7 Lessons we often learn too late in life
I have made my fair share of mistakes in life, and so did you, but what are mistakes if not life’s way of teaching us to be better, and to grow as people.
However, I also like to think, that we don’t have to commit life-ruining fuck-ups if we can help it, after all, we can learn from other people’s mistakes too and avoid the hardships and pain.
“Human is not a species — human is a promise — a promise to never stop growing — a promise to never stop learning from our mistakes — a promise to acknowledge our shortcomings and sharpen our strengths.”
― Abhijit Naskar
So with that spirit in mind, settle in, and let me share with you some lessons we often learn too late in life:
1. Don’t allow your ego to run the show
How many relationships did we ruin because we based our decisions on our ego? How many job opportunities did we lose and bridges did we burn?
Ego in moderate amounts can of course be a good thing, but when we let it make our decisions for us, then we’re in for a bad time.
2. Stop procrastinating
Procrastination is a small and harmless monster, but once you start feeding it regularly, that monster will grow and grow until it becomes big enough to control and eventually ruin your life, your ambitions, and any drive you ever had.
The tricky thing about being a procrastinator is that by the time you realize what you became, you have almost no fight left in you to kick it away.
3. Money talks. It says goodbye
If you don’t handle your finances wisely, in time you’ll regret it, but what good is regret when you have an emergency but no money to take care of it.
Make sure you always save up for a rainy day, budget your day to day expenses, and invest as much as you can spare every month.
4. Change yourself before you try to change the word
Most people fail to realize that in order to achieve something great in life, you need to be the type of person that can achieve those things in the first place. And to become such a person, you need to work on yourself tirelessly.
Make learning a habit, take care of your mental health, play sports, and eat well. Once you change yourself for the better, you’ll be able to take control of your life.
5. We regret the things we don’t do
Go talk to that cute girl you have a crush on, ask for that promotion, start that side business, dare to dream, dare to be great, otherwise you’ll spend your life wondering what could have been.
For of all sad words of tongue or pen
The saddest are these: “It might have been!”
— Maud Muller
6. The future is in our hands
We all know that if we travel to the past and change any small thing, it’ll affect the future greatly. Yet barely anyone in the present seems to think that they can change their future by making small changes today.
Start building good daily habits, and in ten years you’ll be thankful you started today.
The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago the second best time is now
7. It’s okay to fail
Failure is just part of the process and a very important one at that. We just need to learn to see it for what it truly is, a chance to learn and become better, and by that logic, as long as we’re learning from our failures, every mistake we make is just bringing us one step closer to success.
An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. So when life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means that it’s going to launch you into something great. So just focus, and keep aiming
— Stephanie Simpson
At the end of the day, life is full of ups and downs, but we just need to find the rhythm to dance along the waves of time. And one can only find that rhythm by learning from the past and making self-improvement a habit.
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