9 Lessons I’ll Teach My Children Before They Finish School

In Life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson” – Tom Bodett During several positive transformations over the past 3 years, I have learned so many lessons. Prior to my period of rapid personal growth it was widely accepted by my friends and family that I had enough of a challenge looking after myself, let alone a baby one day. I was an immature, drinking, gambling womanizer. I was stuck in what I would call a ‘destructive life cycle’. After nearly losing the ability to walk twice in 1 year through car and soccer accidents, I finally took charge of my life. I built on my Masters Degree in Psychology and I read over 300 self-development books in 3 years. I have been fortunate enough to transform myself to the extent where I now use my passion to help others.

The distance I have traveled was summed up when my girlfriend looked at me and said “Jermaine, you’re going to be an amazing Dad”. I thought; “Wow, am I really?” I got to thinking about all of the powerful things that I have learned over the last couple of years and I have come up with a list of the 9 lessons I will be proud to teach my children by the time they finish school and enter the world the marketplace. It is important that you work out what your priorities are in your life and take action on them every single day if possible. Don’t juggle things around and keep making ‘To-Do-Lists’, just start doing things. Even though a problem can bring you some stress, you will often find that it will end up being a challenge that if successfully dealt with it will bring you closer to your goal. Making this small mental adjustment of looking at problems as stepping stones to the ultimate goal will give you a massive advantage in every pursuit. If you find yourself tying your happiness to things that are taking place in the outside world you are going to be disappointed. However, decide to base your happiness on things that you can control, such as your thoughts and what you are grateful for at any given moment and you will find yourself happy a lot more often. High achievers often find themselves doing many difficult and boring things along the way. Things like sticking to routines, considering a situation in great detail or practicing their craft for 10 hours a day.

These are all things that may seem boring and difficult at the time but they are necessary for you to get the life you want. When I was first turning my life around I realised that just reading about these tools and strategies was going to do very little. I had to get up and do the things that my mentors and role models were suggesting.

Then I had to do them again! Whatever change that I was trying to make I had to consciously repeat the desired thought process and behaviours until they were ingrained in my psyche and became part of who I am. If you wait until ‘the time is right’ you will be waiting forever.

The longer that you find yourself in that ‘preparation stage’ the more reasons you will find to not actually start. Make mistakes, and then readjust. Develop the skills that you need as you need them and you will get better, faster. Move through life exactly as you want to. If someone tries to tell you that your goal of starting a multi-million dollar business from nothing is crazy; let them think that and realize that it doesn’t matter what they think.

The important thing is what YOU think. When I told the doctor I was going to cure myself of asthma and he said it wasn’t possible I just said ‘thank you for your opinion’ and cured myself anyway.

The successful people that I have met and studied all invested their money in something. Usually they start out by investing money in themselves and then they invest their money into things that will make them a passive income in the future. Once you have set your sights on great achievement and making a difference in this world it becomes apparent that this is going to take a lot of energy and there is no real time for ‘Sick Days’. Fuel and maintain your body to the extent where you feel energised every day. Give yourself 90% life giving, energy producing, healthy foods and allow the remaining 10% to be ‘treats’. It is vital that you don’t get this the wrong way around. If you lose your health, there isn’t much left. This is by no means an exhaustive list and when I have children I will be mentoring them and teaching them many lessons to the best of my ability as each year passes. However, these are the 9 lessons that came to mind when I was thinking about some crucial thoughts that I’d love to pass on to them before they leave school. What lessons would you like to teach your children or what have you taught them already? Share with us below.

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