You can be anything, but you can’t be everything.
My dad
If you look around, our world bombards us with advice on how to get rich, grow smarter, look beautiful, feel happier, and be better. Growing up, maybe you had parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friend’s parents, teachers, coaches, nosy neighbors, guy at the gas station, parole officer, or the neighborhood drunk offer advice. If your childhood was anything like mine, everybody had suggestions and opinions that they were happy to share.
It takes a village to raise a child.
African Proverb
Sometimes they contradicted each other, like when my parents told me that dessert comes after dinner, but my aunt told me to eat dessert first (she was obviously much wiser!). Other times, they reinforced each other, like when my teachers told me that making flash cards would help me study for a test, and coaches told me that repeating drills would make me faster. I just listened to each piece of advice, judge if I thought the source was reliable, maybe gave it a try if it sounded helpful, and filed it away for the future.
If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.
Isaac Newton
Today, there are thousands, maybe millions, dare I say trillions, of YouTube videos, magazine articles, podcasts, books, seminars, and courses on how you’re not quite good enough, but with a little guidance and advice (and maybe a few dollars), you could be so much better!
Some of the advice is good. Some is very good. A lot of it, though, is misleading, oversimplified, or just plain wrong. Some ideas are abstract and hard to really understand without some life experience, like “you reap what you sow.” Some might take years or even decades before you see their fruit, like “invest now and enjoy what compound interest does for you later.” They’re all ideas and suggestions that I’m either grateful that I got right away, or wish I would have applied earlier in life.
It takes 20 years to make an overnight success.
Eddie Cantor
My goal here is to present to you the wisdom I’ve collected over the years, tell some stories about my successes and failures, and show that it’s rare to get it right every time. Thanks for reading along on this journey with me. I hope we share some good laughs, learn a little, and keep getting wiser as life goes on!