30 Pieces of Advice I’d Give To My 30 Year-Old Self
I am dedicating this blog to my Co-Conspirator Project Coordinator and Inspirational Niece, Reagan Simon. I love witnessing the beautiful life that you are creating as you evolve into the woman you are meant to be! Her website can be found here.
As I’ve indicated in a previous blog, My Career by the Numbers, I don’t feel like I “owned my own voice” until I was 30. When I hit 30, I became confident in my own skin. It didn’t happen overnight but was a gradual feeling of just knowing from an internal, guided source. I still have so many experiences to have and lessons to learn, but here are a few of my own colloquialisms as pieces of advice that I would give to my 30-Year-Old Self based upon my own stories so far.
1. Don’t live a victim’s life. Your genetics can be overcome; your destiny lies in your hands alone.
2. Find your own voice and use it.
3. Remember, though, that the most brilliant person in the room isn’t necessarily the one who speaks the most or the loudest. Listen intently and only when you have something great to say, then speak.
4. Your career is like a quilt with each experience adding to the pattern. Use every job (no matter how menial in your mind) to learn something from and bring with you to the next position.
5. Whether it’s in learning a new task or mourning a loved one, THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS. Time invested is time well spent.
6. Make a list. This works when both seeking a mate or looking for that great job. Until you can visualize it and put that vision out into the Universe, then you’ll never realize it. Also, that goal may be right under your nose and you never noticed it.
7. Don’t settle — for a life partner, career, whatever. Know when to walk away.
8. When interviewing for a job, interview them as much as they’re interviewing you. Make sure that it’s the right match for you or you’ll never be content/fulfilled.
9. Continue to invest in yourself with new skills, no matter your age or rank.
10. Support your colleagues; help even if it’s not “part of your job”.
11. Never pay a contractor 100% upfront. It gives you no leverage to negotiate and meet your standards for quality.
12. Careful what you put in writing — it will follow you.
13. Protect your social media postings/tags; those don’t go away either.
14. Presence versus presents.
15. Travel gives you empathy, experience and energy. It’s also the best medicine for a wounded soul.
16. Surround yourself with people who get you. Limit your time with judgmental people who want to pick you apart and who you’ll never please.
17. Laugh at yourself as much as possible. Life is too short to take yourself so seriously.
18. Be kind.
19. Guard your name as if it’s an endless amount of gold, because it is. It’s the only one you have.
20. Leave a legacy.
21. Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer.
22. Don’t give to get; give to give — for you. Be a resource; be a mentor; just be there. Whether the favor comes from that direct source or not, you will get rewarded for your investment.
23. Take your ego out of your day to day routine and wake each morning with a servant attitude. When you do that, the Universe stands at attention and the great opportunities will chase you down.
24. Jealousy and coveting of others’ lives is a waste of time and energy. Yours is the only life you should visualize/reflect upon.
25. Aim for next year at this time to be a better version of yourself than you are right now.
26. Rather than focusing on the areas that don’t give you passion and engagement, double down on your strengths; they are as much a part of you as your thumbprint.
27. Embrace your quirks — they set you apart.
28. Make quiet time to listen to the still, small voice inside of you that guides you.
29. Happiness is different than contentment; contentment is a choice that you can decide on ahead of time.
30. Don’t put limits on yourself; Dream the Great Big Dream and GO FOR IT.
NOTE: These are in no particular order.
Stay tuned for more; the journey is only just beginning…
For a deeper dive into a few of these, please refer to my blog “Hail to the Kingmakers” and you can always contact me at dlandry@authentizity.com for more information as well.
