Nov 10, 2025 Dec 3, 2025 2025-11-10

I made it. Today I turn 55. So far, my survival rate is 100%. Not bad.

Actually, it’s way better than “not bad”. I call this decade the “fabulous fifties”: I changed countries 3 times, got married (again) had a beautiful baby (again) and many other amazing things happened. Although extremely rollercoaster-ish, it was by far the best decade of my life. And I’m only half way through it.

Here are 55 things I learned so far. They’re in no particular order, and their significance varies a lot: some are simple, some are deep, some are probably obvious to you.

1. Change is unavoidable, growing up is optional

People will change. Your job will change. You will change. And if you try to resist it, the unstoppable machinery of reality will shred you to pieces. The only way out from the grinder is to accept change and then do your best to outsmart it. Also known as growing up.

2. The most used accessory for a digital nomad is not a smartphone

It’s an umbrella. To this day, I never leave home without one in my backpack.

3. Trust is hard to build

And way harder to keep. It’s a process that needs ongoing maintenance. Brush-your-teeth-daily level of maintenance.

4. True, honest friends are like Bitcoin

Their supply is limited and their value goes only up, never down.

5. Friendship in a romantic relationship is a blessing

You can have a really fulfilling romance just fine without being friends. But if you are also friends, then sometimes, when the life gets hard, it may help you reignite the passion. Sometimes.

6. Starting a fitness habit, like running, takes at least a few months

That’s way, way more than fitness gurus are preaching. You cannot “change your life in just 10 days”. It requires a lot of commitment and discipline to truly implement the habit. Finishing a 220km+ ultramarathon changes your life forever, though.

7. Walking 10km/day adds years to your life

Not in a metaphorical way. It actually does.

8. Coding daily does to your brain what walking 10km/day does to your body

If you can’t code, journaling also works (see below). Just use that grey ball of matter every. Single. Day.

9. Setting healthy personal boundaries in any relationship (romantic, parental, work) is fundamental

Without them, sooner or later, one of the partners will end up claiming everything, and the relationship will eventually break under its own weight.

10. Setting healthy personal boundaries is a form of art, though

And should be thought in school. Alas, it is not, so you’re left with learning by trial and error. Mostly error.

11. You can genuinely love someone without being in a relationship

Love is something you are, a relationship is something you build. And you cannot build one alone.

12. The whole concept of “home” is overrated

I entered my fabulous fifties without one, living in 3 different countries so far. A good sense of identity and strong personal values are way more important for grounding and recharging, no matter where you are in the physical world.

13. Money is important only when you don’t have it

That’s why it is usually a good thing to make money unimportant. Read that again, please.

14. One of life’s most difficult skills is knowing when to choose stubbornness, and when to choose flexibility

Your stubbornness, your persistence, is deciding your success rate. Your flexibility, your sense of adaptation, is deciding your survival rate.

15. Survival always favors the most adaptable, not the strongest

If survival was favoring the strongest, and NOT the ones most willing to adapt, we would all be dinosaurs now, and our iPhones would weigh at least 10 kilos. Maybe 12 with protective cases.

16. There’s a difference between being broke and being poor

Being broke is temporary and almost always fixable. More often than not, bouncing back from being broke gets you at higher levels than before. Being poor is a mindset that can persist even with money. Some of the weirdest poor persons I met were incredibly rich people, constantly thinking they don’t have enough.

17. You can always do more, always

When you fell like you can’t move forward anymore, like every cell in your body is screaming “stop”, you’re actually at 40% capacity. You still have at least 60% more potential, you just don’t know how to reach it. I learned this by running marathons and ultramarathons. But it also applies to business or relationships.

18. The most dangerous sentence in any language is “I know”

The moment you think you know something, you stop learning about it. I try to replace “I know” with “I think” or “my experience so far is”. It keeps the learning doors open.

19. Fear of failure is usually worse than actual failure

Most failures teach you something valuable. Fear just paralyzes you. Fear is the mind killer.

20. The best productivity system is the one you actually use

I’ve tried them all – GTD, bullet journals, fancy apps. What works is whatever feels natural enough that you don’t resist it.

