Editor’s note: This article was first published in February 2015; Pedro de Abreu’s projects and status are described as they were at that time.
Pedro de Abreu is a young entrepreneur, columnist and speaker born in Brazil who fought his way out of poverty and was forced to emigrate to the United States without knowing a word of English. He mastered the language within a year and went on to become a notable entrepreneur, founder of the Check Mate Foundation (among other projects), a non-profit organisation based in Columbia. He has received several leadership awards and has become a well-known author.
A short life full of effort, sacrifice and success, which leaves us with some invaluable lessons from this young entrepreneur that are well worth following.
1. Don’t let your habits control you; control your habits.
What do you do every day? What is your schedule? What time do you go to bed? What do you do throughout the day?
Creativity and inspiration only show up when you are working and prepared. You need to wake up at the same time every day and, if possible, before everyone else does. You need to be hungry. You have to chase the day, not let the day chase you. You should plan the next day carefully so that, when you wake up, you are ready to carry out your actions without having to think. Control your habits.
2. Negativity has no place around you.
Negativity can drain your ideas, your energy and your health. I meet many people who still allow someone to be a negative influence around them, telling them they are nothing, that they will never amount to anything, that they won’t be able to do something… and the sad thing is that if you listen to them, those comments will come true.
See also: 4 decisions that can change every part of your life
People act according to what is expected of them, so starting today, let’s say goodbye to these people, and very soon we will attract the right people into our lives.
3. Don’t let great opportunities slip away. Say yes.
Pedro tells how, a few years ago, he had an idea for a TV segment on motivation, but for some reason he finally decided not to go ahead with it. Two months later, he saw someone else doing exactly what he had planned, and it was a success.
Opportunities, like ideas, come and go, and you should never let great opportunities go, just as you should never let great business ideas go. Say yes to opportunities, even if you are afraid of the outcome at the time, because there is only one way to find out what the outcome will be.
4. Your mind is something you must not lose.
A few grams of our body are made up of nerve cells, dendrites, and white and grey matter, giving rise to millions of synaptic connections. Those few grams are responsible for how you think, what you feel and how you perceive the world. The good news is that even if your brain is rusty, various scientific studies have shown that, regardless of your age, you can change the way you think, you can change your habits and you can learn new things. Always keep your brain moving.
5. Don’t let anyone “play small”.
Bring out the best in the people around you. Don’t let your friends or employees think small. Playing small doesn’t benefit anyone.
“Your playing small does not serve the world.” Think big thoughts, and the results will be big. And if you manage to get everyone around you to think big, as a group you will be unstoppable and very dangerous to the competition.
6. The cavalry isn’t coming.
Most people hold the unconscious belief that at some point the cavalry will arrive to rescue them and save them from whatever situation they are going through. The government, family, friends, whatever… but nobody is going to save you. Nobody is going to bring you a bag full of money, so if you want something, nobody will spare you from having to work very hard and strive to achieve it yourself.
At times you will find a crutch or two, but you are the one who has to walk. In the end, we are the ones who create our own opportunities.
7. You are in charge of your destiny.
The life we lead today is the result of the actions we took in the past. The life we lead tomorrow will depend on the actions we take from today onwards. If someone thinks this is not so, it is because that person is not at the helm of their own life. And when you don’t control your life, other factors control it.
Don’t like the life you are living today? Change it. And to change it, you can’t keep taking the same actions that got you into the life you have today.
Further reading
- How to create your own destiny
- Why your twenties matter so much
- Success was easy for me; for others it was easier not to have it
Featured image: Giovanni Fattori, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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