Advice to My Younger Self (I'd Be Further Ahead If I Knew This)

These are the lessons I wish someone had forced me to hear earlier.

After building businesses, making money, losing money, navigating relationships, and figuring out who I actually am... if I could go back and have a conversation with my younger self, this is what I would tell her.

From learning to trust yourself when nothing makes sense, to the moment I genuinely didn't think I was getting out alive — this is the raw, unfiltered truth about what I'd do differently.

In this episode of How Dare You, I'm sitting down with my younger self and telling her everything I wish someone had forced me to hear earlier. From building businesses and losing money, to the moment I genuinely didn't think I was getting out alive — this is the raw, unfiltered version of what I'd say if I could go back.

If this one hits, share it with someone who needs to hear it, leave a review, or message me on Instagram @heyannarogers — I'd love to know what landed for you.

We'll dive into:

• The advice I wish someone had forced me to hear earlier
• Why you don't lack clarity — you lack self-trust
• The moment I didn't think I was getting out alive... and how it changed everything
• What "outgrowing" actually looks like when it's happening to you
• Why trusting yourself before you have proof is the hardest and most important thing you'll ever do

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I'm 38, and I often think that at 38 years old, I feel like I should have everything figured out. You know, when I was a lot younger, when I would hear that someone was 38 years old, I'd be like, damn, that is old. And I always thought that at this age, people were sensible, had everything together. And it really is a funny feeling when you reach this age and you realize that everyone was actually just in the same boat. Everyone is just figuring things out. No matter how old you are, no matter how successful you seem, everyone is simply living life and just figuring shit out. I'm Anna, and I decided to start creating these YouTube videos. Now I'm usually on Instagram, that's where I create content, but I decided to challenge myself for 30 days to create a video every single day. And I wake up every single day questioning my sanity, but here we are. And the reason why I decided to start filming these videos is I wanted to get better at producing long-term, long-form content and just speaking, sharing my heart, sharing what's on my mind, sharing the things that I'm navigating. And today I woke up just feeling a little bit retrospective. And what do I mean by that? I feel like I'm just in a mood that's just like, where am I in my life? What have I accomplished? Where am I going? And it's really interesting because I do these exercises where I write down different things that, you know, different journal questions. And one of my journal entries today was, what were some lessons that you wish you knew when you were younger? And so I decided to do a video on that. And so I have my journal over here, and I just decided to like jot a couple of things down. And the first thing that I wrote is not everyone is meant to stay. And this is something that I wish I understood from the very beginning, because this would have saved me a lot of time, effort, heartache. You know, when I was younger, I thought that my friends, the people that I was around, they were going to be, we were going to be friends forever. We were going to be friends for life. And so I had invested a lot into these relationships. And when we started drifting apart, different interests, we were living living in different areas, it tore my heart. And a part of me was really upset about this. But then at the same time, I wish I could go back and tell myself that not everyone is meant to stay, which means that you get to show up in your friendships in a beautiful way, in a way where you are making the most out of it. You're you're thinking it from it from the lens of what can I learn from this person today? What can I absorb from this person today? How can I contribute and make this person's day so much better? And I think also, you know, this might be a me thing because of the lifestyle that I live. I have a very transient lifestyle. I haven't lived in one place for the last 11 years. And so with that comes this season of you're finding your people and you're moving. And I have, I'm just so fortunate enough to have friends from different parts of the world. But in the beginning, I thought that everyone was meant to stay, which meant that I stayed in relationships and in friendships longer than I should have. I was too scared to let go because I was just like, but these are my friends. But as you grow older, you will find your new friends, you will find people who have the same values as you, people who want the same things, who have the same ambition. And so you are curating your circle based on where you want to go. I saw this really cool video, and it was saying, um, I think it was like ticking clocks. And so at a certain point, the vibrations of ticking clocks, if you put loads of them together, at some point they will start sinking. And I was just like, oh, this is exactly the same thing with your friendship with who you surround yourself with. You are the sum of the people that you surround yourself with. And so you're, if you're an entrepreneur and you want to grow a big business, make sure that you're surrounding yourself with people who are going to where you want to go. Because what was happening with me is I had a couple