December 16, 2012

Advice from Dave Paladino

 1. Comparison is the thief of Joy. Do not compare yourself to anyone. God intend each one of us to be different. This is especially hard for me because no matter what my Ironman time, I will compare myself to those in front of me. I tell my kids if you really want to get into MIT, you need to be very different from everyone else.  
2.  Develop a burning desire in your life. This should really be your number one prayer priority for your kids. If you have a passion for something in life, everything will come easy for you. I was fortunate enough to meet a fraternity brother who at the age of 19 owned three rental houses. From that point forward, I knew that real estate would be my burning desire.
3. Never underestimate the impact you are having in someone's life. We need to look for these opportunities. Do not assume you are not having an impact in peoples lives, assume quite the opposite. If you think about it, someone is looking to you as a role model, even though you may not know it.

4. Develop a servant heart Always be on the lookout for ways to serve people. God did not intend for us to be self-serving. After reading this blog I encourage you to go talk to someone and ask him or her, what can I help you with today?
5. Always put your self in an impact position. When you get a job, above all else make sure what you are doing will have an immediate impact on how the company is performing overall.
6. Get 8 hrs of sleep a night.  This may seem like the strangest thing to put in a blog about advice. Most people simply do not get enough quality sleep. By quality sleep I mean: in a completely dark room with no lights or sounds. Do not watch TV right before falling to sleep, half-hour before going to bed you should spend reading.  Don't read in bed.   My mom told me once, no good happens past 9pm at night.
7. Get rid of the media.  This may seem odd coming from a guy that has his own TV show. Don't get me wrong, I love to watch movies and I equally enjoy watching the Patriots play football. But watching football or a movie is a very special event in our house. We have a room in our home that all we do is watch TV in it. Do not have the TV in the room you spend the most time.  Of all the advice I am giving you this will give you the greatest amount of joy. 
8. Go on a missions trip to some far away place.  Not only will you realize how great you have it, but it will also help you develop a servant heart.
9. Live well below your means.  I know this is counter cultural, but you will have so much more joy in life if after you give 10% of your income to your Church, you put half of the balance in a savings account or invest it and then live off the remaining amount. This is going to take a lot of soul searching because you may not think this is possible.
10. Never ever give up. One of the biggest indicators of success is not how rich your parents were when you were a kid, not your education, not your intelligence, but your ability to get right back at it after failing.

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