The wisest thing I ever heard a 16 year old say…
To piggyback off the email I sent earlier today…
To piggyback off the email I sent earlier today…
3,976 meters in the sky, on top of a volcano, I heard the wisest thing a 16-year-old has ever said…
This was a long summit. So I was chatting with a few local boys.
I noticed one boy, Helio, carrying not just one bag…but two.
And with him was a small portable speaker with reggaeton music flowing out of it…
He was smiling ear to ear.
In conversation, I found that whenever he couldn’t get work carrying backpacks to base camp, he was picking avocados with his father.
And so I asked him: Which one do you prefer?
“This, I love doing this. I love climbing this volcano.” He said, without hesitation.
I was shocked.
This was a hard climb.
Everyone was struggling.
Doing it every single day didn’t sound very pleasant.
So…I probed exactly why he preferred this over picking avocados.
Here’s what he said:
—
“You have to get up really early — like 4 am…
And you spend many hours picking avocados. At the end of the day, your entire body hurts. Can’t feel your hands. Your feet hurt. Your back is gone…
This is much better. I get to climb a volcano that I love…
Every climb, I learn something new. I see a new path or something I haven’t seen before. Or I learn from the guides. Or from talking with interesting tourists like you…
I travel through the words of tourists. They tell me about their hometown, or places they’ve seen. And at the end of the day, I make more money for my family…”
—
I spent a few minutes in silence pondering the wisdom of this 16-year-old.
I think about this conversation more than I care to admit.
Perspective is everything.
When you focus on the downside — the difficulty of the climb — you get more of the downside.
You think: What can go wrong?
When you focus on the upside — the path, learning from other people, getting to the summit — you get more of the upside.
You think: What can go right?
The truth is there’s always going to be potential downsides in life.
…but focusing on them is precisely what prevents you from getting the upside.
As the saying goes: “Where attention goes, energy flows.”
If you focus on what can go wrong…it probably will.
If you focus on what can go right…it probably will.
So you might as well focus on the upside every time.
At the very least, you live a life with more joy.
Don’t take my word for it…
Today, intentionally focus on the upside — watch how things go.
I’m willing to bet you’ll become more productive and profitable.
Dan
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