of friendships who were placing a ceiling on what I was capable of. I had a couple of even relationships who was just like, oh, that's impossible. That normal people don't do that. And I think I let myself believe that for a very long time. And I wish that I realized that no, some people come into your life for certain seasons, and your job is to make the most out of that, enjoy the heck out of that season, and then try to find what did I learned from this person? And when a relationship, a friendship has run its course, let go. And I think that's one of the most powerful things that you can do to make sure that you're constantly surrounding yourself with people who are in the right trajectory. Another thing that I wrote down is trust. Trust yourself. This was something that I wish I figured I figured out sooner. You know, what I realized is as a society, women, us women, we are not taught how to trust our voice. We are not taught how to trust our instincts, our gut. You know, it as early as when we are children, we're just like, oh yeah, ask the teacher or ask your classmates, ask your friends, ask your parents, versus like, what do you think? What do you feel? Does this sound right? And this is one of the reasons why self-trust is such an underrated skill, because we're not taught it. And so during situations where our back is against the wall, we outsource our power, we outsource our agency to others. For me, one of the most insane stories where I have really had to trust myself was a life and death situation. And it's really crazy how you get to those points where you need a life-and-death situation to figure out that you are strong and you were powerful and you could trust yourself and you can trust your own voice. When sometimes your back will be against the wall and you have no other option but to listen to your voice, then you discover how powerful you truly are. And so for me, this is gonna sound crazy, but I would warn you that I have lived a crazy life. I have lived a very crazy life. I have lived enough lifetimes for multiple people. And so when I was probably in my early 20s, I think I was maybe about 25. This was before I met Tom, right before I met Tom. And I was scuba diving in the Philippines. I had just gotten certified. I was traveling around the Philippines. I was backpacking by myself, and a friend of a friend recommended this dive school. And he was just like, oh yeah, he'll take you to one of the shipwrecks. Because in the Philippines, in this particular area in Palawan, there are like World War II shipwrecks that you can scuba dive through. Super cool, very, very amazing. And so I reached out, and this British guy, who is a friend of a friend, owned a dive school. And so we were messaging in WhatsApp, and I was just like, hey, you know, I want to do this wreck dive. He's like, cool, let me take you. I'll pick you up tomorrow at like 7:30. I'm like, okay. He picks me up, and he has all the gear in the boat, and we go and take the boat and we go out to sea. And it was a beautiful day. You could see straight in, and the visibility was awesome. So I was really excited. And as soon as we get down, I was kicking, I was kicking, and then all of a sudden I got a whoosh, and this like current kind of knocks me off path. And I look around and I was like, oh, there's this really strong current here. And then as I was kicking, one of my fins slipped. And if you've ever been scuba diving, your fins is what literally helps you go anywhere, right? Without it, it's like you can't navigate. And so I was kind of panicking and I was like trying to put my fin back. And finally, I was able to get it back. And then I kick really hard to like catch up with a guy. And so it was only just the two of us scuba diving. And when we get down, this wreck comes into view and it's beautiful, but also really, really scary. Imagine this huge World War II shipwreck. It was huge. And it was really kind of dark and gloomy, and it had its like metal rusted poles and beams. And I was just like, wow, this is amazing. And then as we were about to swim around the wreck, we were reaching the corner. All of a sudden, another current just hits me. And this time my fin like slips again. And I'm looking around, I'm kind of panicking because it's really hard to put your own fin back. And so I'm going like this, and my bubbles was going like that. And I was just like, okay, calm down. I can't put it back. Let me ask for help. And I start looking for the guy and I can't find him. And I am down 30 feet below water. And I can't see him. The dive instructor had left me. And so I was on my own in this shipwreck. My fin was not working. And I start hyperventilating. I start panicking. Another current pushes me in. And this time it like kind of pulls me towards the wreck. So now I'm like, this is the entrance of the ship. There's like lots of different holes. And so I'm like in one already. And so I start panicking. And I reach out and I grab something to try to pull me out of the wreck and out of the way, way of the current. I wasn't thinking. And what I held on to was a rusty part of the ship. And I sliced my hand open. And so there I was, bleeding underwater by myself inside a World War II shipwreck. And in that moment, I knew I had a choice. Do I sink? Do I panic? Do I run out of air because I can't compose myself? Am I going to bleed to death? Are there sharks coming? Like every worst case scenario was going through my head. But there was also a voice inside of me that started going, just trust. It's like, and I started saying this mantra