fbpx

Hard Truth Podcast: Advice For The Youth

EPISODE 19

Play Video

ABOUT THIS EPISODE

In this episode, we dive into essential guidance for young individuals eager to build a successful and fulfilling life. We’ll explore the significant impact of daily planning, which brings clarity and focus to our pursuits. We discuss the importance of building confidence to navigate through life’s ups and downs and emphasize personal development as a cornerstone for cultivating a resilient and proactive mindset. Join us as we uncover effective strategies to tackle challenges and pursue dreams with unwavering determination and resilience. Tune in to arm yourself with the tools necessary for a journey marked by success and personal growth.

Subscribe and Listen on Major Platform

More Episodes

Episode 41 – Nature Knows Best with AJ Richards

Jeremy Fouts dives into the importance of understanding where our food comes from and how it affects our health. Joined by AJ Richards...

Episode 40 – Life Update

In this episode of The Hard Truth, host Jeremy Fouts shares a personal update, reflecting on the podcast's journey and his passion for mind...

Episode 39 – Anger Is An Emotion with Chris Barthelme

In this episode, we explore the often overlooked topic of self-awareness and emotional intelligence with Chris, a former Army Ranger...

Episode 38 – Helping The Next Generation with Riccardo Dale

In this episode, we are honored to have special guest Riccardo Dale, a New Jersey councilman and founder of Free All Minds—a mentorship...

Episode 37 – Taking Men From Average To Alpha with Christian Palmer

Christian, a bodybuilder, nutritionist, and owner of Relentless Fitness and Nutrition, is renowned for his expertise in men's health...

Episode 36 – Power In Numbers with Bobby Capobianco

In today’s episode, we’re exploring the power of numbers and how community can amplify personal development and discipline...

Welcome to The Hard Truth Podcast.

This is Jeremy Fouts, and today we are gonna be talking and giving some advice for the young listeners.

I have gotten 20 different points that I’m gonna share with you.

And this is things that I wish I would have learned on my own, or excuse me, I would have learned from some council, podcasts, YouTube channels, different things, as I was going through, you know, 15, 18, 20, 22, all the way up to 25, 26, 27 years old.

And obviously, you can listen to this podcast, regardless of your age, and find value in it.

But I’m gonna share with you 20 points that I feel like will help you have a more productive, successful life, and a career whatever you choose to pursue.

Well, again, advice for the young.

This is something that I’m passionate about.

As this whole podcast, I’m definitely passionate about.

But, you know, I have a lot of young followers.

I have a lot of, you know, teenagers that’s 14, 15, 16.

I’ve got a lot of 20 year olds, 23, 25.

You know, starting out of college, developing the first family, putting everything together.

I get a lot of comments, a lot of emails, a lot of texts and questions about this topic of different things that they ask me.

What would you have done at my age?

What are some of the things that you could have done at a younger age if you would have knew the right process?

So that’s the reason I’m excited about this podcast.

Yes, I do love spending time with older mature men that’s maybe got that dad by that’s trying to figure out life, maybe relationships, you know, all these different areas.

But this is something that I really feel like, you know, the world, the United States men needs to do a better job of helping the younger population keep from going through the same things we went through, giving them insights of what things that they can do to make their life more productive, to make them more successful, to give them that confidence that they can accomplish anything they want in their life.

And so today, I’m excited about this.

And so the first step for the young, and you know, again, I say young, you know, this is anywhere between, you know, 14 to 25, 26, 27.

I know lots of areas that I’m gonna talk about today.

I personally didn’t figure out till I was probably 30, 31, 32 years old.

So regardless of your age, listen to this.

I definitely have two boys that I’m raising.

You guys know that, about to be 15 and 17.

So a lot of the principles that I’m teaching you today, I’ll talk to them about, but these are lessons that I learned the hard way of trying to navigate through life and figure out some things to help me become the man that I want to be.

So number one, plan every day and have a plan.

Prove to yourself, you will do what you are saying you’re going to do.

And this is something that a lot of times the younger men, younger women, they don’t understand the importance of a plan.

