Transcription
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 TikTok 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 can 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. What 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 our 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 I 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 4 AM 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.