Takeaways from The Big Kahuna

I was recently encouraged to watch the a movie The Big Kahuna, staring Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito. Not only was the film entertaining, it was full of interesting advice. Here are my takeaways:

Don't qualify compliments. Put yourself out there and vulnerably compliment others.

The world is full of clocks, there are really few reasons to wear a watch.

It's never too early to start thinking about where you're going to end up.

People who look very official while doing their job do so because they don't actually know what they're doing. If you know what you're doing, you don't have to look like you know what you're doing.

Great men aren't those who do no wrong, they are those that can take criticism with gratitude.

Sometimes you have to chew your leg off to get out of life's traps.

Sometimes "principled" people marry another "principled" person only to find out it was their principles that married.

Love has a lot of counterfeits.

The only reason people order sophisticated drinks is to look sophisticated.

God created wives so that they could show men when their being assholes.

A man doesn't know what his soul looks like until he gazes into the eyes of his wife. If he's a decent human being he cries his eyes out, because no man should be comfortable with what he sees.

There are a lot of things in this world that are good for you, even if they're not pleasant.

There is a delicate balance between preaching the gospel and selling Jesus as a product. This is discussed wonderfully here.

When you start steering a conversation you cease being a person and become a marketing rep.

There's a difference between being honest and being blunt.

You gain character by recognizing regret. Not because you've done something worth regretting, but because you recognize you already have plenty of things to regret.

The world will spin without you.

Say I love you to people you love.

As the credits role the famous late 90's song "Wear Sunscreen" plays, which itself is full of good advice. Here is its:

One final thing I take away from this movie is that is was originally a play. I've always been skeptical of the value of live drama compared to those on the silver screen, but I'm sure the dialogue would have been more real in person. My wife and I are taking an anniversary trip to New York City this summer, what should we see?