They go to bed, they get up the next day, they kind of go to school.

If they’re in college or if they’re in work, they’re going through just that life cycle and they’re wondering why they’re not succeeding at a higher level.

They’re wondering why if they’re younger, how come they’re not getting stronger?

How come they’re not getting smarter?

How come they’re not succeeding more?

Maybe if you’re out of college, you’re wondering why the other ones are getting the promotions, you’re not getting the promotions.

It’s because you have no plan.

You have not put together a plan of every day, I’m going to get up early.

If I’m going to the gym at six o’clock, I’m getting up at 4.30, I’m gonna eat, get fuel in my body, I’m gonna go give it max effort in the gym.

I’m going to follow these macros, which I’m gonna talk about again here in a few minutes.

I’m going to do this after work as far as making my life better.

If I’m doing a commute to school, whether it be high school, whether it be college, I’m gonna be listening to personal development, but you have to have a plan.

And if you say you’re getting up at 4.30, if you say you’re getting up at 5.30, the little bitty win of not hitting the snooze button, not, you know, ignoring the alarm clock, but getting up, rolling out of bed, regardless of how you feel, because you have a plan, and you have committed to sticking to it, those are big wins in your life that start stacking up, and they start compounding.

So trust me on this.

You have to plan every day, and then you have to prove to yourself that you are going to stick to that plan, because you said you was going to.

Number two is grow confidence by daily disciplines.

And this number one and two run together.

The more confident you are, the better all parts of your life will be.

Learn how to love self, and not seek affirmations from others.

So growing confidence by daily disciplines.

You know, this is something I personally didn’t learn till late 20s.

Yes, I had disciplines when I was an athlete.

You know, yes, I went and did what the team was going to do, but I didn’t have that personal understanding that if I continued to grind and do these daily disciplines, my confidence grew.

I didn’t understand that till later.

And a lot of people that I have helped, and a lot of the younger population, that’s why I’m addressing this, they don’t learn this until they’re in their 30s or their 40s.

You know, if they walk into a room and they have their head down, they’re not confident walking into that room.

You know, these little things of the daily disciplines and learning to do it for you, for self, you know, I’m working with young athletes often, and I’m like, hey, you’re not doing this for your dad, you’re not doing this for your coach, you’re doing this for yourself because it’s gonna grow your confidence.

And when you grow confidence, things come into your life that you are attracting into your life.

But guys, you have to understand, grow your confidence by daily disciplines.

And the more confident you are, all parts of your life will blossom.

All parts of your life will definitely produce fruit.

Number three is train like an athlete with maximum effort to make it part of your long-term lifestyle.

You know, I had a guest on this past Tuesday, and he mentioned this.

Chad Lester, a good friend of mine, unbelievable shape in his mid-40s, and he said a lot of athletes, after they get done with athletics, their body just goes to, you know, just a pot, man.

They look horrible because they did athletics, and they thought running, they thought lifting, all of that was almost like a punishment.

They only did that for athletics.

Guys, I’m going to tell you that the quicker you learn, regardless of your age listening to this, the quicker you learn that if I train like an athlete on a daily basis with maximum effort, I have a plan, maybe I’m going to run a half marathon, maybe I’m going to compete in a bodybuilding competition, maybe a weight lifting competition.

But you continue to push yourself.

If you was a soccer player, train and find you a little competitive soccer team to keep playing around or playing with, whatever.

But if you train like an athlete before long, it’s going to become part of your lifestyle.

Then when you get into your 30s, when you get into your 40s, you’re going to be a specimen.

You’re going to be someone, when you walk in the room, they’re going to say, man, what is your training regimen like?

You’re going to see that whatever job that you get, you’re going to see, you’re going to skyrocket, you know, through that company.

If you own a business, because you’ve mastered, you know, making a plan, your confidence is through the roof, you’re treating your body like a champion, then you’re going to find that you’re going to beat everyone in competition that’s around you.

But you have to train like an athlete with maximum effort and before long, if you continue to do this, it’s going to be part of your lifestyle.