21. You can’t sail a toy boat on a pierced bucket

Fix the leaks before optimizing the sails. Financial stability requires plugging spending leaks before pursuing growth opportunities. Establish budgeting discipline and eliminate wasteful spending to create a stable foundation.

22. Debt is death

Or at least death of freedom. Every debt you carry is a chain that limits your options, your mobility, and your ability to make choices based on what you want rather than what you owe. Financial independence starts with owing nothing.

23. Learning public speaking is great, but learning how to keep your mouth shut is better

There’s tremendous power in knowing when to speak and when to stay silent. Sometimes the most intelligent contribution to a conversation is the one you don’t make. Restraint is a form of wisdom that too few people master.

24. There’s a big difference between owning and having access to something

In today’s rapidly changing world, having flexible access to assets is often strategically superior to owning them outright. Access protects against unpredictable costs, enables faster adaptation, and reduces exposure to asset obsolescence. Ownership means control, but also burden.

25. Life is not a movie, so you’re not a movie star

Modern social media culture encourages people to script and perform their lives like movie characters, creating artificial personas disconnected from authentic human experience. Stop treating your existence as a brand to be marketed. Accept the messy reality of being human rather than a manufactured character.

26. Never shop on an empty stomach

This simple rule saves you from countless bad decisions. Hunger clouds judgment and makes everything look appealing. It applies to more than just groceries—never make important decisions when you’re in a state of lack or desperation.

27. Too much is just as bad as too little

Sudden wealth creates problems because people lack experience managing larger sums. Build wealth incrementally through small, manageable increases, allowing yourself time to adapt to each new financial level. This principle applies to everything: success, attention, power. Balance is the key.

28. The most interesting conversations happen during long runs

In an ultra-marathon, when you’re in the race for more than 10 hours, you simply cannot stand any kind of pretense, or white lie, there’s simply no more energy left for that. You just tell it like it is. If people would function at the same honesty level in their daily lives, the world will be a much better place.

29. Humans need entropy

Too much comfort, and we die by complacency. Too much chaos, and we burn out, we disintegrate. The sweet spot is at the edge, constant dance between chaos and order.

30. The obstacle is not the bottleneck

Obstacles block paths temporarily. Bottlenecks restrict flow permanently. While popular wisdom suggests confronting obstacles head-on, persistent bottlenecks are dead ends requiring a change of course rather than perseverance. Staying in a bottleneck depletes your energy and limits future options. Know when to pivot.

31. Playing the long game always wins

Short game may give gratification, and gratification is tasty. But try to position for the long game, every time you can, as the benefits will be lasting a life time. Hint: you can always position yourself for the long game.

32. Location independence is not a luxury anymore

It has evolved from a luxury into an essential survival skill due to rapid political and social uncertainty. Mobility means optionality means security in an unpredictable world. Remote work combined with geo-arbitrage now makes this lifestyle accessible to ordinary people, not just the wealthy.

33. Living life like a tourist is nice, but living life like a traveler is better

I already wrote a couple of time about the tourist bias, and it’s a nice thing to experiment. But there’s a difference between a tourist and a traveler: the tourist visits places, the traveler meets people.

34. Apologizing when you’re wrong is a superpower

Even if it feels very hard to do it, it pays big time. You lower the friction, and that helps getting back on track faster: most people are so surprised by genuine apologies that they immediately want to resolve the conflict. Not to mention the damage your ego gets when you apologize. And your ego being damaged is a good thing.

35. We can only connect the dots backwards

Life’s meaning and direction only become clear in retrospect. While we cannot predict how our choices will unfold, trusting the process and making intentional decisions allows unexpected outcomes to reveal themselves as part of a meaningful pattern. Often, what initially feels like detours or disappointments lead to better destinations than we could have planned.

36. An early riser is a failed late riser

Becoming an early riser isn’t about inherent superiority—it’s simply the result of abandoning late-night habits. You get to be an early riser only after you fail to be a late riser. This principle extends beyond sleep schedules: sometimes the path to improvement lies in consistently moving away from what doesn’t serve us.