over and over again. Started saying, you know what to do, you got this. You know what to do, you got this. And I just kept repeating that over and over again until I calmed myself down. I was able to put the fin back. And then I was able to swim out of the ship. By this point, the dive guy still isn't there. And I was just like, okay, you got this. You know what to do. Just trust yourself. And then slowly I walked myself through everything that I learned during the dive course that I had just completed. I was a newbie diver. And so I was like, okay, I'm going to ascend by myself. And so I start ascending. And then the voice of my German teacher, my German dive instructor, she was just like, do not ascend and just go straight up. You're going to get the bends. If you've never heard of the bends, the bends is literally when oxygen goes inside your blood vessels and you get organ failure, you can die, hallucinations, like it is bad. And so even though every single part of my body wanted to go up and get air and wanted to get the fuck out of there, I forced myself to calm down. I forced myself to do a compression stop, which is what you're supposed to do, like a safety stop when you're diving. And I just kept thinking to myself, you got this, you got this, you got this. And this was a lifeline that I repeated to myself over and over again. And I realized that that is probably going to be a lifeline that I will repeat to myself over and over again, no matter where I am. Because that moment showed me that when I have my back against the wall, when I am literally and figuratively drowning, I always have my own back. I can always get myself out of any situation because I trust myself. And when I was thinking about this story, I was just like, I wish I didn't have to learn that the hard way. Obviously, it's a great story to tell now because I got out of it. I was terrified after. I was literally in shock, puking everything by the time the boatman found me. But I wish I knew this about myself. I wish I knew how strong I truly was. I wish I knew that I was capable and I don't need to panic and I don't need to rely on other people because I can take care of myself. And I'm looking back at different situations in my life where that commanded trust, that needed trust, but I didn't. And so I outsourced my agency. I outsourced my decision to other people. And so if I could go back now, that's one thing I would 100% say to myself. Learn to trust yourself because you always have it. You've always got your own back. And if you're watching this, I hope you don't ever have to A, be in a life and death situation in a World War II shipwreck, which I highly doubt you would. But I also hope that you don't ever feel like your back is against a wall and you feel like you can't trust yourself. And I want you to know that no matter what situation you are in, just repeat those words. You've got this, you can do it. You got this, trust yourself. And if you, even if you get that mantra from me, use it, just keep repeating it. And soon, you'll find that it will happen because there is power in words. Words are so powerful. And so if you're constantly affirming yourself that you got this, you got this, you can do anything, anything that you want is possible. You will achieve that, you will get that. And so learning how to trust myself was something that I wish I discovered a lot sooner. Um, the third lesson is learn how money actually works. I spent so long, A, fearing money, because I grew up in a household where money was always something that you had to work hard for, or money was always something that you had to save and scrimp and, you know, like bundle up in a pocket and store it. But I wish I learned how it worked. I wish I learned that money, yes, money doesn't grow on trees, which is ironic because it's printed on paper. But I wish I learned that money doesn't grow on trees, but it also doesn't require you to kill yourself. It also doesn't require you to hustle all the time. Because I think growing up, one of my understandings about money was that I had to work extremely, extremely hard for it. And if I didn't, then it would feel like I didn't deserve it. Which I know opens up an entire can of worms around like earning your worth, right? And I wish I knew that I didn't have to earn anything and that money, if you truly understand the energetics of money, money can flow to you. Money can, I want you to imagine as if you are opening a tap. Every time you open a tap, you expect water to come out, right? But money, if you truly understand the energetics of money, it is the exact same way. You can open a tap and money and abundance will come through. But this largely depends on your energy around money, on how you treat money, how you view money. If you're constantly just saving it and hoarding it versus circulating it and trusting that it will come back to you, that is real abundance. Also, knowing how to make money and keep your money are two different things. And so a lot of the time when I grew up, I thought that the only way to make money was just to keep saving and saving and saving, and that's how you get wealthy. And I realized that's not how you get wealthy. It's learning skills that will pay you well. It is learning how to invest your money so that your money is constantly making money for you. So we are currently here in our villa in Bali. And I actually messaged Tom today because we're leaving and we are traveling for a couple of months. And while we're gone, we're renting this apartment, this house, this villa. It's a huge