I was recently asked what advice I would give my younger self.

I thought about the categories of health, personal relationships, and making money, and I came up with 9 pieces of advice I would give to my younger self:

  1. I would tell my younger self, from an overarching perspective, to deeply work on making sure my behavior and relationships align with my values.
  2. I would tell my younger self to trust my gut to notice not just red flags, but yellow flags. (I went through a lot of unnecessary pain because I didn’t do deeper recovery early on, but thankfully I didn’t leave a lot of scorched earth with other people. I caused pain for myself and got taken advantage of a lot because I was around taker energy. This was because I wanted to get approval of people who were users. Noticing yellow flags that turn into red flags is important.)
  3. I would tell myself that people pursuing status can be dangerous, and people pursuing growth are better for me to hang around with. (Growth is a WAY more important life pursuit than status. Be careful of people who want to be famous. Fame and wanting to have people like you is more seductive than growth, but in the long-term, growth is better.)
  4. I would tell my younger self, despite the best of intentions, life is not fair. (In life, you will get your heart broken. If you don’t, you’re just lucky. You will get betrayed. If you don’t, again, you’re just lucky. You can avoid a lot of heartache and betrayal by aligning yourself with people who are aligned with you.)
  5. I would tell my younger self to take E.L.F vs HALF seriously. (E.L.F. is Easy, Lucrative and Fun. HALF is hard, annoying, lame, and frustrating. Avoid those people and projects that are HALF. Go deeper with those that are E.L.F. This doesn’t mean having E.L.F people and projects are necessarily easy in the beginning. In a lot of cases, they are hard. But, over the long term, they are worth it.)
  6. I would tell my younger self to develop a strong work ethic and produce more than I consume.
  7. I would tell my younger self to never sell anything that doesn’t benefit other people.
  8. I would tell my younger self to always put myself into work situations where I win if other people win. (The only true win-win situations are when someone benefits by you benefitting. Frankly, this is not most of the business situations. So much of the business world is somebody winning at the expense of someone else losing. Avoid this the best you can.)
  9. I would tell my younger self to do a lot of work on myself. (I would have gone through therapy earlier than I did. But I did do some things early on that others often don’t. I had life insurance early on. I would save money very early on. The reason is because insurance is not for sale when you need it most. Another thing I did to work on myself was I would read the 100 Kekich Credos by my dear friend Dave Kekich every single week for at least 10 years of my life. Do a search for “Kekich Credos”. I’ve read over 1,000 books and Kekich Credos are some of the best words of wisdom.)

That’s the advice I would give my younger self. What advice would you give YOUR younger self?

by Joe Polish
Founder of Genius Network

Joe Polish

P.S. I've created a resource page as a central guide with access to valuable resources available to you right now. Check it out at www.GeniusNetwork.com/Vision-Insight. Bookmark this page. This is where I will post every new update.

P.P.S. Whenever you're ready... here are 3 more ways I can help you make YOUR business and life more E.L.F. (Easy, Lucrative, and Fun!):

  1. Discover the 10x Multipliers to grow your business exponentially… Amplify your opportunities and reveal the untapped potential in your business: www.10XTalk.com/Vision
  2. Trigger these 8 Profit Activators in your business right now: www.ILoveMarketing.com/Vision
  3. I'm often asked what books I recommend. So, I've put together a collection of books and products in 9 specific categories. These are resources we've shared in Genius Network to help improve life and business... To check them out visit www.JoePolish.com/Books-Vision

P.P.P.S. If You Or Someone You Know Is Struggling With Addiction, visit www.GeniusRecovery.org/Vision-Letter
Also, check these out 🙂
www.JoePolish.com/Vision-FreeBook
www.ILoveMarketing.com/MarketingVision
www.GeniusRecovery.org/RecoveryVision

More Genius Network Articles You Might Enjoy

To Become Valuable, You Must Add Value

To Become Valuable, You Must Add Value

As the world keeps evolving, our role as Entrepreneurs is simple: We have to use our businesses and talents to expand humanity, not contract it. As simple as it sounds, it can be hard to do. A major part of it depends on becoming valuable to other people and to the...

Business Growth Solutions

#293 Episode Summary: In this Episode, you’ll learn Business Growth Solutions with GeniusX and Genius Network Member Akira Iguchi.  Akira Iguchi is an 8 time best-selling author, coach, and business consultant that is committed to helping you build your business....

Connecting People to Results

Connecting People to Results

"What's In It For Them" is how I think about everything. The truth is, nobody cares how great your product or service is; They care about themselves. They care about What's In It For Them... It's all about focusing on what the other person wants. Not what YOU want,...