I am sure you may have either read one of Sherlock Holmes’ stories or even watched the movies or TV shows that portray this enigmatic character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

No matter who you are, you can’t help but fall in love with this character and all the perfect imperfections about his personality. Yes, the extraordinary power of observations and abilities as a detective also help towards that.

I myself am a huge Sherlock fan and have read all the novels and almost all the short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I have also watched the movies starring Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes and also the TV series starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes.

Suffice it to say, I have learned a lot from this character and I thought I would share the same with all of you today.

You Don’t Need Too Many Friends

Ok, let’s start with the most important. If you know Sherlock Holmes, you know Doctor Watson. In fact, he is perhaps the only one that Sherlock ever considered a friend.

Sherlock is not social at all, and likes to spend most of his time solving cases among other things, where he is just alone with his own thoughts and of course, Watson. Even then, he is quite happy!

Generally, we tend to think that we need a huge circle of friends to be happy and contented and that we need to hang out often in social gatherings and what not.

That’s not a requirement at all for a happy life. It is said that one true friend is better than a hundred fake friends which is what most people have anyways, these days!

Pay Attention To Details

Sherlock Holmes has, in my opinion, god-level observation skills that would make you one of the most powerful person in the world if you had them. Well, ok maybe I exaggerated there a little, but you get the point.

The thing is that he pays attention to details and explores where most people wouldn’t even think to look. That level of attention to details helps him fit the missing pieces much more efficiently.

On top of that, he is extremely committed and focused on his work i.e. solving cases and uses most of his energies doing that. He loves what he does.

We should do the same in our lives. No matter what it is, people, situations, work, life in general, if we could just pay more attention to details, we could live life more efficiently.

Believe In Facts, Not Theories

Sherlock is a rational thinker and uses razor sharp deductive reasoning skills to solve his cases. He believes in utter facts and not theories that may lead him to the wrong direction.

In fact Sherlock himself says that one needs to twist the theories to suit facts and not facts to suit theories. That is so logical and a no brainer, right? And yet, this is not what most of us do.

We tend to be judgemental and make all sorts of theories about people and situation in our heads and conjure up our own ‘facts’ not knowing that the truth is something else entirely. In a sense we lead a life filled with illusions.

Knowing and going by the facts will always be beneficial for you as you will not lose touch with reality. This will help you make the right decisions.