In Part 1 of this blog post we learned all about my dad’s famous wisdom of lists and piles. And how I went from hanging out half the day at a greasy spoon to getting paid for making music. This time around we’re gonna check out my pop’s two rules to greatly increase your success in life, art and beyond.

Warning. These rules are super f*ing simple. But they’re not all that easy to follow. In fact, you’ll probably end up doing battle with these suckers every single day of your life.

1. Show up on time. 2. Do what you say you’re gonna do.

file0001458643943

SONY DSC

I know. A f*ing third grader can understand this. But I suspect you know zillions of people who simply cannot follow these rules.

I’m not gonna explain them in detail. You get it. But here’s the bottom line.

These rules are really about integrity. And without integrity, you’ll eventually lose points and respect with people. Co-workers, family, friends, lovers, yourself. Not cool.

Before you can follow these rules with the outside world, you need to stick with them when no one’s watching.

If you decide it’s time to spend a half an hour a day, five days a week, writing on your sexy vampire thriller, that’s totally NFA. So it needs to go on your list. It needs to be prioritized. And then you gotta do it.

There will always, always, always be something to sway you from your mission. Friends wanna get drinks. You’re drop dead tired. It’s an emergency underwear situation so you better get the goods in the washer ASAP. Whatever.

These are the moments when you decide if you’re gonna follow the two simple rules.

If you do, you move closer to your stated goals. If you don’t, you don’t.

Remember, you’re still calling the shots. If a half hour a day, five days a week is too much, then change your goals. Try fifteen minutes, three days a week. It’s still forward motion. And believe it, you will quickly earn cred with yourself. Then it’s relatively easy to earn it with anyone else.

With these two simple rules, your chances of success increase exponentially. For real. I’ve done the math.

Thanks for hooking us up with some top notch wisdom, Dad.