You may not take him for a great philosopher or self-help guru, but I found the rules of life Jerry Seinfeld shared on Denton’s Enough Rope a few years back very inspiring for business and life.

He pondered the question “What are my three rules of life?” In summary, this is what he came up with:

1. Bust your ass

Jerry Seinfeld: “…whatever you do just kill yourself. Work as hard as you can, only good can come of it.”

2. Pay attention

Jerry Seinfeld: “People just don’t notice enough about what’s going on around them. You can absorb and learn from everything around you all the time. Ask people questions all the time.”

3. Fall in love

Jerry Seinfeld: “[this] isn’t really a romantic love … like if I get a really good cup of coffee I like to just go, you know what, just hang on a second, ‘This is a fantastic cup of coffee!!’ And I’ll ask everyone, ‘Isn’t this great coffee?’ … you will enjoy life more if you do that.”

These three really resounded with me and got me thinking up my own rules of life:

Want more articles like this? Check out the business values section.

1. Get your priorities straight

Before you ‘bust your ass’ doing anything, make sure you know what’s important in your life. For me the top three are family, friends and health. I believe if you look after these, you’ll be ready to tackle your professional and community goals.

2. Appreciate the now

If you’re always chasing ‘more’ it’s easy to lose touch with what you have. A blend of Jerry’s ‘pay attention’ and ‘fall in love’ rules above, this rule’s about living in the now. People who do this are so infectiously energetic. The past is history, the future is unknown – now is where it counts.

3. Follow your passion

If you’re going to invest 40 hours a week for several decades doing ‘work stuff’, make sure you’re doing something you truly believe in. Follow your passion and it’ll add up to your life’s greatest work. Fail to do so and you may look back with regret.

Do you think it’s important to have rules of life to live by or does this sort of talk scream mumbo-jumbo to you? We’d love you to share your rules, thoughts and other words of wisdom.

And if you want to watch Jerry’s interview with Andrew Denton, head here and skip to the 7:40sec mark for his rules of life section.