You're coming to an age in your life, where you should start getting an understanding or an opinion of what it is that makes your heart sing. You should have an idea of what your strengths and weaknesses are, the things you're good at and the things you're not. Maybe, you'll even know what your vocation is or have a particular interest that you wish it to become your job or your business one day.
The concept I'd like to share with you today is that not only are you the accumulation of everything you did and experience up until this point in your life, but that nothing that you've experienced is lost in itself.
Most adults choose a specific area or function they feel comfortable in doing, and they do it repeatedly. They can become good at it but they will probably stick to the script and not develop to their full potential, whilst ending up doing the same thing throughout their whole lives. Well, if you're doing it out of a sense of mission and it's truly what you love, then fair enough. Keep at it. But if it's just for the comfort and risk avoidance, that's where it starts to suck.
One of the most powerful habits you can start at any age, is the habit of thinking about the leverage you can experience from what you've already done. As the title mentions, the concept of leverage in this context is very simple and simply means that you can use something (that you are, that you've experienced, that you know) to a maximum advantage.Scott Ginsberg writes extensively about leverage.
Let me give you examples from my personal life. One of my early challenges was that I was somewhat lazy and never did so well at school, but circumstances had me attend a course when I was 17 that I knew was the gateway to my career. Because I internalized this opportunity as the difference between me keep working at McDonalds for many years to come or the opportunity to start a career in networking, I gave it all I had, studying sometimes up to 16 hours straight per day. Started the course almost 3 months late, was given 2 months to catch up and less than 3 weeks into it was already ahead of most of the class, finishing the course with an average grade of 96% throughout.
So, thinking back at what that event in that time of my life meant to me, I see clearly that it taught me work ethic, commitment and the belief that if I put in the effort, I can do and have it all. That all it takes, is for me to pay my dues and put in the work. So, to me, the leverage question from that moment onward was "Now that I know the outcome of commitment and hard work, what else can it do for me?" and that has been the basis on which I've been building my career on and will keep doing so. It's one of my strategic advantages.
The other example is when I decided to lose weight, having been obese most my life until I was 22. The changes weren't just physical. I had a hard time standing up for myself, and allowed other people to step on me more often than I'd like to admit. I used the leverage I gained before on commitment and work ethic, and completely changed how I looked and who I was. It gave me courage, self-esteem, self-awareness and I learnt how to control urges. I stopped doing what everyone else wanted me to do, and started focusing on what I wanted, on my dreams and not on making other people happy. Especially the last phase, when everyone thought I'd lost enough weight and were getting concerned about my well being, and I had to start being somewhat unpleasant because they were trying to get me to give up on my dreams. A couple of leverage questions came from that experience too. 'Now that I've done this myself, how can I help others do it too?", and that's how I wrote my first book. Another one coming out of that was 'Now that I have self-esteem, self-confidence and self-awareness, what else can I do with it?" and that drove my career another notch, by stepping forward everytime a senior manager had a challenge that no one was stepping up to address. It's also the beginning of me standing up for myself more often, and not let others try and bring me down. I don't ever go down without a fight and am proud of saying so.
I'm still growing and evolving, and even think that one day I'll completely change careers even, because with every event that happens in my life, good or bad, I try and ask "Now that I have this or have gone through this, what can else can I do now?".
Rafael, please ask yourself leverage questions on a regular basis. It keeps life dynamic and never dull. It brings unique experiences that you could otherwise miss, or not realize you were now equipped to tackle it. It may make you see opportunities in the challenges you face, or make you more aware of what your skills actually are. So many adults out there equipped with so many skills that they never realize they can leverage. It's a shame.
But most of all, it leads to an interesting life, full of new things and new endeavors and opens your mind to be hungry for learning and never think you're too good to know and be more.
