I’m writing this piece, as a person. Not the CEO of Aersure, not an entrepreneur, but a human being whose goal is to achieve greatness. In order to be great, you must first be good. In order to be good, you need to be able to thrive and have the determination to achieve greatness.
I’d rather regret the things that I did, than the things I never tried. — Ryan Serhant
I grew up learning business and being taught how to carry myself from a young age, but more importantly, I was taught that being average was ‘okay’ but being the top of the class would be great for me. I was taught from young to excel and try to achieve the best I possibly can. This stuck with me through school, part of college, work and even at anything that I do.
Now, disclaimer, especially for those who knows me, I didn’t exactly finished high school with straight As. Hell no. In fact, contrary to what this post is about, I was fucking average.
Smug alert
It doesn’t mean I wasn’t smart..it just means I was lazy and hated the rigid structure of school. I mean, let’s be real, in my profession at least, Pythagoras Theorem is useless. It doesn’t earn my a dollar knowing that. So, I hated the curriculum and substituted that with my own, and even with subjects like English or History, I often go way beyond and provide additional information or a differing opinion, which resulted in a lower grade because, reasons.
That didn’t mean I didn’t like learning. I’ve learnt so many things on the internet, from those that were useful in life, to the useless things like making a fart bombs. Sorry, Jerry… (For those curious, Jerry’s office stank for like a month)
I wanted to be better, not by grades, but by knowledge, know-how and pure bragging rights. I wanted to be a step up from the competition and peers and the only way to do that was to equip myself with the tools and knowledge that are more relevant to the real world and what I want to achieve. Greatness.
Always have a clear goal and work towards achieving that goal. After that, set another. Always be setting one goal after another, and when you think you've aimed high enough, aim higher.
Aim high, and you won't shoot off your foot. — Phyllis Diller
When you miss your higher goal, your shitty shot will land you just a step or two lower, and you won't miss. It's not ideal, but at least you didn't miss completely. Never regret not doing it or not trying it at all, because there's nothing worse than the feeling of something that could be, but never was, if the root cause of it is because you didn't try.
Every opportunity you didn't take, is an opportunity you waste. So you need to know what exactly you want, and find milestone steps that gets you there. Once you've done that, then you can really push boundaries and thrive.
Watch this vlog from Ryan, where he talks about not settling for ‘surviving’. Trust me, I am, right now, surviving too. However, that's not where I want to be all my life, and I want to thrive again.
That, is essentially the beauty of aiming high. Sometimes you hit your goals, sometimes you don’t. Life will never cease to give you lemons, but if you aim high enough, you won’t have to worry.
If you want to learn to swim, jump into the water. On dry land, no frame of mind is ever going to help you. — Bruce Lee
Never be afraid. Wait, no. Be afraid, but of the right things. I’ll tell you what I mean…
Be afraid of not being able to survive for the next month. Be afraid if your mistakes is going to affect the your life and the ones around you. Be afraid if the risk is too big (one that can cost your savings or your business).
Don’t be afraid of things you can’t control, things you don’t know the outcome to and things that don’t hurt you — me
If you have a business opportunity knocking, don’t be afraid to take it; don’t be afraid to ask because it doesn’t hurt you to give it a shot. Sure, it cost time, effort and maybe a little bit of embarrassment, but remember, you’re not the guy who spoke to a pregnant woman at Starbucks, in yoga pants, with a Whole Foods bag, and offered to buy/sell/rent her apartment.
But take the chance, because 10 years of meeting that woman and following up with her for the whole 10 years, she bought an apartment from that guy. The hand model who you thought was a loser.
Aim high. Take chances. Believe in yourself. — Also me, and probably other people
You’re the goddamn best insert occupation here in the world! Only you can tell that to yourself and sell it to yourself.