Lessons I’ve Learned Along The Way

I just got off the phone with a young woman who had been in my audience only a few months ago. She said that when I told the audience to “Do what you love,” it sent a cold shiver down her spine, made her look closely at what she was doing, and convinced her to enroll back in school in order to pursue her lifelong dream.

That got me thinking about all the other great lessons I’ve learned (the great ones are the ones you never forget) in life that always seem to work and have guided me in almost everything I do.

In no particular order of importance:

Love What You Do – My old boss once told me, “Nobody likes their job, but you have to earn a living and support your family.” Thankfully, I never believed that for a second. I figured someone had to love what they do and I was right. In fact, I found out that people who love what they do never spend a day working. Because of that they spend more time doing it which makes them so good at it, that they can’t help but become successful.

Save Your Money – People who save their money can never be trapped in a life style they don’t want to be in. I was lucky to learn this lesson at a young age. It has allowed me to quit jobs I hated; start my own business; enable my wife to choose to stay home with the kids; relocate to a town of our choosing and never have to dance to anyone else’s tune. It’s not easy (of course, if it was, everyone would do it); it takes sacrifice. But I also learned that a little bit of short term pain up front, can yield a tremendous amount of long term gain in the back end.

Think Long Term – By thinking long term it helps you to realize what your true priorities are in life. We live in an “Instant gratification society.” Too many people are too willing to settle for things they don’t want, because they’re not willing to do what it takes to get the things or live the life they do want. Set long term goals and formulate plans to achieve them. It’ll help to keep you focused on what is important and stop you from being side-tracked to what is expedient.

Write Everything Down – The first sales meeting I ever went to (it was 1973), my boss yelled at me for not having a pen or pad: that was the last time that has ever happened. I go nowhere without something to write with or on. I don’t care who you are, nobody’s memory is that great. And what about all the great ideas you’ve gotten over the years and forgotten over the years because you never wrote them down? Remember those long term goals you just read about in the last paragraph: if you’re not willing to take 5 minutes to write them down, what would make you think that you’d be willing to put in 5 years of time, energy, effort, or hard work toward achieving them?