Do not place yourself below anyone.
No matter how much fame, money, freedom, and material resources someone else may have, accept that you deserve to have the same, and take your own path as seriously as they do. What you do is just as valid and real. Which means that what everyone else does is also valid and real. Calm down.
Learn to say no.
People who respect and care about you will not want you to do things that make you unhealthy and unhappy.
Do not seek approval or encouragement from others.
Approve and encourage yourself. Give yourself permission to achieve your goals, simply because you want to.
Be able to make sacrifices.
Sometimes it is possible to have two things at once, and sometimes it is not. You must develop the wisdom to choose between conflicting options. There is only so much time in the day, and you have a finite amount of energy. Maybe it is necessary to give up some “normal life” things that other people enjoy. Family, relationships, entertainment, possessions, nice car, etc. See if there is anything you can put aside and enjoy later.
Do not draw a hard line in your mind
between “you” and “people who are successful.” VERY IMPORTANT: Do not let a small-town mentality infect your mind.
Money is not what the universe is made of.
Recognize its use as one tool for exchanging energy in a society, but realize that there are other ways of exchanging creative energy. Don’t get locked into only one economic system. Not everything can be measured in dollars, euros, pesos, or whatever type of colorful paper or metal you and billions of your friends are hypnotized by.
Learn to sit and do nothing.
Find a comfortable chair and do not watch television, do not listen to music, do not read a magazine. Turn off your cellphone, get away from Myspace / Flickr / Facebook and your friends or pets. Do not keep bombarding your mind with external stimulation and cramming things in from all directions. Just enjoy your own mind and realize that nothing bad is going to happen to you if you sit by yourself and shut off to the world. Look inward and see what you can find.
Make mistakes and then learn from them.
Lose money. Lose friends. Get fired from your job. Go broke. Once you hit bottom a few times, you will not make such scared decisions. You will find out that you can start over again and again, with more knowledge and less fear. Many great people throughout history have done this repeatedly. You will also find out who your real friends are.
Not everyone in the world is going to like you.
So what? It is not your job to manage or control anyone else’s likes and dislikes. Let them make their own decisions and dislike you if they want to.
Be self-sufficient and be your own best friend.
And lastly remember
Life is often asymmetrical. It can’t always be measured in nice, round numbers that are catchy and memorable.