I had no father or mentor to teach me how to be successful I had to do it the hard way through years of struggling and figuring it out on my own so that's why I'm going to share with you 20 lessons I wish someone told me when I was your age so you can skip the painful process I went through and get a head start on everyone first you need to understand that no one is coming to save you not your parents not your teachers and sadly not even your best friends so to truly be
successful in this life you need to become self-reliant this means that you have to fully accept your situation no matter how bad it is and understand that you're the only one in this world that can make you better look on my journey of making money online and growing my YouTube channel it's mostly just been me in my room working trying to figure everything out it was after I stopped seeking approval and support from everyone around me and built up the confidence to go out and pursue my goals on my own that I finally started to
make progress on my journey now to develop this confidence you need to learn to watch your words because what we say and think on a daily basis dictates the person we become in the future you know when I'm with truly successful people I never hear them do two things complain or speak negatively about themselves or others but but as a teenager I used to do both all the time and I didn't think anything of it I always wanted to make money from the internet when I was a kid but I would constantly say things like
I can't I'm not good enough or it's too hard I thought it was harmless back then but looking back on it this was single-handedly destroying my confidence to get started but one day I had a massive breakthrough back when I was 14 I had a teacher that gave me a challenge that stuck with me till this day she said try not to complain for the next 30 days and Watch What Happens such a simple challenge I thought but then as the days went by I noticed how often I did this so day after day I
changed the way I spoke and I made a conscious effort to never complain even about the little things like waiting in line instead of saying I suck at this I would say how can I get better you know what by the end of the month this little change completely pivoted the trajectory of my life life and it was shortly after that that I made my first dollar online editing videos for people and this is a principle I still follow to this day very rarely will you ever hear me complain about anything or speak negatively about
myself so I challenge you to do the same and avoid speaking negatively for the next 30 days and watch how your life will change because every word you speak and action you take has a consequence the actions that seem meaningless today will compound massively over time for good or bad and that's why you need to live with intentionality and be responsible with the actions that you take those three hours a day on Tick Tock or 2K might seem harmless now what you don't see is how it's slowly destroying your dopamine and ability to focus on
anything important over time alternatively reading for 10 minutes a day is boring and feels like a waste of time but over just one year you would have accumulated years of knowledge improve your focus and became a better man understand this God sees is everything you do so live as if someone is always watching your every move because the little things that you do today dictate who you become tomorrow and one of the things I wish I never did as a teenager was start smoking weed don't do it because this is one of the worst decisions
I made and I recommend you avoid it at all cost while you're still young for 17 years I had never tried any alcohol or drugs but in my last year of high school I caved into peer pressure one night with some friends and I smoked a joint for the first time I actually liked it so much that it became an addiction something I did almost every single day on and off for the next six years of my life now did it completely ruin everything not really I still stayed in good health I had friends and
I even built my first successful business while smoking every single day but I became dependent on it for helping me enjoy every little thing in my life I didn't really want to do anything without it being involved for years going to the gym yup eating dinner of course going to sleep obviously and the worst part is it did permanent damage to my brain that I still deal with to this day smoking as a teenager does long-term damage to your memory and cognitive ability because in these early years your brain is still developing I didn't know
that back then and I wish I did because I could still feel the effects today not to mention it's super addictive if someone ever told you it wasn't they were probably addicted themselves and I only realized this after I tried to quit because for three weeks I hated the world I couldn't sleep I was sweating all night and I barely wanted to eat it was a real challenge like my body craved it so badly but then I had a breakthrough I unlocked a new level of mental Clarity that I haven't had before and I finally
felt like myself again it was truly one of the biggest Transformations I've ever had in my life and now I haven't smoked in over a year and unsurprisingly it's been the most successful year I've ever had so if I can go back probably would have told myself just to skip that one for now because you need to protect your mind it is the greatest weapon that you have you only get one brain and nowadays it's easier than ever to wreck it with all the technology and distractions in our world today they're literally designed to Rob
