I'd say one of the largest changes I've made in my life that have helped me move forward so fast is starting small.

Often, I will have a new amazing idea, get overwhelmed with the details, and never start anything. However, after reading many books and hearing it repeatedly, starting small is the key to starting something. I've realized how true that is; another way to put it for the perfectionist is "you can't perfect something that doesn't exist." 

It sounds simple because it is. But hardly anyone does it, and I think that may be because of fear, fear of failing, or fear of losing something. In reality, you are just trying something new, and if it doesn't work, go back if you like. 

Just taking that first small step was all I needed to do to start losing weight, not worrying about the details of what would come later, but just taking the first step and getting through that day was my whole goal. After that, I went through the next day, I didn't know how to do it exactly or the science behind the method I was using, so I trusted it enough to follow the plan and not deviate.

That's how I started my weight journey of losing almost 100lbs in about 7 months.

Key takeaways:

1) The key to starting something big is to start. 

2) Don't look into the future; have faith, and do it for today

3) Nothing will change without you changing first

Purpose is the one thing every person I look up to has in common, and they are clear on their purpose. 

This is, I think, one of, if not the biggest areas in your life. Without purpose, we are nothing; we wouldn't have a will to live. So I think everyone has a purpose, just most people aren't clear on what their purpose is, so live life just day to day, setting goals for what feels good or looks like a great choice for where they are. 

If you can figure that key out, you can achieve the steps necessary to take that path. The problem is, where do you start? I personally think it starts with a small motion, like pushing a heavy rock; it takes the most effort upfront, then as you get it going, it gets easier. Starting by writing every single day, on a little notepad, a few short sentences, or sentence, of your purpose. Why are you here?

I've got one thing in my head that I need to get out, and that is to be successful, rich, and famous. It's been a pretty big motivator in a lot of my work, but I don't have a clear purpose for becoming those things, so I feel like I'm going after an empty dream. Overcoming that, I think, is the key.

Key takeaways:

1) All great leaders have one thing in common - they are clear on their purpose

2) Finding purpose, I think, is the key to everything

3) Finding your purpose will take a long time, so start with a sentence or two, start broad, every morning

4) Overcome your want's; look for a higher purpose than you

Heeding other's advice...

This is something that's been on my mind, especially recently. There is a lot of information out there, and many people want to share their advice and experience, which has helped me greatly get to where I am today! The problem is, what do you do with that information? What do you do when multiple people give you different pieces of advice that conflict?

These are some of the questions I'm still trying to answer, and I understand it pretty well on a logical level, but not deep within me. So, from what I've heard and practiced. When receiving advice for where you should go, there are a few things I need to keep in mind while considering how much to follow. 

Who is giving you the advice? Ensure that the person you're getting advice from is knowledgeable on your topic and has a decent understanding of where you are at. In many situations, I've found myself when asking others' advice, and they may be knowledgeable in the subject and give great advice but don't fully understand where I am at, so it may not be the best for me. Alternatively, they may know you very well, but not the topic you want advice on, and so you may get great personal insight, but not on the side you're looking to go into. 

What will you do with the advice you've been given? This is a big question, and one not so easy to answer. We would take and apply all relevant advice in a perfect world, but finding out what's relevant is a difficult matter. There could be just different opinions given by two people, and either one would work great. 

For the most part, I've found when asking for advice, whether you apply it or not, do your due diligence, and thank them for it, and repeat back to them a summarized version, letting them know that you understand it and will take it into account. 

Key takeaways:

1) Heed other's advice, but don't necessarily apply it just because it was given

2) Be sure, whoever you are asking advice from, has a good picture of the scenario

3) You can't apply all suggestions, so use your own discernment when deciding what to do

4) Give gratitude for the advice, whatever it be, and summarize and repeat it back to them, showing that you understand it. 

Through writing my life plan (as outlined in the book Michael Hyatt), there were a series of questions at the beginning that had you answer how you would want to be remembered. 

This was a fascinating area that I've heard used before but haven't seen too much in the way of writing your life plan. The basic idea was to write in a short eulogy that you would want your friends, loved ones, and colleagues to say about you. The more specific, the better! This will help you decide how to act at the moment and give you a filter to decide what to choose. 