two-bedroom villa with a pool, barbecue area, it's gorgeous. And we're renting it. And then I just messaged Tom. I was just like, I think we just got a booking for 15 grand. And so we were looking at it and we're just like, whoa, that's so cool. Like you have assets that are making money for you. And that's because we understand that wealth is made not just by accumulating, not just by saving, but by actually investing in assets. And the best investments that we've ever made, the best assets that we've ever invested in is ourselves. I think Alex Hermozy says this. He was just like, rather than investing in the SP 500, invest in the SP. I'm totally butchering this. This is something like SPU university. I don't know. Basically, it's like invest in yourself. I'm butchered that. But he was saying he was just like, you are your own best investment. And so the reason why we are able to build multiple companies, the reason why we are able to sell a company, the reason why we were able to charge multiple five, six figures for clients is because we have scaled up over the last decade and have valuable skills that people are willing to pay money for. And so, with you, I want you to think how does what are my beliefs around money that is not actually serving me and not actually helping me get to where I want to go? And then it's how can I increase the money-making skills that I get paid for? And as soon as you grab this, you will see that money will start flowing through you because A, you now have a skill that people are willing to pay money for. Like Tom, one of the things that I love about Tom, and one of the things that I'm so impressed by him is the fact that he's always skilling up. I think it was three, four years ago he taught himself how to code. He became a full stack developer. He's an entrepreneur, he owned multiple businesses. He did not mean to do that, and yet he knew that it would be a valuable skill. Right now, that skill is coming into play as he is working with AI and coding different things to be able to grow our multiple companies. So he has like an AI assistant in his. He has like a claw bot, and this assistant is literally booking our travels, it's finding our Airbnbs, it's keeping track and making sure he's on his goal, it's coding certain projects, it's like doing everything. So he literally, before Tom goes to sleep, he's like talking to this robot, to this AI agent, and he's giving it tasks. The AI agent wakes up the next day and it's all done. And it is crazy and it is incredible and it is terrifying all at the same time. We'll probably do an episode around AI and how that's changing entrepreneurship. But the the interesting thing about that is the only reason why he's able to do that and he's able to stay ahead of the curve is because he taught himself skills that is going to be highly paid. And so we When I graduated with my degree, I had a degree in education. And then I was like, okay, I'm going to get a master's degree. But at the time, I was so limited to what I thought was possible. My dream was to graduate, to get a job at an international school, get my master's degree so that I could teach in an international school. That was literally like I had international school expat friends who were making$4,000 a month. And I thought that was a ton of money. And I was just like, oh my God, if I could only become an international school teacher, that would be the pinnacle of what I thought would ever be possible. Which is crazy. Which is so crazy when you think about it, of how dependent your dreams and your aspirations truly are by your environment and what you believe is possible. If I had never stepped into the world of entrepreneurship, if I had never discovered that you can make millions, millions from your mind, from your creativity, from the things that you think about, I don't even know where my life would be. I would be still working in a school, tired, overworked, underpaid, probably miserable. And it's only because I skilled up, it's only because I started understanding the energetics of money and how money is ultimately a resource that you can make. Now, my other point is I wanted to relate this to it, is be unapologetic about making money. I think when I first started, I shied away from this because I was taught that wanting money was evil, that wanting money was greedy, that you asking for more money meant that you were not contented with your life. I put up a post the other day, I was just like, can we all normalize being wildly, being hungry, but also being really content with what you have? It's like you're grateful for what you have, but you want more, and that's okay. Because when we shy away from money and we are not boldly proclaiming it that I want to make more money, that I want to become wealthy, I want to become rich, when we are not using those terminologies and acting as if, then there's a disconnect between how we are showing up and the intentions that we are putting out in the world. Because if you say you're like, yeah, I want money, but you're secretly hiding it, you're not selling your offers, you're self-sabotaging because behind the scenes you are scared. You're scared that actually will more money change me? Will it change my relationship? Will it change my dynamic with my partner? But wanting more money is probably one of the most, actually, no, saying you want more money is probably one of the most liberating things that you can do because finally you're honest with yourself. You know, I was taught that people who are really, really rich are they work so hard and they don't have time for their families. They are either bad people, they're greedy. Like that was what I grew up with. And I've had to unlearn a lot of my money beliefs in order to really get to where I am right now. Do I still struggle with money beliefs? 