I remember when I was a teenager it was quite difficult to discern out of all the voices and noise around me, who the true ‘me’ really was. Believe you/me, I made some really poor choices along the way to discovery. Thank goodness I’m still alive to have learned from these as a few of them could have gone south fast.

Over the years, I have come to understand about myself that if a decision I made in the past keeps me awake at night, that’s most likely NOT who I am. And it will continue to come up until I reconcile with my past.

Surprisingly to me, this is the barometer with which many of my current decisions are made nowadays.

Hopefully, I’ve paid my dues for my past. If not, then bring it on. I accept the price.

Until then, I’m sleeping much better these days.

It comes up often in my life when I find myself saying, “I wish I knew this before.”

I look back on past experiences whether in my professional or my personal life and realize how much work/pain/strife I could have avoided had I known more at the time. But, such is life. This is how learn, grow and evolve.

Often kids (including my own) and adults today only want to engage in activities they are already good at doing. I understand, because no one wants to flail, but we’re missing the big picture: the process of knowing. Learning. Gaining wisdom.

We may be able to life-hack some things in our lives, but certainly not everything. Certainly not the wisdom where we have had to go through an experience shedding blood, sweat or tears.

The best way to get into the knowing is simple, but not many choose to do it; 1. Drop your ego. 2. Shut your mouth. 3. Open your ears. 4. Observe others who have come before you and had success. 5. Repeat.

The world is not black or white. In fact, it’s far from it.

But, there is one thing I believe is: Your view of it.

Your cup is either half full or half empty.

You decide and the rest will fall into place accordingly.

We all know, we are forever changing and evolving over time. Life is the same. Technology, new discoveries, language, social norms, approaches to problems, etc.

It’s no secret then, that we indeed must continue to learn, grow and evolve as well. In fact, if we don’t, we might get left behind. In more than one aspect of our lives.

We can easily get stuck in a groove of how we approach life that may have worked for us years ago, but is no longer relevant. However, we’re too stubborn to see it. Let’s be honest, we’re too stubborn to even want to look at our own behavior. Let alone change it.

This is when we have the capacity to be the “get off my lawn” person only to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world and many others who have the ability to inspire us to be the best version of ourselves – including loved ones, only because of our inflated egos.

Instead let’s engage, commit to the change in the world that will never stop, adapt to the times and keep evolving.

Darren Hardy says, “This is the most important decision of your life . . .” This is the act of choosing your life partner.

I only wish I had spent more time doing my research and getting clear with myself on who I wanted to be with the rest of my life.

Then again, I may just be the luckiest guy in the world because of the woman who agreed to marry me.

I’m not exactly sure why, but, I won the lottery and I’m grateful for her every day of my life.

Whether it’s dumb luck or I’m the smartest man alive, there’s no doubt, our children and I are the ones that benefit from the decision we made 28+ years ago.

So, needless to say, choose wisely.