Mind-blowing Lessons from the past 5 years

So today I celebrated 5 years working in my current organization, which means I have been doing this longer than anything I have ever done before, except elementary school.  As is our tradition, I wanted to share some of the mind-blowing lessons I've learned since starting work.

Mind-blowing: adj.: Anything that has fundamentally and irreversibly altered my experience of the world

1. “Just because we think they are wrong, doesn’t mean we are right.” 

2. There is no substitute for being there: get up early, get on the plane and be present

3. Patterns keep repeating through medicine, software development, management, parenting

4. The quality of technology reflects the quality of decision-making

5. Decided is not Done, and Done is what matters

6. Perfection is anathema to survival, and probably so to success 

7. Help will only arrive after you have taken responsibility for solving your own problems

8. When others try and convince you of your own ideas, smile, you have succeeded

9. You must be your own harshest critic AND yet you must know your own true worth

10. Perform first, negotiate second

11. “You are too young to think you are bad at things yet.” 

12. Get a life, your work depends on it.