100%. I still feel the same scarcity wounds, issues, thoughts. You know, I told Tom, I was just like, this isn't rational. And we have this relationship. We have a beautiful relationship where we can say to each other, this is not a rational thought, but this is how I'm feeling. And you can express that from a place of zero judgment. And so I was telling Tom, I was just like, I know we're good. I am, we're good. Like, this is the most money we've ever had. Businesses are popping. We're not having to make decisions based on I need this to work or this business idea. Like we're not, we're operating from a long-term game. We are making moves based on our five, 10-year plan and not for immediate cash, which is a beautiful place to be. I told Tom, this is not going to make logical sense, but every time we are about to travel and do all of these things, I experience this contraction where I get my scarcity wounds come up a little bit. And he goes, I get that. He goes, like, when you see that we're booking, you know, travels that are 10 grand, 15 grand, and flights are eight grand, like that adds up. And I go, okay. And as soon as we were able to have that conversation, I realized that these are just my old patterns trying to hold me back. These are my old patterns that are saying, hey, oh my God, you could go back to the Philippines making$1,000 a month and you know, being so tired and overworked and this. But I have to remind myself that I have built this life from scratch. I now have the skills. And so even if we lost everything, it's not really going to be everything because I have the skills and the knowledge to make money back over and over again. And in fact, we have reached points where we have lost money. We have reached points where we've lost a F ton of money. And what we found out from that is we are able, we are capable, we can make money back again. It's not the end of the world. And so I know that we will never regret traveling, we'll never regret spending time with friends. So right now we are planning our trip and we're literally speaking all over the US. I'm attending a retreat in Malibu. Um, I'm visiting my sister. Tom's doing like a mastermind in the mountains. Um, we're going to a wedding in Puerto Rico. And so there's loads of different things that we're doing. And I was like, I know we're never gonna regret this. And so money and wanting to make money is something that I wish I understood way, way back when I was younger. It would have saved me a lot of years of years of just like clenching and holding on and thinking that I had to make it work versus thinking in the long terms. And this is something that I'm so happy that we're able to do right now because I know a lot of people are operating in their business based on how do I make money now and they're thinking of short-term solutions versus thinking how do I actually grow a company that in five, 10 years I'm still obsessed with? What are the things that I can do now that will lead me there and how can I move from that place? And I realized that wanting more money is not bad at all. And normalizing that, which is why I'm so grateful for the internet. It's like we are able to listen to people who have an expanded point of view. We are able to listen to people who think bigger and we get to normalize these big crazy goals that we thought we had and we made, we were made to feel wrong for. And so a lot of the times, you know, especially for me growing up, it's like when I would say I want to make money, I want to be rich, it's just like, oh, only greedy people are rich. And now it's like I want to be rich, not because I want the designer handbags or this. Yes, I love flying business first class. Yes, 100%. I want to make money for that, but also because of the impact that you're able to make. I think I was listening to Alex and Layla Hermosy, and Layla was the same way in the beginning. She was just like, yeah, I don't really want money. I just want to help people. And Alex was just like, well, don't you think you can help more people if you had more money? And she was just like, damn, but it's so true. We think that we are just of service because and we shy away from the fact that we want money and we are afraid that people will judge us for it. When if your heart is good and money in the hands of good people, if you honestly believe this, then attract more abundance in your life and you'll be able to make the impact that you actually want to make. Another thing that I wrote here is do it scared. I realized that I spent a lot of my time when I was younger in my head. I would calculate the plans. I would try to make sure that I had everything planned out, mapped out. And feeling scared, I would take that as a sign that something wasn't aligned. I would take that as a sign as, yeah, maybe you shouldn't do it. But actually, the best things that I have ever done in my life are when I did it scared. It is when I decided to go back to Vietnam after my, I feel like I just have so many like accidents that have led into these like big life revelations. So this was actually before I met Tom. I was in Vietnam and I had just finished traveling all over Europe. I traveled all over the US by myself, and I had just got to Asia and I was staying with a friend of mine, and the plan was I was gonna spend