that you value in the long run. # The cost of praise is small. The value to others is inestimable. # Seek out honest feedback; it might be right. # “For better or for worse, benchmarks shape a field. # “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. # Beware of those who believe they are the smartest people in the room. Career-Focused # “Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.” # “Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion. # “There are no losers on a winning team, and no winners on a losing team." # Lead by example. # “Audentes Fortuna iuvat.” (Fortune favors the bold). # Culture matters. # It’s not how many projects you start; it’s how many you finish. # Look for the positive opportunities. * When you’ve been together that long, people ask what your secret is. It’s not that we don’t argue; one repeated source of friction is she tells me a problem she is having in the hope of getting empathy and I, as a good engineer, instead try to solve her problem. The secret is what we say after we resolve a disagreement. Usually one of us repeats these nine magic words: “I was wrong. You were right. I love you.” No substitutions! The last three words can’t be, “You’re a jerk!” And absolutely no additional use of the word “but”. By David A. Patterson [Life] - [Lessons]
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