#3. Life takes from you everything it gives to you.
My grandfather always had a kind words for me when he saw me sad.
Since I was a child, I always saw in him a role model: a self-made man with a large and happy family who had overcome years of civil war and decades of military dictatorship.
But reaching the end of his life, I remember a talk in which he told me three truths as bitter as necessary to never trust in good times because, as my grandfather said, “good luck does not last forever.”
And now that we live in such turbulent times, I decided to share these three brutal truths in case they can help you.
1. You are not indispensable.
As my grandfather used to say, “One king dies, another takes his place.”
No one is indispensable, and it is good that this is so. Otherwise, the consequences would be terrible.
Imagine if there was only one person for you. If the relationship ended, you wouldn’t have the chance to fall in love again.
Imagine there was only one good boss in the world. If you got fired, all the jobs you would get would be horrible.
I remember my grandfather saying something to me about this that blew my mind,
“It’s hard to face that you’re not indispensable. It’s even harder to face that someone else can take your place and even do it better than you. But that also means that you can replace someone else. You can quit your job, start a business on your own, and do better than your boss and make more money than you’re making. Because when your boss pays you 5k a month, he’s making like 50k a month because of you.”
That stuck in my head: If your boss pays you, X, it’s because he’s making 10X thanks to you.
Lesson: You already earn someone ten times more than you charge. Therefore you are worth ten times more than you think you are.
(Don’t forget this because it changes everything).
2. The only people who don’t have problems are the dead.
My grandfather always said complaining was the worst way to spend time when you have problems.
I listen to him as I write, “Son, don’t complain about what you can’t change. And get off your ass: make the money rain :-).”
My grandfather had a very special mantra, “Keep going.”.
- “That your company stops paying you what you deserve, get another job or start your own company, and move on.”
- “That your partner leaves you, don’t give up; focus on being a good person, and keep moving on. When you least expect it, someone new and better will come into your life.”
The keep-going way of life is a mental attitude that changes your life completely.
Lesson: if you are having a wrong time, stop complaining and start fighting back.
3. Life takes from you everything it gives to you.
My grandfather always reminds me that life doesn’t give you things but lends them to you. And then it takes them away for your sake.
Yes, you read that right, for your good.
For my grandfather, there was nothing worse than conformism. He used to say that he was very grateful for having been born in a village during the famine because, thanks to that, he developed the necessary skills to succeed in life.
For my grandfather, having a comfortable life without setbacks led to decadence.
However, he used to say, “Life’s setbacks force you to learn new things. And learning new things increases your value as a human being.”
Lesson: be grateful for what life gives you, but above all, for what it takes from you because adversity makes you grow. Without setbacks, you would end up bitter and stagnant. And you don’t want that.
A virtual hug
AG
Leave a Reply