I'm 38 Years in; Here's What I've Learned

I'm 38 years old today. Before you blast the comments with old guy insults, just head over to Twitter and search for #bigguydroast (or just click the link).

I've learned a few things over the past 38 years. Some good, some bad. Most of which you probably already know. Regardless, I thought I'd share anyways.

In no order of importance or relevance:

• Patiences is a virtue that not a lot of people have. I'm one of the lucky ones that does have it, which comes in pretty handy with kids 5 and 7.
• Crap happens in business. Lots of it is ok. Some of it doesn't register on the radar. At times, however, the crap does register and impacts you personally and professionally. It's what you do after that matters.
• Relationships are easy to create these days because of social media. Keeping up with those relationships, however, and using them to your advantage is a full time job, but can be very fruitful if you do things right.
• Speaking of doing things right, if you do good by others, it will come back to you. It does. It really does.
• Being a parent is by far the coolest thing I've ever done or accomplished.
• Having a supportive wife that's by your side through everything is just as priceless and quite the feather in your cap.
• Work is just work, but when you love what you do, it's personal.
• We're all specialists in some way shape or form, but when you can read and digest information at a frantic pace, you can become a generalist/specialist.
• Being a generalist/specialist can help in your career. Trust me on this one.
• Everyone is, for the most part, good to each other. There are those people that aren't so nice and while I don't wish anything bad on them, things come back around for a reason.
• I love the Christmas holiday time. Spending hours upon hours with family and friends, eating, drinking, chatting, grilling, smoking stogies, sharing stories, makes all the hard work from the year all worth it.
• Opportunities to do what you really want to do are out there. You just have to go get them.
• Thanking people goes a long way. Helping people goes even further.
• Be humble, but don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
• Keeping things simple works. It simply works.

The last one I wanted to call out on its own because it's very important to me:

Common sense: Some people have it, some people don't. I tend to think my common sense skills are rooted in a blue collar, if you want it go and earn it, type of upbringing. It's a style of living that has yet to fail me for 38 years and one that I'll use for the next 38+.

Thanks for reading.