The real secret how I grow fast

Many people are surprised whenever I tell them stories of how I got from point A to the point where I’m at now. I’ve talked with a lot people in different age groups and I usually receive raised brows after revealing my age. They always ask me, “How come you know all of these things at such a young age?”.

Before I spill my three beans, let me tell you a truth. You are not a failure just because you achieved things later than the others. It doesn’t matter if you graduated two years later, if you weren’t able to land a job after six months of searching, nor if you haven’t purchased any life or health insurance. You are not a failure just because others are ahead of you. We all run our own marathon, we run at our own pace. You can and must control your speed.

The Three Beans

I’m writing these down in the hopes of mentoring and reaching more people.

I act and decide impulsively (but not stupidly)

A cousin of the classic “Don’t be afraid of failing.”, this attitude rings true. I’ve always been a reckless daughter. You can ask my mom and she will agree in a heartbeat. I’m not proud of it. I’ve read the book Thinking, Fast and Slow and you won’t believe how many SMHs I had every time it talks about System 1. I do most things impulsively but what makes it so much advantageous to me is that I learn from them. I perform like a memory B cell.

Ok, I failed. Great, now I know. I won’t do that again.

Because of this, failing feels much less painful and becomes less surprising. I’ve lost 100K on a bad investment recently. Bad, cause I could’ve invested it on a new camera. While on the other hand, I know better now that sales people are charismatic for a reason. I became more careful on trusting anyone, especially the funny ones.

I talk to geniuses

I don’t get scared talking to incredibly smart people even if I don’t understand a thing they say. Haha! It can be pretty daunting approaching them and striking a conversation.

No one wants to sound stupid. But I do, cause I know I am!

It’s exciting to talk about a topic you don’t have any knowledge of. I’d spend hours talking to my clever sister about how bacteria, fungi, and virus differ and how they provocatively reproduce. I got better at taking care of myself with just basic knowledge on how our body performs and reacts to certain things.

I talked to an old man in the gym and he taught me how to properly choose and invest on properties. Another one told me how he managed to buy 17 properties and shared to me the things he should’ve not done.

Learning from geniuses are not all sunshines and butterflies. Sometimes, you can come across intimidating and overwhelming kinds but don’t let this discourage you! You’ll learn from them the most so you must enjoy every part of the conversation. One of the best mindsets I adopted is to assume that all critiques and arguments, by default, come with positive intentions.

You have to do the hard work seriously

I didn’t become who I am just by talking to geniuses and failing fast at things. I also did the hard work. Serious work. I exchanged my leisurely weekends joining events, working on side projects, reading painfully long articles, watching series of tutorials, and doing, to some people, what seems to be boring. I trained myself to enjoy learning. I’ve watched documentaries of successful chefs, architects, designers, artists, and musicians and they all have one thing in common: they spend long days in their lab doing the real work and they don’t mind missing birthday parties and school reunions.

Have I been scared of running my first Sprint after reading the entire book for 3 hours, I wouldn’t have been able to run 6 more after that.

Have I became shy of approaching smart people, I would’ve have found out that I shouldn’t be drinking grapefruit juice while taking antibiotics.

Have I spent my weekends carelessly, I wouldn’t have published articles and changed my website 3x.

The next time someone asks me again, “How come you know all of these things at such a young age?”, I already know exactly how to respond and I’m hoping to inspire more.