Number four is always tell the truth.

The truth is good enough.

You know, we’ve all been guilty of this.

If you catch a four pound bass, couple days it’s a five pound bass.

If you hit 300 in the summer league, before long it becomes 350 average in the summer league.

If you made $3,000 in a business deal, before long it becomes $13,000 in a big business deal.

Guys, if you will learn that the truth is all that matters, that just telling the truth and you don’t need to be embellished, it doesn’t need to be added to, then before long your reputation is going to become something very, very special.

Whether it be your high school coach, whether it be your college coach, whether it be in your 20s in college, whether it be in your early 30s at a job, those people that speak your name is going to say, if Jeremy says it, that’s the way it is.

We’ve all been guilty of adding two things.

The truth is good enough, and trust me, I wish that in a million years, not one time do I mislead someone, not one time do I kind of add to a story tell the truth, and the truth is enough.

Number five is learn about nutrition.

Everything has a cause and effect, and understand macros and how to take care of yourself, how to take care of your health, the importance of protein and carbs and fats.

You know, I’m on my boys constantly, that I’m like, you have to treat your body like a temple.

You know, I listened to Warren Buffett a lot, and I listened to this about 10 years ago.

He was at college, and I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s relevant today.

He said, if I gave every one of you a chance to pick out any vehicle you want, I was gonna buy it for you today.

Would you be excited?

Every one of them said, absolutely.

He said, but here’s the thing, whatever car you choose, you get one car for the rest of your life, so you have to take care of it.

Now think about this, guys.

Your body is no different.

You got one body, and you’re out, you can’t be going out and consuming things that’s not good for you.

It’s all about understanding the importance.

You might be 18 right now, you might be 25 right now, you might be 28 or you might be 30, and think, you know what, I can still go eat the pizza every night, I can still go have the beers, I can still go do those things.

If you will start to understand what it’s doing to your body, and take control of the discipline of saying, I only want to put in my body what is gonna create me to be that athlete, to create me to be the dad, to create me to be able to have the ability to whip everybody in competition, that’s what I’m choosing to put in my body.

Understand the importance of protein.

You know, understand when we need carbs.

You know, understand what, how to track your protein and your carbs and your fats.

But learn about nutrition.

That’s the biggest thing that a lot of people in their younger age, they don’t even start discovering that and educating theirself until their body has went to crap, to literally, they’re not able to have that presence of taking their shirt off and people saying, man, that guy’s got discipline.

But learn about nutrition.

Number six is establish your core values and don’t waver from them.

One of the things that I never had a problem with is peer pressure.

Anybody that went to high school with me, they knew that I was almost kind of a loner.

I knew that the guys that drink, they did this at the Rock Quarry.

I knew these people that smoked the pot, they did this at this location.

I had no problem of walking a straight line.

Not that I’m perfect, but I had core values that I stood for, and I understood in order for me to be the man I wanted to be in the future, I had to walk a straight line.

Now, that don’t mean that you won’t make a mistake.

Everyone will make a mistake, including myself, but understand what it is you stand for, and be proud of what you stand for.

You know, just because your friends are smoking weed, just because your friends are going to the bar, just because they’re doing those things, if you will say, that does not line up to me, if they’re gossiping, they’re talking crap about this, and they’re talking crap about that, if you say, that don’t line up with the way I believe, that don’t line up with my core values, and if you will stand strong and write out what your core values are, get out a piece of paper, say, I’m gonna stand for these things, and I’m gonna push away anybody or anything that stands for something different.

Your life as a young man, a young woman, will be so different than anybody else’s.

It will be amazing by standing up and believing in your core values and never ever wavering from them.

Number seven, believe in you and what you wanna accomplish, but understand, and this is something that’s hard for younger generation to understand, understand most people don’t want you to have success.

Hatred and jealousy is necessary for success.

You have to believe in you.

Now, one of the things that I love working with younger people is they really have that go get them mentality.

They have a dream, they wanna pursue it, and guys, that’s awesome, do it.

