Things I wish I had of known earlier

Sometimes it seems like the whole purpose of life is just to learn and grow. We learn from our mistakes. I reckon that most of us do not learn unless we have made some mistakes and have suffered its consequences.

I also believe that the majority among us keep on repeating the same mistakes again and again and in doing so, keep on attracting the same kind of circumstances in our lives and then keep complaining too.

There are some of us who learn from the mistakes of others. The majority among us though must go out there, make our own mistakes, learn from them, change our thinking and behavior and move on. These are the wise ones.

Learning from your mistakes is incomplete without a change in your thinking patterns. Changed thought patterns bring about changed behavior.

Here are some life lessons I and some friends have learnt after making mistakes.  I am sharing them with you in the hope that you may be among the wise ones.

• The most sincere and selfless people around you are your parents. They maybe wrong sometimes and maybe hard on you but don’t just rebel against them without trying to understand their intentions first.
• Save some part of your money whenever you get some and don’t touch it unless you really really need it.
• Spend most of your money on things whose value increase with time, rather than immediate pleasure. It won’t last long otherwise.
• There is no shortcut to being rich. Anyone who tells you so is lying.
• Time is more important than money.
• Family is more important than career.
• Pursue what you love to do and be great at it and find a way to make a living doing that.
• If you are unable to make a living while doing what you love don’t stop doing what you love to do, and while you make your living doing something else keep thinking how can do what you love and still live of it.
• Make sure the people you love know it, no matter how busy you are. Never assume they know. Even if they know tell them anyway.
• Read good books instead of watching TV. You will learn more and waste less time.
• Don’t buy what they advertise just on an impulse. Take your time to decide if you really need that thing.
• Change your friends if they do not share your values. It won’t kill you or your reputation.
• Take risks but calculate the risks before taking them to see that you can handle the failure.
• Plan your life but leave room for unplanned activities too. Let yourself experience the element of surprise.
• Remember that nothing lasts forever. Nothing. So appreciate what you have when you have it.
• It’s better to agree to disagree rather than trying to force your point of view on someone who doesn’t think like you do.
• Accept your failures with grace and don’t bury yourself in depression when you don’t get what you want. There might be something better waiting for you.
• Loving someone does not mean you have to agree on everything.
• When you are doing something try to focus all your attention to just that task. Forget about everything else.
• Be healthy. Exercise, eat healthy foods, sleep well and you won’t get to see very many doctors in life.
• Don’t do things just because everyone else is doing them. Choose what you want to do consciously with specific reasoning.