I Spent 4 Decades Learning These 43 Life-Changing Lessons (part 1)

Key Takeaways

Okay, so I spent a lot of my 20ies chasing things that just didn't matter. I then spent my mid to late 30s trying to fix those mistakes. And it wasn't until I hit probably 40 years old that everything became a lot clearer. And now that I'm the grand old age of 43, I thought it'd be a good idea to do a two-part video of 43 life lessons. Basically, lessons I've learned over four decades. God, that's depressing. So, if that sounds like it's going to float your boat, smash that like button, hit that subscribe button and we can crack on. So, here's the thing about life. No one gives you a manual, okay? You you don't get this set of instructions at the age 10, 12, or 15. You're just left to get on with it and figure it all out yourself. The problem is by the time you figured it all out and you've made all of those mistakes, you're 40 plus and you've missed out in the best years. So, that's why I've done this video, okay? to help you guys not make the same mistakes that I've made in the past and hopefully give you guys a a head start and not waste your 20s and 30s like I did. But I will warn you, these lessons are not pretty. Okay, they're not motivational quotes. They are very very real, especially to me. Okay, so what I've done, I've split this into six sections and what we'll do is we'll cover three sections in this video and then three sections in the next one. Okay, so section one, identity and mindset. Lesson one, nobody is coming to save you. Okay, I'll repeat that. Nobody is coming to save you. Not your mom, not your dad, okay? Not your employer, not your partner. You You are the hero of your story. Accept it and deal with it. Lesson two, confidence comes from doing hard things. You can't affirmation your way to being a confident person. Okay? You can't just think positive thoughts and all of a sudden you'll be confident. It does not work like that. You have to experience you have to experience failure. You have to experience you know failure over and over again until you eventually get it right and then you start getting confident because you you can now do it. You've done it enough times. You failed enough times to suddenly become good at something. Then you feel confident. Okay. Affirmation is great for certain things but growing in confidence it will not help you at all. Lesson three. You do not need permission to start. If you're waiting for someone to tell you to start, then you're going to be waiting for a very long time. Start now. Okay? There is no time better than the present, start messy. Start scared. Okay? The best thing to do is just start because otherwise you may never feel ready. Just do it now. No excuses. Lesson four, fear doesn't disappear, but you move anyway. Now, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and other big entrepreneurs, okay, they still have fear. They probably still have fear on a daily basis, but that hasn't stopped them. There is no way that you can stop fear. Okay? Fear is part of who we are. You know, you just got to put it to one side. If if you wait for the fear to disappear, you're never going to start anything. So, the best thing that you can do right now is recognize the fear. You know, realize that it's okay to have that fear and just carry on with what you're doing anyway. Don't let that stop you from from, you know, becoming wealthy. Don't let that stop your dreams. Lesson five, your 40s is not too late. I don't know how many times I've said this in my videos, okay? Many, many great opport entrepreneurs started businesses in their 40s, 50s, and even 60s. Okay? Age is but a number. Do not let it define who you are. You know, I'm doing this at 40, you know, 42, 43 years old. I think I was 42 when I started. Might have been. Yes, 42 when I started. I'm 43 years old. I feel great. I feel energized. Okay, I feel like I've got enough experience in in my life to be able to do this now. You know, I wasn't necessarily ready at the age of 20 or 30, but I am now. So, don't let it make you feel, you know, don't let age stop you from achieving what you want to achieve, okay? Because, like I said, loads of people now in their 40s, 50s, and 60s doing it. No excuse anymore. Do not use age as an excuse. Lesson six, you're not behind. You're on your timeline. Okay? I can't stress this enough. Don't worry about what Dave is doing. You know, he he may be a year, maybe two years ahead of you. Stop comparing yourself with others. The only person you can compare yourself with is yourself. Okay? Because everyone else, everyone has their different circumstances. So, comparing to someone who has huge amount more experience than you do or started 5 years before you, it's completely pointless because they're clearly going to be miles ahead of you. So, don't compare yourself with anyone else. Focus on what you're doing. That's all you need to do. Lesson seven, most people aren't thinking about you. They're thinking about themselves. Remember that really embarrassing thing you did the other day? You know, the thing that you thought was going to be the end of the world, the end of your end of your journey, cuz it was just so embarrassing. No one cares. Who cares about it? You know, something that happens today will be forgotten about tomorrow. So, don't forget about it. all everyone else is just more worried about themselves and what they're doing rather than what you're doing. And to be perfectly honest, they probably just do not Yeah. They just don't care. Okay? So, don't obsess about something that no one cares about because it's a waste of time and it's a waste of energy. Okay? Lesson eight. Discipline beats motivation every single time. So, motivation is a feeling whereas discipline is a practice. One of those things