What Great Advice Would You Tell Your Younger Self (If You Could)?

Brian Basilico July 5, 2021

I saw a post on Facebook the other day, and it asked a question that made me think. The question was, “What great advice would you tell your younger self if you could?” So, I decided to do a podcast about it, because I did ask myself that question, and here’s what I came up with. There are three core pieces of great advice that I would tell my younger self.

1. You’re not a superman

2. You’re not an island

3. You need to invest in learning

You’re Not A Superman

So, younger self, you are not a superman.

You can only control your emotions, not fate.

Don’t take things too personally. People are generally not that diabolical.

Revenge is like taking poison and hoping the other person dies.

And always look for the positive in every situation. Negative feelings will eat into your world.

Mistakes are either deflating or inspirational. Embrace both.

Someday, your business is going to be flooded out. Don’t stress; just move on.

Next, if a client scams you, don’t bother suing them. It only makes the lawyers rich.

And you’re always going to be selling time for money, whether you work for somebody else or yourself. Get better at what you do, and just charge more.

Finally, you need to strike a balance.

Get a pet, go on dog walks.

You can learn things by listening to audiobooks or podcasts.

Consistently take breaks. Breaks lead to more inspiration.

And finally, take time off.

There are places that you need to go and visit so you can learn new things.

You’re Not An Island

Next, realize you are not an island.

You are here to help others. And when you do that, others will help you.

You’ll have a slogan in your first business that says “Success is our business.” That’s a great plan and a great way to run a business.

If you help others succeed, most will repay you.

Customers may not pay you in money, but they’ll pay you in certificates of appreciation, which can be money or reciprocal referrals or a whole bunch of other things. Realize it’s not all about chasing the dollar.

And businesses will pay for results, not just good feelings, so make sure you figure that out before you start.

Next, you need people to succeed.

You need to learn how to lead other people into a vision that’s going to help them be successful.

You need to have a vested interest in other people and their success.

And finally, you have to learn how to create great communications, both verbally, printed, and visually. All of those will become important someday.

Next, get a mentor and get a coach.

Coaches can see your faults and your weaknesses. You have to be open to listening to them to truly change for the better.

Mentors can help you affirm your direction, but also help you to avoid pitfalls that you may not see coming.

And finally, join masterminds, but keep in mind that all masterminds are not created equal. They are the sum of the people who make up the mastermind. So, before you join any, make sure you do your due diligence.

You Need To Invest In Learning

The next thing that you have to remember is that you need to invest in learning.

You need to read, or at least listen to audiobooks, all the time.

You need to force yourself and make downtime so you can uplevel yourself while you are up-leveling your business.

And, you need to explore non-core subjects. If you’re in music, you need to study many other things like art, photography, psychology, and so many other things that are going to help you better understand how to communicate with people.

The other thing that you want to do is teach others what you learn. By teaching, you learn twice.

You not only solidify what you learned, but you learn how to explain it clearly, which makes it easier for you to understand.

Investing in yourself pays the best dividends.

I remember the old days when you used to get those tapes from Nightingale-Conant. That will continue for years to come, but you’ll be able to download it to your phone. Yes, I did say your phone.

Make sure you make time to get out and meet people. Get out and network, go to conferences, join groups, spend time getting to know as many people as you possibly can.

You are much smarter than you think. Give yourself some credit, but always continue to keep piling on that knowledge so you can continue to better serve others.

Realize that normal is just a setting on a dryer. Change is inevitable, and you have to learn how to anticipate it.

Remember when you were in San Francisco and you bought that DVD player and you thought, “Man, this is the greatest thing ever!” Well, guess what: Now they have this thing called Netflix where you don’t have to have a physical player, it all comes over the internet. Oh yeah, that’s a whole other story. We’ll get there.

Remember that being an early adopter may cost you more, but it’s a good thing because you get a chance to learn technology as it evolves. It helps you to better understand where we’ve been and where we’re going.

And then, learn to listen to other people’s problems. They will tell you what they need based on their answers.

So, that means that you have to learn to ask great questions and then just listen, take notes, and learn.

Final Thoughts

So, with all that being said, I hope that you understand that it’s not a destination, it’s a journey. And through this journey, every opportunity that you have comes equally from great successes and mistakes. If you open your mind, continue to learn, and continue to grow, you will have huge success when you get older. But the road’s going to be bumpy, and there will be things that you wish you didn’t do, but if you didn’t, you never would’ve learned those lessons.

I’ve got one final piece of advice for you, and that is, enjoy every minute because you don’t know when it’s going to be your last. Too often, we miss simple things.

And one last thing… Do you want to know how to make God laugh? Just tell him your plans.

Good luck.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about what great advice you would share with your younger self. Have you asked yourself any of these questions or told yourself some of these pieces of advice? What worked and what did not live up to your expectations? Do you have any ideas or other advice you could share?

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