Nothing good in life synthesizes without hard work. One of many quotes that I took to heart from Arnold Schwarzenegger was, “You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hand in our pockets.”
I used to sleep eight hours a day; and according to Arnold I had to sleep faster, so I did. Suddenly I found myself sleeping six hours.
Just think about this for a second: If you were sleep 12 hours a day, you are literally sleeping half of your life away. If you sleep eight hours, you are sleeping one third of your life away. If you sleep six hours (unlike popular believe, it is enough sleep) you would only sleep one fourth of your life and accomplish so much more.
Many people complain about time. “I don’t have time to work out.” “If I only had more time, I would do more with my life.” However, if you go through your day, you will realize that having time is about priorities. How much time you spend scrolling through Facebook, Instagram and clicking on snapchat stories? How much you waste on watching your favorite show or your favorite sports team. I bet there are at least four hours of nonsense that you do. Stuff you do that doesn’t benefit you at all.
As I realized all of this and understood that it was on the way of my dreams, I started to be more mindful of my time expenditure. Time became valuable. My time against others became a priority. Putting my projects ahead of night outs, dinner with friends, movies, among other things became easy as soon as I discovered my purpose.
My grandfather had incredible talents. He used to write songs, and short stories that never saw the light of day. I couldn’t tell you if in his dead bed he regretted what he did not do but I can tell you with certainty I would.
The saddest part of a human being is that we are experts at getting in our own way.
I have always dreamed big. The sky is the limit.
I could not decide on a specific career. I had a plethora of interests and I refused to pick one and put the rest to bed. Even as I write this book, in this precise moment, I am still exploring more things I would love to do.
Life is too short to specialize. Life is too short to learn so much of one specific field and become an expert. For me life is exploration. We weren’t born to become slaves of science, arts, or creative writing. We were born to romanticize and flirt with every single passion you have. Be unfaithful to physics and make love to painting. Forget about painting for a few months and escape having an affair with creative writing. The time you have on Earth, if used wisely, you can look back and cherish it instead of regretting it.
My years in college were quiet. I never was the type of person to attend any social events, game nights or anything remotely related to any interaction that exceeded a group of two people, unless of course I had to for academic purposes.
Throughout the years I did have to master the art of hiding the fact that I was an introvert and put an extrovert mask. It became very natural but by nature I always craved loneliness. However, everything in excess is bad for your mental and physical health, even loneliness. So, some days I did feel the need to interact with people or simply go for a walk and absorb the world to get inspired and give birth to new ideas.
I visited the gym two hours per day and a coffee shop more than I am willing to admit. There is something beautiful about ordering a hot cup of black coffee, sitting down, opening your bag, setting up your books, notebook, and laptop, putting on some headphones and letting the world around you do its thing while you do yours. You feel part of something greater and at the same time you get to be inside your mind in your own world.
Since I was a little kid, and like many others, I had the biggest of dreams. And while some change others stay the same. My biggest dream was to open a foundation for kids that come from low-income families to register and practice anything they desire for absolutely no charge. It could be music, singing, acting, soccer, football, anything they aspire to be.
This dream came back while sitting on a wonderfully comfortable couch, beige in color at Coffman Union at the University of Minnesota. The couch had the innate ability to put anyone’s buttocks that touched it to sleep, but I had my cup of coffee to counterattack its enchantments.
My sole purpose for living became clearer that afternoon and since that afternoon I started a plan to achieve my lifetime goal to help kids to achieve their own dreams.
Step 1: Educate myself in everything I love to maximize income ability.
Step 2: In my thirties, develop a Kingdom and establish and create a path to substantial wealth.
Step 3: In my 40s, multiply my wealth while expanding my kingdom.
Step 4: In my 50s, Start creating the foundations for the foundation.
Step 5: Never stop nourishing the future of the world, the children.
I have a solid plan, but do I have what I took to make this huge dream a reality?
I have never really wanted to make money for myself. Of course, I needed the money necessary to have a home, a car and travel here and there. However, my focus has always been others. That is where my happiness lies. There hasn’t been a more fulfilling feeling than giving back to others. And there is nothing more sacred to me than helping another human being in their early struggle to become what they want in life.
There are different definitions of success, depending on who you ask.
For me success is doing what you love and what you want whenever you want and to help others along the way.
Success has never been the finish line; success has always been the path that leads you there.
As you get older, priorities change and we must adjust.
Some people prioritize career over family, friendships, and relationships and vice versa.
My advice to you is that you prioritize what truly makes you happy and I can assure you with all certainty that you will have no regrets when you are on your deathbed.
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