18 Oct
About 6 months ago I turned 30 years old and as I was pondering on some of the great lessons I’ve learned, I couldn’t help but think how valuable these experiences would be for those who are under 30, and also those who are over 30 and never got these lessons settled.
1. Everything you have ever needed to know to succeed, you have already learned.
I know that sounds counterintuitive but it’s true and I can prove it to you. Do you remember learning proper manners from your parents, like saying please and thank you? Do you remember learning how to share with other children? Or how about brushing your teeth, and eating your vegetables and main course before eating dessert? Do you remember having to do a bunch of homework when you came home? I could go on and on but to break it down, the proper manners helped you to become pleasant and likable, which helps you with being a good networker. The sharing with other children helped you to become a better team player and you know as the saying goes, teamwork makes the dream work. When you ate your veggies, you were developing your self-discipline and delayed gratification muscles by doing the tasks that are hard before doing the tasks that are easy. The homework got you in the habit of doing hard work and learning how to practice and implement what you are taught. All these lessons are core components to succeeding and most of us learned these things by age 7. Some of us learned these things even earlier. As a child you learned how to imagine, dream and envision, you learned about character, love, patience, and more. Don’t believe the hype. You already know everything you need to do to succeed, it’s now time to apply it. Don’t get me wrong, you should continue hearing success principles to continue to settle the principles in your mind, but you need to realize that you are not lacking a special piece of information or some secret key to unlock the door. The key is inside you, you just need to use it and the door will open for you.
2. Age is a mindset not a number.
So many young people are afraid of approaching 30 (This seems to be the age that most people stop sharing their age on Facebook too ð ). I think the media has a lot to do with this because there is an emphasis on all these young people doing great things and some even becoming billionaires. This is deception because there is a small percentage of people who actually achieve that kind of success and there is an even smaller percentage under 30. Don’t believe the lies of the media and feel insecure by comparing yourself to others. You are a tree and we all produce different fruits that take different amounts of time to sprout. If you are a lemon tree and I am an orange tree, I shouldn’t compare myself to you because, what I have to offer is different from what you have to offer. And if your fruit sprouts before mine does, does that mean my fruit isn’t valuable? No, not at all. Now that we’ve got that settled, lets also discuss this quote from a great bodybuilder who is 70 years old!
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âPeople have the misconception that age makes you old, but I realized it’s the state of mind that makes you old. If I can achieve this, then anyone can!â (Sam âSonnyâ Bryant Jr., 70 year old bodybuilder, Watch Here)
Make sure to view his video. Here you have a 70 year old man who should probably be in mediocre shape and not be in the gym lifting weights. Instead you have a man who is defying odds and cancelling excuses for all of us. He could easily say I am too old to be in the gym and I have worked my whole life, it’s time to take a break and slow down. However he chooses not to be confined to his age, but rather the beliefs he has about himself. The only thing making you feel bad about your age is your own mind. Stop cringing when someone asks your age and stop thinking you’re too young or too old. Be mindful of how you think about your age and only declare good things over your age because like the good book says, there is power in your tongue, so watch what you say. There are 27 year old billionaires and 75 year old impoverished people, so if age was an indicator of wisdom then why does this happen. Wisdom is not a respecter of age but instead a respecter of application. As your age increases make sure you are multiplying your wisdom.
3. You cannot control the harvest, you are only in control of the seed.
I think this principle alone is worth so much to the person who truly grasps it. We should all become farmers because nature gives us so many powerful lessons that we can apply to our lives. Let’s say you are a farmer and you are planting tomato seeds. When you put the seed in the ground, can you tell me exactly what day and time the tomato harvest will come? I know the tomatoes will come eventually and I know that I can control the amount of seeds I put in the ground and how often I water them. If we know that we control this aspect in nature, then why do we want to avoid this in life? We think we can have microwave success because we make a few sales calls so a deal should close, we write a couple blog posts so we should have thousands of visitors. We went to the gym a few times so our muscles should be bulging. You are only control of the seed, not the harvest. If you focus on planting seeds and continue to water them over time, you will see deals close. Over time you will see visitors to your blog, you will see those muscles appear, but don’t get addicted to seeing a harvest. Get addicted to sowing a seed and continuing to water it. You will see a harvest beyond what you imagined just by staying consistent.
