Yahoo Singapore had an article recently about 50 life lessons every parents should teach their children. I had a looked at it and I selected the few top lessons that I would love to impart to my kids.

Here’s my choice list

• “Don’t worry about what people think of you” – A lot of people tend to be bothered about how others think of you. But we shape our own brand and perception. Just stick to who you are and build your own brand and the rest will fall in place. For those who don’t get it, just move on. 
• “Focus on Progress. Not Perfection” – Life is constantly moving, what most bosses or people want is to see progress. If they don’t see a progression in the things that you are assigned to do or if you don’t grow, it is commonly perceive as inefficient or you aren’t up for the job. So our kids have to know this fundamental concept.
• “Successful People do what other people aren’t willing to. Success is a mindset, not a goal to be attained.” – Totally agree with this, mindset is very important for us to success in life. People love go-getters and people who take action wins the race. Because they take action before the others realized the opportunity is there.
• “You can’t win every time. So when you lose, do it gracefully.” – Learning to fail is important. We are humans, no matter how good we are, there will always be someone better out there. So the idea is to learn from your mistakes and climb to higher heights.
• “Don’t multi-task. Do one thing at a time and you’ll be far more efficient.” – This is something I need to learn myself. But most kids today tend to have short attention span. I guess it’s partly due to the high penetration of multimedia products like TV, Mobile apps, games, etc. I guess moving forward, focus is key.
• “Be a caring person. Care about your loved ones; care about your community; care about the world around you. Do this and your life will be fulfilling.” – After securing our basic needs, we should also show care for others. This not only brings joy to others but most importantly it will bring joy to us. A good deed will go a long way.
• “Don’t ever stop learning. The more you learn, the more you’ll appreciate the beauty of the world around us.” – This is important, we are expected to live till 80 years old. If we stop learning, that’s the day that most of us would have died mentally. The brain like the stomach needs food. Lots of it to grow and age gracefully in time. Therefore, having a positive attitude to learning is key no matter how old are you.
• “Invest in your most important relationships. This is an investment you’ll never regret.” – Life is all about relationships. Focusing on your network is key, as you never know when you would need to tap on it. Typically I would suggest having 2 circles of trust, an external network where all your professional network resides and an inner network where your 5 friends will always be there for you rain or shine.
• “Be resourceful. When faced with a problem, remember that there’s always a website, a book, a course, or a friend you can turn to for help.” – Don’t give up with you face a problem. Learn to seek help or seek solutions. The world love people who seek solutions and solves problems. It’s similar to the success mindset, it works well as others don’t really see it as a mindset.
• “Passion isn’t found. It’s cultivated.” – A lot of people say find your passion, I can’t agree more with the Daniel Wong. Passion isn’t found – you have to cultivate it and it starts with us parents. If you want your kids to be engineers, we need to cultivate them from young to love building things.
• “Happiness is a choice more than it is a feeling.” – Many a times, I hear my friends sigh and complain about how tough life is or how disadvantaged they are. I would normally share with them that if you can get a solution for the problem, work on it to get the problem solved. If not, move on until you can find a solution. Being unhappy or happy, the clock still ticks. So we must as well tell ourselves to be happy. Who knows a solution might come out.

The author of the list of 50 lessons is called Daniel Wong, he’s a learning and teen expert. I will be visiting his site more often to get some insights.