How to live another year

Here are few lessons I have learned to help keep things perspective:

• Take a major slug of humility. That has got to be my daily waker-upper. I've found it's crucial to realize that if I am late the world will not come to an end. If I am unable to lay hands on a draft I just wrote, there will not be a stockmarket crash. My day is just one hundreds of million people in the world. That's salvation during many a dicey moment.
• Don't hug a grudge to death. The man who can forgive is doing all those around him, and especially himself, a huge favor. There are people who rip off your work, welsh on their promises. That should guide your dealings with them in the future. But you can be wary and still forgive. The point of forgiving is to let yourself off the hook, let down your burden.
• Be realistic. Most people who feel like one-armed paperhangers at the end of the day have only themselves to blame. There is no such thing as a superhero. Do what you reasonably can. Setting impossible goals helps no one at all.
• Forgive envy. It is a poison just like strychnine. If you want to hurt yourself, think of all the people who have more money or power than you do. But if you want to live another year, think of what you have you don't deserve, and for which you should be prostate with gratitude.
• Get enough rest. I invariably get more done, feel happier and get along better with my fellow workers when I am rested. Whoever cheats on rest by working excessive hours is simply embezzling from himself.
  
• Play by the rules. The world is not set up for me or you to get all we can as fast as we can, and let the devil take everyone else. Other people have places here too. There are rules that protect them, especially rules about stealing.
  
• Laugh at yourself. There is almost nothing so bad that a joke can't come from it. There's one good thing about dying. If you can laugh at what's happening to you, you're living right.