Best advice, worst advice and the advice I wish I got when I was younger!

I recently exchanged some texts with a nephew the day he turned 23. He’s one of the smartest, most talented, respectable, honest, hard working and soul loving individuals I’ve ever known. I gave him some advice that I wished someone had given me when I was his age. I re-read my own advice several times and kept thinking,”I wish someone had given me this advice when I was 23!”. I’m now doing what I’m passionate about but it took me so long to figure it out!

I can name lots of wise people that have given me great advice throughout the years and more so in the recent years. Without a doubt, the best advice I’ve ever received, the worst advice I’ve ever got and the advice I wish I had gotten when I was young revolves around the word “TRUST”. When someone says to you “trust me”, BEWARE! We all fail each other and in one way or another we might offend someone or become incapable of fulfilling a promise. One of my mentors teaches to TRUST God and LOVE people, if I had known this truth when I was in my 20’s, it would have avoided having high expectations from people and being disappointed so many times. By trusting God and loving people, it takes the pressure off those I care for and even me! Love covers a multitude of mistakes and yes, love is the solution. Now I don’t have expectations, I trust God and LOVE PEOPLE.

“What about you?” I asked my mentor and friend, Mark Cole, CEO of the John Maxwell companies, and without hesitation, he assured me that the best advice he received when he was young was from John Maxwell. Mark was only 18 when he read the book “Develop The Leader Within You” and it made him realize the importance of spending time working hard to develop internally as a leader versus the concept of spending a lot of time working on the external image. He said “work harder on the inside because by the time you get to your 30’s and 40’s, exponential influence can happen if you build yourself internally and become the best leader you possibly can be, not only in character, morals and influence but also in responsibility”. Some poor advice he got was that he was too young to make a difference. This is a lie that many young people actually believe which is unfortunate because you’re never too young to add value to others.

Be mindful of the advice you give out to people, my mom always thought me to say something nice or not say it at all. It’s easy to build or destroy someone with our words! Remember, live a life of significance.