That crazy summer taught me quite an array of lessons. Aside from the experiences and the lessons in accountability and perception, I also obtained some useful insights about confidence, business, action, and persistence. These lessons did wonders for my life, and especially my ADHD.
Lesson #4: A little confidence goes a long way.
Confidence helps in nearly every aspect of life. It helps in interviews, on dates, during meetings and presentations, in sports, during tests, and even in the way you carry yourself. It helps you become a better decision-maker and a leader. It helps you stand out and crush obstacles with ease. It’s an intangible quality with far-reaching benefits.
Want a quick boost in confidence? Here’s a quick brainstorm of things you can start doing today: Work out. Sit up straight. Make eye contact with people. Learn a new skill, like public speaking. Dress sharp. Strike up a conversation with a complete stranger the next time you’re out in public. Single guys and ladies, go out and flirt. Create a vision board with images that make you feel more confident. Conjure up the last memory of yourself being completely confidence and start doing incantations to get yourself pumped up. I learned that last one from a life coach and let me tell you – that is one fast, amazing way to feel like a rock star.
Lesson #5: Test drive business ideas before going “all in.”
If you have an awesome business idea, but have no idea how well it will do, try it out on a small scale first. With the technology we have today, it’s fairly easy and cheap to test a business idea, and you can usually do it within the time span of a month.
Here’s an example of how this process typically works: Identify target market. Setup extremely simple landing page. Set target dollar amount for sales ($1,000 for example). Send friends and family your offer, as well as anyone else who could potentially be interested in your offer. Then, follow up with any potential buyers.
If you met your target for net profit, then you could be on to something. At a minimum, though, you’ll know if the business is worth pursuing or not, or if more testing is needed. This is a tremendous time and money saver when you’re trying to venture out on your own. Here are some awesome resources to help you out:
- The Lean Startup
- The $100 Startup
- AppSumo 24-Hour Business Challenge
- How to Create a Million-Dollar Business This Weekend (Examples: AppSumo, Mint, Chihuahuas)
Lesson #6: No matter how low you sink, there’s always a way out.
Toward the end of that crazy summer a few years ago, I began to wonder if I’d ever find love again. The four years of my previous relationship left a significant impact on my expectations toward potential mates and left me feeling damaged and vulnerable. For a while, I figured maybe I should just enjoy being a bachelor. It wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, though.
Eventually, I got tired of clubs and bars, and signed up for match.com, hoping for somfe real sparks. The first couple dates went nowhere. Then, about a month into my trial membership, I logged in to see a beautiful Portuguese-Italian girl had “favorited” me. I couldn’t believe that such a beautiful woman had “favorited” me, but something inside me said this might be my lucky shot at finding love again. So I “favorited” her back. Then there was a a series of emails, phone calls, and eventually a few key dates, which ultimately locked us in. The funny thing was that she never intended to “favorite me,” but that one moment turned out to be the spawn of an amazing relationship with my now-current girlfriend.
Lesson #7: Change starts with action.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. -Lao Tzu
Change starts by taking one step. Once you’ve taken that first step, you’ve made progress. You can measure results if you want at this point, or take another step. Over time, lots of steps will create tremendous progress – leaps, if you will. Taking small, yet consistent steps over time is a sure way to establish a new habit or get rid of a bad habit without simultaneously getting overwhelmed. Take a marathon, for example. You wouldn’t just go run a marathon with zero training, would you? There’s no doubt you could, but you’ll quickly end up on the fast track to pain and misery.
Now, it’s important to keep in mind that not all action leads to success, but even if you fail at something, you’ve most likely learned some valuable lessons from it – at least what not to do. Some of the greatest successes in history have also been the greatest failures. However, they learned from their mistakes and pushed on toward undeniable success. Of course, they wouldn’t have been able to do it if they hadn’t taken that first initial step.
