Life is hard.

Life is impossible.

Life is not at all fun, especially when it’s tough.

Or at least it often seems that way when you’re not doing the Things that I do. Things that, I believe, are the only Things you should be doing, regardless of your creed, color, or shape, if you wish to become as successful as I.

But who am I? In a nutshell:

I am a writer.

But not just any writer:

I am a self-help writer on Medium.

I am a self-help writer on Medium who writes with: i) a heart full of compassion, ii) a mind stoked by child-like curiosity, and iii) a bachelor’s degree in English (minor in Gender Studies).

I am a writer who is also a thinker.

Not many people are thinkers.

I am.

I am literally not a bigot. Don’t even.

I am a Kindle reader.

Please, buy my e-book.

I am not a minority, but I vote Democrat & watch SNL.

I am spiritual, but not religious.

I am an entrepreneur, I think.

I am a realist.

Well, technically, I am half-Chilean, so, yes, I am a minority.

Yet, despite my daily suffering, I know many Things that can make people successful, super easy, without any hard work. If you’re hesitant, then let me tell you right now that most of these Things are super simple, typically requiring only an abstract, intangible change of perspective. A change of thought. A change of words that you use in your head when you think.

Because, really, when you get down to it, how you think is everything. If you think only good things, then you’re a good person. If you think bad things, you’re a bigot.

Nothing else matters.

So, now that I’ve earned your trust, let’s get to the Things that you must do:

#1: Don’t be self-centered

Often times, Life gets you down.

Life gets you thinking: “What did I do wrong? How did I get myself here?”

STOP THAT.

That’s how to think wrongly. That’s being self-centered, which is the opposite of Thing #1: Being not self-centered.

If Life is getting you down, don’t center your problems on yourself. Narcissism gets you nowhere. Instead, blame your problems on Life itself — after all, that’s what got you down, right?

As Benjamin P. Hardy put it in his self-helping (*self-help — whoops!) piece “How to Overcome Addiction and Make Permanent Changes in Your Life”:

Instead of focusing on your behavior, focus on your environment.

I like this, because not only does it relinquish oneself from the harms of self-reflection, it points the finger at the true culprit of all of my problems: Everyone else.

SIDE NOTE: B.P. Hardy’s entire article reduces the concept of “addiction” to everyday common behavior, which is, like, super relevant & relatable, because I’m a major coffee addict lol

#2: Take responsibility for your life

Often times, Life gets you up!

Life gets you an endless stream of green-lights, of warm weather, of steak cooked just right. Life brings you happiness, seemingly out of nowhere.

But I assure you it came from somewhere: It came from you!

Don’t give in to the common mistake of letting modesty & gratitude obscure the meaning of your happiness. When Life gives you lemonade, take responsibility for it: You earned it! Some people will try to take that away from you, but it’s yours & yours only.

Which makes me think of myself when people try to tell me that I should probably be a little grateful for what’s been given to me. That my social status rewards me certain privileges unavailable to many others. That my issues, compared to those of, say, war-ravaged refugees or homeless veterans, really aren’t that bad. That perhaps I should invest my resources in the betterment of those in need, rather than “gloat” over them.

So, am I to believe that I didn’t overcome the every-day struggles of a half-Chilean lifestyle to earn this happiness?

So, am I to feel punished for not having my Hispanic heritage recognized by Society, to be told that I am wholly free from discrimination?

Or do I stand up to Society and tell it: No more! ENOUGH.

I stand. I take responsibility.

And now I urge you to do the same.

#3: Listen with your mouth

We live in an age of mass communication.

Which means we also live in an age of mass miscommunication.

And one of the easiest ways to let miscommunication spread is to let communication not spread.

What do I mean by that?

I mean that we can only hear, read, & listen to so much throughout the day. The amount of information that enters our daily brain-space is finite. Limited. Not infinite. So if we fail to communicate right information, then we allow more room for wrong information to corrupt our minds.

This is why, when you hear something that’s right, it’s so important that you:

Regurgitate.

Regurgitate immediately.

Show that you’re listening to the Truth of the world by speaking only the Truth — but do it fast! That HuffPo article you liked on FB? Share it NOW! That political rant you heard on TV? Blog about it NOW! That thing your friend said? Plagiarize! NOW!

How do you recognize Truth? Rule of Thumb: Truth is something you feel.

Feelings = Truth.

Just don’t let the Untruths speak first. Those non-feeling, non-caring Untruths. Don’t even LISTEN to the Untruths, especially with your mouth.

Lest you become another agent of miscommunication.

#4: Be open-minded

In other words, don’t be a bigot.

As a half-Chilean, Democrat-voting Medium blogger, I can’t be a bigot.

So, even though these are supposed to be “Things that I do that You should do,” this is a Thing that doesn’t really apply to me.

Thing #4 is strictly for the rest of you Medium readers: Don’t be a bigot.

And the only way to prove you’re not a bigot is to publicly & ruthlessly induce shame on every single form of bigotry that shows its ugly, fat-ass face (double points if it’s Anglo-white). And the only way to identify bigotry is to keep an open mind, unclogged from mind-closing speech & thought.

Matter of fact, if we could enforce limits on speech & thought altogether, perhaps even through loosely-defined, unbiased, non-partisan “fake news” filters, then I think that’d solve the whole bigotry issue.

I don’t really know much about how this all works, but I’d still like you to do this Thing (that I don’t need to do, because I’m not a bigot) to demonstrate your open-mindedness against bigotry, which is threatening my personal freedom.

Don’t be a bigot. Be open-minded.

The Hispanic community & I are counting on you.

#5: Donate to my Patreon

How do I afford being a good person?

By good people like you.

One of the best ways you can help yourself is by helping others by giving them money. But you don’t want to give money to just anyone. You want to give money to the good people who dedicate their lives towards helping other people through their boundless wisdom.

People like me.

Other people ask me all the time: Chito, how is it that you can be so helpful, yet so self-less? So modest? So humble?

And I tell them what I’m telling you: That the best thing a person can be is humble. And the humblest thing a person can do is help other people.

Please: Help me help you help yourself by helping me help everyone.

Thank you.

Thank me.