You only have one life to live.

You have one shot at this game called life.

And the reason I’m kind of giving you advice on hatred and jealousy is necessary for success.

Once you start out of letting people know, I’m gonna go play in the majors, I’m going to go be a pro soccer player, I’m gonna go do this or that, that is the minute a lot of your friends, a lot of your family will say, you know how hard it is to do that?

Or if you wanna be a business owner, and you wanna go get a business degree, they’re gonna tell you, you know how hard it is to do this or do that?

You know what?

Push them aside.

Because the first time you start getting success, though that hatred is gonna continue, that jealousy is gonna continue, but you stay away from those people, believe in you.

It’s okay if you don’t make it to D1 college playing soccer, but if you make it to D2 and then you have a great career, you have a great college, you get a good degree, then you come back home and you’re able to run a soccer academy because you love it.

And I’m gonna talk about that here in a second, but believe in you and push away the ones that don’t want you to win and understand you can do anything you put your mind to.

Number eight, stay away from addictions.

They will rob you from your time, money, and relationships.

I have an opportunity to spend a lot of time with dads my age that struggle with this to this day.

And I look back and one of the things when I’m talking to them that every one of them say is, man, I’ve been doing this since I was 20.

And I’ve been doing this since I was 22.

Or I’ve been doing, and the biggest thing that they tell me is I wasted 20 years of my life.

Yes, they still look good from the outside.

They have a decent job.

They have a little family, but it burns them up inside because they’re thinking, if I would have been disciplined, I would have stayed away from this.

What much more could I have done with my life?

Guys, addictions, whether it be porn, whether it be vaping, whether it be pot, whether it be drinking, once you feel like the substance controls you, then that is an issue, and you gotta be smart enough to say, that is not lining up with my core values.

I can’t do this, push it away and say, that is not gonna rob me of my time and what I can become.

The person that God made me to be, I’m not gonna let that destroy my relationships, and I’m gonna stay away from addictions.

Number nine is be okay with going against the grain.

Don’t worry about what others are going to say.

You got to understand that you cannot worry about following others just because that’s what others are doing as well.

Be okay with being different.

I personally never had a problem with that.

I was always different.

I mean, in high school, I would go spend a lot of time with the people that wasn’t as popular.

You know, I was the athlete that also choose drama class.

I was the athlete that loved agriculture and the outdoors and all those different things.

I had no problem if someone said, you know, that’s not the cool thing to do.

Guys, I’m gonna tell you, if it’s the cool thing to do, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.

And most of the time, if the majority of the people, 90% of them are going right, then I’m gonna tell you the best advice without knowing the situation is turn left.

Don’t go towards where the majority of the population is going.

Number 10 is understand finances and living on a budget, learn how to make money, learn one skill.

Brian Tracy, I read a book when I was in my early 20s that said if you learn one skill, it can double your income.

And then understanding investing and compound interest.

Back in COVID, for Pearson’s birthday present, I bought him four shares of NVIDIA for like $75, and it’s worth $4,000.

And he told me, he said, man, I wish I would have took my extra birthday money.

I wish I had done this and I’ve done that.

And I’m like, yes, Pearson, that’s why I’m always educating you on spending $20 here and $20 there and $40 there.

Understand finances at a young age.

I mean, so many people, go Google, if I put $100 a month in a mutual fund at 12% interest, what I would have in 10 years or 20 years.

Because if you Google the law of 72 and how that money has an opportunity to every six years to turn over, it’s powerful.

But a lot of times when you’re younger, you’re thinking, you know what?

I can afford that, so I just do it.

I can afford that and I just do it.

You don’t have a budget and say, I’m going to live on this, anything extra, I’m gonna invest in this.

And a lot of the younger generation too, they think, I’ll just make more money, that’s gonna fix my problems.

Guys, that don’t fix your problems.

You can look at the NBA guys that go bankrupt.

You can look at the NFL guys and the MLB guys that go bankrupt.

Making more money is not gonna fix your problem.

