When I first started writing I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do with it. Before writing this blog I wrote fiction for a little bit but never got anything really published or really dedicated myself to the work. Rather I had read fiction growing up so I figured I’d be able to have a go at it. But that’s not really how that works. Just like simply watching a boxing match does not make one a better boxer if one doesn’t ever take any time to actually study and apply the craft. (But if you’re sparring and learning the technique then watching film is essential and great for development of course).
I ended up writing a trilogy that were 100,000 words each. I forget the page count but everything was on top of one another and single spaced but it still stretched high up there. I paid to have the first one edited (bless that editor’s soul) but never did anything else with it. Looking back they’re completely unpublishable and I had no idea what I was doing and never took the time to actually learn the craft. Which put me back greatly.
Likewise when I first started writing this blog it was part I didn’t want to work a real job and was seduced by the write a blog and make millions gurus (who for some strange reason rarely practiced what they preached) and also to serve as a sort of journal of things that were helpful to me in my own life and could therefore help others.
While the first reason has been modified somewhat the second reason still holds just as true on day one as it does on whatever the hell day that it is now. So I’m going to share some life lessons that I’ve learned in the hopes that they can help you make this journey through life as good as possible (with good also having a variety of meanings). Let’s get started.
Life Lesson #1 – Skills Pay The Bills
This has multiple meanings. I’ll relate a couple of examples. One was from high school and that was a fight that I saw. It was this big jacked up football player who looked like exactly what you’d cast in Hollywood for a “tough guy”. Big muscles, tats, mean look, and all of that. He fought against a much smaller lanky kid who while not a nerd was certainly a bit awkward in some ways.
But anyways I remember thinking the awkward kid was about to get the ever loving piss beat out of him and had no idea why he wasn’t backing down I remembering thinking “There’s a limit dude.” but of course not saying anything. Anyways the fight went different then I’d expected the lanky kid had been boxing for a year or two and tore up the much bigger kid (you’ll notice the effectiveness of boxing was something that was reinforced through many experiences growing up).
One “kid” had all the flash and “exterior” markers while the other was all substance. One had skill one had bluster and posturing (not that posturing doesn’t have its place, think bouncers in a club, more to prevent things from happening with their size then having pure fighting ability). Same when I look at guys who learn sales and rake in the dough where intellectual types spend money on endless degress (even law degrees) and have very little to show for.
But another way skills (not looks or other things most people are judged by) pay the bills.
Life Lesson #2 – You Get What You Put In
While there is such a thing as working smart as opposed to working dumb where most people go wrong is in thinking the working smarts keeps one from having to work hard. Which isn’t true at all. It’s a cliche and something you’ve probably heard since you were a kid by coaches and parents (or at least I did) but the statement you get what you put in is absolutely true. Again some examples.
Many fat people like to look at pro bodybuilders and say “Oh they’re that way from steroids” and while that is technically a true statement what is generally actually meant is “Oh I’d be that way too if I took steroids” which is a fat crock of shit. Yes professional bodybuilders take steroids and yes they have freak genetics. But in addition to both of those things they also have crazy work ethics and work their tails off.
Not saying a pro bodybuilder is something to aspire to just understand that you never get around having to put in the work, it just doesn’t happen that way. Even steroids don’t build muscle on their own you still have to go out and work. Sure they make it way more effective (sort of the “working smart” part of the equation in other fields, not saying steroids are smart by the way just an analogy) but they still have to work hard.
No matter how smart you work you still can’t get around having to put in the hard work. Put another way you get what you put in.
Life Lesson #3 – Perseverance Matters More Than Most Other Things
It’s amazing how much has been accomplished and changed by those who simply refused to give up and refused to give in. Perseverance is really a sort of superpower. Enabling normal people to accomplish great and mighty things. Most people lack the patience, grit, will, and tenacity to stick with things until they start working. To use the analogy of farming (great teacher of this by the way) most people plow one field but then give up when fully formed food doesn’t materialize from the ground.
Only those that stick with it, plant the seeds, water them, protect them, and then do this FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME end up with the rich harvest of what they wanted. For those that give up too soon they never get it. And that’s another thing those that give up 2 months early generally end up just as worse off as those that gave up after day one. You have to stick with things until the end to see what will come of them.
This doesn’t mean invest in things that aren’t worth it, to get stuck in the sunk cost fallacy, or to not give up on things that’ll never produce what you want. You absolutely have to be wise but the point is that when you do have something that is worth it, whether it’s learning a skill, building a business, investing in the future, and so on and so forth, that you have to stick with it to see the good things from it. Even raising children falls into this (as well as life lesson #2 in many cases).
Learn, Grow, Evolve
Acquiring knowledge the leads to wisdom is a big part of life. Hence why we have teachers as well as miracles of creations called books. Experience and the experiences of others are very valuable things. Learn from them to improve your own life. You have giants that are just waiting for you to climb up on top of their shoulders and see, achieve, and do things that they never could. Take advantage of them.
Learn, grow, and evolve. Internalize these life lessons and the many others that life has to offer you. Seek wisdom and you will eventually find it though it will absolutely require some stumbling and bumbling around. But keep after it and it will be yours, although it’s a quest that can never truly be completed and that one must always walk. But it is certainly one that is well worth it.