Through this process, I've found that I was able to identify how I want to be seen. And it opened my eyes to how far away I was from that. In one of the categories, I wanted to be remembered as someone who kept up to his word, that fulfilled all commitments to the best of his abilities. In another, I wanted to be seen as giving, not holding back, and even in the short or hard times, I gave what I had. Those two alone changed my life in quite a big way; each morning, I review my life plan, and it gives me a renewed vision to act like how I want to be remembered and show up the best that I can that day. 

Key takeaways:

1) Write down how you want to be remembered; it gives you something to refer to when uncertain

2) Don't be shy about writing great things about your ideal self; it's something you can aim for, even if you fall short; set your standards high

3) Reviewing how you want to be remembered gives you renewed excitement to be that person

One of the biggest things that I've found that's given me clarity on the direction I should go is having a plan.

A few months ago, I was very unsure why, why do I do the things I do, why should I want to get to the next level? I asked a mentor about this, and he recommended the book "Living Forward" by Michael Hyatt, which outlines how to write a 'life plan.'

The basic idea is to write out a series of questions about who you want to be and how to get there. The primary difference between this plan and one you might normally see online, or the question "where do you see yourself in 10 years," is that you are constantly reviewing what you wrote and revising it. 

Michael Hyatt recommends reading your life plan every day for the first 90 days, then continue reading it once a week. This is to keep you in a state of always looking for something ahead, giving you clarity on where you should go and the reasons behind it. Revising it is also a massive part of it; oftentimes, we get into the feeling of not writing down our goals because we are afraid it might not be something you want later down the line. But this book takes a different look at it and urges you to change it, pivoting as you get more clarity on your ideal future!

Key takeaways:

1) Having a why will move you forward much faster and farther

2) Building a plan will help you stay on course and move you to where you want to go rather than where the wind blows

3) Reviewing and changing your plan regularly will help you get out of the fear of setting something in stone and remind you of what you should be aiming at.

I've come to find that we go much farther when we work together with other people, rather than our own. And one of the key things I've discovered related to finding your calling is finding those who have already made the journey, or a similar one, and ask them for their advice!

There's no point in re-inventing the wheel, so why waste your time? Finding a good mentor is huge when developing skills in the area you want to work in! The problem is, how do you find a mentor, someone you can freely ask questions and receive actionable steps from? 

Sharing what you already know and doing it in such a way that shows that you are someone who wants to develop their skills, I think, is the most important. Without sharing that you're a learner, people won't waste their time with you. The thing is, you have to be specific enough about what you're talking about to generate responses from other people. If you ask general obvious questions, you are stupid or trying to play stupid, and most people will pass you by. 

But if you share a difficult experience with an open-ended problem, I've had many people reply with lengthy responses and follow up with messages giving more advice, which quickly turns into a mini mentorship, with direct coaching and advice for specific areas. It's quite fascinating to see the responses I get on my posts, even when I don't ask a question. There are people out there hungry to share their experience, and it doesn't take much to find people willing to take you under their wing!

Key takeaways:

1) Find a mentor in your field of interest; you'll go much farther with a teacher

2) Share open-ended problems, but don't ask dumb ones

3) You can find many "mini-mentors" for specific areas that you want to learn

Countless times I hear the phrase "to be interesting, you need to be interested" basically, to show others that you are an interesting guy, you need to show interest in other people.

I find you can apply this same concept to becoming someone that your ideal boss wants to hire. 

Being a teen, I'm at a pretty big disadvantage when it comes to experience, so I have to make it up in other ways. One of those is being interesting in being interested. Interested in the work or industry that I want to get into. You can do this in many ways, but I've found when it comes to online and writing about what you're doing, there are a ton of things you can do to share that you're different from the average joe shmoe. 

Writing engaging content isn't always easy, but I've found that if you're truly interested in the subject you're writing about, the interest comes along with it. However, there are those times where you read back what you wrote, and you feel like you're reading a dull essay, and there are just facts. That's not engaging, and I can tell you now, I'm not going to read it. Write something that you personally would be interested in reading. Coming at it from that standpoint, you can share with the younger self all the things that you know now in a way that would capture your own attention. 

