1. Surround yourself with quality people. Character is fundamental and foundational to building long-term wealth and value. If your current crew is a little suspect, start thinking about how you can upgrade. Seek out those with integrity. The character of the company you keep is everything! It’s better to be pushed and pulled forward than the other direction. Build a strong reputation built on truth and honesty.
2. Ask for advice and mentorship. You cannot possibly know everything. Others have knowledge and experience that could benefit you. Seek out and talk to people who have done what you aspire to do. Ask them what inspired them, what obstacles they had and how they overcame or continue to overcome them. See what advice they have for you. They may be able to save you from any unforced errors you might otherwise make on your own. Not everyone will be forthcoming, but don’t let that prevent you from asking.
3. Pay yourself early and often. Take care of yourself in all the ways you can, not the least of which should be your financial health. Start or sustain and build on financial stability by paying yourself first. Set aside a little money for yourself whenever and wherever you can. Nobody should care for you more than you do – reward, grow, love, forgive, and pay yourself!
4. Beware of high-cost revolving debt. Do all in your power to avoid carrying revolving credit card debt. If you cannot avoid it, make it a priority to pay it down or pay it off.
5. Beware of BNPL. “Buy Now Pay Later” may sound great when you break it down into “manageable” payments, but BNPL makes it easier to get into debt with payments you cannot afford.
6. Listen. As tempting as it is to finish someone else’s sentence, let them do it. Build the discipline to listen intently to others and speak less. The key to better and clearer understanding and overall communication is effective listening.
7. Remember: Even the Joneses can’t keep up with the Joneses. The dictionary defines keeping up with the Joneses as “showing that one is as good as other people by getting what they have and doing what they do”. The hurdle for being Jones-esque is impossibly high, especially with its propagation on social media. And now with buy-now-pay-later lending programs and same-day shipping, it’s easier than ever to try to keep up while concurrently taking on more debt. While making a purchase may give you some short spike in happiness, it’s not sustained. Once your basic needs are met, having more doesn’t make you happier. The notion of “keeping up” is a fallacy.
8. Weather the storm. There is no contract with life that things are going to go smoothly. You will have struggles and challenges, but things will work themselves out. Remain focused on what you’re doing – parenting, going to school, running your business, working, etc. Be in the moment and know things will pass and change will come.
9. Be patient. Don’t let the fear of missing out (FOMO) drive your decisions. Beware of get-rich-quick schemes. Be well informed so you can make good decisions.
10. Be a farmer. As noble a profession as farming is, I am not suggesting you go look on a job board for farming-related work. I am, however, suggesting you should be like a farmer, one who promotes the growth of crops. The seed is a metaphor for whatever you want to plant – an idea, an investment, an opportunity, etc. Plant seeds where there is fertile soil in hopes the roots will take hold and lead to growth.
11. Practice adaptability. Remember Darwin’s theory on natural selection – that it’s not the biggest, or fastest, or strongest, but rather the most adaptable that survive. Technology and the burgeoning amount of information at our fingertips are causing a tsunami of change. Our ability to adapt to that change will be crucial to our ability to both maintain ourselves and to thrive.
12. Invest in yourself. Make yourself more adaptable through learning. Maintain your current skills and build new ones. Some have argued Artificial Intelligence (AI) will eliminate jobs. While AI will cause some disruption, it will also complement our abilities to perform certain jobs better. Invest in yourself through education, coursework, mentorship, or other learning opportunities. Continue building communications skills. Realize that for the first time we have five generations working alongside each other, requiring us to be more empathetic. It’s important for us to be able to see the world through the lens of those alongside us. Build skills that will help you be more effective in your job and more collaborative when called to be part of a team.