Do not regret your past

It is so common to hear people, even ourselves, saying that "I would do this or that in a different way, if I had the wisdom I have now, some years ago". Maybe all of us have something that would have been done differently, or even not done, at all. Inside this thought I hidden the regret for not being able to see some things how we now thing they should have been saw.

I like so much a story about a guy that entered in a bar, and started talking to other people, and realized that everyone in that bar was him, if he had took a different decision, a different path. If he had study more, if he had stayed with that girl, if he had gotten that job, and so on. In the end, he realizes that he is the best version between all decisions made.

We have to understand that we are better now, wiser now, because of the decisions we made, because of the errors we did. It is not fair with ourselves to hope that we could know before, what we now know, without walking into to the path, winning or losing the challenges, and coming where we are today.

We do not need to regret our past, but be proud to be alive and still up and running. You have to think about the things that you think you went wrong, and compare with you actual position. Are you still going wrong.

If the answer to the last question is yes, I invite you to put your wisdom in practice right now. Maybe you future you will think the same about his past, like we said in the first paragraph, if you do not.

If the answer is not, congratulations! But, whatever path you decide to go from now, get the certainty that is no only the right path and decisions that make you better, but the journey, and what you decide to do with your defeats: to learn and grow, or to be regret and stop to walk.

Start today, even with just one step

These days I have tried consistently to teach my kids to do things right now, no matter how young they think they are. I spent so many years to have the simple understanding about how a journey works. It seems a little silly, and it is, indeed, but you have to start somewhere, and no matter what you do, the finish will come, but it will demand time.

I was watching a documentary about Kobe Bryant this week, and they put a part of his speech, explaining his technique to be better than others. He just worked harder than others, and as the time was passing by, the distance between than would get higher, and at some point would be impossible for them to get him, assuming that he would continue to put the same effort.

Now think about yourself, how I have done in the past years. If you do something harder, with passion, your worst version will not get you easily. On the other hand, if you do nothing for some time, or just not get really committed how you should, your lazy version will, at some point, be so far from what you could have achieved, that you will probably think that it is impossible to get there.

The journey starts with the first step; that is a fact. At some point you gave that first one, and, for any reason, you just stopped. Maybe you never did the first one. And, maybe you could be now thinking, like I said, that it is impossible, that the path now is too long.

Let me share something with you. Some years ago I was in that place. I used to stop in the middle of the day and think: what will I do if I lose this job? I have family, children, bills, and this is all I have. There was no light in the end of the tunnel. And then, while participating in a trading course, I got the question: what is your why? (I am really not sure if the translation is correct). 

After an explanation about how hard the trading journey would be, and that I had to have a good reason not to give up, I did an exercise to right it down. What I wrote is in my Instagram account, as a record. "I want to unfreeze my brain and get realized doing something for myself. I want to work to make my dreams come true and not the others's."

From them until now, I studied trading (not yet succeeded), finance, psychology, the human mind, meditation, and so many other things to get a self knowledge, including, for sure as an significant part, religiosity (It is a relief to the heart to believe in something more than just ourselves). Recently I got back on studying business administration, programming language, networks, security and other tech related things.

This week I was browsing on some job postings of my interest, with the certainty that I am no ready, but I am really closer to what I want, and, among other things, getting the possibility to at least double my earnings. Am I afraid to lose my job today? Not really! I would have some difficulties? Probably, but I did my first step again years ago, and then the second, the third, and I continued moving forward.

If you, my dear reader, is thinking today that you are lost, my advice to you is, "Start today, even with just one step", and keep moving forward. Like myself, you will probably not get the success immediately, but I can guarantee you will get more confidence after each step, and you will begin to see alternatives that seemed to not be there in the beginning.

It is not easy, but it is for sure possible. Keep walking.

The beauty on simplicity!

Sometime ago I heard that every problem has several solutions, and if the one you are in is complicated, probably you are not on the best one. I am finishing watching an ethical hacking class on this Friday, and something similar came on: it is not complicated at all, it is just a sequence of simple tasks, that must be accomplished.

The difficult, so, is not on what must be done, but the path to get the necessary knowledge, that will make you prepared to do things. Maybe that's why some achievements demand so much time to get done, and, for sure, that's why not everyone will get it done.

I saw a movie once, one that I really would love to remember the name to watch again, and there is an old mentor talking to a child in front of the nature. He teaches to the kid that every doubt he would have, could be answered buy looking into the nature and see how things work.

I invite you to make this exercise: look something being done in the nature, something wonderful, and I am sure that it is a sequence of simple minor tasks. Why is this important? How can I use this knowledge to be a better person or better professional?

If we go back to the first paragraph, getting some understanding on how something that needs to be done is done, I can brake it on little projects, that, once executed, will represent a part of the whole objective. Thinking like this, gets away the fear of not being able to do whatever needs to be done, because know we have the certainty that I can do the simple tasks, until the major one gets completed.

The beauty on simplicity is this journey to do the simple, while going forward, and knowing that all things, some impossible ones, just need a different look, into a way that the task will not change, but how we look to than, will make then possible to do.

You can start a blog to write in English, like a did; one single text per week will get you several in months or years (look out my other blogs). You can decide to get a certificate, or a degree, or a house construction; same thing.

Using simplicity, you will understand that some other capabilities will be needed, like patience, perseverance, and probably the search for knowledge, be it on classes, courses, books, videos, and so on.

Simple step, to a long journey, and there goes another text, in one more week. Hope you can benefit from it, like I already did!

Daily practice - must go on

It is really interesting how we can find good things on simple things. Some time ago, before deciding on writing this blog, I realized that I should practice English on two ways: speaking and writing. At that time, my kids were playing with an app, that I must say that sometimes I have looked in a bad way.

So, because of necessity, I decided to give it a try on this Duolingo app. There must be other ones, but this is the one I got. I installed it on my phone, just to see the interface and functionalities, and to evaluate if it could help me with my needs.

Today I am on a fifty five strike on consecutive days training, and, as I commented out days ago with some friends, some days are just 5 minutes exercises, although on others I get a little more time to practice. The good think is the daily practice.

I can use on smartphone or on web, but I get some notifications pushing me on practicing from time to time. The fundamental point of this is not just the app, or a language app, is the steps.

I am sure that is something in your life that you want to improve, be it a professional skill, your relationship, you self steem, or whatever. Why don't you try a single step each day?

It is amazing how what we can accomplish after sometime, with some really little steps from time to time. Read just some pages, walk just some steps, practice just five minutes of English each day, and sooner or later you will be writing with resourcefulness, getting vocabulary, or getting a stronger body, or a meaningful life!

I will not go further on this text. The message is simple, but valuable. I hope you can get and start something, and keep going.

See you on the next one!