30 Things I’ve Learned in 30 Years

Today I turn 30 years old. I’m spending it the best possible way I could think of, I’m in New York for the first time. So I wanted to share a couple of things I’ve learned in the past 30 years.

Not only did I hit a milestone in my life, but this month Hip Hop Makers turned 4 years old which is something to celebrate.

This post isn’t music-related, but there are some things that I wanted to share that I have learned over the years that I hope can help you.

30 Things I’ve Learned

1. Know what you want in life, write it out in detail, and go for it. Without a plan, you won’t know where you’re going in life.
2. Believe in yourself, even when others don’t. Prove your haters wrong.
3. Don’t blame others for your failures. Accept responsibility and improve.
4. Treat your body like a temple. Good health is essential for good energy, focus, and feeling good. Odds are that you won’t really have money to do the things you want until your older. So you want to make sure your fit to enjoy it.
5. Ideas without action are worthless.
6. There will never be a perfect time to start something, so start right now.
7. Time is your most valuable asset. Spend it wisely.
8. Don’t judge others. You don’t know their life experiences, and what they have been through.
9. Complaining and not doing anything to fix it, doesn’t solve your problems.
10. Decide today to be the best you, you can be, and follow through with it.
11. Choose to be happy. It can be as simple as you choosing to be happy. Don’t expect it to come from people, material things, or anyone but yourself.
12. Be open-minded. Experience something, then make judgments. By being closed-minded, you will miss out on a lot.
13. Let go of past regrets. You can’t change yesterday.
14. Work smarter, not harder. But do work hard.
15. Don’t be afraid of failing. Be afraid of not giving yourself the chance to succeed.
16. Find reasons to smile, things can always be worse.
17. Don’t stress over things you can’t control.
18. Don’t worry about what others are doing or have accomplished. Only compete with yourself to be your best.
19. You will end up regretting the things you did NOT do far more than the things you did. Take a chance.
20. Never get comfortable. Being comfortable will make you lazy.
21. Don’t surround yourself around negative people. It will make you negative.
22. Don’t confuse being busy with being productive. Spending hours on unimportant stuff is still wasted time.
23. Have goals, plans, and track progress.
24. Failure is only a failure when you give up.
25. Find role models and learn from them.
26. Never stop learning. Never think you know it all.
27. Don’t let others control how you feel about yourself. You are great!
28. Good things do not come overnight.
29. Don’t depend on luck. Depend on your work ethic and drive to get you where you want.
30. Lastly… love yourself. Give yourself the best possible life, best health, best friends, and everything else you desire. You deserve everything you are willing to work for.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the support over the last 4 years.

3/16 Update: Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes.

Related: How to Set Goals and Achieve Them