35 Thoughts for my 35th Birthday

Today – August 7th 2019 – I turned the ripe young age of 35 years old.

Now – 35 is a funny age. 15 years ago – I was 20. In 15 years – I will be 50. Kind of weird…

Anyways – when I was 33, I wrote a post of 33 thoughts for my 33rd birthday. I thought I would reprise that post a bit, maybe update it with some additional thoughts, and add 2 more words of wisdom for the 2 years of life I have lived. The first 33 are still the original – with my comments today (which are italicized in bold).

Original post here: 33 Thoughts for my 33rd Birthday

Without further adieu – here are 35 thoughts on my 35th birthday.

1. You will never be younger than you are right now. Time to take advantage. The most real truth I could ever start out with. Every second you have – every breath you take – is the youngest you will ever be. ENJOY IT!
2. Having kids was the greatest decision in my life. The perspective change is incredible. Truth be told – this is still true. I identify with being a father so much – and being a father has brought a perspective in my life that is amazing. 
3. A good partner in life (in my case, my wife) can make all the difference in life. Not just wife – although that is key. Business partner. Workout partner. Work partner. Someone in y our life you can truly rely on – is key to success. 
4. The secret to living a happy life is to be happy through life. BOOM!! 
5. You make your own success. No one makes it for you. And, I will add in my 35-year young wisdom: No one defines your success. Only YOU can define what your success is. 
6. Water and nurture your own grass. Do not worry about the green grass that other people are posting on facebook. Good chance it is fertilized with bullsh*t. Your grass is the only grass you need to worry about. Rings even truer today. It is easy to get caught up in what others are doing, having, going, being – which takes away from the time on your own grass. 
7. To grow the greenest grass, you will have to work at pulling out all the weeds. Pull out the weeds on a regular basis. Some of the weeds are crazy big, and you will have to use multiple tools to try to remove them – but stay persistent in your work and you can get every single weed out. 
8. In today’s world, there is no reason to be bored. The world is your sandbox. Learn a new language, learn a new skill, master a talent, take up a hobby, TRY something. Literally no excuse. Get. After. It. 
9. Turn off the TV. I can nearly guarantee what you are watching is not moving your life forward. Yes – Games of Throne included (RIP). No – Netflix documentary doesn’t count as educational. Seriously though – I would rather see you sit outside in the peace and quiet with fresh air for 2 hours in the evening than waste away watching The Real Housewives Of Wherever The F*ck The Drama Is This Year...
10. Stop saying you can’t even, you have no f*cks to give, IDGAF, #IHateMondays, #TGIF, and whatever other languages you use to convince yourself that you are entitled and overworked and can’t handle your sh*t. It’s your sh*t, handle it. Can even, give a f*ck, start caring, love Mondays, hustling through Fridays. See how your life changes. HOLY DAMN!! I had a conversation yesterday about this. Bitching to a coworker doesn’t change your situation. Looking at the numbers doesn’t change your situation. Getting off your ass and getting to work does. Doesn’t matter if it is the right direction – any direction is damn better than no direction. 
11. YOU. ARE. NOT. A. VICTIM. You are the hero of your own story. Get out of the victim mentality that the world is happening to you when it is happening for you. You have all the power in the world to do anything you want – literally anything! That isn’t being a victim, that is powerful! Start living the life you want and become the hero of your own story. Remember – the hero has to go through turbulent times in order to create the person who becomes the hero – so don’t let the hard times make you think you aren’t a hero.
12. The best things in your life are on the other side of your fears. Your fears are False Evidence Appearing Real. They are made up inside your head from not knowing the result. Push through that feeling, embrace the fear and watch your life grow. We fear what we don’t know – what we haven’t yet experienced. So take the experience – then decide if you are afraid of it. 
13. Hustle. Go Hard. Put in the work. Whatever you need to tell yourself, tell yourself and get the job done. You won’t make 100k/yr putting in 30k worth of work. You won’t lose 30 lbs putting in overweight and tired work. You won’t have an incredible relationship by putting in sh*tty relationship work. Put in the work and the results will come. Garage in = garbage out. 
