My lecture to the younger … and any others who would care to listen

This is a summary of the lecture I would deliver to school-kids - if the teachers would dare let me enter the classroom. It’s not a talk about university education or getting a degree - rather, it’s a talk about how to do well in life. I have long since embraced these traits myself. My fervent hope is that some of you out there in inter-web land, will also take up the mantle I offer here. 

Let me share …

Be Industrious: this is at the top of my list. Someone asks you to do a job, the answer is ‘YES’. 

I have taught private lessons in the bare frame of my house as it was being built. I have worked for $20 an hour in the morning and $500 an hour in the evening on the same day. of course, I had a paper run when I was a kid; I didn’t want to mooch off my parents. be industrious. Say yes. The answer is yes. Should you be offered this crappy work over that great work … do both; suck it up; be industrious. Industrious people get shit done, own more houses, have more money in the bank and have more options later on in life (remember, money equals ‘voting power’ when it comes to making changes in the world). Industrious people are also very often, highly organised, they simply need to be. being organised is a part of being industrious.

Save: put away a portion of your income; then when you can afford it, save more, and then even more; eventually ‘invest’. Put off buying the jet ski now, so you can buy the company that makes them later on. The average person in Australia retires with only $250K in savings. That is not enough. If you end up like most, you’ll have no options, you’ll be mooching off family and friends, you won’t be able to help anyone in need - and you’ll suffer.

Bullshit-proofing: learn to see past the veneer of things. If stuff sounds too good to be true, it probably is. is he first lesson in this, that I learned, was not to fall for ‘martial arts’ bull-shittery; and it’s 90% bullshit out here. Don’t fall for the plethora of get-rich-quick schemes on the internet; you will lose money. Something like 92% of people signing up for options and forex trading schemes, lose all their investment within just 90 days; it’s bullshit. Don’t fall for the bullshit - in fact, become bullshit-proof!

Confidence: learn to stand on your own two feet; do your own thinking, don’t follow the sheep; don’t succumb to peer pressure. A confident person doesn’t need others to like them, they do what they feel they should do, and don’t act for the sole purpose of making others ‘like’ them. I found my confidence by taking up martial arts practise. In learning how to fight I had the strength to walk my own path; I had the courage to say ‘no’ when I needed to; I had the courage to say ‘yes’ when I needed to; and my behaviour became driven from within rather than from the need to ‘please’ or worse, ‘placate’, others. 

Be Excellent: irregardless of what you do; be excellent. Separate yourself from the pack by going well beyond the ordinary. ‘Good enough to get by’ is the credo of the mediocre. If I am selling chicken poop for a living; I will be the best chicken poop collector, packager, seller and delivery-guy you’ve ever seen. My logo would be awesome; just too awesome to ignore. Just be great. It’s your time that you are spending to do what you do - so make sure to trade that time for the very best version of whatever it is you are doing. Understand the real deal you are making. You’re trading your precious ’minutes’, ‘hours’, ‘days’, ‘weeks’ for the stuff that you are doing. Do it superbly. 

Vision: learn to see past the bullshit and fakery that surrounds us. Realise that celebrities are generally not worth your time; their lives are most often a complete mess and almost all of them represent fake idols. Seek out people worth spending time with; people whose lifestyles, values and success are in alignment with what you would want for yourself. 

Time: understand your time is valuable and then you will come to understand that other people’s time is also valuable. it is the one resource, that once used, cannot be reclaimed. 

Education: seek out the kind of education you need to live the kind of life you want. Generally speaking, school doesn’t give you the best foundation for generating wealth, for example, if that’s what you want. Generally speaking, the same goes for your parents; unless of course, they have been outstandingly successful in that area; most haven’t, so most are not the best people to offer you the right advice.  Education is available, sometimes it costs, if you’re very lucky it doesn’t; if you’re extremely lucky, you might befriend someone who can help you, someone with experience and no ‘hidden agenda’; it’s hard to find these kinds of people though; if you do, you’ve struck gold. Bottom line though, it’s up to you. Who you spend time with and how you spend that time, really, really, really matters.

Here the lecture end-eth. Be well everyone. Even if my readers have this all squared away for themselves - perhaps consider passing it onto someone you care about.