My Maximae Vitae (Mottos of life)

Eventually everyone in their life will question a decision or need to make one and figuring out which course of action to take may not be easy.

Because of this, over the years I’ve developed a small set of very useful Maximae Vitae to help guiding my own course of actions.

1. "Est modus in rebus"

This is probably my favourite quote from a Latin author (Horace, Satirae, I, 1, 106), mostly because it can be applied to literally any aspect of life. "There is a moderation in things" means that for every thing there's always too little and too much, and the good lays somewehre in between. This means it's difficult to find, because nothing is every easy.

2. "Work to make things better"

When I wake up in the morning, I have one and one only objective to accomplish before the night: this day must be better than the previous.

3. "Never stop learning"

Everything you do, everything you see can teach you something, even if you've done it already. It could be the book you've read the 100th time, talking with a friend, watching a random YouTube video or even walking around your neighbourhood and observing the people, the street, the places. Keep searching for cues, revelations, epiphanies, little pieces or random knowledge that will build up and make you better in some way or another.

4. "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst"

Everyone wants things to go well for them and it's perfectly ok to have a good attitude, but being blatantly optimistic is almost as bad (if not even worse) then being a sunken pessimist: things could go wrong, so think about the worst that could happen and make sure you're ready for it, hoping that you never have to.

5. "Nothing is wasted"

The resources on this planet (and on this universe) are finite, so if something can still be used, why waste it? Remember that entropy can only not-decrease. Also, usually reusing is better than recycling.

6. "Know where everything should be, and you'll never loose a thing"

This is mostly a friendly advice to people that constantly loose things but, being a thinkful organizer, that is a rule that I use very often and it has served me really well, so it might worth sharing.

7. "Better is the enemy of good"

Sometimes trying to achieve the better is to make it worse. Learn to reach a "good enough" level, because the reach will never end otherwise.