Things I wish I Knew Twenty Years Ago

The year is 2004, I’m not married, I’m not in management yet. What would I go back and tell myself? I can think of so many things that I wish I would have known. It would be easy to go and list twenty-five things that if I had done different or known would have changed everything. But what if I could only tell myself five things about work. What five things would I want to know? I’m sure if you ask me again in a year, I will have a different answer, but right now, these are the things that I wish I would have known twenty years ago.

1.      Start reading now! This one single habit changed everything for me. At every workplace you have someone who is considered the best. You have multiple people who are considered great at what they do. What I have found over the last twenty years is that you can get more out of one book than you can from that expert at your job. I don’t mean that as an insult to anyone at any workplace. My point is that the expert at your job is an expert on one subject, in one environment. When you start reading a book, they are pulling from so many different experiences, you can learn years of knowledge and experience in a few hours. Be intentional about reading, or risk always being a few steps behind.

2.      The little details matter. Whenever I think of the little details, I have an image in my head. Let’s say you are watching the biggest football game of the year. Thirty seconds left on the clock, down by five. The ball is snapped, the quarterback is scrambling, he is running out of time. He finally sees a man open and throws the game winning touchdown. The quarterback is a hero! The wide receiver who caught the ball is going to be famous. You know who hardly ever gets mentioned, the offensive line! Those are the small details. Those are the little things that must happen if you want to be successful. You must be able to see the small things and spend time focusing on things that everyone else skims over or forgets. Maybe they don’t think it’s important enough to give it their time. If you want to win, someone must do those small things that don’t get the glory.

3.      Some people just aren’t going to like you. Everyone wants to be popular. Everyone wants to be with the “in” crowd.  What people don’t realize is that if you spend your whole time trying to make everyone happy, no one is happy. People are upset because you didn’t spend time with them, and you are upset because you aren’t being your true self. Focus on being you, work hard, and learn the lessons that come to you. One of those lessons is that not everyone is going to like you and some people are going to really not like you!

4.      In the end, it’s all about the people. Whatever your job title is, it’s not about that. If your title is Shelf Stocker, it’s not about stocking shelves. If you are a machine operator, it’s not about the machine or what you produce. I will even go to the extreme and say, if you are a doctor or a nurse, it’s not about medicine. In life, it’s all about the people. How you treat people is what you will be remembered for. Do you walk away with people feeling better about themselves or worse? I have had a few jobs that weren’t very good jobs, but I loved the people.  I still look back at it as a great job. I remember when I was younger, I washed dishes. It was so much fun that I remember wishing that it would pay enough that I could do it forever. I would come home wet, dirty, and exhausted. I loved it! If you treat people the right way, it doesn’t matter the job, they will produce and have a smile on their face.

5.      No surprise here, I would focus on my five people. A few new things I want to mention on this subject since I have talked about it so often. These are the new things I have learned about my five people over the last year or so. The people can change. Who my five are today, might not be who my five are in a year. When I look back twenty years ago, the five I have now, four of them wouldn’t have even crossed my mind. The other thing I have decided is that they don’t have to be physical people who you see regularly. If you read multiple books by an author or listen to a podcast every day, that person can be in your five. If the person on your phone is making a bigger impact than someone you see every day, don’t be afraid to call them one of your five. In the end, just make sure you have people who are positive influences on your life. Don’t leave it up to chance or just let it happen.

I want to encourage everyone to go back and look at what they would tell themselves twenty years ago. Then I want you to make sure that you are doing those things. Looking over this list has made me feel encouraged, but it also helps me see that sometimes I lose focus and get away from these things. Stay on the path!