Don’t depreciate, appreciate!
Going to college has taught me two things that are super useful: how to learn, and how to finish something.
If you think about it, one of the major reasons that college degrees are “required” for most jobs, is that companies want to see that you’re able to complete something. Even though you may have completed high school, my take on it is that companies don’t count that as going the extra mile, and investing in yourself, and investing in taking on a new challenge to grow. While I think that the higher education system is ruining the lives of the future of our country, I can totally see that connection. Nowadays, however, we can show that we can finish something in way different ways (thanks to the internet), and it’s up to us to capitalize on the opportunities that we have and make something of ourselves; I refuse to be in the camp that blames something or someone else for my success or failure.
Like Robert Kiyosaki mentions in this interview with Patrick Bet-David, most people are victims. No one is in control of their own lives, and everyone is to blame for all the bad things that happen to them. I used to be one of those people. I used to think that the reason why something wasn’t going right for me was because of that person who abused my trust, racism, sexism, the economy, my parents, etc. It wasn’t until I woke the fuck up and took responsibility for my own life that I gained the ultimate power: self-awareness.
Self-awareness is what I esteem to be the cure to victimitis. Once you have self-awareness, it’s impossible to blame anyone or anything for something that happens to you — whether good or bad. If something goes well — you’re responsible for it. If something goes bad — you’re responsible for it. When you’re responsible for any outcome, it becomes very apparent how important it is that you make yourself the best version of you that you can be on a daily basis. Whether you believe it or not, our minds are the most powerful thing on this earth. We can literally create whatever reality that we want, but most people get caught up in what everyone else is doing, rather than nourish their brain with information that will actually expand their brain’s capability. Most people are straight-up lazy. I’m speaking from experience because I was once there.
At this current moment I’m not where I want to be, but I’m on the road to being there. Through my own failures, my spiritual connection, and amazing motivators across YouTube & social media, I’ve been able to get to a point in my life where I’m aware of what needs to be done to get me to where I want to be. This brings me to the title of this post:
Are you an asset or a liability?
The biggest asset that anyone has in their arsenal is their brain. The day the brain stops learning and growing, is the day that it starts dying. Napoleon Hill said it when he titled his book Think and Grow Rich. If you’re not growing and learning, then you are a liability; both to yourself and to others. I’ve been reading and listening to a lot of people like Napoleon Hill, Earl Nightingale, Grant Cardone, Eric Thomas, Tom Bilyeu, and few things I’ve gathered from all of them is the importance of working hard, surrounding yourself with successful people, and becoming a better version of yourself e v e r y d a y.
Because I previously lacked self-awareness, I wasn’t able to be honest with myself about my strengths and weaknesses, which meant that I wasn’t able to determine an accurate point at which to start building from. I made a lot of mistakes and failed pretty tragically, but would do it again because when you hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up. More than anything, I pray that people become self-aware so that they can solve their own problems, rather than wait for someone else to do it for them. Newsflash: no one can solve your own problems except you. When you start down the path of becoming the best you, knowing what you want, and adding value to the world, the universal forces kick in and assist you in getting to where you want to be in ways that you could’ve never thought of. Luck isn’t what most people think it is, but instead when preparation meets opportunity. To be lucky means to be prepared at all times. Only those who focus on growing themselves as a human being every day will truly be lucky.
I refuse to be anything but an asset. What do you choose?
“but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” — 1 Corinthians 13:10–12
