8 Things That I Wish I Knew Earlier In My Life

Looking back at my life now, I realize a number of things — most of them are lessons that came either from the mistakes that I made or just from the experiences of life.

I now view life as journey that doesn’t seem to have a common destination for everyone even though we all have the same end, Death. Going through this journey then have shown me different things that I feel like they are worthy sharing and maybe someone somewhere may learn something and probably get unstuck from whatever it is that is holding them down.

With this little experience and with these few years that I have been able to live I believe that there is more to come. I can say with certainty that these coming experiences will come with bigger and better lessons than the past ones.

This will only mean one thing for me and that is I am growing. But what about you? what lessons have you learnt in the course of your life? Do you thing they are worth sharing? I believe they are, however small you think they could be.

So, without any further mumbling let me now share with you the eight things that I wish I knew earlier in my life.

It’s Not About School and Grades Only

At age 4 my parents took me to kindergarten. I fitted right in to the school system and it wasn’t hard for me. Teachers liked me and other students too but I didn’t know that I was about to learn my first lesson yet.

Even though I was one of the best students in my class I couldn’t graduate from the kindergarten and go to standard one. Why? They said I was too young for standard one. Even though I had the good grades I still couldn’t go though, someone else had the power to decide that for me.

Fast forward twelve years later I am graduating my ordinary level education and once again top of my class. But again my grades didn’t matter and I wasn’t selected for any of the schools that I preferred. Someone just had the power to place me to a school that I didn’t even know that existed.

Then I realized that no matter how good you are at school or if you are getting the best grades still there will be something or someone to twist your fate into a direction that you never expected.

I know that this have happened to so many, some I know by names and some I don’t but the fact still remains that for you to make it in life there will be more than just your school and grades.

I Need More Skills Than Certificates

Our education system is focused on certificates yes but that won’t be for long. Things were easy in the past when the government was the number one employer of graduates but that’s changed now.

So, to make it out there in the job market you will need to stand out and you don’t do that by having as many certificates as you can, those won’t do you much.

To make it in the employment industry that is now being controlled by the private sector you need applicable skills. You need skills that will make the interviewer select you instead of a thousand others that are having the same certificates as you do.

I have seen this first hand for I have been job chasing for quite some time now and I have realized that your certificates will only matter if you have the peculiar skills that the employers out there are looking for.

Information Is Key

What do you know? Is it worth anything? If you have watched as many crime TV shows as I have done you will concur with me that information is key to so many things and sometimes could even save your life.

How you came up with this information doesn’t matter what matters is how you are going to use it. Some people believe that reading is for the selected few, well its not because where our world is right now its being run by those who have the right information and those who don’t are just followers.

My Network Is My Net Worth

I know you have heard that a thousand times and its not bad for a thousand and one, is it? People will always talk about this line as if it means only money and material things but I think otherwise.

The people you know and connect with that’s obviously your network but your network doesn’t have to be solely based on money. If you always think about earning a dollar every time that you make a new friend then you should probably stop making new friends and find a new hobby.

The truth is these people that we connect with, this network of ours is actually going to help us through a lot of stuff that are not even money related. Talk about people that will always have your back when you are fighting your battles, people that will at some point fight your battles with you or even for you.

You could make a whole lot of cash from your connections but you can also lose it through them. So, your network being your net worth should not always be about money.

Competition Isn’t Always Needed; Collaboration May Come In Handy

The first thing that we learn once we get into school is competition. We get there and find that a pattern has already been established, and this pattern tells us that we cant get a certain position if we do not fight/compete for it.

We inherit the belief that there is only one spot and if the other person gets it then there is nothing for us. The attention that was given to those who held the top positions made us believe that we need the same positions to receive attention if we will ever get any. We were not taught to stand out, here is where the fishes started to compete with monkeys to climb trees.

Life too is operating this way. The society has already set some ground rules for success and its definition. This has led again to people competing for the same spot that they believe is the only one out there.

But that’s not true and the good news is there are as many spots as the human population. As long as you were born into this world there is a spot for you and the only work you will have to do is find it and do your best at it.

If we had this mindset of believing that there is enough for everyone out there then we could have stopped hating and envying others. We would have collaborated instead, helping each other reaching their own spot knowing that it has nothing to do with ours.

A Bigger Pool With Many Fishes Grants A Better Chance To Catch One

We all have dreams, right? And its always a good thing to have one. But I am going to tell you today that there are so many people like you and me that give up on their dreams everyday.

There are uncountable number of people that die every other day with their dreams. They could not only achieve their dreams but they also didn’t get a chance to live them.

Yes, I agree with you that dreams are valid and you can become whatever you want to be. I know you have been told that so many times. But you are not special and your not successful yet so I will advice you to be more careful with these fancy quotes from successful people who seem like they have it all figured out.

You grew up under different circumstances than them, you didn’t even know what having dreams meant when you were a kid. Your parents just like mine told you to go to school and work hard because that’s all they knew. They were not educated and to educate you was a success to them, a dream coming true.

But here is what I think, I think we should have as many dreams as our imagination allows and make sure that we at least get to leave one of them.

Just imagine yourself going fishing everyday and return with nothing to eat. But the problem is not your fishing rod it’s the pool that you go to do your fishing. The pool is too big with just one fish in it and if you ask me the chances of you catching that fish are very slim.

Go to the bigger pool with lots of fishes in it. Do your fishing there and believe me you won’t go back home empty handed. The people that depend on you and most importantly your family don’t really care how fancy the pool you go to do your fishing is, all they care about is that you bring them something to eat.

The Future Ban’t Be Predicted With Certainty. Live In The Present

I have live in the future for most of my teenage life and in my early twenties too. I have always believed in a better tomorrow and therefore it wasn’t so hard for me to sacrifice today. It wasn’t that hard for me to endure the pain of today just because I believed there will be less or no pain tomorrow. But all this was a lie. There is no such thing as a better tomorrow or a better future that is built on today being worse.

I do believe in planning for the future even the ants do it but that doesn’t mean today should not be lived. It only means that today should just be a foundation so that when tomorrow comes it finds you already on good grounds.

Living in the present has given me today the happiness that I always thought that I will find in the future.

Focus Can Take You Places That You Have Never Imagined Of Going

Don’t get me wrong, focus doesn’t mean doing a single thing for the rest of your life. It actually means that whatever you decide to at a given time you give everything you got. Focus gives you the motivation that these motivational speakers on YouTube will never be able to give you.

You should never focus on the wrong things because that is just energy lost. I didn’t know this before until when I decide to place my focus on the right things.

Believe me if you want to build a wall then you wake up every morning and lay every brick as perfect as a brick can be laid focusing on every detail at that particular time then you move to the next brick.

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Previously published on medium

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