While there are many more life lessons that would bring change to your life in some way over time, these are three life lessons I firmly believe need to be learned by everyone - now.
1. Everyone will not always agree with every decision you make.
And that is A-Ok my friends. No matter what decision you are making, there will be someone that stands in opposition. There will be someone that tells you your business won't make it; someone that tells you marriage is a bad idea; someone that thinks you should've handled that situation differently; someone that tells you your faith is pointless.
And all those "someones" seem to stand boldly and loudly in opposition, don't they? Sometimes those "someones" are people very close to us and sometimes their opposition hurts.
Learn to stand firmly and confidently in your decisions anyway. Everyone doesn't need to agree with you all of the time. The most important thing is that you and anyone directly involved in the decision are at peace; you don't need your whole world on your side for it to qualify as a good decision.
2. Risk is necessary.
There are two things that will never coexist: comfort and growth; and that is because while growth is many things, comfortable is not one of them. If you are never in the position to lose, whatever you stand to gain is far less than what it could be.
It's a funny thing, how so many people are only willing to invest half of themselves into certain aspects of life (i.e. their marriage, their job, parenting) and then wonder why they are not getting the full "reward" or better results. Think about it this way - if you were a part-time worker, how do you think asking your boss for full-time pay and benefits would go?
Not well at all. If you want the full-time benefits, you need to put in full-time work.
If you want to see exponential growth in your business, if you want your marriage to be all it can be, if you want to be an exceptional parent, if you want to see great personal growth - you need to be all in. Being all in is a risk, but a necessary one.
(Side note: often times not going all in is more of a risk in the end.)
3. Humility.
The quickest way to destroy your current success and/or any chance of achieving future success in life, business and relationships is to allow yourself to believe you got where you are by yourself.
Let's not beat around the bush: you didn't.
Your career started with someone giving you a chance, whether it was a boss, client or investor.
Your relationships have someone on the other end trying just like you.
You exist because God put you here with a purpose.
And weaved into each aspect of our lives is the influence of others; the good, the bad and the ugly.
Humility reminds you that you aren't the only one working hard, facing struggles, making sacrifices. It does not diminish your personal efforts, investment, sacrifice; it simply puts them in perspective.
You might be surprised at how much that perspective check changes you and your interactions with others.
These are three things you've probably heard before, maybe they seem obvious. I would challenge you to be introspective. You know them, but are you living them out?