In “The winner stands alone” – Paulo Coelho‘s latest novel – there is a list of *normal* things that people do or believe in.
I have picked 10 from the list, some that I had break off, and others that I am working on:
1. Working from nine till five every day at something that gives you no pleasure at all just so, after thirty years, you can retire.
It is actually from eight to six for me! Long working hours – I know. That is something that I still need to do, but I won’t wait till my retirement. I will for sure find other doors that would change this (already working on it).
2. Retiring and discovering that you no longer have enough energy to enjoy life and dying few years later of sheer boredom.
I CAN’T let this happen, and I won’t! To be honest, I feel less energy now being in my thirties than being in my twenties or teenage. Maybe it is due to hectic long working hours, or maybe it is age. I am afraid that it is true that their won’t be enough energy for me when I retire, but who said that I need energy to enjoy life? ;). That is the beauty of being a lazy man – you never die of sheer boredom 😛
3. Believing that power is much important than money and that money is much important than happiness.
I see it everywhere, but I have never adopt it. Happiness always comes first for me. I know that pursuing money have ate from my happiness in the past year or so, but that is something I felt needed for more happiness in the future. I may be wrong, I will try to balance, and keep a smile.
4. Making fun of anyone who seeks happiness rather than money and accusing them of ‘lacking ambition’.
5. Waking up each morning to an hysterical alarm clock in the bedside table.
Akhhhh! You know what, the day I stop waking up to my phone alarm would be the day where I would declare that I have wonderful mornings.
6. Believing absolutely anything that appears in print.
I am a person who prefers to give trust rather than doubt, but I also have the ability to smell when something is fishy and when it is not. Unfortunately, I know many people who don’t just believe anything in print, but also they believe everything that hit their email inbox! (especially those related to religious myths)
7. Eating three time a day even if you are not hungry.
I eat 6 times a day and I don’t mind more! This is one of the beautiful things that people do.
8. Assuming the women don’t like football and that men aren’t interested in home decoration and cooking.
Strict gender roles! I have broken mine and do enjoy what ever make me happy. Cooking and home decoration do sound really more fun than watching football!
9. Blaming the government for all the bad things that happen.
People who do that really annoy me! I believe firmly in the saying: It is better to light a candle than to curse the dark.
10. Being equally convinced that aggression and rudeness are synonyms with having a ‘powerful personality’.
I feel sorry for people who believe in this and actually build their personality on it thinking that they do really have a powerful one where in reality it is just a stupid thing to do because deep inside they know that aggression and rudeness is just a form of protecting their fragile inner-self
Fadi Zaghmout فادي زغموت 
The best thing to do is to stop working so you dont have to worry about Retiring, you see what i am saying.
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I love this post and the ideas you mention…definitely important things to think about. So do you recommend this book??
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I love this post, especially number 10. My boss at my last job was always insulting someone. The venom that came out of this man's mouth always made me surprised that someone hadn't hit him before. I think that people who do that are insecure, so they only way they can feel better about themselves is by belittling others.
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I loved your comments, as for the last point, this is so god damn popular in Jordan, that everyone said that I don't sound man enough cause I laughed, to me, people who smile and laugh are the ones who are getting the most out of life, (and getting laid, when you look at it in my perspective) this whole deep act just seriously gets on my nerves, now I am happily working in Dubai, and to be honest, I think I have calmed down a bit, because I don't need to rebel as much when dealing with people, there are plenty of jokers, and very delighted people around, that you just share a smile with 😀
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mesh tabe3e Paulo Coelho 🙂
“Blaming the government for all the bad things that happen” this point is so true! i mean change comes from people to gov , not the opposite.
“Waking up each morning to an hysterical alarm clock in the bedside table.” sometimes i just want to have a full week of sleep and massages and swimming and relaxing .. how cool would that be.. whats funny is that everytime i get the phone to stop the alarm i wish i can send to work that im not coming today and go back to sleep until evening!
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Observer, I think you should rename it into “list of things that normal people do or believe in.
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Well I'm a girl and I do enjoy watching football more than home decoration and cooking!
So, do you recommend this book? I stopped reading for Coelho after the Zahir, I barely made it through that book it bored me to death
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All of them are very true. The thing is that most of us don't stop for a second to realize that they're true.
I don't want to re-comment on the list. But particularly, “Blaming the government for all the bad things that happen” is something said by lazy people, in my opinion. They don't want to work or change anything, but they don't want to feel guilty as well, so they blame the gov. to comfort themselves. Just yesterday I had a conversation about this thing 🙂
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3abisabeel, ola, sure I do recommend the book. Actually i felt the Zahir is boring as well. This may not be as good as Veronika decides to die, or the Witch of Portibellow, but it is a good read so far 🙂
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