Learn how to live on a budget, learn how to invest at a young age, learn that, you know what, regardless of what I’m doing, I can have a little side job, I can make a thousand here and reinvest it, I can make a thousand here, reinvest it, but understand finances.

Number 11, is learn to have respect and manners.

Be early, not just on time.

You get out of life what you give it.

If you disrespect, you will probably get disrespect back.

Respect and manners.

My boys, they know since they’ve been little.

I’ve taught them, look a man in the eye, shake his hand, yes sir, no sir.

I can’t tell you how many opportunities that it was given to me from athletics to business, to relationships, out of respect, out of manners, treating others like they want to be treated.

In growing up in Oklahoma, big football area, it was hard for a sophomore in high school to start, but literally I started as a sophomore because my coach told the team in front of the team, he said, I’m gonna give Fouts a chance this first game of his sophomore year.

And here’s the reason why, is anytime I am talking to the team, he’s 100% looking me in the eye and listening to every word I say.

That is an opportunity that I got and I started the whole season.

I mean, when we moved to Colorado, when I retired the first time, I had teachers come over to me daily that first week and say, your son is so polite.

Your other son is so polite.

They’re yes sir, they’re no sir.

You know, was you raised in the military?

I said, no, I believe in respect and manners.

So many of the younger generation, they don’t understand that.

It’s all about just showing people respect.

Yes sir, no sir, yes ma’am, no ma’am.

Opening the door for an older lady, picking up the trash even if it’s not yours.

If you 100% go at life and not think, what am I gonna get out of it?

But what can I give life?

What can I pour into someone?

How can I treat others like I wanna be treated?

It’s gonna give you so many opportunities, it’s not even funny.

Number 12, is build a brand and a reputation that others respect and want to follow.

I personally didn’t even start building my presence in social media until this last year.

My team often wanted me to, back when I was making millions with the company, I’ve had personal planes, spent time in the Bahamas, personal boats, all these different things.

And I looked at it kind of as a bragging, if I put it on social media and that type of thing.

So I always shied away from that.

But you can do things in a classy way.

And my advice to you, if you’re a high school baseball player, football player, and you have good stats, you can post it, but do it in a good way.

But you ought to understand that we’re not just posting that to get recruited.

We’re posting also personal development stuff behind that, my workouts, but building a brand to build a reputation.

And it’s not just in social media.

That reputation turns into the man or the woman that you’re trying to become.

And before long, that reputation, it’s so hard to build.

And trust me this, you can run it really, really quickly.

So understand it’s that pressure there.

But once you start building a brand and a reputation, it’s almost like an accountability.

You know, it helps back up those core values that you made to yourself.

And you’re like, man, I can’t go to this party.

I can’t do this thing because that don’t line up.

And my reputation that I worked this last two years, this last five years, this last 10 years for, if I do that, it’s gonna ruin that.

But build a brand and a reputation that others want to respect and follow.

That is great advice for a young man or a woman.

Number 13 is learn that you have to be responsible for your own actions.

Do your part.

No complaining, no poor attitudes.

I don’t care what age you are.

If you’re at high school, college, or you’re in your early career business, there is nothing that will keep you from having success on a sporting team, in business.

There’s nothing that will damage that opportunity more than complaining and having a poor attitude.

You have to learn how to be responsible for your own actions.

If you make a mistake, own it.

Look coach in the eye, look your boss in the eye and say, that was on me, I’m gonna become better.

That was on me, I’m gonna be better.

I mean, you always own that responsibility.

You have to pull your own weight.

You know, no one is just gonna come rescue you over and over and over.

Your mama days are over.

You know, understand that you have to own all of your situations and be responsible.

No complaining, no excuses, no poor attitudes.

Number 14, choose your spouse wisely.

Don’t waste time or money dating crazy.

I mean, I can tell you one of the most contributed things that multi-millionaires have and have done wisely is they pick the right spouse.

I mean, I’ve read so many millionaire books.

I had a desire to be a millionaire when I was young.

My mom and dad, they provided for us, but they wasn’t able to make the kind of money that I wanted to make.

