I’ve had many experiences that have changed my life, or way of thinking, and have led to the development of a core set of beliefs. My life experiences are far from over (I hope), making this a list that will be ever evolving as I occupy more time on this earth.
Perspective. Experience drives perspective. And perspective gives us a whole new ‘view’ on life and our place within it. I had an experience in late 2020 that left me struggling to decipher what was ‘real’ and what wasn’t. How do we know what we think is reality is really ‘real?’ Well, I came to conclusion that we don’t know what is really real. All we have is our own version of reality, and that can be – and likely is – different for everyone.
Literally the only thing in this world I find to be really real – the only truth – is helping others make it through whatever crazy thing they call life. Are my experiences real? Are yours? Maybe not, but what I KNOW is real is the positive impact I can have on you.
Core belief #1 – everything in this world is bullshit, except for helping people through their own reality (whatever the hell that might be).
For some reason, I’ve never done well with people who look down on others. This sense of (negative) entitlement and ‘i’m-better-than-you’ mentality should be extinguished from the face of the earth. It runs rampant in the business world, especially an industry I’ve become very familiar – public accounting. Although there are many exceptions, the ‘partners’ at these firms tend to think of themselves as high, mighty, and a gift from God himself.
I began to ask myself, who is this person when all titles and credentials are stripped away? If they were left in a parking lot alone, who would they be? What would they do? All of a sudden, they went from ‘holy’ partners to human beings. A a matter of fact, I found I was a LOT higher on the food chain in real world situations, outside the comforts of their office. Which leads me to my second core belief:
Core belief #2 – Titles aren’t forever, but how you treat people lasts a lifetime!
In a really cold November morning in Buffalo, I was moving into my first office space ever. I was hoping that the wind chill would disguise my nervousness. Having no idea what I was doing, I was at least lucky enough to get my landlords ‘crew’ to help me move all the old desks and stuff out. The foreman Tom was a guy I see all the time at the gym — a super hard worker, and I knew he slaved away at a lumber yard so his daughter could have an amazing college education.
These guys had all the equipment to make the job easy, including a forklift to take all the desks away. The problem was that cars were parked along the front of the building, blocking us from what would otherwise be a really simple job. Wind whipping, freezing wind chill, and heavy desks — then the forklift broke concrete and got stuck in the garden between the sidewalk and building — it was a total nightmare. I was expecting Tom to be all enraged and furious, but to my surprise he looked at me with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen and said “it’s all good Mike, this is the spice of life.” Some of the wisest words coming from the most unsuspecting source. If we could only be so lucky to look at life’s inconveniences the same way.
Core belief #3 – Understand that even the worst of moments are ‘the spice of life.’
