Number 1 is truly number 1:

What’s The Most Important Life Lesson Older People Feel You Must Know?

Spoiler alert: Don’t stay in a job you dislike.

You know those nightmares where you are shouting a warning but no sound comes out? Well, that’s the intensity with which the experts wanted to tell younger people that spending years in a job you dislike is a recipe for regret and a tragic mistake. There was no issue about which the experts were more adamant and forceful. Over and over they prefaced their comments with, “If there’s one thing I want your readers to know it’s . . .” From the vantage point of looking back over long experience, wasting around two thousand hours of irretrievable lifetime each year is pure idiocy.

More advice from people wiser than me here.

Very successful people say NO to almost everything.

8 Things The World’s Most Successful People All Have In Common

One of the eight is “Say No — A Lot”:

Warren Buffett once said: “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say “no” to almost everything.”

And that’s what gives them the time to accomplish so much.

In Creativity, Csikszentmihalyi makes note of the number of high achievers who declined his request to be in the book.

Why did they say no?

They were too busy with their own projects to help him with his.

Achievement requires focus. And focus means saying “no” to a lot of distractions.

The other seven are here.

Life is about managing your energy more than managing your time:

Time Management Skills Are Stupid. Here’s What Works.

In The Power of Full Engagement Tony Schwartz explains: “Energy, not time, is the fundamental currency of high performance.”

You need to work like an athlete. Don’t worry as much about time; manage your energy better for great explosions of effort and results.

Their entire lives are designed around expanding, sustaining and renewing the energy they need to compete for short, focused periods of time. At a practical level, they build very precise routines for managing energy in all spheres of their lives–eating and sleeping; working out and resting; summoning the appropriate emotions; mentally preparing and staying focused; and connecting regularly to the mission they have set for themselves. Although most of us spend little or no time systematically training in any of these dimensions, we are expected to perform at our best for eight, ten, and even twelve hours a day.

More on managing your energy to increase performance here.

A little gratitude each day goes a long way:

How To Make Your Life Better By Sending Five Simple Emails

One of the five increases happiness:

Every morning send a friend, family member or co-worker an email to say thanks for something.

Might sound silly but it’s actually excellent advice on how to make your life better.

There’s tons and tons and tons of research showing that over time, this alone – one silly email a day – can make you happier.

The other four emails are here.

All of Eric's article is worth reading:

http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/12/top-10-of-2013/

But beware, it contains a lot of links to other interesting things!

this is such good stuff!  thanks for sharing.