This was, by far, the most eventful year I’ve ever had. Like ever.

One digital ad agency, five car breakdowns, and several Meralco bills later, I find myself still amazed by how much I went through this year.

2017, you crazy, craaazy bastard.  I can’t thank you enough.

It was hard to choose but here are my favorite lessons:

1) You can’t “hack” success.

This year, I worked under the notion that I could possibly hack my way to success. The idea was to surround myself with the words and wisdom of successful people. I then proceeded to drown myself in hours of podcasts, articles and videos.

Listen to the greats, learn from their mistakes, double up my chances of winning. It seemed like a good plan to me during my personal planning session a year ago.

Then it hit me.

All these people I looked up to had something in common. They have been wildly successful in their respective industries for years. Business, entertainment, sports, or military…it didn’t matter. They got to where they are because they showed up.

Every. Single. Day.

I used to think I could play catch up and speed up my way to winning. I now realize that success is a long-term game, that patience is the secret of any winner.

Real, genuine success is the product of being crazy consistent for a really long time. And I’m glad I was able to get started!

2) Mental toughness is the stuff of legends.

I knew that one of my greatest weaknesses was my inability to stay disciplined. In previous years, I would have stretches of great weeks followed by several days of complacency. I thought by being aware of it, I could easily change this habit which has plagued me for years.

I was so wrong.

The ability to shrug off anger, to delay gratification, to stay calm in heated situations all need to be developed. Mental toughness is like a muscle. And like any muscle, it needs to be nurtured in order to grow strong. This means you need to put in the work. There are no shortcuts.

I can’t say I’m where I want to be but I’m definitely farther out from where I was last year. That’s something I will always be proud of!

3) When opportunity comes, jump in and figure it out later.

I took a leap of faith and drove my freelancing career to the moon. And by the moon, I really mean down to the depths of hell because starting an ad agency with zero agency experience is not for the faint of heart.

I could have joined another agency and learned first but there’s no fun in that. My thinking is making mistakes is inevitable so why prolong it? The earlier I make them, the better. Anything worth achieving is worth failing for.

Also, I find that many people are stuck waiting for the “perfect”time. The reality is there is no such thing. We’re not going to be this young forever so the best time to start is today.

If I could go back, I would take that leap again and again and again. I have zero regrets. Zero. I knew that regardless of the outcome, there was something for me to gain. Sometimes you win, other times you learn. You won’t ever know which way it goes until you jump in.

So yes, go on and do it. Yep, that thing you had in the back of your mind as you read this. If you’re still feeling hesitant, I’d be happy to help you make sense of it all. Hit me up and let’s talk!

Thanks for reading my very first blog post! Watch out for my other posts coming in every Thursday. 🙂

Here’s my year in numbers again: