Don't Be Me

Blogger's note: Today's blog is posted at both Innovating Common Knowledge and Finding Raymond Mar.

We've been told to like ourselves. Great. There are parts of our lives we dislike. I accept. Here are parts of my life I don't want other people to be. I also share what I'm doing to turn around my dislike to like. Don't live my life I did in my past. I admit today's blog is another "don't make the same mistakes as me" blog. I remind myself as repetition; don't make these mistakes again.

1. Living at home with my parents. I remember reading a college graduating speech saying live with your parents as long as you can. I accepted the bad advice. A person knows the time to move out is when the person becomes an adult. Independence is achieved when a son or daughter moves out of the house. Become independent naturally; however, don't rush being independent. I became an adult too late in my life. I'm a late bloomer. I'm preparing my moving out when my opportunity comes.

2. Unemployed too many times. I worked in Commercial Real Estate for 8.5 years. High job security. Low career advancement. I failed to learn new skills during the 8.5 years. I learned small skills here and there. Those small skills were weak transferrable skills. The best way to minimize unemployment is learn new job skills indefinitely. I learned the lesson in Aug 2014. Job searching is a full time job. I learn new job skills such as Python and Tableau and I review existing job skills such as Excel and SQL when I'm not job searching.

3. Small circle of friends. Call my circle small. Call my circles few. There are too few people in my life. I need more friends. I need more contacts. I said goodbye to some people because I must move on. Some people held me back. Some people and I diverge to different paths. People come and go naturally in our lives. People change as time moves forward. Meet new people continuously. Make new friends continuously.

4. Expand yourself. My mind was closed most of my life when I was introduced to something new or I discovered something new for which I ignored. I opened my mind for the first time in Oct 2008. The world is full of interesting which must be discovered. Keep an open mind when introduced to new hobbies. Hobbies come and go like people. Some hobbies we lose interest naturally. Some hobbies we grow out. Some hobbies we discover new they're better than existing hobbies. Hobbies, interests, experiences, adventures, and people all belong to expand yourself. Get up and do something, anything.

5. Desire more important than knowledge. I was raised to be a smart person. High GPA is important. A's are important. Know everything. Making mistakes mean I'm a stupid person. They're all incorrect. I recently discovered desire or motivation is more important than a high IQ. My desire is the reason I'm learning new skills I never thought I learn which are Python, JavaScript, and CSS. Nobody knows the future. One of these days the new skills help me become successful. Never stop learning. Never stop innovating. Innovating infinitely. The last three sentences are motivating me to learn. Nobody needs to be smart to motivate oneself to be a better person.

Side note: Here's the top mistakes blog I wrote in my Finding Raymond Mar blog titled Top Mistakes The Final Part. Click the label "Top Mistakes" below to read my top mistakes blogs.