Choices have consequences. Contrary to the sentiments around this statement, not all choices end up with negative consequences.
When we are young, it is especially hard to make bold decisions about your life. Why? Everyone has an opinion about the decisions you make. So it is easy to doubt yourself, and often be drawn by the ‘negative’ comments that you get from others. However, when you take bold steps and focus your energy on your passion, great things follow.
Noe Lo is inspiring thousands of young women around the globe. At 19 years old, she runs a 7-figure e-Commerce training business called Ecomm Money. Raised by a single mum and determined to succeed in life, Noe Lo chose to go the unconventional route. She ventured into entrepreneurship and taught herself everything that she needed to learn to make her business work. Today, this serial entrepreneur has doubled down as an e-commerce expert, a brand designer, a website developer, a marketer, and also an author. One of her publications titled, “Online Business Mindset Essentials: How to Mentally Prepare Yourself to Start an Online Business,” has helped multiple other aspiring entrepreneurs across the globe.
Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o once said that ‘dreams are valid.’ No matter how young you are, you should fight hard to realize your dreams.
Connecting with your inner voice and follow your gut instinct
We all have an inner voice that is wise beyond our imagination. It is essential to listen to yourselves. To do this, one has to try to turn off the mental chatter that causes doubt and confusion in our heads. Sometimes, this mental chatter comes from the message we get from others. When you learn how to listen to your inner voice, nobody can ‘dominate’ or ‘control’ you.
Following your instincts calls for trusting yourself whenever you are faced with a decision to make. While others might share with you their experiences on past similar decisions, our destiny is sometimes determined by fate. Nobody can claim to have all their lives well-planned out, so do not be afraid to learn on your own.
Learn to trust yourself
You have probably heard it before, ‘the person you need to trust first is yourself.’ You are your best cheerleader for yourself. Again, no one can be as consistently supportive of you other than yourself. Start with being kind, loving, and caring to yourself. As you do so, you will notice your self-confidence increases and less and less need for approval.
Besides, how can you trust yourself to make good decisions, if you can’t trust yourself?
Noe Lo trusted herself and took a path that is not for many. Her dad wanted her to study law. Her success in the e-commerce sector at such an early age is an affirmation that we can unlock great potential when we trust ourselves.
Don’t be so afraid to make mistakes
Elbert Hubbard once said, ‘the greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.’
The truth is, very few people like talking about their failures. While many might have tried and failed multiple times in their lives, they like to highlight the successes they have achieved. When you get advice from such people, remember to take it with a grain of salt. There is no success without failure, and therefore, in essence, failure is the stepping-stone towards success. As you pursue your goals and passion, remember that ‘the only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.’
Build on your strengths
Your strengths may be in a different field from what everybody is telling you to do. But, you probably have a good idea of what things you excel at and which things you don’t do as well. Trusting yourself to pursue the things you are good at, means you have a higher chance of success.
In fact, your strengths may have been the spark that drove you to want to start a business in the first place. Mastering your both soft and hard skills goes a long way to building your entrepreneurial strengths. Naturally, you will need to pick up some more skills and learn along the way, but starting in a place where you are engaging your interests and strengths will help build the motivation you need to push forward.
Final thoughts
Life is a challenge, in general. When you take the steps to challenge and push yourself towards your goals, the results can be rewarding. While this can be stressful, Noe Lo advises others to avoid stress by reminding yourself that you only have one life. Sometimes, we also stress ourselves with things that are temporary. When you focus on doing what you love, soon you will be able to stay content with life.