Three months before Feb. 16th, 2015, I started on a path of pseudo enlightenment. Feb. 16, 2015 would be a monumental day -- I turned 40 years old!
There were several things I learned about Life, Death and from the Brian Williams "fabrication/ lying" scandal.
For those paying attention, life is a culmination of lessons. We can learn a lot from the good things and bad things in both life and business. "Smart people learn from their mistakes while wise people learn from the mistakes of others."
I've been fortunate throughout my life to minimize the amount of problems in my life while learning from the mistakes and successes of others.
What did I do? Recently, I spent the last three months evaluating my direction, platform (the value I bring to my audience/marketplace) and new projects. In addition, I sought to make changes to my life to improve productivity. How we treat our bodies correlates to the level and quality of the life we live. I changed my diet (will be a separate post), improved the quality of my sleeping (absolute dark room works wonders) and increased the level of reading (audio books for your non-readers).
Why does it matter now? Well, I believe this isn't isolated to only me. There are many of you who are at a crossroads -- defined as the thin line and intersection between your past and your future. Your crossroad is the place where you are not only able to reflect on changes to improve your current situation and life lessons but also where you can see how these changes can improve your life!
What I learned about life (Business):
1.It's short and finite.
The passage of life accelerates as we age.
2.Almost Everything in life that you want to do has been done by someone else.
Those same people would love to share their experience and knowledge with you via books, courses and content.
3.How you deal with setbacks in life will determine your ability to prosper later in life. As the great business thinker Jim Rohn say "Many people major in minor things!". Are you getting angry about insignificant occurrences or are you focused on the bigger picture in life?
4.Write down very specifically what you want in life. Your mind and the universe will conspire to help you!
When you seek your truth, your vision and your passion, as Paolo Coehlo says in The Alchemist, the universe will conspire to help you. I used that strategy to get to college, play professional basketball in Europe and get a book deal after Nos from over 200 literary agents.
What I learned about death:
1.Religion aside - we're all going to the same place. In a box in the ground.
Steve Jobs said it best, "Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make room for the new." As a result, it reminded me that I have nothing really to lose in taking chances.
Watch Steve Jobs' Stanford Commencement Speech here.
2.In Business - your ability to take calculated risks will improve your chances to get bigger rewards.
Many unfortunately fear the unknown and seek to choose the beaten and safe path through life. (I'm writing a post about an entrepreneurial teenager who's inspired other teenagers to take up entrepreneurship.) Follow him on twitter here: @leangap
What Brian Williams taught me:
1.You can come back in business (and life) after a setback as long as there is authenticity in the attempt.
2.A break from the cycle of news and rapidly flowing information gives you (and your business) the ability to rebrand yourself.
3.Integrity is everything -- if you're going to be in the public eye as in individual. If you're a business, Yelp, Trip Advisor and other review sites can quickly put you in the limelight.
4.Embrace your mistakes and go directly to the offended group or party. Many companies use social media to monitor the social chatter. Many unfortunately make the mistake of ignoring problems or auto responding with "We're sorry to hear that...." Instead of directly addressing the issue if legitimate.
Every day that passes is an opportunity to take one step closer to your dreams. I meet many people who struggle with taking the first step. I get it, I do to at times...but my 40th birthday served as a stark reminder that time is limited and is a resource that can't be replenished. As a result, I have to take the first step and then the next.
Good luck!!!
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Stay tuned because I have some new things developing!!