1. Build something that’s uniquely yours.

It can be a skill, a business, a blog. It can be a social media following, a strong group of friends. It can even be a house (if you know how to build those).

Nothing is more rewarding in life than creating something that is entirely your own. It will take work, but you’ll be better off in the long run for it.

2. Run towards the hard things in life.

A surefire way to be successful is to work on what is hard. It may be doing the project at work that nobody else wants, it may be picking the major in college that requires extra work, or learning a new skill to stay relevant in your industry.

If it’s hard, you’ll have less competition. Life becomes a lot easier without competition.

3. Nobody knows anything for certain.

People will give you advice based on their own experiences (in fact, that’s what I’m doing now). Take all of it with a grain of salt. Do not ever listen to anybody who says “You’ll be successful if you follow this path”. Just because something worked for them does not mean that it will work for you.

Listen to those who teach you how to think, not those who tell you what to do.

4. Become multi-faceted.

For my entire life my sport was my identity. It was why I went to college and it was what I sunk my heart and soul into.

I’ll always remember during the final round of an interview when I was asked the question “So, do you do anything else besides sailing?”. I did not have an answer and I did not get the job.

You are the sum of many parts. Make all of those parts unique and make sure they count.

5. Everything you do is a tiny vote for who you are.

Life is the sum of the tiny decisions and actions we take every single day.

It’s easy to discount them in the short run, but over time they will begin to add up.

Whenever I add something to my schedule now I think “Is this helping you become the person you want to be?”.