I was quitting college, "taking a break, just for a year." I still remember the day I told my dad. We were in his car, at a stop light, waiting to turn left.
"I'm worried for your future," he said.
Seven years later I remember. The pain, the insecurity. It's hard for a kid to stand up to their parents and, more by nurture than nature, I was a kid at 19. I probably still peed my pants and ran into doorknobs. I didn't grow up until I started traveling alone (the growing up happened somewhere between my first and second self-administered bean poisoning).
As a kid I thought I'd rule the world one day. I didn't like sports, was a mediocre student, hated bullies. I was just average. But I was good at talking to crowds, and like most crowd talkers, thought that I could lead people... could change things in the world. Society sits in the hands of smooth words.
I thought that God had chosen me for something incredible, or at least more impressive than stomping people at Halo.
So I started trying new things. Affiliate websites, a membership program, a website hosting service, freelance writing. I made a little money, lost it all and more, and learned. I read books, bought courses, hoping for something that could help. Knowing that something was on its way.
Looking back, success looks like a bridge running through the fog. It is laid one brick at a time, and we can't see when we'll arrive at the other side. Each new piece of knowledge and experience is one more brick we've laid. Sometimes we stand at the edge of our bridge and jump, trying something new. We usually fall into the waters of failure. But with enough knowledge, experience, and tries, we can take a leap of faith and reach the other side.
I didn't know this at 19. But I knew that there were a lot of unhappy people in the world, people living the kind of life I didn't want to live. It's dangerous to take advice from people you don't want to be. It still stung when they told me I was going to be a failure.
But I believed my own story, that I was special. Now I'm 26, make more money than I can spend while living in the paradise that is my little town in Costa Rica. My house is paid for and I spend about $300 per month... total. If I really wanted to, I could retire by the time I'm 27.
Family and friends didn't believe in me, or at least not the same way that I did. If they had reason on their side, it was the short-sighted kind that pulls us to follow the crowd. But I knew the call of my own destiny. I still know, still believe in myself, and still think God has chosen me for something special.
My experience says that belief plus action makes reality. I'm not the only one: Henry Ford once said “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.”
Don't let the reason of crowds keep you from the call of destiny. Believe and try again.
"I'm worried for your future," he said.
Seven years later I remember. The pain, the insecurity. It's hard for a kid to stand up to their parents and, more by nurture than nature, I was a kid at 19. I probably still peed my pants and ran into doorknobs. I didn't grow up until I started traveling alone (the growing up happened somewhere between my first and second self-administered bean poisoning).
As a kid I thought I'd rule the world one day. I didn't like sports, was a mediocre student, hated bullies. I was just average. But I was good at talking to crowds, and like most crowd talkers, thought that I could lead people... could change things in the world. Society sits in the hands of smooth words.
I thought that God had chosen me for something incredible, or at least more impressive than stomping people at Halo.
So I started trying new things. Affiliate websites, a membership program, a website hosting service, freelance writing. I made a little money, lost it all and more, and learned. I read books, bought courses, hoping for something that could help. Knowing that something was on its way.
Looking back, success looks like a bridge running through the fog. It is laid one brick at a time, and we can't see when we'll arrive at the other side. Each new piece of knowledge and experience is one more brick we've laid. Sometimes we stand at the edge of our bridge and jump, trying something new. We usually fall into the waters of failure. But with enough knowledge, experience, and tries, we can take a leap of faith and reach the other side.
I didn't know this at 19. But I knew that there were a lot of unhappy people in the world, people living the kind of life I didn't want to live. It's dangerous to take advice from people you don't want to be. It still stung when they told me I was going to be a failure.
But I believed my own story, that I was special. Now I'm 26, make more money than I can spend while living in the paradise that is my little town in Costa Rica. My house is paid for and I spend about $300 per month... total. If I really wanted to, I could retire by the time I'm 27.
Family and friends didn't believe in me, or at least not the same way that I did. If they had reason on their side, it was the short-sighted kind that pulls us to follow the crowd. But I knew the call of my own destiny. I still know, still believe in myself, and still think God has chosen me for something special.
My experience says that belief plus action makes reality. I'm not the only one: Henry Ford once said “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.”
Don't let the reason of crowds keep you from the call of destiny. Believe and try again.