THNGS I WOULD TELL MYSELF IF I WAS 18 AGAIN

This morning I was reading a book as I was javing to work today  “rich dad poor dad my favorite books of all time

So I started thinking about my life, some of the things I have  done and those I wish I knew earlier, and I began imagining all of the things I wish someone had told me when I was 18.

Then I took it a step further and thought about all the things I would love to tell myself if I could travel back in time to give my 18-year-old self some advice about life.

So after a couple of hours of deliberation, here are 18 things I wish someone told me when I was 18:

Commit yourself to making lots of mistakes. 

Mistakes teach you important.  The biggest mistake you can make is doing nothing because you’re too scared to make a mistake.  So don’t hesitate don’t doubt yourself.  In life, it’s rarely about getting a chance; it’s about taking a chance.  You’ll never be 100% sure it will work, but you can always be 100% sure doing nothing won’t work. 

Most of the time you just have to go for it!  And no matter how it turns out, it always ends up just the way it should be. You can either succeed or you learn something very important it’s a win –win situation. Remember, if you never act, you will never know for sure, and you will be left standing in the same spot forever.

Find hard work you love doing. 

If I could offer my 18-year-old self some real career advice, I’d tell myself not to base my career choice on other people’s ideas, goals and recommendations.  I’d tell myself not to pick a major because it’s popular, or statistically creates graduates who make the most money.  I

’I d tell myself that the right career choice is based on one key point: Finding hard work you love doing.  As long as you remain true to yourself, and follow your own interests and values, you can find success through passion. 

Perhaps more importantly, you won’t wake up several years later working in a career field you despise, wondering “How the heck am I going to do this for the next 30 years?”  So if you catch yourself working hard and loving every minute of it, don’t stop.  You’re on to something big.  Because hard work isn’t hard when you concentrate on your passions.

Invest time, energy and money in yourself every day. – When you invest in yourself, you can never lose, and over time you will change the direction of your life.  You are simply the product of what you know.  The more time, energy and money you spend acquiring pertinent knowledge, the more control you have over your life.

Explore new ideas and opportunities often. 

Your natural human fears of failure and embarrassment will sometimes stop you from trying new things.  But you must rise above these fears, for your life’s story is simply the culmination many small, unique experiences. 

And the more unique experiences you have, the more interesting your story gets.  So seek as many new life experiences as possible and be sure to share them with the people you care about.  Not doing so is not living.

When sharpening your career skills, focus more on less. 

Think in terms of Karate: A black belt seems far more impressive than a brown belt.  But does a brown belt really seem any more impressive than a red belt? 

 Probably not to most people.  Remember that society elevates experts high onto a pedestal.  Hard work matters, but not if it’s scattered in diverse directions.  So narrow your focus on learning fewer career related skills and master them all.

People are not mind readers.  Tell them what you’re thinking. 

 People will never know how you feel unless you tell them.  Your boss?  Yeah, he doesn’t know you’re hoping for a promotion because you haven’t told him yet.  That cute girl you haven’t talked to because you’re too shy?  Yeah, you guessed it; she hasn’t given you the time of day simply because you haven’t given her the time of day either.  

 In life, you have to communicate with others.  And often, you have to open your vocal cords and speak the first words.  You have to tell people what you’re thinking.  It’s as simple as that.

Make swift decisions and take immediate action. 

Either you’re going to take action and seize new opportunities, or someone else will first.  You can’t change anything or make any sort of progress by sitting back and thinking about it.  Remember, there’s a huge difference between knowing how to do something and actually doing it.  Knowledge is basically useless without action.

Accept and embrace change. – However good or bad a situation is now, it will change.  That’s the one thing you can count on.  So embrace change, and realize that change happens for a reason.  It won’t always be easy or obvious at first, but in the end it will be worth it.

Don’t worry too much about what other people think about you.

For the most part, what other people think and say about you doesn’t matter.  When I was 18, I let the opinions of my high school and early college peers influence my decisions.  And, at times, they steered me away from ideas and goals I strongly believed in.  I realize now, ten years later, that this was a foolish way to live, especially when I consider that nearly all of these people whose opinions I cared so much about are no longer a part of my life. 

Unless you’re trying to make a great first impression job interview, first date, etc, don’t let the opinions of others stand in your way.  What they think and say about you isn’t important.  What is important is how you feel about yourself.

Always be honest with yourself and others. – Living a life of honesty creates peace of mind, and peace of mind is priceless.  Period.

Opportunities will continue to snowball for the duration of your career.

Sit alone in silence for at least ten minutes every day. – Use this time to think, plan, reflect, and dream.  Creative and productive thinking flourish in solitude and silence.  With quiet, you can hear your thoughts, you can reach deep within yourself, and you can focus on mapping out the next logical, productive step in your life.

Ask lots of questions. 

The greatest ‘adventure’ is the ability to inquire, to ask questions.  Sometimes in the process of inquiry, the search is more significant than the answers.  Answers come from other people, from the universe of knowledge and history, and from the intuition and deep wisdom inside you.  These answers will never surface if you never ask the right questions.  Thus, the simple act of asking the right questions is the answer.

Exploit the resources you do have access to. – The average person is usually astonished when they see a physically handicap person show intense signs of emotional happiness.  How could someone in such a restricted physical state be so happy?  The answer rests in 

In life and business, it’s not so much what you say that counts, it’ how you make people feel.  So respect your elders, minors, and everyone in between.  There are no boundaries or classes that define a group of people that deserve to be respected. 

Treat everyone with the same level of respect you would give to your grandfather and the same level of patience you would have with your baby brother.  Supporting, guiding, and making contributions to other people is one of life’s greatest rewards.  In order to get, you have to give.

Excel at what you do. 

There’s no point in doing something if you aren’t going to do it right.  Excel at your work and excel at your hobbies.  Develop a reputation for yourself, a reputation for consistent excellence.

Be who you were born to be. 

You must follow your heart, and be who you were born to be.  Some of us were born to be musicians to communicate intricate thoughts and rousing feelings with the strings of a guitar.  Some of us were born to be poets to touch people’s hearts with exquisite prose.  Some of us were born to be entrepreneurs   to create growth and opportunity where others saw rubbish. 

And still, some of us were born to be or do whatever it is, specifically, that moves you. 

Regardless of what you decide to do in your lifetime, you better feel it in every fiber of your being.  You better be born to do it! Don’t waste your life fulfilling someone else’s dreams and desires.

Muthoni Wachira