will disappear over time where the other one will just keep going. So if you can have both fantastic but it's very difficult to keep motivated and disciplined for a long period of time. So really really concentrate on the discipline because the more and more you do something and the more and more you're sort of um you know you're it's in your routine and it's like a ritual you keep doing it and keep doing it you're more likely well it's inevitable that you will be successful. Okay, so section two, work and creativity. Lesson nine, boring work builds big things. Let's face it, we all want to do the creative stuff, you know, the exciting stuff, the video editing, all of the the graphic design, all of that sort of stuff, but no one wants to do that boring admin jobs, you know, the stuff that needs doing on a daily basis or, you know, the things that you dread. Unfortunately, those are the things that build a business. Without those things, you will not be able to do the exciting stuff. So, you need to remember that even though the things are so a lot of the things that you think are boring, they are absolutely essential to what you're doing and you will not be able to get to where you want to be without doing those things. Okay. Lesson 10. Your first version will be terrible. Make it anyway. Okay. This is absolutely essential and it is inevitable unfortunately. Okay. the first thing that you make or the first version of what you make, it will be terrible. Okay, there's there's no there's no other way to put it. The thing is it's the same with everyone. Okay, every great entrepreneur, every um every SAS or app builder, their first version is, you know, is nearly always terrible. Okay, they will that's why you get updates with these with these apps and these SAS platforms because you know there's a lot of stuff that you either hadn't thought of or there's a lot of bugs and stuff in the earlier versions. So, you know, it's only with time and a lot more work and sort of trial and error with these things that you're going to be able to get perfectionism. So, you know, just don't worry about it. Launch it anyway. If it's not perfect, don't worry about it. you can always do a much better version too. Okay, lesson 11. Every skill is learnable if you stay curious. Okay, so you might think to yourself that you're not a creative person, that you're not an academic person, but if you're curious about learning something, anyone can learn it. Okay, you know, I used to think about you, well, essentially start with doing YouTube. You know, I I I thought to myself, I'm never going to be able to do this. You know, there's probably a lot of people who are watching this video thinking, "This guy still can't do it. What's he talking about?" That's fine. You know, you're absolutely entitled to your opinion. I think I'm getting a lot better than than certainly when I first started. You know, it's it's um it's one of those things that with more practice, the better you get. And as I say, that applies with absolutely everything. The more you practice at something, the more you stay curious about it and want to learn about it, the better you're going to get. Okay? So that applies to pretty much everything, you know, coding as well. You know, you might look at a screen full of code and think, I can't learn that. That's just basically gobbledygook. But, you know, if you if you're curious about it, if you persist with learning it, eventually you will get it. Okay. Lesson 12. You don't fail because you're incapable. You fail because you quit too early. Now, most people who quit are 3 months away from getting their big breakthrough. Don't be most people. Okay. Okay, lesson 13. Showing your work opens more doors than hiding your potential. The world can't help you if it doesn't know you exist. Okay, you should be showing your stuff all over X. Okay, because there's so many people who are doing the same thing. Obviously, not not talking about the same project. I'm talking about, you know, showing that what they're doing all over X and and the building processes. You know, it's okay to call for help and X is a brilliant place for that because like I say, there's so many people in that same position. You know, you something that you could take you ages to work out. If you just post it on X and say, I've got this issue or what do you think about this? You could get some really valuable feedback. Okay, I have done that many times. There is loads loads of good communities on X. There's loads of good um you know um sort of SAS builders or you know entrepreneurs who are willing to help you, but you've you've got to put yourself out there. Okay, lesson 14. Create more than you consume. It's easy to scroll YouTube and scroll Tik Tok all day long. Okay, we've all done it. I'm guilty of it in the past, but it's nowhere near as productive as creating stuff for for YouTube and for Tik Tok. Okay? Because scrolling, you might think that you're learning a huge amount by just scrolling and watching loads of loads of content and trying to soak it all in. But the fact of the matter is you only learn by doing. So by creating content, you know, that that actually gives you a positive. There's there's a purpose behind that, you know, that eventually can essentially, you know, help your business and start earning you money. Whereas scrolling YouTube and Tik Tok, you know, you're not going to earn money from just scrolling. Lesson 15. If you want opportunities, document your journey. Okay? This is what I'm doing. This is what most people are doing nowadays. It's absolutely essential. Okay? If you've got zero marketing budget, you know, it's almost impossible to get people to use and see your products. So, you have to grow an audience. You have to drive curiosity about what you're building