And I had that desire.

I’ve read every book, and pretty much the top three out of any millionaire books that I’ve read as far as gonna help you be successful and become wealthy is picking the right spouse.

You know, so you say, well, I can’t still date.

Yeah, you can still date, but if you know the girl’s crazy, if you know the guy’s crazy, then don’t spend your time there.

Don’t spend your energy there.

But your spouse and the person you choose, and you may already be married, and might be thinking, man, I wish I’d have heard this before, but your spouse is so important, don’t waste time with crazy, don’t waste time trying to fix someone.

Find your core values.

If they match up to their core values, then you know what, we’ll entertain it.

But if it don’t match up, I’m not wasting my time there.

Number 15 is learn to control your emotions.

Now, this is mainly for a man, but a man needs to be a savage, but only when he needs to use it is what’s important if he controls that part.

But you have to learn to control your emotions.

Your life is gonna go up, and it’s gonna have good moments, it’s gonna have down moments.

If you don’t know how to control the down moments, and you let the emotions take over, you’re gonna make a bad mistake.

You’re always going to have those things.

You know, I’ve always been big on talking to my boys about controlling your heart rate.

You know, Beckett had a situation with the injury this year, come out, almost a little bit of panic mode, and I say, hey, we gotta get your heart rate down, control your emotions.

We’ve gotta control your emotions.

You know, true story, I’ve never shared this story maybe one other time.

I loved outdoors, anybody knows that, and I was hunting with an elderly gentleman named Brother Langley that took me on a hunting trip.

He took me squirrel hunting often.

And we was in the Ouachita Mountains in Oklahoma, and he would drop the dogs out in the middle of the National Forest.

The dogs would run, they would find a squirrel, and then we’d go to the tree.

The squirrel would run up the tree, the dog would stay there and bark, and Brother Langley had a hip surgery.

He couldn’t get to the dogs very fast.

You wanna get to the dogs fast because those are what we call flying squirrels, gray squirrels, and they would leave the tree often.

And then it tells the dog basically that maybe it wasn’t a squirrel.

It hurts the dog’s confidence, that type of thing.

So he’s like, get to the dog.

I got to the dog quick.

And right before I got to the dog, though, there was a creek bank.

Went down in that creek bank, put my shotgun up on the other side, put my hand up, and went to go raise up.

And a snake about three foot long struck me right in between my thumb and my first finger.

And the fangs held on, and I’m shaking it, trying to get it off, blood going everywhere.

And I’m thinking, man, and I hate snakes.

There’s very few things that bother me.

But I’ll never forget thinking, man, I’m dying.

I’m shaking my hand, and finally get it off.

Brother Langley makes it up there.

He looks at the snake, and he said, we got about 45 minutes to get you to a hospital, or you’re gonna die.

Now, I know that we’re an hour and a half away from a hospital.

So I grab my shotgun, Brother Langley shoots the snake, and I’m going to get the dog.

We get the dog.

I sprint back to the truck.

I’m waiting on Brother Langley.

He’s hopping along.

And it was an 88 GMC with one of them digital time clocks on it.

And I’ll never forget, I already had it added up.

You know, it was 1230 in the day at 115, I’m dead.

And I watched that go to 1231, and he’s driving really slow down this country road.

And I watch it go to 1238.

I watch it go to 1240.

And by this time, my right side of my face was numb.

I’d already threw up out the window.

My right arm, I couldn’t even move my right arm.

All these different things.

And I’m looking at him, and I said, Brother Langley, I’m gonna die, aren’t I?

And he said, Oh, Jeremy, I forgot to tell you.

I went back and took a better look at that snake, and it’s not poisonous, you’re gonna be fine.

Now, why do I tell you that story?

It’s because emotions.

I let my emotions get out of control.

There was no poison in my body.

And I share that story because you’re gonna have, you know, a break up with a girlfriend or fiance.

You’re gonna have a boss that lets you go, and you feel like you’ve been hurt.

You’re gonna have all these different things happen in your life.