37. The internet should be consumed with caution

It is indeed the world’s largest library, but also the world’s largest mind controlling tool. The attention economy became so specialized, that now it’s almost trivial to create a trend or to swing democratic elections in any country, just by playing with people’s minds over the internet. Learning to consume this medium mindfully is a crucial 21st-century skill.

38. Your future self is counting on the decisions you make today

You literally build the future version of you with any decision you make, every single one. So, choose wisely. Also, try to make friends with your future self – you’ll be spending a lot of time together.

39. Being lonely is very different from being alone

Loneliness and solitude are completely different experiences. One is painful, diminishing and hurts big time. The other is recharging, constantly supportive and heals big time. Learning this difference changes everything.

40. The most productive people I know aren’t the busiest ones

They’re the ones who’ve learned to say no to almost everything so they can say yes to what truly matters. They know how to make room for energy to flow, not to stay blocked in rigid systems.

41. Your opinion of yourself matters more than anyone else’s opinion of you

But it took me 50 years to really understand (and believe) this.

42. A good habit is an invisible habit

The best habits eventually become so integrated into your life that you stop thinking about them—they become invisible. Once you achieve meaningful goals through consistent habits, let them blend naturally into your routine rather than continuously chasing the next objective, allowing you to find contentment in what was once an aspirational target.

43. The best time to start doing what you like was 20 years ago

The second best time is now. I know this saying is about planting a tree. But I learned that it applies to almost everything in life.

44. Making your bed every morning is one of the best habits you can build

It provides psychological control and stability in an unpredictable day. This is a part of the day that you can control. It doesn’t take too much time or energy. By completing this small, tangible task before facing life’s chaos, you establish an anchor of accomplishment and create something orderly to return to—transforming a simple habit into a powerful tool for mental resilience.

45. The most expensive thing in the universe is stupidity

Or, if you want a nicer way to put it: lack of education. When you keep being stupid, when you avoid learning, you do things that make you pay incredible amounts. And the sad thing is that you pay not only with money, but also with time.

46. Your health is your real wealth

Everything else becomes meaningless if you don’t have it.

47. The person you’re most attracted to initially is rarely the person you should be with long-term

Chemistry and compatibility are different things. Sometimes, in very rare occasions, they can happen at the same time, but these occurrences are so rare that they’re spread not over a lifetime, but over a few reincarnations. Popular name: soulmates. If you find one, consider yourself very, very happy.

48. Your past is not determining your future

But the stories you tell yourself about your past determine your future more than the actual events that happened.

49. Comparing yourself to others is always a losing game

What you see of others is never their real image. What you show of yourself is never your entire persona. You’re comparing apples to peaches.

50. The most important relationship you’ll ever have is with yourself

If that’s broken, all other relationships will struggle.

51. Success is not about reaching some destination

It’s about becoming the kind of person who can reach any destination. It’s who you become, not what you get.

52. The older I get, the more I realize that being right is overrated

Being kind and being happy are much better states to be in.

53. Every expert was once a beginner

Every pro was once an amateur. Every famous person was once an unknown. Then only thing they did different, that set them apart, was that they kept pushing forward.

54. Life is not a problem to be solved

It is way too complicated to be solved. Better look at it as a reality to be experienced. Sometimes the best strategy is to stop strategizing and just be present. Move with the tide. See where you land next.

55. Love matters

We come into this world with nothing, but I feel deeply that we don’t leave empty handed: we take with us all the true love we experienced. And the only true love is the one you give, unconditionally, the love you receive is just happening to you, it’s not part of you.

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That’s it. 55 lessons from 55 years on this beautiful, messy, wonderful planet.

If you’re younger than 55, don’t worry – you don’t need to wait decades to learn these things. Most of them are available to you right now, if you’re paying attention.

If you’re older than 55, you probably nodded along to many of these and have a few dozen lessons of your own to add.

And if you’re exactly 55, well, happy birthday to us. We made it this far. Here’s to whatever comes next.