14. Love is love. Pure and simple. And the world needs more of it. I have learned since writing this that the highest frequency – the highest form of emotion – is love. Spread it on thick. 
15. When you are born, you know to cry when you are hungry. Everything else in life is learned. Careful what you say, what you show and how you act around future generations. But also – question everything. What you perceive is from learned behaviors – and you can unlearn and relearn. Don’t accept what is – think “what can it be?”
16. Be the change in the world you want to see. And not a facebook profile change. Be a true change. BE the person you want to see in the world – not the Instagram post you want to see in the world. 
17. Disconnect. Often.
18. Connect. With people. Often. And deeply. 
19. Play. Work up a sweat. Laugh. Make a joke. Go to the park. Be funny. ENJOY LIFE. Don’t take life too seriously – no one gets out alive.
20. Read books. As much as you can. Doesn’t matter what it is about, but find an interesting subject. It literally takes you to a different world and expands your horizon. 
21. Trade ego for empathy. The ego is the ME bug. It’s the I in anything you do. It’s a self-centered focus on what makes the Me and the I feel good. Empathy is for others. It’s the YOU in anything. It’s being people-focused and doing what makes the YOU and OTHERS feel good. Trade ego for empathy. While the ego is the enemy, there is a fine line between putting others first and sacrificing yourself. You need to be strong to take care of others. Keep that in mind. You can’t pour from a broken cup.
22. Do what you want. Get what you want. Be who you want. And don’t care what other people think. Focus on your own damn grass!
23. You are what you do – not what you say – or post online. Acta Non-Verba = Action, not words. 
24. Go do. Acta Non-Verba, see above. 
25. People buy confidence. People fall in love with confidence. People want to be friends with confidence. People give to confidence. Be confident in who you are – what you are – and what you believe in. And if you aren’t confident – fake it till you make it. FEEL the confidence and the confidence will come. 
26. Just being in the game isn’t enough. You have to take a swing if you want to win the game. Take that swing. And swing for the fences. You may strikeout. You may hit a grand slam. You won’t know if you don’t take the swing. Sure – you may get another at-bat – but we all have that last at-bat coming sometime…
27. Ignore the boos in life. They usually come from the cheap seats from people too afraid to even try to play much less take a swing. And the people in the cheap seats are usually drunk and disorderly. 
28. No president (or anyone else for that matter) will ever save you or change the predicament you are in. You need to change it. Make your own life. Don’t wait around for something to happen – make it happen. 
29. You reap what you sow. Nothing else. You won’t grow grass sowing apple seeds. Mediocre life is from mediocre efforts. Think about what you want in life – and sow the right seeds. Sow the right seeds, nurture them, and they WILL grow – it’s nature. 
30. What you think about shows up in your life. Watch your thoughts carefully. Even the talk you tell yourself. Change your thoughts – change your words – change your thinking – change your life. 
31. A walk in the sunshine can cure more than you probably realize. Depression, anxiety, obesity, high blood pressure, anger issues – all diminished for me when I spent 30 minutes walking in the sunshine barefoot on grass. Literally changed my life. Try it – what do you have to lose (besides for weight). 
32. Being uncomfortable scared and nervous isn’t always a bad thing. Put yourself out there. Those are feelings. That is it. Let the feelings come – and go. Lean into it. 
33. Right here – right now – you are exactly where you need to be. Everything that has happened in the past good or bad has brought you here – now – and you are right where to need to be. This is a pillar in my life. Our life is happening FOR us, not TO us. Through all the shit – we are where we need to be and we will come out strong on the other side. 
34. Every day is the best day ever – it is up to YOU to look for why. 
35. “If I want to be free, I’ve gotta be me. Not the me I think you think I should be. Not the me I think my wife thinks I should I be. Not the me I think my kids think I should be. But if I want to be free, I’ve gotta be. So I’d better know who me is.” This is a quote from Bob Proctor – and I have recently fallen in love with it. You need to be YOU. Not the you for anyone else – but you! The youest you you can you!

There you have it! 35 thoughts I believe on my 35th birthday. I won’t do this every year – maybe when I am 40. 🙂 For now – hope you enjoyed it! Let me know if any of these resonate with you.

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