Rules-schmules

This set of rules is designed to help me stay on my path without breaking my moral standards.

The reason I need this to be written down is because when I am under pressure exerted by someone else, I can get too focused on the matter at hand and fail to take into account the long term effects of my decisions. For example, when arguing with someone, an immediate objective is to end the unpleasant conversation - so I concentrate on that. The easy thing to do is to give them what they want and get out of there. Later I realize that the shortcut taken is in conflict with my ideals.

Keeping this list at hand all the time makes it easy to remember what my priorities are, so the chance of a blunder is much smaller.

We all want to live in a world that is fair. We must realize that:

• Fairness doesn't happen automagically, it is created by people.
• If other people don't do it, you have to.
• A good time to start is right now.
• Long term consequences are still consequences. They are difficult to predict, yet that doesn't mean they won't bite you in the ass later.
• When things go wrong and you blame it on the universe or society, you must also blame yourself; unless you can honestly say "I've tried all that was in my power to prevent it".
• The good feeling of sticking to my moral standards is much more powerful than the short-termed good feeling of ending an unpleasant conversation.

If you keep all of the above in mind, you'll realize that you actually have a lot of power in your hands. If you think it is too late to make a change, think again. There's a proverb I really like: no matter how far you've gone on a wrong path, turn around now.

p.s. this list is a work in progress, please help me expand it.