Learn To Live Life Your Way
Many children in their 30's and 40's are now living in the basement of their parent's home. Not concerned about getting an education or a job and not even paying rent. Some even go so far as to tell the parents they no longer have to live by house rules because they're now adults.
It makes me wonder if their goals and success in life have been achieved in their eyes.
Success can mean many things:
Becoming a famous star.
A millionaire.
Having a successful small business.
Not working and living off your parents.
After high school, my idea of success was to become a police officer with the hopes of advancing to detective. Although my grades in school were poor, I was sure that I could do better in college. After all, I was now studying something that I wanted to learn, but my dreams were gone when I realized I couldn't learn from reading textbooks and sitting in class lectures. So my new goal was to make $50,000 a year. If I could achieve that, I would see myself as being successful.
At the age of 30 years old, I found myself working as a line cook making $25,000 a year. I became depressed, aware that I will never travel, drive a nice car or help out a friend or family member if they needed to borrow money.
Voices in the back of my head kept reinforcing what I was told many times, "stop trying! “Setting goals and dreams when you know they will never be achieved is only going to make you feel even more worthless."
I could have given up, and I could have gone back to my parent's house and work at Wal-Mart. But I knew there was something inside me that was better than where I was at that moment. I didn't lose sight of my $50k a year goal, and by the end of the year, I was able to finish tech. School. The following year I became successful! I met my goal of making $50k a year.
Have you met a goal or dream? How did it make you feel knowing that you could do what others may have said you couldn't?
For me, it felt great, but then I needed a new goal. I didn't like being told when I could go to lunch or the restroom. I didn't like being told I couldn't do things with my children on the weekend because I had to take call. I needed to find a way to become self-employed!
People started telling me that it was too risky, you never know if you will get paid, you have to pay for your own insurance.
I had read enough self-help books by now to know that I can’t take advice from people who don’t have the same vision I do.
I started talking to people who were already self-employed and the conversations went much differently.
These people were telling me to go for it! They told me all the benefits of being self-employed, not the fears of it.
Today, I’m self-employed, I have more success than I was able to vision!
Don’t give up on your dreams and goal. Surround yourself with like minded people. You wouldn’t ask your friend who is a butcher for medical advice (I hope you wouldn’t) so don’t listen to people who don’t share your dreams and goals.
What’s your dream or goal, what’s keeping you from reaching it?
What did you have to go through in order to achieve a goal or dream?
Let me know.