Did Reaching 30 Hit You Hard?

It’s April 24th and I’ve just turned 31. (hold on Ross I thought this was about turning 30!)

 

Turning 30 bothered me, but here we are – a full year past that milestone big birthday, out of my 20s and into my 30s – that all-important decade when you’re meant to have everything ‘sorted’. To my relief, I quickly overcame the fear of hitting 30 and not having my life in ‘perfect order’. Instead I actually really enjoyed my first year into my thirties.

 

Throughout these past 12 months, I’ve realised that, while there are no rules to live your life by there are some crucial factors which contribute to living a life full of happiness, success (and that’s what success means to you) and maintain a state of appreciation.

 

So here are some thoughts and tips for YOU, whether you’re hitting 30 soon or a similar milestone birthday or you’re at a point in your life where you might need some support and direction. I hope you find them helpful.

 

Other opinions do not have to matter – I find it shocking how many people I have met and continue to meet who are held back by thoughts of ‘having to fit in’, ‘live up to’ or emulate others because they worry what other people might think of them. I get it.

 

I was once held back by these thoughts myself. If you feel or have felt the same, my advice is this: only you know what’s right for you. And if your answer to that is ‘no, I don’t have a clue, what’s right for me, Ross’ then I challenge you to really think about it and not stop thinking about it until you do know.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I have invested in mentors and coaches which have given my investment back 10 times over but that was only once I stopped listening to everyone apart from me, the person I have to live with everyday!

 

Most people tend to ask others questions like “what would you do?” or “what do you think is best?” But only you know what is right. So, if, when I ask you “what do you want from life?”, your head buzzes with what friends and family members might think, have suggested or told you I suggest exploring what excites you, what sets you on fire (ok, not literally!). Just recognising how you want to live and what YOU want your life to look like, how you want life to feel is incredibly powerful and will enable you to progress quickly and successfully.

 

Don’t Compare Unless it’s Motivational – I’m sure you are guilty of looking at your mate’s house, or the neighbour’s flash car and saying to yourself: “why haven’t I got that!?”

 

So here’s the thing. The reason you haven’t got it, is because you’re doing something differently. You have to remember: you are what you repeatedly do and comparing yourself to others and feeling bad about it will not help. If at all, use comparisons as a motivational tool to help you get up, move up and keep going towards what you want to achieve.

 

Say YES to now – Before I became a coach, I had a fantastic job, worked with amazing and supportive people and had a very good relationship with the directors (they are brilliant people). There was one problem: I was too comfortable. I wasn’t being stretched and I wasn’t growing!

 

So I made a huge decision to leave that job in order to live out my passion which is to coach others.

 

I studied personal development, trained in business and life coaching became a NLP Master Practitioner and joined Big Business Events as their Head Coach. Yes it was hard at times and yes, sometimes I missed my comfortable old job. But the truth is that change is hard and all real progress happens outside of your comfort zone. The most important thing I did though was that when I was confronted with change I said YES, I worked hard, I remained focussed and I got the results. And you can do this too.

 

The reality is that what you do today will create your tomorrow. There is only now and nope, you’re not going to get younger. So now is the most important time in your life. And guess what? It’s right now! The past has been, the future isn’t here, but you do have the now.

 

So: if your life isn’t in perfect order, you don’t have that dream job, don’t have the fairytale partner, marriage, house, car, etc, you still have an extraordinary gift – and I mean a gift – that gift is your life!

 

You owe it to yourself, not to anyone else but to yourself to decide what is right for you, to identify what’s important to you, to decide the life you want to live!

 

Don’t look to the ‘outside world’ for answers; instead go within because that’s where you can discover the right answers then you can decide who will join you on your journey whether it’s friends, family, coaches or mentors – or a mixture of all of these.

 

Either way: if you get YOU right, you will life the right life, gain those results and have those experiences that truly represent you.

 

You have 1 Life, 1 Chance, 1 Legacy. So choose life, choose now and live it right.