Ah…the life of a teenager.
In many ways I miss it. No responsibilities, little stress, and tons of fun.
It’s great because our bodies are in peak condition and we have our entire lives ahead of us.
There’s just this one thing; our parents.
For most teenagers, parents are just a big pain in the neck.
They’re the ultimate party pooper. Telling us to go to school, study hard, get good grades, clean our rooms, blah, blah, blah.
Generation after generation, teens face the same battles. And each generation learns, one way or the other, that more often than not our parents were right.
It’s just a phase we must all go through.
It’s a time when we must put up, or shut up.
Just listen to all the trash talking that goes on during high school basketball games. It’s crazy. Teens like to talk a big game, but, in time, they learn.
For most of my life, I suppose I was a teenager; never listening to others’ warnings or help.
Me, I was the kind of person that liked to do things my way. As a result, I ended up learning lessons that cost me over a quarter of a million dollars…but I’ll get to that in a minute.
The thing is many of us, like teenagers, choose to ignore sound advice.
Take a good friend of mine. I love him dearly, but boy, does he make life tough for himself.
Let’s take a quick look at how my friend approaches getting sick.
- He complains.
- He goes to see a doctor.
- He gets medicine from the doctor.
- He researches the medicine on the Internet.
- He worries about its side effects and ingredients.
- He adjusts the dosage to what he feels he can handle (which includes not taking part of the prescription at times).
- He complains about not recovering.
- He complains about the doctor.
Me, on the other hand, when I see I doctor, I trust that they have prescribed the right medicine and do my best to follow it right down to the last letter.
Now there have been occasions when I have sought a second option, there’s nothing wrong with that, but if you’re using Google to research side effects is, you’re just asking for trouble. I mean, have you ever seen the side effects of some over the counter medicine? Just reading the long list of side effects is enough to scare anyone.
So it should come as no surprise that my friend (after researching the medicine) kind of freaks out.
The point is, we have all ignored good advice at one time or another, thinking we know better.
I used to think I knew better. Then I learnt.
The worst part was that it didn’t just cost me a bag of dough, but time and energy as well.
Still, it wasn’t a total loss. After all, I managed to transform my entire life because of it. So I suppose you could say I didn’t lose it, I “invested” it.
But I have no intention of going through that again. Once was more than enough.
However, I see some people out there that are simply heading down the path I was on.
They have yet to learn that sometimes the “doctor” is right, and it’s ok NOT to have all the answers.
Personally, I find the most successful people I know are the first to admit when they don’t know something, but they’ll have an answer for you in less than 24 hours because they know just who to call.
The big mistake teens make is that they think they know everything. Unfortunately, some of us never change.
I decided I had had enough of learning from my mistakes, and started listening to the experts.
That doesn’t mean they’re always right, as every situation is unique. However, listening to people who have been there and done that is a great place to start, especially when you keep reading (listening to) the same advice from different gurus. It’s like getting a second and third option.
So whether you want to be a great parent, a black belt, have a six-pack, open your own business, invest or simply enjoy life more, make sure you’re talking to the right person.
There are many secrets of success, but learning who to listen to and work with, is one of them.
Napoleon Hill talks about a mastermind group in his classic, Think and Grow Rich, and every successful person I’ve read about has those people they’ll sit down with once a month to bounce ideas off. Finding successful people and learning from them, is probably the fastest way to achieve success in any industry.
We really have two ways to go through life; the easy way or the hard way.
Personally, I‘ve had enough of learning the hard way.
Adrian Shepherd