like three nights with her, and then I was gonna start my backpacking journey all over Southeast Asia. On my first or second night there, we went out for food and then we went back to her apartment. She was working there as a teacher. Went back to her apartment and I ran upstairs to take a shower before bed. And I pulled a glass shower door, and before I knew it, the entire shower door had fallen on me and shattered all over me. I have 21 stitches all over my hands, my arms, everywhere because of this accident. And I was rushed to the ER. I was forced to cancel my entire Southeast Asia trip, and I had to go back home to the Philippines. But what that taught me is to do it scared because shortly after, I think it was maybe four months after, I decided to book a flight back to Vietnam to finish what I started against everyone's advice. Everyone around me, they were just like, don't do it. You've already seen what happened to you. Like, take this as a sign. It's time to go back to the real world. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The advice was endless. I went back. And on my third day in the country, that's where I met Tom. And so the most beautiful things I have in my life right now are because of the moments where I was scared, where I felt fear and yet I pushed through. Where I felt, oh my gosh, I don't know if I can do this, and yet I'm pushing through. And that is true for everything. When I first decided to speak on stages, I said yes, even though I was terrified. I was terrified. And if you know a little bit about my backstory, I would literally be on Zoom calls just like this and coaching calls where I would join different masterminds. When I first got into the space, I would be so terrified that I would have to write my question down so that I didn't forget my question. And then a couple of years later, I'm on stage speaking in front of a thousand women. This is what it means to live in congruence to the things that you say you want. And I say this all the time, but so many people say that they want the thing, but they're not actually willing to do the thing. People say, I want the big business. I'm like, okay, great. What are you willing to do to make that big business happen? What are you willing to actually do? And so for me, I was willing to do it scared. When I left to travel by myself, when I left to go back to Vietnam, when I spoke on stage, when I even decided to write my book, the first thought that came in my mind was just like, can you actually do this? Who do you think you are? How dare you? Which is, by the way, the title of my book. Shameless plug. But it's true. It's like there are fear is always going to be there. But how do you get over fear? You do the action anyways. You jump in headfirst. You commit and go, okay, I'm gonna do it scared. Because the only thing that is the only way to get over fear is through action. It's not bravery, it's through action. A lot of the times people think that, okay, for me to get over fear, I need to be brave. I need to be courageous. I'm like, no, you need to take action because the action will result to you feeling brave, because the more action you take, the braver you become. And soon you'll know that actually I don't need to, fear will always be there. And that's some common misconception. People think that when you reach a certain level in your business in your life, when you have so much money, like fear stops. I'm like, no, I wish it was that convenient. At every single level, fear has been there to meet me. But at every single level, I've pushed myself to the edges of my own expansion. And I go, okay, how much bigger can we go? I'm feeling really scared, but I know that this is helping me get to the direction of where I want to go. And so we confuse fear with I need to be brave so that I can do this big hard thing when actually you just need to take the first step. You just need to take action, take that first step, and that will start compounding and will start resulting into bravery and confidence and skill and mastery. And so fear never disappears. And so it is up to you to decide what I am going to do with that fear? Am I going to push through? Am I going to actually do the thing that I say I want and take the actions towards that? Or am I going to shy away because I'm scared that people will judge me? Am I going to play small because everyone around me is playing small? Am I going to not actually go for my dreams because of X, Y, and Z? And X, Y, and Z can be so many things. People's judgments, my family, what will other people think? Um, this relationship, what if I fail? Like the whole spectrum of things, right? And I realized that fear will never disappear. It's just up to us to act in spite of the fear, in spite of the doubts, and in spite of the voices in our head that is saying you can't. And then the last lesson that I have is to really understand that you should not let other people decide where you are going. This was something that I wish I knew when I was younger. I wish I knew when I was younger that not everyone will understand where you are going and not to take advice from people who aren't where you want to go. I think that's another like that was another thing. But I started taking risks when I started, you know, my company, when I started like doing all of the big scary things, I had so many voices in my ear from people who meant well. People who meant well, people who were just trying to protect you and keep you safe, but actually they don't understand. And so this is one of the reasons why I never take