And if you don’t control those emotions, yes, you need to be a savage.

Yes, you need to be able to be a man of force when you need to.

And yes, you need to be able to do all those things, but you have got to control your emotions.

Don’t let your emotions destroy your reputation that you have been working hard to build.

Next is number 16.

Find something you’re passionate about and go for it.

Don’t be scared to fail.

Go for every dream.

So find something you’re passionate about, most importantly.

And one of the reasons I love working with a younger generation is if they find something they’re passionate about, and they are, and parents, if you’re listening to this and you’ve got a teenager, I don’t care if they can’t make it to the majors.

If that’s their desire, fuel that and push them in that right direction.

If they wanna be the best businesswoman, best lady, business lady, then fuel that.

You know, if they wanna be the best musician, the best gymnast, push and fuel that.

They have one life to live, and it’s not just if they make it or if they don’t, that’s important.

It’s the process and the things they are gonna learn in that timeframe, and it’s going to help them at a higher level than any other kid that if they kept told, oh, you can’t do that, that’s too hard.

Oh, well, you know how hard it is to do that?

Oh, you know what?

Well, that school’s too expensive.

Well, that, this, this and that.

Guys, you as a young person listening, find something that you’re passionate about.

I didn’t find it till I was in my 30s.

I wanted to make a lot of income.

I finally found a way that I can make a lot of income by helping people.

That’s what I was passionate about.

And at 48 years old, that’s why I love waking up every day.

I love being that person that gets to do what he wants to do every day.

Find something you’re passionate about.

I don’t care how big the dream sounds, go for it and try and pursue until you can’t know more.

Number 17 is learn to speak and communicate well.

This will put you so far ahead of the competition.

The younger population has spent so much time texting, emailing, Snapchat, all these different things.

And if you as a younger man or a woman can master communicating well and speaking in front of others well, I can guarantee you, if you want to be a doctor, if you want to be an attorney, if you want to be a business owner, you are going to beat everybody else’s butt in the marketplace.

Because you can be the most intelligent, you can be the most physical fit, but if you walk into a room and you can’t communicate well, you walk into a room and you don’t know how to speak because you’re too nervous, you’re not going to be able to perform like you want to perform.

Learn to speak and communicate well.

Number 18 is personal development.

The power of the mind protect what goes in it daily.

I mean, I have given so many different examples of what, if you eat this, you’re going to become this.

That’s easy for people to understand.

It works the same way from the mental side.

If all you’re doing is listening to a certain type of music and you never spend time listening to personal development, the only thing you’re doing is reading this type of book and you’re not reading a type of book to help you with your mental mindset.

If you want to learn about finances, you need to be learning about finances.

But whatever that situation is, your personal development, the earlier you learn personal development.

True story, I had a friend that I was actually mowing my yard.

I was in my mid-30s making millions of dollars, mowing my own yard still in a gated community, and my next door neighbor come over and he said, what are you listening to on your headphones?

And I said, I’m actually listening to Jim Rohn through personal development.

He said, every time I ask you, you’re listening to personal development.

And I’ll never forget when he said this, he said, you’re already making millions, why are you keep listening to personal development?

And I’ll never forget thinking, this guy’s crazy.

That’s about like saying, I’m fit, and I’m gonna just go eat pizza and drink beer and not ever work out again.

It’s a continuous ongoing process.

And if you’re listening to this and you’re 15, study freaking personal development.

Put personal development as a top priority next to your fitness and your nutrition.

And if you’re 18, if you’re 25, and you’re going through some problems in life, or you’re 30 or 32, and you’re going through some problems in life, don’t blame others on your responsibilities and ask yourself, what am I doing to get a better mindset?

What am I doing to feed the mind, to help me become a better person, to get me out of this situation?

But the quicker you learn personal development as a young man, as a young women population, you will be so much further ahead of everyone else, it’s not even funny.

Number 19 is learn to compete and never lose the desire to keep striving to be the best you can be.

And I’ve over and over, I’m talking to a dad this morning, mid-40s, he’s like, man, I’m just kinda in a rut in life and I don’t know what to do.

