8 Things I've Realized At 30

A Preamble I Might As Well Share

If the first phase of my life and career had a theme, it was absorption. Learning as much as possible, trying to understand the world to the tiniest degree. If this phase I'm entering has a theme, it's release. It's knowing that I don't have to identify with any part of who I am, what I know, and what I may do, and may have done.

I'm 30 now, but it feels a little more significant than a birthday. It feels like a punctuation mark on the idea of youth, the attachment of my identity to an idea spelled y-o-u-n-g.

I first was known by many after receiving tremendous recognition for my achievements while I was young. I was a hot young entrepreneur that people wanted to know and bet on. I was a young talent, brought into rooms I had no business being in because the idea of my age didn't match my personality.

I became part of a whole generation of achievers, recognized for being "ahead" of where our peers were at professionally. Recognized for taking paths that in name were far more advanced than our age, assigned prestige based on the appearance of our actions rather than their true effectiveness or value.

It was along this journey of celebritization and idolization that I met with personal disenfranchisement and isolation, which naturally led to perspective-driven curiosity. Why was I being treated like I was better for being different?

My journey ultimately helped me to understand that in truth, I was no different than anyone else my age. By the time I figured this out, the weight of the word "young" had all but taken me over, causing me to compare with others and race to achieve things simply out of competition, not out of love.

As I release the label "young," I become simply an entrepreneur, an artist, a human, a soul, and so much more, and in recent months, I feel the weight has disappeared. I have begun to release and let go of attachments and ideas of who I am, as I've aged into a sense of duty driven service to you and the rest of humanity, whom I love deeply.

This post is meant to share 8 major realizations that I've had at this point in my life. Now that I've lived 3 decades, I do feel that what I am about to write will likely stand the test of time, as I've been consistently surprised with the timelessness of things written through me in the past. I hope that no matter where you are in your journey these ideas will improve your life and fill it with more joy and love.

That preamble out of the way, let's begin.

Realizations

1. Live From Your Heart, Not Your Brain

Almost everyone I know has been pushed to think through their decisions, but we never talk about feeling through them. Your heart is your intuition, and if you listen to it, you are likely to find more success in life.

2. Focus On The Actual Thing

It's too easy to motivate ourselves to do our work or our job because we can't wait to get to a situation where we look cool, or powerful, or whatever. We then do things on a daily basis we truly don't like to do. So ask yourself, do you like your day to day tasks, and do they fill you with joy? If not, focus your life on doing daily tasks that make you happy. The rest will play out.

3. Service Is The Way

There is nothing fulfilling in life about working for personal gain. Serving others is the only thing you can do in life that will truly feel fulfilling. This is a mindset shift, it has little to do with the actual tasks at hand.

4. Don't Overrationalize

The wiser you are, the more you will see that science, data, and evidence are lagging indicators of truth. The only leading indicator of truth is your own heart. Learn to listen to yourself, and learn to understand what truly resonates with you. There are things you cannot calculate in life.

5. Focus On Being Transparent About Micro-Failures

I've struggled at times to admit my own faults. The best way for me to overcome this was to focus on admitting small faults in the moment, like admitting that you weren't paying attention for a few seconds and apologizing. You realize it's not that scary to make mistakes, and nobody's going to get mad at you for it.

6. Speak Your Truth, But Package It Well

I've been a person that's said a lot of things the wrong way, in a way that people were frustrated or upset at times by the directness at which I've approached certain topics. If you want your ideas to be heard and truly considered, they have to be packaged with enough empathy for the other person that they do not harm them when received.

7. Take Vacations

If you don't take vacations along the way in life, you will regret it. It is not cool to work yourself to the bone.

8. Don't Compare With Anyone Else Ever

Nobody else is on the same path as you, so there's absolutely nothing to compare. Don't come at me with objection (see point 4), but truly understand, there is no one like you and there never will be again. Live to your unique potential, don't try to be someone else.

In Closing

Be yourself. Enjoy your life. And work for the sake of others. The simple formula for happiness, personal growth, personal satisfaction, and great success. Try it out for a few days. Notice the difference.