17 Life Lessons (I Wish Someone Had Told Me)

so ladies and gentlemen I grew up without a father I'm an only child and the reason I'm telling you this is because I am going to tell you 17 life lessons I wish someone had told me as a teenager so these are things that I had to find out the difficult way and that's why I'm sharing them with you today so that way you do not need to go through the years and years of pain struggle soul searching that I went through and you can just bypass all of that if you listen and you take

heed so I've got a couple things written down and honestly I'm just gonna spitball these 17 lessons lesson number one is you need to extend your timeline and I know that is very difficult when you watch my videos it's very difficult when you are on Tick Tock and you see these 18 year old 21 year old Millionaires and I understand that I am even a part of that issue sitting here at the age of 23 years old but tens of millions of dollars it is so easy to see the final product and think that you

need to rush when quite frankly you don't I can tell you that I have missed out on so many hang out with the friends grab a beer with the friends watch the football game my childhood and my teenage years had none of that which is why I want you to understand extend the timeline you want to become a millionaire great give yourself five years give yourself 10 years you don't need to rush now I will say if you can get rich faster go for it if you can learn a high income skill and we'll talk

about it a little later down the line if you can start a side gig that then turns into a small little business that then turns into a very large business go for it but just alleviate the pressure stop thinking you need to become a millionaire in a year two years and even in my position I understand I did not have a normal person's Journey it is not normal to amass the sort of wealth that I have amassed and by the way as I said that came with a lot of drawbacks so I don't just think

it's all roses and sunshine but even me in my position you can see videos of me in 2015 2016 when I was just starting out my business with acne on my face reading books going to the gym being an absolute loner and I say this because please keep this in mind anytime you watch my video or some Tick Tock this stuff does not happen overnight it has been nearly a decade since I started reading a book a week since I started meditating going to the gym and setting the building blocks in the foundation for the

man that I would go on to be so please keep your foot on the gas keep pressing but extend your timeline time is your biggest asset at the moment the next life lesson is walk with purpose I remember even from the age of 15 or 16 I would walk down the street you could tell I was on a mission and I think that was really just a sign of having a clear Direction a vision for what I could become so when you walk down the street I'm not saying that you need to Sprint keep your

shoulders back look straight walk with a clear Direction look like you know where you're going now the next thing is to focus on practicality and not purpose I hear this whole thing of oh I'm not starting because I just need to find my purpose I need to find my passion stop it focus on practicality when you are a teenager you will not know your purpose you will not know your mission and even in your 20s even the phase I'm in it will morph and it will change so instead focus on practicality focus on learning skills

that are practical focus on starting businesses or careers that are practical focus on getting an apprenticeship or even a low paying job that isn't the destination of where you want to get to but is practical and will teach you the core foundation and the core principles to then go on and succeed in your 20s now the next life lesson and this is so important and I know I'm just speaking to men here and a lot of times in my content I speak to men but for reasons that I've previously mentioned it is important for me

to put out content and nurture the next generation of men so men listen to me when I say focus on becoming a gentleman in this world and especially in the west I see some of the most disgusting behavior for men it does not surprise me that so many women treat you with disrespect because you are not men even worthy of respect do not listen to all of these guys that have never lived in the real world telling you oh you're a simp if you pick up a girl if you drop a girl home after a

date if you pay for the bill I don't know who raised some of these kids because quite clearly they're not actual men the way that I was raised is as a man you pay for the bill and if you cannot pay for the bill if you cannot afford to and when I was younger I was in that position well then guess what get to work don't take girls out to dinner put your head down and focus if you're taking a girl to dinner you pick her up you drop her home you do the gentlemanly thing

I cannot express how important these things are to learn in your teenage years other things understanding a girl's alcohol tolerance I see so many idiots that give girls drink after drink after drink not seeing that they are quite clearly intoxicated as I said I don't know how some guys were raised but the way that I was raised if you are with a woman if she's your date or she's one of your friends in that situation you are responsible for her so act accordingly if you want to be a man of Honor if you want to

be a man that deserves respect then you must learn how to treat a woman properly never ever let her cross your boundaries and just remember if you are a man that is worthy of respect then obviously never accept disrespect from a another party by just think in this world we live in so many men are afraid of you know coming across and being a simp if you pay for the bill or if you pick her up on a way to a date that is absolutely no way to conduct yourself as a man so learn these

principles as a teenager and they will carry through for the rest of your life especially if you stack them up with all these other life lessons then you are going to be a man of Honor you are going to be a man that other women respect and I can tell you that that goes very far in life the next thing is I want you to enjoy the journey I want you to remember that these are your glory years these years right now as a teenager and especially in your early teens even these are the years

