9 Powerful Realisations That Will Change Your Life

When I left high school I had no idea what I wanted out of life, im pretty sure a lot of us do.

I didn’t know what career path I wanted to follow, I just felt obligated to pick something and stick with it.

I had no idea if I wanted to spend the rest of my life in one place, doing the same thing over and over again.

Despite spending over a decade as a mechanic I felt like I had my eyes blindfolded and told to go find my way.

It felt like I was just drifting through existence, lost with no real guidance when I knew what i wanted to do.

It took me years to grasp opportunities, take a few chances and adopt a lot more risks in the pursuit of something more.

The past 12 years have been a fruitful source of learning even in moments of complete chaos and despair. I’ve improved so much in myself where I didn’t think was possible.

Lessons learnt have profoundly affected who I am and where I am today.

9 really important realisations that I have experienced that have changed my life and I’m sure will change yours! 

We Live a Life on Borrowed Time

There’s an old saying I heard “Life is a one time offer, use it well”

Took me years and years to accept the realisation that I will not be around forever, and neither will you.

Life is really short, but at the same time it’s long enough, we fool ourselves by thinking it will last forever.

So you have to use the limited time you have wisely, do the things you want to do with who you want to do them with.

The last thing you want is to look back on your life, and regret missed opportunities and not doing things you wanted to do.

Collect Experiences, Not Possessions

What I’ve come to realise as a photographer and content creator who quit his stable, full-time job that paid quite well to pursue one of the most unstable careers is this…

Collecting material items is a waste and absolutely pointless.

When you buy the new phone, when you buy the new clothes, the new car, the new makeup, the newest must-have possession ask yourself what do you get out of it beyond the instant gratification?

I’ll help, you get nothing, nothing at all

These possessions will end up consuming you and you will fall victim to them all.

Spend your money on chasing experiences, not possessions.

Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Doesn’t Show Up

I don’t think there’s anything more powerful out there than hard work, real hard work.

Talent to me doesn’t really exist, i believe people are perceived to be ‘talented’ when really they just out work everyone else.

“oh that person is so talented” No they just put in the time and hard work to achieve the skills, knowledge and status they have.

If they can do it, you can too.

It comes down to and always will come down to how badly do you want it and how determined you are to not make the same mistakes twice.

Put in the hard work and it pays off handsomely.

Whenever you apply yourself, you will always succeed.

Always and forever!

If you want to be successful, you have to work for it. Opportunity waits for nobody.

Make Learning an Uncontrollable Drug

When you decide to stop learning, you stop growing.

Learning from any experience or situation, negative and positive is  an opportunity to grow and learn new pieces of information or skills that will benefit you in the long run.

The biggest mistake we make is believing we are a master when we should remain a student.

It’s a toxic belief.

Every single day, every single experience is an opportunity to learn and grow as a person and as a professional in your craft.

Class is in session so be open to the lessons, don’t waste that opportunity.

Books Are Your Most Powerful Asset

Books are the unsung hero to every great persons story.

If you get the books on topics you need and acquire new skills from the text you read, you will be prepared for every step you take towards your future.

Books are the best source of knowledge.

The things you could learn if you just sink yourself in to the thoughts of the most powerful, successful and influential men and women in the world.

The best part is , you can.

It doesn’t matter how old books are or how old they get, the words and ideas inside will always be relevant in the moment you read them as they were when pen was put to paper.

That’s the thing about books, they are timeless.

A Certificate Is a Waste of Paper

Well not completely, I think there’s some jobs out there that require a certificate like a doctor or a lawyer. But, a lot of the most successful people who have achieved great things never had a piece of paper.

Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates to name a few

You don’t need a certificate to be a successful person.

I believe the idea of a certificate is a constraint to trap us within a system so we can just become another robot on the assembly line.

A certificate traps us in a pile of financial debt where we have to work to crawl our way out of it.

It also traps us into a career where most probably in 10 years we will be sick of it. But that certificate tricks us to believe we can’t change careers because “I spent 4 years studying for this job”.

All you really need is an idea and a mindset to work hard, extremely hard and execute upon those ideas.

That’s all, nothing more, nothing less.

Look After Yourself

It’s essential to look after your mental and physical health.

Took me a long time to figure this one out.

One cannot perform optimally without the other. mental and physical health are complementary to one another.

I signed up to the gym, but I neglected to look after my mental health as I was so concentrated on work.

There was no balance.

My body was changing, getting better, more healthy, but my mental health stagnated then dropped over time. 

I was remaining stressed, overwhelmed and tired.

Then I crashed.

It took a day staring aimlessly at my computer screen, unable to think, unable to type, unable to achieve anything for me to force myself to reevaluate the way I was treating my mental health as well as my physical health.

What’s the point of having a great body, if your mind is still weak?

Your mind is the pilot and your body is the plane, take care of them both.

Believe In Yourself

I believe anything is possible if you believe in yourself.

You can’t listen and believe the voices in your head telling you that you will fail.

If you listen and believe the voices in my head, If you give into their destructive chatter you will fulfill their prophecies. 

You need to realise that everyone starts from somewhere, we all start from the same place, once you understand this you’ll realise everything those voices tell are wrong.

The most successful people and companies have all started with nothing and worked to build themselves.

If they can do it, you can as well.

When you realise this, your mindset will change.

Change your mindset, change your life.

Don’t give up on yourself, you’re the only one with the power to turn everything around, for yourself.

Question Everything

Remember what it was like to be a child.

Being curious and inquisitive.

Never be afraid to ask questions about anything and everything, that’s how you learn and find your way.

There’s a perception that It shows weakness, but it doesn’t, it shows eagerness. An eagerness to improve.

So question everything.

This is The End

These realisations happened to me over time.

And I believe all at the right moments when I needed them to happen to me.

And they have all shaped my mind, body and life to where I am right now on my journey towards my dreams and goals.

If these realisations can help me so much they can for you as well.

Would love to hear your thoughts or even life-changing realisations in the comments ? let’s chat!

If you would like to read more of my articles then click here. I have so much more I would like to share with you!