Twenty-five years old … quite possibly the best age ever … yet, most of your time is spent alone.
You wake up before the average Joe, pretty early ... like 5am-ish ... to six or seven of the 20 alarms you set just minutes apart from one another to be sure you have enough time to fit in a workout, take a nice shower and cook yourself a healthy breakfast full of good carbs so you are able to think for the duration of your day ... a day you spend on the clock, doing tedious tasks along with brainstorming, jotting down ideas and plans, analyzing your financial statements and thinking of new, innovative ways to market all you want to do.
You have that full-time job, but also, several part time jobs … whether it’s serving on the weekends, working in a retail store at night, or implementing all of your business plans in your spare time … you never stop. Your day doesn't end until your head hits the pillow at night, which is usually long after the people in your time zone have gone to sleep. You choose to stay in majority of your weekends because one, you need to get caught up on the daily duties that have been neglected during the week, and two, because every dollar you have is being invested in some way … either to pay off your credit cards or student loans, invest in stocks or a savings account, or to just be set aside as “play money” for when you decide to travel.
Your life revolves around work and while that isn’t necessarily a good thing (since you should take advantage of the fun stuff at your fingertips while you're young, too), sometimes, it’s the right thing.
We live in a world of critics, but mostly, critics with no credentials … People who are great at ridiculing your work ethic, but not as great at understanding the motives behind the ethic. The overly aggressive posting on social media, the constant texting back and forth between business affiliates, the birthday parties and weddings and other social activities you miss due to creating your empire ... all of those things that are helping make you the best business professional you can be so you can have a life for yourself and future family that's beyond what most can comprehend is something that only a percentage of people can fully appreciate.
If you don’t have it, the ethic that is, you don’t get it and unfortunately for some, work ethic can’t be taught. You can show people the ropes and what you do can rub off on them, but the ethic and motivation comes from within. It comes from something deep down inside that says, “No matter what, I won’t give up because I deserve the good life.”
To go along with that, we live in a world where everyone jumps the gun. We rush, rush, rush into accepting jobs we hate just to have a job that pays the bills … into relationships that aren’t gratifying just so we aren’t alone … We don’t make the most of our younger years when it comes to our career and relationships, so when we finally make it to 30, we’re burnt out. We end up in a dead end job, living in a below average house, in a gloomy state while being involved in over our heads in a stale relationship … all because we didn’t take the time to invest in our lives when we had the chance ... We didn't take the leap. We weren't aggressive enough. We didn't go for it.
Age is nothing but a number, but at 25, when you’re young, free, flirty and not yet 30 … the age of doom where everyone starts asking, “Why aren’t you married yet?” … “Why don’t you have kids yet?” … don’t settle for mediocrity. Make the most of the next five years of your life before you settle down. Being business-minded can be lonely, but so what? It’s better to be alone and productive, building an empire for yourself and your future partner and family than to waste time in an exhausting, depleting relationship that just becomes a distraction to the bigger picture.
Very few will get it, but that’s OK. Your vision is YOUR vision. It’s not meant for everyone to understand. The next time you're ridiculed for working too damn hard, don't feel guilty and don't mad. Smile, nod and politely tell the hater to sit down and and watch.