you're going to look back at with fondness because these are the years that you built you built your character the person that you are going to become I can tell you right now that my most fond years were probably the year before I started my first ever business when I was 16 and a couple years after that the years where things were tough they were not easy I was making sacrifices it was difficult at the time but I had so much appreciation for it now so please if things are difficult or they're hard right now

take a moment to appreciate it because these are the years you're going to be talking about in a decade two decades when you're sitting outside with your boys your beachfront property having a cigar or drinking a glass of wine and reminiscing about the good times now if you're in your teens I want you to start investing now and I don't care if it's ten dollars a week or 30 a week or fifty dollars whatever you can do even if it's five dollars a week it's not about the money and it's not about you know the

eighth wonder of the world compound interest because I'll be honest at this stage it really doesn't matter and hopefully in a few years you should be making a very very good income that far exceeds anything you could ever make from investing all it comes down to is simply good habits I do not believe that if you won't invest ten dollars when you make a hundred dollars a month that you'll invest ten thousand dollars when you make a hundred thousand dollars a month and if those numbers sound crazy to you I can't imagine ever making hundred

thousand dollars a month all this just park that in your mind for now okay you don't need to worry about that but I'm telling you it's a very very strong reality if you're consuming content like this and you dedicate your life to building over the next year three years five years ten years I can tell you numbers like that almost guaranteed in your future but I know for a lot of you that will overwhelm you so just park that to the side for right now if you make 100 a month just invest 10. it's simply

having good Financial hygiene and building those good habits early on the next life lesson if you're a teenager is build High income skills a high income skill could be content creation it could be sales it could be copywriting these are things that no matter what I don't care if the year is 2023 I don't care if the year is 20 40. these will always be important skills and these will always be highly paid skills so please do not get caught up in short-term fads short-term Trends ask yourself if I learned this skill today will this

pay dividends in five years 10 years 20 years and if the answer is yes well then maybe you should consider learning it now the next life lesson this especially applies to men is focus on building muscle and your physique especially between the ages of 16 to 21 22 if you can get in the gym if you can do exercise whether that's a standard sort of bro split routine whether that's powerlifting whether that's CrossFit whatever you decide to do building muscle at a young age you're going to have that mind muscle connection and you're going to

keep that on and you're going to carry that through for the rest of your life you know I started going to the gym when I was 14 some would argue that that was even too young but I'm very happy that I did and I'm very happy that I built up muscle in my teenage years because now I do a lot of tennis I do a lot of running some boxing and I never really worry about losing muscle or my physique or anything like that because I had more than half a decade of nurturing that so

especially for men as our testosterone starts to decline in our mid-20s onwards use these years to your advantage lift heavy things push yourself train hard because you have this incredible advantage and will carry through for the rest of your life the next life lesson is be confident but acknowledge your age and your lack of wisdom I started my first business when I was 16 years old and by the way this was in a business where I was hiding behind a computer I was front facing with clients I was pitching multi-million dollar businesses so I had

to walk in with confidence I had be presentable I had to talk I had to communicate clearly I had to be confident regardless of my age and I had to do that front facing publicly to potential clients but at home when I was alone in solace in peace I understood and even me sat here at 23 hundreds of thousands of people even millions of people around the world looking at me as a hero an inspiration and Mentor I understand that at the end of the day I still have so much to learn I understand that

of course I got started so early I had my first employee at the age of 17. I dropped out of school at the age of 17 to support me and my mom I've experienced so much by this age but no matter what wisdom is solidified through decades and Decades of experience so if you are in your teenage years be confident walk through life with confidence don't let your age especially when it comes to business in your career don't let that weigh you down but in moments of peace and quiet acknowledge that no matter how well

you're doing wisdom is only truly forged through decades and Decades of life experience the next life lesson and once again this relates specifically to the men is get comfortable talking to girls listen of course I believe there's a teenager and in your early to mid 20s those are your years to build but it doesn't matter if you're even 15. get used to speaking to girls don't let yourself become one of these 25 year olds that goes on to become a multi-millionaire but is it just creepy around women get comfortable speaking to girls if you're in

a cafe and you think a girl is cute just talk to her what's the worst that could happen and even better just give her a compliment and that's it don't ask for her number don't ask for her Instagram just give her a compliment and that is the least that you can do you have to get comfortable speaking with women holding your ground keeping your chin up and keeping confident don't let it consume your life because I do not believe that women should be your goal in your teenage and early 20s because as a man your

best years really are from the ages of around 26 28 all the way up until your late 30s but nonetheless just learn how to carry yourself around the opposite sex the next lesson is keep your word and start learning this lesson from a young age if you say that you're going to give someone a certain percentage in your business well then give them that percentage if you say that you can show up to something well then show up to it your word is your reputation and your reputation is the most important thing that you have

