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Answer by an Anonymous User on Quora
From my personal experience my answer would be:
- Eat healthy and take good care of yourself.
- Use minimum amounts of cosmetic products on your face and body, all of them (in larger or smaller amounts) are filled with harsh chemicals which travel from your skin straight to your blood stream causing many problems (which you can't always see or feel right away).
- Exercise. Be physically active by doing something you enjoy, that way you will be experiencing double benefit.
- Respect your family and your friends. Don't let them down, and never do something that someone else would do, do what you feel it's right thing to do. Be more emphatic, you are not the only person in the world with the feelings.
- Read quality stuff! Reading brings to mind wisdom, the exchange of ideas, and quiet contemplation. Reading makes you richer and smarter.
- Start learning new skills. Learning new language is always an advantage. Also, you can do a little research on skills that will become essential in the future, but that are also appreciated in your profession. For example, you can learn using ICT effectively, including specialist software packages and some programming. You could also start researching about applications of your knowledge in other fields; it might give you some interesting idea.
- Don't you ever forget your creative side! As you know, scientific research involves designing and conducting experiments to collect observable physical evidence. Or if you're more for the theoretical physics like I am, you are aware that creativity is also required, we (theorists) use thought experiments to increase knowledge of the subject.
- Study hard and you will go far. Talent alone is not enough! It is known that people with less talent work harder, and lots of talented people think that their talent will do all the job. Well guess what, it won't, because not working on your talent and not perfecting it is not respecting it (by receiving a talent you also receive responsibility). Hard workers are the successful ones, and if they are also talented they are destined to do great things.
- Don't be too harsh on yourself or too self-critical, if you really feel you can't do something at this moment - take a break, make yourself comfortable, even spoil yourself a little.
- Try to see the world as much as your financial situation allows you. Try to save some money for traveling (one of the best ways to spend it).
- There are a million different points of view on only one single thought or idea. Don't hold mindlessly to only one aspect, at least don't do that if you haven't understood all of the other ones. If you do not agree with someone else's actions/opinions at least try to understand them. Understanding someone does not mean you agree with him, but it does makes your view much much wider. And important thing you should have in mind is that everything in the world is changeable, things you look today as normal were completely outrageous to people only a few decades ago (not to mention centuries), and God only knows how people will look at it in the future.
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