Garbage In, Quality Out

In Unix programming, I learned a great lesson: Write your program to accept anything, but only output what you are supposed to.

For example, if your program reads in numbers and passes along the sum, and someone inputs **, the easy approach is to pass a garbage value down the line and, after the whole process breaks down, blame the input.

Instead, your program should read in anything (including **) without complaint, silently discard the garbage, and pass something legitimate, like 0, for the sum.

This powerful process can be applied in other areas of your life.

If someone kicks you down, you can turn around and kick someone else. The problem with this approach is that you have given up control and put yourself at the mercy of low energy. Worse, you are passing the low energy and misery to others.

The better approach would be to take the kick without complaint and simply discard it. Then, don't kick others, complain to them, or even brag about how you discarded the kick. That is simply fluffing the ego. Instead, pat someone on the back.