What is the best advice for an ambitious kid born into a poor family with no resources, information or support?
My take on the fundamentals needed to succeed from scratch.
This is part 2 of 4 of a series called “Starting From Scratch.”
1. Be a people person
Your success will usually be consistent with the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with or take the most advice from -- change your network.
Life is about people and mastering the ability to understand people's hopes, fears, dreams, needs, and motivations are imperative to navigate relationships with success.
It is not easy to be successful without other people, successful careers and business are rarely achieved just by being a one-man show. People will work with you and help you because they like you, not necessarily because of your upbringing.
Read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (I tell you how in #2)
2. Always be learning, but learn selectively
Constantly look to the advice of those who have the results you are looking for. They often leave a paper trail for you to follow to replicate their success. Read their books and articles (if you can't afford the books, google is your friend -- type "inurl:pdf" after book titles), their written materials contain 10,000+ hours of life experience.
Most successful people get interviewed a lot, many of these interviews are on YouTube, watch them, they often drop priceless nuggets of wisdom.
Be curious and inquisitive, master the art of learning.
3a. "Appearance is everything"
If you wear a police uniform, people will assume you are the police. If you wear scrubs, people will assume you are a medical professional.
People often generalize without thinking or without questioning, do what you can so they generalize in your favor -- it's helpful to be aware how you present yourself and cognizant of how people will perceive you.
This isn't about having a $10,000 suit, it's about confidence, cleanliness, and looking approachable and professional.
3b. Be aware of what your words convey
This isn't about lying, this is about choosing words wisely -- being careful and be tactful in your speech.
It's not about what you're trying to say, it's all about how you say it.
"You're wrong" vs "I see things a little differently"
"I don't want to work with you" vs "I'm not sure this is the best fit"
"Please help me" vs "I'd like your input"
"Sorry, my bad" vs "I apologize, I did not intend for it to turn out this way"
4. Attitude determines your Altitude
Optimism -- learn to encourage yourself because there won't always be someone around to encourage you. If you master this, there be very few things that can hold you down. Also, being able to stay encouraged will make easier to become encouragement to others -- people are attracted to this as well (how to become optimistic here)
Embrace failure -- failures, rejection, and struggle don't define you, growing from them will define you
Gratitude -- You are not entitled to anything, be humble. Be grateful and learn to show it and express it to those that helped along the way, never forget the people that help you when you have nothing
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