The short list of life rules in this post has been shared widely online for years, usually without an author's name. It reads like advice from a wise friend: go to bed earlier, plan tomorrow on paper, walk every day, read a little, drink water, watch less television, write down the good moments and treat yourself with the kindness you would show someone you love.
Most of these ideas hold up well against what researchers know about sleep, exercise, habits and well-being. A few are better taken as encouragement than as strict commands. Below, the rules are grouped by theme, with notes on why each one helps, how to adapt it to your own life and where it needs a little nuance.
Evenings and mornings: rest and planning
Go to bed earlier, because tomorrow starts tonight. A tired brain makes worse decisions, and most adults function best on seven to eight hours of sleep. Keeping roughly the same bedtime and wake time every day, and getting bright daylight in the morning, are two of the most reliable sleep-hygiene habits.
Plan the next day before you go to sleep, with pen and paper. Writing down three or four priorities clears your head and means you start the morning with a direction rather than a scroll through your phone. The list's reminder is a sober one: days turn into months and months into years, so it is worth deciding what each one is for.
Keep a notebook of your goals and revisit it. Rewriting goals keeps them alive and lets you adjust them as your life changes. Writing in general, the list adds, calms the mind.
Rise early, and do not bargain with the snooze button. This one needs nuance. Chronotype, whether you are naturally a morning or an evening person, is partly genetic and shifts with age; teenagers tend to run late and many older adults run early. The useful core is consistency: getting up at the same time each day matters more than the exact hour.
Moving, eating and breathing
Walk or run for at least 20 minutes, wherever you live. That is a good target. The World Health Organization recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week for adults, plus muscle-strengthening work twice a week. Twenty to thirty minutes of brisk walking most days covers the aerobic part, and regular activity is linked to lower risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and depression, and to better sleep.
Make the walk do double duty by listening to an inspiring talk, podcast or audiobook on the way.
Cook a good breakfast, and share it. Eating with others is one of the simplest daily pleasures. Later in the day, a piece of fruit such as a banana or an apple is an easy mid-morning snack.
Drink enough water and breathe deeply. Needs vary with climate and activity, so a sensible guide is to drink regularly and watch for thirst. Slow, deep breathing is a quick way to calm the body's stress response before a difficult conversation or a busy day.
Take your time in the shower and dress well. Leave the worries outside the door for a few minutes, and wear something that makes you feel ready for the day.
Reading less screen, more page
Find 15 minutes a day to read. The list is blunt about excuses: nobody hands you free time, you have to take it. Fifteen minutes a day adds up to more than 90 hours a year, enough for a dozen or more books.
Watch less television and spend less time on social media. The arithmetic in the list is fair. One hour less a day frees about 365 hours a year. At a 40-hour week, that is around nine weeks of working time, or roughly two extra months, which is what the list means when it says others get 12 months and you get 14.
Do not believe everything you think. Ask questions and read widely. Thoughts are not facts, especially when you are tired, anxious or angry.
Writing down the good moments
Keep a diary of life's beautiful moments. The author says there are at least 100 a day and recalls a teacher who called them miracles, including the simple fact of being able to walk. That habit has a basis in research. The psychologist James Pennebaker began studying expressive writing in the late 1980s and found that people who wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings for 15 minutes a day over four days later made fewer visits to the doctor. Results since then have been mixed, and writing is not a substitute for professional help, but many people find a short daily note of good moments shifts their attention toward what is going well.
If 100 entries a day sounds overwhelming, start with three. The point is to notice, not to keep score.
Other people: kindness, company and gossip
Smile and say good morning to the people you meet, even when they do not respond. They have their own reasons, and the gesture costs you nothing.
Look for beauty around you. It is almost always there if you slow down enough to see it.
Spend time with people who are further along than you. Instead of envying them, learn from them. We tend to absorb the habits and outlook of the people closest to us, which is why choosing company wisely matters.
Be glad when others are happy. Shared joy is one of the easiest kinds to find.
Do something good every day, especially for people you do not know. The list widens the idea of family to include everyone, and suggests that this is where happiness is found.
Avoid gossip and mind your own business. Talking about others rarely defines them; it mostly says something about us.
Listen to other people's opinions, but listen to your own first.
Treating yourself well
Smile at yourself in the mirror and speak to yourself kindly. You are the one friend you will have for your whole life. Self-compassion is not self-indulgence; it makes it easier to recover from mistakes and try again.
Look after yourself as if you were the most important person in the world, because to your own life you are.
Approach work with a good attitude, even if it is not your dream job. If it is truly wrong for you, look for another one, but respect the work while you do it, because that is also a way of respecting yourself.
Feel your feelings fully. Laugh for real, cry for real and let pain be pain. You are not made of porcelain. Emotions pass more easily when they are allowed rather than pushed away.
Spend time alone without a screen. Solitude is not the same as loneliness. Many answers become clearer when the outside noise is turned down.
Use both head and heart, and learn over time which one a situation needs. Go out to the cinema or anywhere you enjoy, and close your eyes and dream from time to time.
Love your neighbour, but start with yourself. The list ends on its central message: we leave this world without our cars, money or possessions, and the only thing we take with us is the love we gave and received.
Rules worth adapting, not obeying
A few lines in the list are best read generously. "Don't believe in luck" is a motivating thought, but luck plainly exists: health, family and circumstance shape everyone's options. A fairer version is that effort lets you make the most of whatever luck you get. Likewise, "never compromise with your mind" should not mean ignoring real exhaustion; rest is part of a good routine, not a failure of willpower.
The easiest way to use a list like this is to choose one rule, try it for two weeks and notice what changes. A small habit you keep will do more for you than thirty that you try for a day. And if a rule does not fit your life, change it. The spirit of the list is care for yourself and others, and that is a goal you can reach by many different routes.
Sources: Wikipedia: Sleep hygiene; Wikipedia: Chronotype; Wikipedia: Physical activity (WHO recommendations); Wikipedia: Expressive writing. Author of the original list unknown.
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