25 Life Hacks I Wish I’d Known Sooner

The biggest thing I’ve learned in life is that the younger version of me wasn’t nearly as smart as he thought he was.

If I could go back in time and give some wisdom to my younger self, here’s what I would say:

1. Rejection can be tremendously empowering. Lots of rejections make you unstoppable, so go seek out rejection

2. People who disrespect service workers have no place in my life. Want to test someone? Take them out to lunch and instruct the waiter to make a mistake. See how they react and you’ll see what kind of person they are.

3. Forget lottery thinking and just do the work.

4. A salary is a drug and your own business is freedom.

5. Busyness and work are not the same. Choose 2 or 3 big goals and forget everything else.

“The greatest enemy of good thinking is busyness.”
John C. Maxwell

6. Success can destroy you if you forget to stay humble. The people you mistreat on the way up will rightfully step on you when you fall back down.

7. Don’t compare yourself to others. Do compare yourself to how you were a year ago. Have you made progress or not?

8. Adversity is how you grow. Take risks and push your own limits.

9. Forget trying to be normal. The world wants you to fit in, blend in and be a sheep. People will judge you. Let them. Be your own extraordinary self.

10. There is a cost to everything. For example, if you make videos on YouTube, some people will hate your videos. Don’t waste time or energy thinking about it, just keep moving forward.

“The haters gonna hate, hate, hate, but I’m just going to shake, shake, shake. Shake it off, shake it off.”
Taylor Swift

11. Friends who show up during your darkest hours are your real friends. Everyone else is just a pretend friend.

12. Show emotion. No one responds to a cardboard cutout. Showing emotion doesn’t make you weak, it makes you memorable, relatable, interesting, and human.

13. Me-me-me is a no-no. Spend too much time thinking about yourself and you’ll destroy your life.

14. Forget business conversations and have personal conversations to build business relationships.

15. You don’t need permission. Whatever it is that you’re waiting to do, just do it. Now. Still, need permission? Then give it to yourself.

“Poor is the man whose pleasures depend on the permission of another.”
Madonna Ciccone

16. Know exactly what you want and where you want to go. Otherwise, you’ll just get whatever you luck into, which might be nothing at all.

17. Every conversation is a potential opportunity. Whether it’s online or in person, have real conversations with no personal agenda and a few of these will result in the biggest opportunities of your life.

18. Ready fire aim. Don’t wait until you have all the information to act, because by then it will be too late.

19. Watch your self-talk. Good self-talk will overcome imposter syndrome, while bad self-talk will self-sabotage your every effort.

20. Obsession is wonderful. Focusing on just one thing will transform your life. Find it, live it, find a community that celebrates it, and then build a business around it.

“When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love.”
~ J.K. Rowling

21. The obstacle is the way. This isn’t just a book title, it’s the truth. Not sure what you should do next? Find your biggest obstacle and go through it.

22. Be grateful every day for everything, even for your trials, tribulations and enemies because these are helping you to grow.

23. Your life can completely change in less than a year. Have a plan and work the plan every single day without fail.

24. Urgency is crucial. 5-year plan? Get it done in one year.

25. Whatever you’re doing, find the joy in it. If you can’t find the joy then find the happiness. If you can’t find the happiness then find the zen. And if you can’t find any of those things, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it.