Whether you stay in that 9 to 5 job (you love or hate) or, you leave the daily commuter run behind to break-out on your own, the same universal rules apply.

Life

Whatever path you choose and whoever you are life is still:

Limited to (one) per person. (The jury is still out on this one)

Subject to change without notice

Non-negotiable or transferable

Provided “as is” and without warranties

May incur damages from use or misuse

Available for a limited time only

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Subject to tax and other fees where applicable

*Note: Mileage may vary. Additional parts sold separately. Other as yet unknown restrictions may come into force at any time.

Whose life is it anyway?

Sometimes it is easy to forget. Sadly we often pursue the wrong things in life, for the wrong reasons.

We follow careers we don’t want to because our parents think we should.

We stay in careers we don’t feel passionate about because the pay is good, or there’s a good pension plan, or we are just waiting for the exit strategy to emerge.

We stay in jobs we hate because of misplaced loyalty to a boss that doesn’t care about us and sometimes doesn’t even know we exist.

We stay in jobs that pay badly because jobs are scarce and we’re afraid we won’t get a better one.

We think there is no other way than to keep on doing what we’re doing.

We often work for 8 hours a day, 5, or even 6 days a week at something that makes us miserable: that is no way to live your life.

Buy the ticket, take the ride

I know from experience life holds endless possibilities but you do need to take the first step and sometimes you have to walk against the flow.

Don’t let YOU or others keep YOU from reaching your potential. The plain fact is that life is too short not too.

When I left school at 16 I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life so by default I let others choose for me.

Parents, teachers, friends, bosses even strangers. I drifted through the first five years working in the shipyards, supermarkets, working for the government and working as a labourer in a brick factory. I was on a road to nowhere fast.

The truth is no one knows what you are capable of achieving. As Hunter S. Thompson once said “You have to buy the ticket and take the ride”.

If you don’t take responsibility for your own life you can’t complain about the results.

We are the ancestors of the future

Unfortunately most of us live in the past.

We torture ourselves replaying mistakes we’ve made, arguments we’ve had and opportunities we missed.

Stuck on replay we play out different outcomes in our heads to situations we cannot change.

The past is gone; the future has yet to appear. There is only now

Don’t be left saying ‘if only’.

If you’re in a job you hate or you always wanted to sing in the choir or read your poetry out loud to an audience, you can, with a little imagination and energy, do amazing things whatever your age.

We all have rent, mortgages and responsibilities to family and friends, we can either hold this up as a reason not to follow our dreams or we can use it to inspire us to follow our dreams.

Everything you want in life has a cost and you have to be willing to pay it.

“I would have been a great guitar player if only…..”
“I would have had a successful business if only….”
“I would have been an amazing (?) if only…”

Don’t waste it.

We forget just how precious our time really is.

We often waste it on people who don’t deserve it, don’t appreciate it and sometimes don’t even notice it.

If you think you don’t have what it takes, think again.

Often what stops us is not lack of money, knowledge time or opportunity, it is lack of self-belief.

We create endless obstacles and excuses for ourselves.

Your gonna mess up sometimes, it is a universal truth, but don’t let it stop you from trying.

Whether your 16 or 60 never be afraid to start over again and again. Grab opportunity with both hands and don’t let those chances slip away.

A life lived to the full is full of stories and isn’t that what life is about stories and memories so go and make some.

As the mighty Bob Dylan sang:

“May your hands always be busy. May your feet always be swift. May to have a strong foundation. When the winds of changes shift. May you hearty always be joyful and may your song always be sung. May you stay forever young”.

Go on LIVE your life!