Life advice

Here is something that I saw the other day on ESPN from coach Herm Edwards.  Coach Edwards was talking to the top quarterbacks in the nation and he gave them a bit of advice for when they became famous and had lots of money.  Cullen you are 18 months right now and Caeden you are still 3 months from being born, so I am not sure what each of you will end up doing in life, but I just pray that you are happy and find your place in the world.  Regardless of what you end up doing, the advice that Coach Edwards gave is fitting for life.  He said to follow three rules.

                                   1.)  Whatever you do, do it with Passion.

I have been in a position a couple times with my jobs where I just didn't feel the passion and it will wear you down and make you unmotivated, almost lifeless inside.  I have also been in a job that I really loved and it didn't matter how many hours I worked or how stressful the job was, because I loved the work I was doing.  Everyone wants to be great at something, and I believe that greatness starts with a passion and from that passion will come greatness.  I know that this will be hard to do, but don't worry about money or success at first, find something that you love to do and I promise you that you will have all the money and success that you want.  So regardless of what you do, I will always be proud of you, but just have Passion.

                                    2.)  Nothing good happens after 12 a.m.

I have never heard of large business deals or loves of your lives discovered at 12 a.m.  In fact it is usually the contrary, because it is usually ends with career limiting/ending moves and relationship mistakes that happen after 12a.m.  You are going to get peer pressure to do some crazy and dangerous stuff throughout your life, and your mom and I can't be there at every decision making point, so fall back on what we have taught you about morals, values, and most of all common sense.  I read on a poster in one of my elementary classes once, that "what's right is not always popular and what's popular is not always right."  Don't fall into the crowd to just fit in, we will teach you to be leaders and to stand up for yourself and to stand up for what is right.  Know and embrace who you are and what you stand for because, the old saying goes, if you don't stand for something then you will fall for anything.

                                                    3.)  Buy one of everything.

When you become successful, don't spend lavishly, even though society is going to tell you that it is good to have all the toys.  We live in an materialistic instant gratification society, where we must have what we want right now.  Teach yourself to have delayed gratification and that will keep you out of alot of financial trouble.  The scary thing about this is that usually people have to learn this the hard way, and this may be the situation that you two fall into, but learn from that mistake.  Life would be dull if we didn't make mistakes, because that meant we didn't take any risk, but insanity comes in when you don't learn from your mistakes.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.  Always remember true wealth is determined by net worth, which simply put is what you own minus what you owe.  It doesn't matter if you make $1 million, if you spend all of it.  The last thing I will say about this is that money should be used to help increase your sense of security, not to increase your happiness.  Find happiness in other things such as relationships, love, family, friends, etc.