Your boss doesn't want to hire a robot, so share emotions, humor, along with the details of the work!

Key takeaways:

1) Be interesting by being interested 

2) Overcome in-experience with a genuine interest in the work you do

3) Share your learning in a way your younger self wished he could have found just hours before

I've found that one of the biggest things you can do early on starts putting what you're learning online and use it as a public resume.

One of the biggest problems is where to get started and what to write about. I would often finish a day of work and sit down at the computer to write about what I learned, only to turn up a blank mind. So I realized that I had to create some process I could follow to consistently write about what I was learning and not sit around thinking for an hour. I came up with a few simple questions I would ask myself. 

What's the most difficult or interesting thing you learned? It doesn't matter how long or short it is, write it down. It would trigger my mind more often than not, and I would have more than enough to write about, and simply typing it out would get my head going in a way I didn't consider before. 

If I couldn't come up with anything interesting or difficult I worked on, I would then ask myself the following: What's coming up that I might be a bit nervous or put a lot of thought into? This would typically fill any blanks I have and get me going on some project I'm thinking about or taking on in the future and my thought process behind it.

And if I really drew a blank, I would go spend a few minutes looking up a course or find some other content people shared for inspiration or to reshare the information. There is no limit to the number of things you can learn, and you'd be surprised at the amount you can learn in just a few minutes!

Key takeaways:

1) If you're not sure what to blog about, ask yourself a few questions to get your mind going

2) Sharing something difficult or interesting, even if it's short, will more often than not give you plenty to write about

3) If nothing is interesting about the day, then ask yourself what's coming up that is on my mind, and write about that

4) If all else stumps you, spend 5-10 minutes online learning something new, and talk about that even if it's short.

One of my biggest desires is to be the best or world-class in whatever I am working on. Doing the most, putting in the best effort, and moving faster than the norm.

How do you know what to do to further yourself and what to do with the information? Hearing many great leaders talk on this subject, I've come to find that there are typically 3-5 primary things in any given field you want to go into. And discovering what those are, and focusing primarily on those skills, will greatly increase the speed of your career. 

You can't be extraordinary by doing what everyone else is doing; that would make the term redundant. But being smart about what you spend your time on and taking the path of focusing on a few key points and becoming a master at those will give you the edge over those trying to do a million things at once. 

When you're trying to figure out the most important skills to learn, I've found a fairly simple trick, and I've used it many times. Pick the most common task in the desired area and try to do it half the time it normally takes to do. You don't necessarily have to actually do the task, but mentally go through the steps. It will make it very clear what you will have to cut out to do it in that time, and leave you with the topmost important things. 

Key take-aways:

1) Finding the top 3-5 things that make the biggest impact in your field and developing those skills will set you apart

2) You can't be extraordinary by doing the same thing as everyone else. So stop trying to get a ton of things done, and focus on a few skills that make the biggest impact

3) Finding those most important needle movers is as simple as trying to do the task in half the time. It forces you to cut out what's not entirely necessary and leave you with the core.

One question I hear all the time from my peers is that of unclear life direction. And it's been one that I've been trying to figure out a good way of finding.

I know I did not, and still don't know exactly where I want to go with my future career. But I've found that picking a direction and pivoting along the way as you get clearer on where you feel you should go works wonders!

I think that everyone has had some point in their life where they really enjoyed something, were super engaged and put in good old fashioned hard work, and felt accomplished at the end of it. This could be that one time when you helped your grandfather do a bathroom renovation or the time you spent ten straight hours working on a mini model diorama. You may not have enjoyed every aspect of it, but there was one specific thing you really liked. Whatever it might be, I find that you can get a decent idea of what you enjoy doing. 

That's how I got started and got to where I am today, working at a CNC machine shop. I absolutely did not start out saying I want to make prototypes for big companies. No, I started with architecture of all things, and as I learned more about that industry, I pivoted to 3D design and model making. And from there, I made the jump to the machine shop. 

Key takeaways:

1) No one knows what they want to do at the beginning; even down the line, it changes

2) Getting started is as simple as finding what you enjoyed doing in the past and researching that

3) You pivot along your career journey; what you decide is never final; you change to find your desired path