10 Lessons From 27 Years Of Life

As of yesterday, I’ve now been on this earth for 27 years.

And with that passing of time, I’ve learned a few important things along the way.

Here are 10 impactful lessons I’ve acquired, explained in 4 sentences or less.

1. Giving love, often does more for self-love than receiving it.

I’ve done endless work on myself to finally realize that I’m not so bad of a person after all. And now that my cup is much more full than it’s ever been, it’s become really easy to focus more on solving other people’s problems. When you give more love to others, your problems often seem insignifcant as a result. (But if you’re not at that point yet, focusing on yourself first is important.)

2. One, Two hour flow state activity a day will solve most existential dread.

If you haven’t read up on flow state and how to access it, I have a video where I explain it in more depth. But once you find something that you can work on daily, that makes you temporarily lose your sense of self/time, that feels meaningful, the rest of life’s big questions get easier to handle.

3. The world (usually) gives you the amount of wealth you deserve based on the amount of value you’ve given.

This goes for any metric of wealth: money, status, friends, peace, etc. It’s more often than not the case that the amount of value you’ve provided to the world is directly proportional to how much wealth you’ve accumulated. There are exceptions, of course, but that’s the law of exchange.

4. The answer is usually somewhere in the grey.

The internet loves to portray the world as either “black” or “white”, all or nothing, best or worst. The answer usually lies somewhere in the middle. It just requires more brain power to find it (and most people just want the easy thing.)

5. Don’t play games you can’t win.

I first heard this phrase from entrepreneur/friend Anthony Vicino. If I tried to become a professional NBA player right now, I’d probably have a .000001% chance of succeeding. Focus on building the strengths in your unique skillset. (And if you think you don’t have any strengths, you just haven’t found them yet.)

6. Buy a water filter.

Tastes way better and is healthier for a cheap price. One of those no brainer under $100 purchases. The one I use is from Pur.

7. Context is everything.

Whether it be the setting you’re speaking to someone in, where you live, how much sleep you/that person got, or any backgroud context that doesn’t seem relevant to what you’re doing, all of the context surrounding a certain thing matters. Instead of looking solely at the canvas, make sure to analyze the frame surrounding it too (analogy). The answer to “why” usually lies there.

8. You don’t actually exist—but it’s not very useful to think that way all the time.

Who you consider to be “you” is really just the parts of your physical body you have voluntary control over—but the real “you” is also everything outside of you that you interact with, because it’s impossible for “self” and “other” to be mutually exclusive. Too difficult to explain further in 3 sentences. Anyways, you might have occasional feelings of being “one” with everything, and while it can make you feel a sense of peace unlike anything else….you still have to pay taxes.

9. People don’t know what they want until you give it to them. - Steve Jobs

Everybody tries to either hop on the next big trend, or predict it. Fact is, a lot of the time, people don’t really know what they want until you put it in front of their eyes, and they have that, “Ah, yes, that’s what I was yearning for, but I didn’t even realize it” moment. Think completely out of the ordinary and give people something they’ve never seen before. You eliminate all competition that way too.

10. It’s gonna suck no matter what.

Even the thing you love doing will occasionally feel like hell. Even the brightest of days will be swept away by despair and hopelessness. Learn to embrace the suck, and see suffering as a necessary and integral part of life, and this journey becomes much easier.

I wonder how many of these I’ll agree with in a decade.

The Space For Reflection

It took me years of self reflection, awareness, and acceptance to have the courage to embrace myself, and all of my flaws fully.

But in doing so, I became the type of person that cannot be swayed by almost any sort of setback, failure, or wrong-doing.

I wanted to create a complete resource for you to learn every technique I’ve used to become the most mentally, physically and financially fulfilled I’ve ever been, all while being in an exclusive community that keeps each other accountable every single day.

And that is why I created my self mastery school.

The Ultimate Self Mastery School is a place for those who want to actualize their greatest potential, strengthen their self awareness, build better habits, and develop a fulfilling life.

The school features 14 videos with 15+ worksheets, a guided meditation, and an exclusive community where we all hold each other accountable and give further advice.

It’s a culmination of years of research on behavioral science, psychology, and of course, trial and error from my own life.

And it’s specifically designed for those who want to go deeper than superficial YouTube videos/articles, make close friends who uplift them, and gain a better understanding of themselves.

Being able to actually apply the advice you receive, and get consistent feedback from like-minded people are probably the two most important factors in seeing permanent change.

And I’m guessing you currently feel like you can’t talk to anyone in real life about your struggles with self-development, right?

That’s why our community meets in a group coaching call every other week to make sure we are all staying on the path towards self mastery.

It’s also been an incredible way for everyone to open up about things that they have been going through, have accountability surrounding the habits we are trying to build/remove, and get feedback and advice without judgement.

And because of that, the friendships in there feel genuine.

It’s easily the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever created.

Here's some recent wins from our community:

Watch the intro video on that page to see if the course is right for you.

Hope to see you in there.

Quote of The Week

Thanks for reading, everyone. Hope you enjoy your weekend.

-Cole