so learning from a young age to show up to keep your word that will build trust and that will build respect and that will carry on for the rest of your life the next life lesson and once again I know this relates specifically more to the men is in your 20s doesn't matter if it's your early mid or late 20s these are your years to build if you do things correctly your 20s will set you up for the rest of your life so I made this video specifically for the teenagers but it's really just to

say that your 20s mentally prepare yourself because this truly will be your make or break period in your life next life lesson is learn to say no more than you say yes learn to say no when people want to go out learn to say no to business opportunities I know you have that friend watch the video it has a business idea and they want to go 50 50 with you but your gut is sting tells you there would be a bad business partner or why do I need a business partner in this I could just

do it myself so just learn to say no learn to stand your ground I can tell you right now that yes has ruined more people's lives than no ever has people saying yes to getting in relationships they shouldn't be in people saying yes to starting businesses that they shouldn't people saying yes to going out when they shouldn't as I said learning to say no will be one of the most invaluable skills that you can learn from a young age the next lesson is learn how to dress well learn how to find good quality clothes I

know that I'm wearing a shirt with a graphic right now but I'm in the comfort of my own home I'm very relaxed but when you leave the house you should be presentable no big labels and by the way later down the line once you've found your style and what works for you you can Spruce things up you can get a little bit more funky with it but at first from a young age learn how to find clothes that fit you well not too tight and not too loose by the way most people make the mistake

of finding clothes that are way too tight for them and I can tell you something that's actually quite funny over the years I've noticed especially with my jeans in my trousers the more money that I've made the looser my trousers have become so that's just I found that that holds true for most of the multi-millionaires that I know so learn how to find clothes that have no branding that fit you well that fit your style learn how to layer clothes and then also learn how to start getting stuff tailored you can buy trousers that are

thirty dollars or forty dollars and go take them to Taylor they'll get them tailored for you for fifteen twenty thirty dollars and I know that's an additional cost but you will look far better than the people spending hundreds of dollars on all this designer this and that etc etc so I believe in your teen years it's very important for you to learn how to dress well obviously your style will morph and it will change as the years go by but in your teen years just learn the basics learn the classics and just learn how to

dress in a classy elegant way and later down the line and especially once you have more money you can start sprinkling things up with you know a graphic tee and you know maybe some nice jewelry here and there whatever you want but for now just stick to the classics and the simple things the next thing is you need to learn how to keep strong boundaries and this is probably one of the biggest reasons I've been able to have the success that I've had once again I don't know maybe it's because I have a Russian mother

Russian people are just very uh they have no issue saying no they have no issue keeping strong boundaries so maybe I was just raised a certain way but from a young age I knew how to have strong boundaries with my friendships with my relationships and I believe learning that from a young age has carried on for the rest of my life where I can honestly say that my friendships the people that I work with the people at my companies any of my romantic relationships we have such mutual respect for each other we have an understanding

for each other's boundaries and that was all built off the back of from a young age learning to say no as I mentioned earlier on and learning how to have strong boundaries with the people around me the next thing that I want to talk about and I know that for some of you I have atheists watching so maybe you might roll your eyes whatever you want to believe in go for it build your relationship with the Creator whatever the Creator means to you whatever religion you follow whatever it is maybe you're just spiritual but build

a relationship with whatever the Creator means to you because I can tell you you will have some of the highest highs in your life and you will have some of the lowest lows if you live life properly because the worst life you can have is just Flatline so if you follow all of these life lessons then you will have a life of incredible highs and incredible lows and as I said that is what makes a good life and the only way to stay sane and not go crazy in those periods is to be humbled by

the Creator as I said whatever that means to you is to understand that there is something bigger than you and the only way that you're going to get through this crazy turbulent tumultuous life is by having a strong relationship with the Creator I remember I was six or seven when I started praying to God and the reason that I started praying to God was because I had a very very difficult upbringing and it's funny the only people that I see that don't have a relationship with the Creator whatever that means to them is the people

who have had a life like this the people who never went out there never took risks never fought for the life that they wanted for some reason they're always the ones that seem to turn to atheism so I can tell you from first-hand experience life will get crazy and the only way to stay sane when times are good and when they're bad is to have a relationship with God or the Creator or whatever you want to refer to it as the last and arguably the most important life lesson for teenagers is take ownership of your

life something great happens in your life great you can take responsibility for it as well as the Creator something bad happens in your life great take responsibility for it radical ownership of your life no excuses it is only you and you to blame and I know sometimes it will be difficult I know sometimes there'll be a clear thing or a person or something to point to something else to blame outside of yourself but don't fall for that trap as I said take radical ownership of the things that happen in your life so ladies and gentlemen

I genuinely believe that if you're watching this and you're in your teens or your early to mid-20s if you follow these 17 life lessons these 17 principles you will live a life of abundance you will live a life of honor where you could never even imagine and as always I'll be watching from afar and I'll be rooting for you