17 Life Lessons (I Wish Someone Had Told Me)

Here's the blog article based on the transcript: # **17 Life Lessons I Wish Someone Had Told Me as a Teenager** Growing up without a father as an only child, I had to learn many life lessons the hard way. I'm sharing these 17 lessons with you so you can bypass years of pain, struggle, and soul-searching. Listen carefully and take heed. ## **1. Extend Your Timeline** It's easy to feel pressured when you see 18 or 21-year-old millionaires on social media. I understand, I am a part of that issue. But it’s so easy to see the final product and think that you need to rush, when quite frankly, you don’t. I missed out on so many hangouts, beers with friends, and football games during my childhood and teenage years. Don't rush. If you want to become a millionaire, give yourself five or ten years. If you can get rich faster, go for it. If you can learn a high-income skill, start a side gig that turns into a business, great! But alleviate the pressure. Stop thinking you need to become a millionaire in a year or two. Even I didn't have a normal journey, and it came with drawbacks. Remember, this doesn’t happen overnight. It has been nearly a decade since I started reading a book a week, since I started meditating, going to the gym and setting the building blocks in the foundation for the man that I would go on to be. Keep your foot on the gas, but extend your timeline. Time is your biggest asset right now. ## **2. Walk With Purpose** Even from a young age, I walked with a sense of mission. When you walk down the street, keep your shoulders back, look straight ahead, and walk with a clear direction. Look like you know where you're going. ## **3. Focus on Practicality, Not Purpose** Stop waiting to find your purpose before starting. When you're a teenager, you won't know your purpose. Even in your 20s, it will morph and change. Instead, focus on practicality. * Learn practical skills. * Start practical businesses or careers. * Get an apprenticeship or a low-paying job that teaches core principles. This will help you succeed later. ## **4. Become a Gentleman** Men, listen to me! Focus on becoming a gentleman. There is so much disgusting behavior on display these days. As a man, you pay for the bill and if you cannot afford to, then guess what? Get to work! Don't take girls out to dinner if you can't afford to. If you're taking a girl to dinner, you pick her up, you drop her home, you do the gentlemanly thing. It is important to learn these things in your teenage years. Understand a girl's alcohol tolerance. If you are with a woman, she is your date or one of your friends in that situation, you are responsible for her. Act accordingly if you want to be a man of honor. Never ever let her cross your boundaries. As long as you are a man worthy of respect, never accept disrespect from another party. Learn these principles as a teenager, and they will carry through for the rest of your life. ## **5. Enjoy the Journey** Remember that these are your glory years. These years right now as a teenager and especially in your early teens even these are the years you're going to look back at with fondness because these are the years that you built, you built your character the person that you are going to become. The years before I started my first business were filled with sacrifices, but I appreciate them now. If things are difficult, take a moment to appreciate it. ## **6. Start Investing Now** Even if it's just $5 or $10 a week, start investing now. It's not about the money or compound interest at this stage. It's about building good habits. If you won't invest $10 when you make $100 a month, you won't invest $10,000 when you make $100,000 a month. Even if those numbers sound crazy to you. It's simply having good financial hygiene and building those good habits early on. ## **7. Build High-Income Skills** A high-income skill could be content creation, it could be sales, it could be copywriting. Learn skills that will pay dividends in 5, 10, or 20 years. ## **8. Focus on Building Muscle** Especially between 16 and 22, get in the gym. Building muscle at a young age will give you that mind-muscle connection for life. Lift heavy things, push yourself, and train hard because you have this incredible advantage and will carry through for the rest of your life. ## **9. Be Confident, But Acknowledge Your Age** Walk with confidence, but understand that wisdom is solidified through decades of experience. In moments of peace and quiet, acknowledge that no matter how well you're doing, wisdom is only truly forged through decades and decades of life experience. ## **10. Get Comfortable Talking to Girls** Get used to speaking to girls. Don't become a 25-year-old who is creepy around women. If you think a girl is cute, just talk to her. Just give her a compliment, Don't let it consume your life because I do not believe that women should be your goal in your teenage and early 20s because as a man your best years really are from the ages of around 26, 28 all the way up until your late 30s but nonetheless just learn how to carry yourself around the opposite sex. ## **11. Keep Your Word** If you say you're going to do something, do it. Your word is your reputation, and your reputation is the most important thing you have. Learning from a young age to show up to keep your word, that will build trust and that will build respect and that will carry on for the rest of your life. ## **12. Your 20s Are Your Building Years** Mentally prepare yourself because this truly will be your make or break period in your life. Your 20s will set you up for the rest of your life. ## **13. Learn to Say No** Learn to say no more than you say yes. Learn to say no when people want to go out, learn to say no to business opportunities. Learning to say no will be one of the most invaluable skills that you can learn from a young age. ## **14. Learn How to Dress Well** Learn how to find good quality clothes. When you leave the house, you need to be presentable. Learn how to find clothes that fit you well, not too tight and not too loose. Most people make the mistake of finding clothes that are way too tight for them. Learn how to layer clothes and then also learn how to start getting stuff tailored. Learn the basics, the classics, and how to dress in a classy, elegant way. ## **15. Keep Strong Boundaries** Learn how to have strong boundaries with your friendships and your relationships. Learning that from a young age has carried on for the rest of my life. You should have mutual respect for each other, an understanding of each other's boundaries. ## **16. Build a Relationship With the Creator** Build a relationship with whatever the Creator means to you, whatever religion you follow, whatever it is, maybe you're just spiritual. You will have some of the highest highs in your life and you will have some of the lowest lows if you live life properly. The only way to stay sane and not go crazy in those periods is to be humbled by the Creator. ## **17. Take Ownership of Your Life** Take radical ownership of the things that happen in your life. No excuses. It is only you and you to blame. If you follow these 17 life lessons, you will live a life of abundance and honor beyond your wildest dreams.