Five Things 2006 Has Taught Me

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Ben (from Startup Spark) is hosting a group writing project at his Instigator Blog, and for each participating blog $5 will be donated to charity. The prompt is “What did you learn in 2006?” So here is my contribution to the project!

Ben’s call for participation in his group writing project offers me a unique opportunity to look back at what lessons I have learned, and what I can take and apply to the rest of my life. 2006 has been a big year for me. I’ve been in an amazing and rewarding relationship with Maria—my sharp, motivated girlfriend—for almost eight months now. A second close friend of mine from high school passed away before his time. I started working a full time job. I met Warren Buffett. Communication lines between my mother and me have been strained—something that I’m not exactly happy about, but that has freed me from unnecessary anguish in my life. I’ve completed my very last course to earn my Bachelor’s degree and graduate from college! And I think I’ve figured out what I want to do with the rest of my life.

Here are some of the most important lessons I think I have absorbed this year:

1. I need a muse. My goals and dreams have expanded far beyond what I would have first imagined since I’ve had a motivated girlfriend pushing me to great heights. Before, I had only modest goals for myself, but she has helped to encourage me to think big and realize that it is my duty to at least strive to reach my full potential. I am so fortunate to have all of my basic needs taken care of, and to be amongst the richest fraction of the human population (even though I only make 5 figures!), I owe it to the world to do as best as I can and give back to the community. It may come across as a weakness to some people to rely on a partner, friend, or community for encouragement, but I don’t believe anyone becomes a success without the help and community of others. Remember: no man is an island! Having someone else who believes in me and offers their positive reinforcement every time I have big dreams has helped me to add two new things to my list of life goals this year: to attend either Stanford or Columbia, and to start my own business within the next 5 years. Here’s an article about how important relationships are, and here’s my interview with the king of lasting relationships, Rajesh Setty.
2. Just DO it! At the same time, if you want things to get done, you cannot rely on others to do them for you. And you can’t just put them in the “to do” pile and ignore them and hope they resolve themselves. Successful people know that they create the quality of their lives, they are not victims of life. You can’t let life be something that just happens to you. Life is full of small, irritating tasks that most of us would rather not do, or things that we are afraid to do because we don’t want to fail, but you just have to buckle down and DO them! For instance: I’ve learned to just call my bank or credit card every time they try to charge me fees, and sometimes they reverse them. To just tell the boss my ideas about how to improve our workplace, and sometimes he thinks they are brilliant! To just contact that popular blogger or company exec, and sometimes they are willing to meet with me and give an interview or talk about business opportunities! Remember: you can’t lose what you don’t already have. Sometimes all there is is something to gain, and the worst that could happen is they say no. But, successful people are the ones that just DO what others don’t want to do or are afraid to do. You must work to create your own success. No one else is going to do it for you! Here’s an article about changing the way you think in order to be more successful.
3. Plan ahead for the unexpected. This is one thing I have learned attending and working for a university. A lot of students do not take an active role in their education–they attend classes, they do the homework, take the tests. But, they assume that all the administrative work–the course advising, transfer courses, the pre-requisites, the degree evaluations, the petitions to graduate, etc.–are on auto-pilot and will take care of themselves. The truth is that you must take an active role. You must know the due dates and get your paperwork in well in advance, know the requirements and whether you meet them, know who to speak to in order to solve your problems and actively seek them out, know what resources your college offers you and utilize them… If you are going to become an efficient adult, you need to learn to ensure these things get done, because again, no one is going to do it for you! And if you leave them on auto-pilot and wait until you recieve notice that something is overdue to take action, there will be consequences. You need to take responsibility. And that can be applied to a whole world of other things besides school. Here’s an example of how you should plan ahead and prepare for the unexpected when it comes to student loans.
4. Budget, budget, budget! Waiting on the lottery is not a retirement plan. I’ve learned that if I want to be wealthy, it takes planning and tracking. It takes being frugal, and allocating. You must make smart purchases. Every time you buy something, there is a real cost and an opportunity cost–the loss of the ability to buy something else. So, you must wiegh your options. Every time I choose not to go to the movies, I tell myself I am $10 closer to that Tesla Roadster I want! As Ramit Sethi of IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com says, you don’t have to be smart, you just have to start (early if possible) and be disciplined over the long-term, and you will become wealthy. Here’s a post I wrote all about the most important financial tips I’ve learned, and here’s my interview with Ramit Sethi.
5. Organize everything in your life. Organizing is something that helps tremendously with all of the above. I find that when I am organized, I know exactly where to find things (which saves me valuable time), I can complete projects much more quickly and efficiently (meaning I am more productive), I pay my bills on time (which saves me money), I get to things on my “to do” list sooner (and thus create better rapport with people who are waiting on me), and much more. Basically, I categorize things and either do them immediately, place them in my “next actions” pile, hand them off to somebody else who can do them better than me, file them for reference, or throw them out. This is a system that is based in part on Getting Things Done by David Allen, but here is a great post about using three all-important folders to keep your email inbox clean–and the same principle can be applied to your physical mail, your projects, and more. Lifehacker and 43 Folders are great sites for tips on staying organized and productive that have immensely helped me get control of my life.

Well, those are my insights from this year. I look forward to another year of learning and growing, and I thank Ben Yoskovitz for instigating this project and giving us a moment to reflect on 2006. Next week, I will try to post my resolutions for 2007!

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