advice from people whose life I do not want, who don't have the marriage that I want. Like I see sometimes people trying to give me marriage advice, and I'm just like, you've only been together for a year, or you just met, and I actually see how toxic your relationship is. Like, why would you take advice from that? I am so discerning about who I take advice from when it comes to mentorship, when it comes to relationships, when it comes to my circle of friends. Like, I am, I have reached a point in my life where I'm just brutal. I am brutal when it comes to my energy, my peace, um, who I let in. We actually have a good set of friends and they've taken it to another level. And I'm actually really impressed by this. They were just like, we do, they don't even listen to like rap music. And I was like, oh, why? And they're just like, well, if you listen to the actual lyrics, you know that it's not actually helping you to get to where you want to go. And it's you're absorbing these messages subliminally. And I'm just like, damn, that's really cool. And so if you have people in your life that are saying, I don't think you can do that, or are saying that that's too risky, why don't you just go back and get a normal job, or why don't you do this? Like, if these people don't have the life that you want, don't listen to them. You are not obligated to listen to them. And I wish I knew this. Oh my God, I wish I knew this sooner. Because if I did, I would probably get to where I am right now a lot faster. I would probably be a lot more successful. I'd also probably be a lot happier because I spent so long listening to other people and let their fears and their doubts be my ceiling. Because most of the time they're not necessarily questioning you. They are actually just questioning the ceilings that they have placed in themselves. Other people's limitations are projected onto other people who are actually going for it. I say this all the time. I'm just like people have so much to say when they are not even in the arena, when they don't even have skin in the game. Can you imagine? Like, you don't have skin in the game, and yet you are commentating because that's what they are doing. They are commentating on other people's lives, saying, that's too scary. You shouldn't do that. Oh, don't definitely don't do that. They are commentating and they're sitting on their they're sitting on the sidelines, commentating, eating popcorn. Meanwhile, you are inside the arena and you need to be willing to actually stick it out because you know that is the only way to get to the other side. And you know that blinders on, earmuffs in your ears, push away everyone else's opinions and go, all right, let's go. That's the only way to get to the other side. But in my younger years, I was inside the arena, I was willing to get punched, but I was getting pulled. I was getting pulled to the commentator section and going, one person was like, oh, you should do this. And I go, get pulled to the other side, oh, you should do this, rather than just staying in my lane. Rather than just trusting myself, rather than taking advice from people who are where I want to go. So they're already there and they're going, looking back and say, hey, it's this way. This is what I recommend you do. And then I would trust them because they're, they've done it, they've walked a talk versus people who are sitting on the sidelines who don't even know what it's like to put themselves in the arena. And so, because of this, I've actually cut out friendships. I've stopped hanging out with people when I feel like they are letting their own judgment cloud what is actually possible, not just for them, but for other people as well. And I don't like this as a quality. This is a quality that turns me off massively. It is when other people, when they let their life circumstances cap what they believe is possible for other people. For their life, okay, fine. It's their life, but don't put that shit on me. I was just like, that's not what I want for my life. And you need to be so discerning about who you let into your circle, who you let into your thoughts, who you let into your everyday conversations, because this will determine whether you will succeed or not. And so I hope you enjoyed this video. Honestly, it started as a journal prompt. It started as a journal prompt, and I love talking about this. If I could go back and write myself a letter, I would. I would put all of these notes into a letter and life lessons. And I wish I could tell myself, my younger self, that everything was gonna be okay. Trust yourself. Money isn't something that you have to earn. But it's also something that you have to learn to respect. Who you surround yourself with matters. And so knowing all these things now would have probably saved me so much time, so much effort, so much heartache. And so I hope you're listening to this from the lens of how can I apply this to my life? Because it's easy to watch a YouTube video and easy to let things kind of go inside our ears, but actually thinking, okay, this was really cool. That was interesting. Even if you get just one thing, even if you get just one thing from this video, but I want you to think, how can I apply this to my life today? How can I actually apply this to my life today and start seeing results and start adding this to my life so that I can save myself the years of effort and heartache and all of the things? So if you enjoyed this, comment, comment something. Like I want you to comment below what is one lesson you wish you knew when you were younger.