David Choi

I like being prepared, or more like, I NEED to be prepared. Now I don’t mean in the sense of being prepared for a vacation trip or a meeting, but in LIFE.

It’s who I’ve become.

Ever since I was young, I learned a very important lesson: Everything in life has been done. The blueprints to anything you ever dreamed to become has been set by someone else in this world.

Now think about that for a bit.

ANYTHING you want to become has been done. Now the most obvious thing is career choices. If you want to become an astronaut, there are over 100,000 certified astronauts you can read stories of how they got to where they are today. Want to become a CEO of a company? There are MILLIONS of those. Read their stories and follow their life blueprints. How does becoming a restaurant owner sound? You know what to do. Read their formula to life. Of course there are many paths that lead to the prize, but hey, if there is already one that’s set, why not go with that? If it doesn’t work out, take a different road.

You’re probably thinking, “David, it’s not that easy”, but I’m here to tell you that it is. Work hard and it WILL happen. Money back guarantee! The question is, will you even try? Do you dare to risk?

If you’ve read Outliers by Malcom Gladwell, he mentions the 10,000 hour theory. If someone spends 10,000 hours on a skill, they will be just as good as anyone who had talent to start off with. They will be considered “professionals” after the hours are put in. This is true.

This post is not about careers though.

I have implemented this life lesson into trying to develop myself into becoming the best human-being I possibly can. In the recent months, I have sent out blasts (tweets, status updates) to find that some people in this world believe that you should experience hardships in life to learn. Yes, this is true and I very much believe that is an effective way to learn and develop as a human being, but I believe in shortcuts to becoming an even greater person that has amazing relationships with people. After all, wouldn’t that be an honorable shortcut to take?

Let me explain to you one reason why it’s important to take shortcuts in self development.

Divorces.

As most Americans know, over 50% of marriages end up in divorce. Why? There are many reasons why, but what if these couples were to take “shortcuts” to figuring out things that could possibly go wrong in their marriage BEFORE getting divorced? You’re thinking “David, how in the world would couples know what could possibly go wrong?!?! They aren’t psychics!”

• I’m pretty sure 100% of the people getting married think they’ll NEVER end up divorced.

• Do you ever wonder why there are millions of songs about heartbreak? It’s real.
  
  
• People aren’t perfect. We all have flaws.
  
  
  

Aren’t these reasons enough to look into maybe becoming educated before getting married? I’m assuming no one would want to have to experience a divorce to learn why you couldn’t make it work.

There are so many things out in the world telling us why life sucks. Magazines tell us why things don’t work. Now while that’s all important, how about finding out how to make things work? Remember:

Everything in life has been done. The blueprints to anything you ever dreamed to become has been set by someone else in this world.

The blueprints to an AMAZING marriage has been set forth by someone else in this world - in fact, many people in this world. Maybe not all the marriages in the 50% category are amazing, but why not learn from those who have amazing marriages? Relationships? Businesses? LIVES? There are people who have experienced these things, people who have studied these things, some have written about it, but what they all have in common is: they have knowledge.

Knowledge is power. (You’ve heard this a million times)

How convenient is it that you don’t have to experience some of life’s hardships? Advice from people who have experienced these things can keep you from making the mistakes they made in life. That’s powerful.

Learn. Be open. Be a student. Take shortcuts in self development because there is nothing better than a good person. There are many books not only on relationships, but in how to live an extraordinary life. To me, this is important so I don’t end up surprised by things I don’t find pleasure in being surprised in. Who likes being surprised by bills? Being taken advantage of? How about being surprised by situations you don’t know how to deal with? Not me.

Learn from the best and learn about who’s most important. You.

Become the best version of yourself possible.

The resources are there.