your attention and melt your brain therefore you need to be careful about what content you consume on a daily basis and focus primarily on the actions that nurture your mind before it's too late now to build a strong mind the most powerful thing I ever did was become a stoic if you don't know stoicism changed my life and is one of the main things I contribute to my success today to be a stoic means to accept the world as it is and not try to change what's out of our control this right here is the
key to my happiness and internal peace of mind understand we're all dealt with a different hand in life you had no control what country you were born in who your parents were if you're black white well you do have control over is your person exception of these things do you label them as good or bad a stoic simply sees the world for what it is without adding labels on everything I mean Shakespeare said it best there is nothing either good or bad but are thinking that makes it so even the worst things that happen to
us are only as bad as we make them out to be in fact some of the worst events of my entire life ended up being the greatest blessings of them all you know when I was a kid and I had to leave my mom to move to another city because our house went into foreclosure it was one of the saddest moments of my life but it's removing and living with my stepdad that I got my first camera and laptop which is what ignited my passion for making videos and if this event never happened guess what
I probably wouldn't be here talking to you today so therefore you must live your life with a stoic philosophy if you ever want to win and you also need to fail more because failure is the prerequisite for any great success so you need to welcome it and do it more often sadly our school school system has conditioned us for years to label failure as a bad thing what a shame if you show me any man of great success I can guarantee you he's failed thousands of times because trial and error is the only way to
master anything in life this is the process and you must learn to respect the process listen this is actually the best time in your life to embark on this process because even if everything goes wrong it's really not that bad I failed with seven different businesses over five years before I made my first million dollars but since I was still in high school every time I went back to zero I was still in my bedroom I still had food on my plate every single day and my parents were still there as you become an adult
you have less and less room to make big mistakes so this is your time to fail as much as possible so you can develop skills and developing a valuable skill as a team is one of the most important things to focus on at this stage of your life I need you to understand one thing you have the opportunity to get a head start on the world like none other most people graduate high school with literally nothing to show for it but when I graduated high school I knew how to make websites I know how to
edit and produce videos and I even learned about marketing from trying to sell all kinds of stuff this was the sole reason that I was able to make my first million online at 19 years old it wasn't as if I just magically cracked the code it was the accumulation of all the skills I developed in my free time outside of class it was the Head Start that I had and if you're in your teens you have this too so you better use it wisely but beware because people will judge you on this journey I promise
you as a kid I got bullied countless times for the videos I posted on the internet I mean I couldn't even go a single day in middle school without someone clowning on me or making me feel dumb for pursuing this dream of mine to become a YouTuber and at one point it got so bad that ended up deleting my Channel with over a hundred videos 100 videos that I spent hours on scripting filming and editing all by myself and deleting that channel is one of the only regrets I have in my life and if I
could go back to myself at 13 I would have told him [ __ ] what people think about you because it is completely irrelevant to your goals I remember when I started making good money online when I was in college so I decided I wanted to drop out and when I told this to someone in my family I was expecting him to be excited for me but instead I was greeted with straight negativity and doubt you'll regret this for the rest of your life that little business is not going to last forever and at the
time I could have let those words stop me from moving forward but instead they were the fuel to my fire that pushed me to prove everyone wrong and show them what I was capable of this showed me that people are literally just projecting their own fears and limitations onto you if they don't think they can do it they definitely don't think you can do it and you know sometimes I ask myself what if instead of following my heart and going after my goals I decided to listen to all these people who doubted me and said
it was impossible well I guess we'll never know since I was 16 I've been delusionally optimistic and ambitious you need to be too I always knew I would get rich I always knew I would be a YouTuber I just didn't know when and yes just like anyone else I've had my doubts and I still do from time to time but I never let go of these insanely Big Dreams for myself even when I was at my lowest if you're watching this video today I know you have a feeling inside of you that you're destined for