And I’m like, man, you look like you need a bra because you’re not healthy and his gut’s hanging out and he eats bad, he drinks bad, all these different things.

And I looked him dead now and I said, you’re not competing anymore.

You have lost the desire to compete.

You’re not competing in business.

You’ve got just a good enough job that bills are paid and you’re comfortable.

You’re not competing in your physical fitness.

You’re not competing to be the best in your relationships.

You’re not competing to get that promotion.

And the biggest thing, the younger population, whatever it is you wanna do, if it’s in high school and you wanna be a valedictorian, go compete to be it.

Even if you don’t hit it, you get third or fourth, it’s okay.

If you wanna be the best football player, basketball player, trumpet player, if you’re in college and you want to pursue being a cheerleader or whatever, compete and keep on.

You wanna go to law school, whatever, and you wanna compete and keep on.

If you’re 25 or 30 and you want to have the nicer house and a nicer neighborhood and you’ve got a good job, compete, be the best you can be, get that promotion, continue to compete, continue to compete, because the minute that you say, I’m done, you can tell by that person’s relationships, the way he or she looks, everything, never ever lose the desire to compete.

Keep competing to be the best you can be.

Number 20 is always choose, and this is hard for the younger generation, always choose delayed gratification over instant gratification.

Now, I’m not gonna go through my whole story, but I personally never had the desire to party in college.

I never had the desire to do all those things.

And the reason why is because I watched my mom and dad always worry about finances and debt.

And I said, you know what?

I’m gonna take care of money at a young age.

I’m gonna figure out a way to be able to choose what I want later, of making that a higher importance than right now and what I can do to have fun just for right now.

Now, I’m not saying younger generation don’t need to have fun.

You need to enjoy your life.

You need to have good times.

But what happens usually is one fun time goes into the next, another fun time goes into the next.

And before long, you’ve had four, five, six, seven years of fun times, but you have nothing to show for.

You have no clear direction in life.

You have no physical fitness.

You have no personal development.

You have no nothing that you can look at and say, man, I am on the right track.

Delay gratification over instant gratification wins every day, all day long.

In close, I have pretty much just a simple thing to sum it up, and this is this right here.

Every day, you have the opportunity to write a new page in your story and your life.

So the days that maybe you’ve made mistakes, it’s okay, you’re gonna have a new day tomorrow.

You can’t choose the circumstances which surround the events of your life, but you always have a choice with your responses and your mindset.

The development of your skill sets and the people you surround yourself with.

Get this last part.

You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons or the wind, but you can change yourself.

We can let circumstances rule us or we can take charge and rule our lives from within.

Accept complete responsibility for your life and know that it is you who will get you where you want to go and no one else.

You guys listening today, I love the younger generation.

I love the older generation too.

I am the part of the older generation, but I had so many text messages and comments and different things and then launching this podcast of the younger populations.

It’s like, man, how do I do this?

How do I do that?

And I hope that this podcast today affected some of you by letting you know you are born to be a champion.

And these are 20 things that I wish I had somebody tell me when I was 15, when I was 17, when I was 18, when I was 20, when I was 22.

I didn’t learn most of these 20 things until I was 32 years old, 30 to 32.

So today, regardless of where you are in life, let’s apply these 20 things and say, you know what, Jeremy’s right.

I’ve just kind of been living, going through things.

I have no plan every day.

You know what?

I don’t know what it is I’m passionate about.

You know what?

I need to recognize that, you know, I say I’m exercising, but I’m not training like an athlete.

The truth is good enough.

You know, I didn’t understand that just eating processed foods every day and no protein, why I was not seeing the results I want.

I’ve got to establish my core values.

I got to believe in me and do it for me.

I’m not worried about anybody else, but today I’m going to be on a new path to be the best that I can be.

Thank you guys for joining The Hard Truth Podcast.

Do me a favor, share this with someone that you think can add value to their life.

Give us a review, follow us on Instagram.

Thank you, guys, for joining The Hard Truth Podcast.