and, you know, what you're making. So, you know, the only way you can do that is by posting on X, posting on Tik Tok and YouTube, you know, um videos on documenting what you're doing, you know, the the not not just the the successful bits, you know, the failures as well, you know, it's it's abs essential this is the the amount of emails I get now from from people, you know, especially from my YouTube videos and from from my ex, you know, what I'm bu building an ex people saying, "Love what you're doing. Can I work with you?" You know, some of them might be scams. I don't know. But the fact that I'm getting attention, you know, it it's I I wouldn't it's attention that I would never have got if I wasn't doing this, if I wasn't documenting my journey on on X and YouTube. Lesson 16, you're one piece of content away from changing your life. Just think about it. All of the top influencers, you know, they they all would have been in this position. They would have been probably making content for months and without any sort of attention whatsoever and all of a sudden one video or one post and boom, you know, the whole the whole the whole channel just absolutely explodes. So, you've got to think like that. That's why you've got to keep going. You know, it might take you um 3 weeks, it might take you three months, it might take you three years. Okay, the the thing is you've just got to persist with it. Keep going because you never know that next video might be the one that blows up. Okay, so section three, money and career. Lesson 17, nobody gets rich by accident. Okay, everyone that's ever got wealthy has had a plan. Okay, you will if you have no plan, you will not get wealthy. It's as simple as that. Go and make a plan. Lesson 18. The job market will not protect you. Okay, the traditional system is now dying. So, we now live in a multi-skll world. So, you have to have multiple skills to survive. You can't be a onetrick pony anymore. So, you know, and I know your parents and the older generation will tell you, you know, oh, you just got to study to do this and that and then you'll have a a flourishing career. Doesn't work like that anymore. Okay? You need to be able to adapt. The world changes very very quickly. You know, with all of AI and all of the the modern tech about, it's changing every single day. Obviously, you've got to be able to adapt to certain situations. So, the best way to do that is having multiple skills. Lesson 19. Your personal brand is your real CV. Okay? So, when someone searches your name in Tik Tok or YouTube or X or somewhere like that, you want them to be able to see a whole load of content. You want them to be able to be impressed and you want to stand out from everyone else. The worst thing you can do nowadays is for someone to type in your name on a social media content and you just disappear into a sea of nobodies. Lesson 20. Money is a tool, not a personality. So make it, save it, and spend it wisely. Do not let it consume you. There is far more to life than just money. Okay? You friends and family are all that matters in this world. money. Yes, it can buy you time and it can it can, you know, buy [clears throat] you freedom, you know, and well, whatever defines your freedom, you know, money can certainly help with that. But there are far more important things in this world, and you've got to remember that. Lesson 21, the fastest raises come from changing rooms, not from begging bosses. If you think that you're entitled or you deserve a pay rise, then don't be afraid to make a change, okay? Change your jobs, change your career, you know, don't be afraid to do that because nowadays change is good. You know, sometimes we all need change in our lives. Don't be a don't be scared of it. Don't feel that you have to be loyal to certain person, okay? Because chances are they're not going to be they're not going to be loyal to you. So, you've got to put yourself before the company. You got to put yourself before everyone else. And if the time feels right, make that change. Okay. And finally, lesson 22, learn skills that compound, not skills that expire. So, I'm talking about writing, speaking, um building business systems, um AI, social media, you know, content creation, things like that. They they all produce value nowadays, okay? That they're the things that you've got to focus on. Don't focus on on skills that are now expiring or are fading out because let's face it, it's pointless. We live in a modern world. You've got to adapt to the skills that are required to thrive in this modern world. Okay. So, that's it for part one of my 43 life lessons. Okay? So, I'll cover the rest of it in part two, which will come out in a few days time. Hope you got some value from that. Okay? Sorry, I have banged on for a long period of time, but you know, it's uh these are these are a lot of lessons. They're important lessons, and hopefully if you can put some of them into practice, you don't have to put all of them into practice, but if you can take some of them on board, hopefully they'll save you some time and they'll save you some money and they'll save you from making the same mistakes that I've made in the past. But anyway, check out another video above. Okay, this is a video about um AI being your next employee. Okay, it's absolutely essential that you use AI in whatever you're doing nowadays because, you know, not only can you save yourself a huge amount of money, you can save yourself a huge amount of time, um, and, you know, a huge amount of, um, FAF and and all sorts by just implementing AI, implementing the right systems, imple, you know, using the right tools. And I've I've documented all of that in that video. So, worth a check out. Smash the like button again. Hit the subscribe button. Come with me on my journey.