T. Boone Pickens, the world famous oil and gas multi-billionaire investor and businessman, passed away on the 11th of September, 2019. Right before he died, he wrote down a message for his organization to release after his passing.

In that note, he included the following 10 principles that were key to his success. These are really solid nuggets – some of the last thoughts of an incredibly successful man who was thinking over his life right before his death.

The rest of this post will be a quote from Mr. Pickens:

“My wealth was built through some key principles, including:

• A good work ethic is critical.
• Don’t think competition is bad, but play by the rules. I loved to compete and win. I never wanted the other guy to do badly; I just wanted to do a little better than he did.
• Learn to analyze well. Assess the risks and the prospective rewards, and keep it simple.
• Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader: Avoid the “Ready-aim-aim-aim-aim” syndrome. You have to be willing to fire.
• Learn from mistakes. That’s not just a cliché. I sure made my share. Remember the doors that smashed your fingers the first time and be more careful the next trip through.
• Be humble. I always believed the higher a monkey climbs in the tree, the more people below can see his ass. You don’t have to be that monkey.
• Don’t look to government to solve problems — the strength of this country is in its people.
• Stay fit. You don’t want to get old and feel bad. You’ll also get a lot more accomplished and feel better about yourself if you stay fit. I didn’t make it to 91 by neglecting my health.
• Embrace change. Although older people are generally threatened by change, young people loved me because I embraced change rather than running from it. Change creates opportunity.
• Have faith, both in spiritual matters and in humanity, and in yourself. That faith will see you through the dark times we all navigate.”