Here’s a photo of this amazing piece that two of the young healers I mentor brought me from a recent trip to Greece. I have always loved these glass eye pieces. The eye of wisdom that sees far!
I had a long long loooong conversation with a new young one the other day about “the long game.” This one is going to win, just like my other young ones, if I have anything to do with it, and I have a lot to do with it. I’m already marinating ideas about mentorship and career guidance from the ones who came before who are all KILLING it now.
So this young, very young person was asking me about how, as someone who came from poverty like they do, I think about the future. How do I plan. How do I find a pathway in these times. What do I think success is based on now, in a post COVID world.
I told this kiddo, “I’m going to give you a very non American answer on this and I’m telling you that upfront. I think that Americans are not particularly well equipped for long term success based on a bunch of factors in this culture that I am going to outline for you. So I’m going to give you the answer from a place of people who were oppressed for decades, fought for decades, and then won their own lives and country back and rebuilt from rubble.
“Everything in life that is worth having is a long game. It happens in increments. Career. Education. Health. Amazing relationships. Societal freedom. Human rights. Nothing happens all at once. The biggest problems Americans have is being impatient and not seeing the long game, or throwing the long game away because of one short term factor instead of sitting with it and becoming creative about how to make it happen.
“As a career/entrepreneur mentor I have seen SO MANY PEOPLE throw away amazing long term games for short term reasons. This is a really American problem and it’s why so many small businesses in America fail. It’s also why so many relationships fail. People get obsessed with ONE thing that they think won’t work and toss out the whole thing instead of looking at the balance of the whole picture and getting creative. Or they get reactive to one factor and fail to calm themselves TF down to get the big picture.
“The key here is balance. The key here is adaptability. The key here is to look at ALL the elements, ALL the time, and that’s a very Vietnamese thing. Also the foundation has to be strong. You need to take care of your health, your fitness, your mental game, every day as the priority in order to MAINTAIN success. Most people in this country think that success is something you simply attain and then that’s it. It is not. You have to do what it takes to maintain it, whether it’s a relationship, a business, a career, a family, or whatever else.
“You can lose success so decide right now, as a young person, that you won’t. You have the work ethic and the grit from your immigrant family. You have the experience of poverty to teach you humility and determination. You have everything you need and I will help you put it to use. You will win. Decide you will win, and I will help you.”
That was a really good conversation y’all. The smile I got at the end of saying all that, made my week.