more out of life and I need you to hold on to that feeling and never let go of it never let anyone take this away from you and I promise you'll achieve more than you ever imagined at least that's been my experience but it didn't happen as fast as I expected it to that's why you need to understand that success will take much longer than you think in fact let's run up the numbers real quick if you really added up it took me 13 years since I posted my first video until I hit a million
subscribers it took me 10 years since I made my first dollar on PayPal until I actually became a millionaire do you understand you should not try to become a millionaire in one year like these fake people you see on the internet because you will be disappointed you must give yourself a five to ten year time window and the journey will be so much more enjoyable and for the love of God stop comparing yourself to everyone except for who you were yesterday because you're not me you're not Iman Ghazi and you're not Hamza so do not
compare your life to ours just because we found success at a relatively young age doesn't mean you should beat yourself up because you haven't you need to extend your time Horizon for Success it's gonna take you a long time now to be honest even I still compare myself to others sometimes but it makes me feel bad every single time and I know this is hard especially if you're watching videos like this all the time but try not to do it and the only way to avoid comparison is to gain respect for yourself now to do
this you need to always keep your promises especially the ones to yourself look at it this way if once a week you invited your friends to dinner but you never showed up do you think they would respect you it's no different with the promises we tell ourselves if you say I'm going to wake up at 7 A.M but you hit the snooze button at 10 A.M every single day your self-respect goes down a notch and over time it compounds to near zero this is a simple principle that I promise will change your life forever always
keep your promises to others and most importantly to yourself and if you really respect yourself you should prioritize your health Above All Else neglecting your body with junk food and inactivity in my opinion is the truest form of self-hatred if you truly loved and respected yourself you would treat your body as a temple you only get one in this lifetime and it's a lot more fragile than you think don't wait until you're old to finally start becoming Healthy Start now and the best way to do this is surround yourself with people who feel the exact
same way back when I was in school the way I met people like this was from playing sports and playing music and I recommend you pursue at least one of these because they both have massive benefits they both teach you how to learn hard things through practice they show you how to work with a team to achieve a goal and they immerse you in a Social Circle of like-minded people all throughout school I was in the band playing drums and I played basketball and even though I was kind of trash these are some of my
favorite memories as a kid and they made me a better man and this was actually how I met some of my closest friends in my life in high school I knew a lot of people but I didn't have many close friends in fact I really just had two and we were all on the same Mission we wanted to win in life so I always try to choose my friends wisely and I think you need to do the exact same thing one of the most impactful lessons I've ever learned is that one great friend that is
trustworthy and shares the same core values as you is way more valuable than being popular and having a hundred friends so if you want to go fast go alone but if you want to go far go together with the right people and all you have is your true friends and most importantly your family which is why you need to show gratitude to your parents before it's too late listen up if you're blessed enough to have your parents in your life you must honor them with love and respect because they gave you the Ultimate Gift life
and if you're a teenager watching this well they probably give you a phone a house an internet as well which I know you take for granted every single day I don't care what they did to you as a kid it's your duty to become a strong enough person to forgive them and show them love while you still can you must consider the sacrifice they had to go through to raise you and make you a man and never for a second let that be forgotten unfortunately I waited too long to forgive my father and show him
respect and gratitude I waited 23 years 23 years of feeling anger and resentment towards him for not being in my life as a kid and when we finally started to build a relationship he passed away unexpectedly one year later so don't wait tell your parents you love them every day while you still can and look above all else enjoy being a kid at this moment you're one of the wealthiest people alive because you have your youth this is the ultimate wealth there are billionaires that will literally trade places with you and it'll fly by right
before you know it and you'll wonder where did all the time go when you get older things will be different life won't be as carefree as it is now so bro stay up till 4am sometimes and play the game with your friends all night ask that girl out there you're so scared to talk to and laugh with your boys for hours about stupid [ __ ] be free and just have fun because in the end they'll all be memories anyways so make them count and the last lesson that's more important than anything I've told you
in today's videos the most important one of them all make sure to subscribe I'll see you next time