Author: Mo’ Ekujumi, Director at SkillHat

This article is Part 2, of a two-part series listing 11 life principles anyone could apply to find the most important thing in life. What is the most important thing in the world you could possibly discover? Read Part 1 of Finding The Most Important Thing to find out. In continuation, read Part 2 below.

6. Be Mentally tough, always.

Mental toughness is the ability to manage and overcome doubts, and circumstances that prevent you from succeeding. Mental toughness is about grit, resilience, and self-confidence.

Learn from the Lion. The Lion is not the tallest, fastest, or even the strongest animal in the jungle, but the Lion has the most self-confidence. The Lion sees himself as a King, never backs down from a challenge, and moves majestically towards all goals. This is why he is the King of the Jungle. If you will achieve anything worthwhile, it won’t come easy. There will be obstacles, competition, and naysayers. You need to learn to be mentally tough to overcome.

Mental toughness also means self-discipline. Discipline is doing what you need to do, when you need to do it, regardless of how you feel.

I recommend the book — No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline by Brian Tracy if you want to learn Discipline and Mental toughness.

7. Understand the Power Law.

The Power Law is also known as the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule.

80% of the results you achieve come from only 20% of the work. What this means for you, is that whenever you start a key initiative, identify the 20% of your actions mandatory for success, and focus on these. It doesn’t mean you ignore the other 80%, but it means you must be absolutely clear on the top 20% of work necessary to drive the outcomes you want.

It could be things like starting work early, consulting experts, or spending time with your customers /users. The Power Law also means that 80% of the world’s wealth, is owned by 20% of the people. Ultimately, most of the benefits accrue to the top. This further stresses the importance of specialization, becoming part of the top 20% in the world at something.

8. Mentorship.

You can’t buy experience. Experience allows you make sound decisions, and prevents you from making significant mistakes. However, as you grow in your career, you still need to make bets and move swiftly, with limited experience. Without experience, the next best thing is mentorship. A Mentor is someone who’s past is your future. Find mentors who have achieved all that you want to. Spend time with them, make your ambitions known, ask questions, sow into their lives, take their advice and you will move faster in life.

You don’t need to have one mentor for all things. You can have different mentors who guide you, on different life dimensions, including career, spirituality, technical, and leadership opportunities.

9. Have multiple, complimentary sources of income.

You’ve probably heard that you should have up to 7 sources of income, but, what you may not have heard is — make your income sources complimentary. Making your income sources complimentary means that as one business succeeds, it can boost the success of the others. I learnt this from Paul C Brunson. He has over 8 sources of income, including being a Public Speaker, and an Author. When his books sell, he is invited to more speaking engagements. As his speaking engagements increase, he has more opportunities to sell his books.

10. Never stop learning.

The day you stop learning is the day you become obsolete. Know everything about one thing, and one thing, about everything. Learn in all the ways available to you; watch TED talks, read books, listen to podcasts, watch documentaries, take certification courses

The best way to learn is not in an academic fashion listening to a teacher. The best way to learn is to DO. Get your hands dirty with new things often. During the COVID pandemic, with stores closed, I bought gifts for family & friends online but could not wrap them at the mall, so I went on YouTube and learnt how to wrap them myself. They came out beautiful. In 30 minutes I had learnt a new skill, and I felt great. Research shows that mastering a new skill provides a type of satisfaction known to lower stress.

11. Work on Small teams with big goals.

New graduates often ask me — “Should I work in a big company, or a small one? Where will I learn the most?†I’ve worked with many companies of varying sizes. I’ve worked in companies with 7 employees, 70 employees, and 75,000 employees. I’ve found that how much you learn may be tied to the company you work with, but more importantly — the team you work with. Working in small, specialized teams with big goals is a great way to start a career. It could be tougher to make a visible impact when you’re working on a large team. It may also be easier to slack off, and not do any meaningful work. Small teams keep you accountable, and big goals stretch you to achieve a lot with a little. You’ll also be more motivated.

At the beginning of this article, I asked — what is the most important thing in the world you could discover? The most important thing to discover, is Yourself.

Next I’ll be sharing more life principles around Health & Lifestyle. If this was beneficial, please comment & share. Thanks for reading.

Originally Posted on Medium